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LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION. SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND

WRITTEN LANGUAGE. COMMUNICATION FACTORS: SENDER,
RECEIVER, PURPOSE AND CONTEXT.

0.INTRODUCTION

1. DEFINITION AND PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE

Definition of language
Main properties of language

2. SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Main differences

3. COMMUNICATION THEORY
Definition of communication
Elements: sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and noise.
Communicative functions:

4. CONCLUSION
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The present essay aims to study language and its functions, and more precisely to
develop the notion of Communications as one of these functions. For this purpose, I
will divide the topic into three main sections. First, I will deal with the definition and
the main properties of language in a communicative context. In order to do so, I will
address the following question: what is language? Second, I will compare spoken
and written language, dealing first with the historical attitudes and then outstanding
the main differences between writing and speech. Third, I will deal with the
communication theory, its definition and the key factors that affect any communicative
interaction, which will lead to the concept of communicative competence. Finally, I will
compile the main conclusions and the bibliography used to develop this topic.

Traditionally, Language theories focused on items of language in isolation and their

main aim was the written language. However, in the past decades, there has been a
remarkably tendency towards a communication-oriented approach in the context of
languages studies. This evolution is also evident in the foreign languages teaching. In
the past, people got to know about the language (learned a language) but could not use it
in a real context (didnt acquire the language). Nowadays, the focus of the foreign
languages has also evolved towards the importance of communication. In this context,
let me present the topic and present the main features of language and communication.

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To develop the first part of the topic, I will deal with the DEFINITION AND
PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE, by answering to the question: What is language?

Language can be defined as a system of conventional spoken or written symbols by

means of which human beings, as members of a social group and participants in its
culture, communicate.

Let us go on distinguishing its main properties:

Cultural transmission: Language is passed on from one generation to the

next.
Communicative versus informative: We use communicative signals (as the
language itself) to intentionally communicate something, but we can also
provide information unintentionally via the informative signals (by means of
prosody or paralinguistic devices).
Productivity: The potential number of utterances in any human language is
infinite.
Arbitrariness: There is no natural connection between a linguistic form and
its meaning.
Discreteness: The sounds used in language are meaningfully distinct.
Reciprocity: Any speakersender of a linguistic exchange can also be a
listenerreceiver.
Displacement: The users of language speak about things and events not
present in the immediate environment.

Now that the key properties of language have been argued, I will go on to develop the
second part of the topic: a comparison of the SPOKEN AND WRITTEN
LANGUAGE. For this purpose, I will firstly deal with the historical attitudes towards
them, and then, I will establish the main differences between speech and writing.

With regard to the historical attitudes, written language was considered to be superior
to spoken language for many centuries. This is due to the fact that written language was
the medium of literature and literature was considered the standards of linguistic
excellence. Contrary to this traditional point of view, during the 20 th century a group of
linguistic argued in favour of studying speech because this is the primary medium of
communication. Also, spoken language is the way in which every native speaker
acquires his mother tongue, and writing is learned later. In view of this criterion, much
linguistics came to think of written language as a tool of secondary importance. This is
why the Organic Law for the improvement of the educational quality, BOE of 10

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Decemer 2013 (LOMCE) in article 19 also underlines the importance of oral
comprehension and expression.

Nowadays, there is no sense in the view that one medium of communication is

intrinsically better. Writing cannot substitute for speech, or speech for writing. The
functions of speech and writing are usually said to complement each other.

Let us go on distinguishing the main differences of spoken and written language.

The main distinction between speech and writing is clear: Speech uses the
transmitting medium of phonic substance, typically air-pressure movement
produced by the vocal organs, whereas writing uses the transmitting medium of
graphic substance, typically marks on a surface made by a hand using a tool.

However, many other differences can be pointed out. I will analyse the relationship
between speech and writing in terms of six additional points of contrast:

Speech is time-bound, dynamic and temporary. It is part of an interaction in

which both participants are usually present, and the speaker has a particular
addressee in mind. Writing is space-bound, static and permanent. The writer is
usually distant from the reader, and often does not know who the reader is going
to be.
Because participants in oral interactions are typically face-to-face, they can rely
on such extralinguistic clues as facial expressions and gestures to aid meaning.
Lack of visual contact in written language means that participants cannot rely on
situational context to make their meaning clear.
The spontaneity and speed of speech promote looser constructions, repetition,
rephrasing, and comment clauses (you know, mind you, as it were).
Writing promotes careful organization with often intricate sentence structure.
Lengthy coordinate sentences are normally used in speech. Multiple instances of
subordination in the same sentence, elaborated syntactic patterns, and the long
sentences are typical in written texts.
Unique features of speech include most of the prosody. Intonation, loudness,
tempo, rhythm provide highly efficient hints. Unique features of writing include
spatial organisation and several aspects of punctuation.
In speech, there is an opportunity to rethink utterances while are in progress
(starting again, adding a qualification). However, errors, once spoken, cannot be
withdrawn. On the other hand, written errors in our writing can be eliminated
without the reader ever knowing. Also interruptions, if they have occurred while
writing, are also invisible in the final product.

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Despite these differences, there are many respects in which the written and spoken
language has mutually interacted. Nowadays, their dependence has proved to be mutual.

Now that we have examined the differences between speech and writing, we shall
concentrate on the third part of the essay: COMMUNICATION THEORY.

Communication is defined as the process of passing information and understanding

from one person to another though a common system of symbols. The communication
process involves six basic elements: sender (encoder), message, channel, receiver
(decoder), feed back and noise. Let us see them:

1. The sender is the person that initiates the communication process. He or she
encodes a message and selects a channel for transmitting the message to a
receiver.
2. The message is the information that the sender wants to transmit.
3. The channel is the path that a message follows from the sender to the receiver.
4. The receiver is the person or group for whom the communication is intended. He
or she decodes the message.
5. The receiver provides feedback, which is the transfer of information from the
receiver back to the sender. It ensures that mutual understanding has taken place
in a communication. Thus, in the feedback loop, the receiver becomes the sender
and the sender becomes the receiver.
6. Finally, in a communicative situation we can also find noise, which is anything
that interferes with the communication.

After presenting the concept of communication and its main components, I will analyse
the intended effects of our communicative interactions (or the communicative functions)
and the environment in which they are exchanged (or the context).

Following the Jakobsons model, the main communicative functions are classified as
follows:
The emotive or expressive function focuses on the sender and his/her own
emotions towards the content of the message are emphasized. Examples are
emphatic speech or interjections.
The poetic function is allocated to the message. It is based on the phonetic
features of language, such as rhetorical figures, pitch or loudness.
The phatic function helps to establish contact and refers to the channel of
communication. It refers to the social use of language.

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The conative or appellative function is directed to the receiver. One example is
the vocative use of language.
The metalinguistic function deals with the code itself. This is the function of
using language to communicate about language.
The referential function refers to the context. Language is usually used to
communicate ideas.

Apart from this, there is another key feature which may be taken into account: the
context of the communicative interaction. This concept could be defined as the parts of
a piece of writing, speech, etc, that precede and follow a word or a passage and
contribute to its full meaning, which refers to the linguistic context. But this context
may not be enough to fully understand a speech act, as it doesnt make reference to the
outside world; then a definition of the context of the situation may be added: the
conditions and circumstances that are relevant to an event, fact, etc. Thus, a more
complete and appropriate definition of context would be: Any communicative
interaction is contextualized by the written or spoken parts that precede and follow a
word or passage, but also by the conditions and circumstances that are relevant to the
context of the interaction.

With regard to the concept of context of situation, a number of linguists have worked
over and extended this concept. For instance, Halliday categorises the communicative
situation in terms of three components for the analysis:

- Field of discourse. - refers to what is happing, the nature of the social action.
- Tenor of discourse. - refers to who is taking part, to the nature of the
participants.
- Mode of discourse. - is the function of the text in the event, including therefore
both the channel taken by the language and its genre or rhetorical mode, as
narrative, didactic, persuasive and so on.

Now that I have presented the main elements involved in a communicative process, it
may be appropriate to develop the concept of communicative competence. Hymes
stated that, in order to learn a language, a native speaker does not only utter
grammatically correct forms (as it was thought by Chomsky), he also has to know
where and when to use a sentence, and to whom. This is known as communicative
competence.

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Next, I am going to highlight the four main aspects of the communicative competence:

- Systematic potential. - A native speaker possesses a potential for creating

language.
- Appropriacy. - A native speaker knows what language is appropriate in a given
situation.
- Occurrence. - A native speaker knows how often something is said in the
language and if it can be performed.
- Feasibility. - A native speaker knows how often something is possible in the
language or not (although some structures are grammatically correct, they are
not possible in the language).

These four categories have been adopted for teaching purposes by the Spanish
Educational Ministry. In fact, the recent educational reforms pay special attention to the
effective achievement of communicative competence. This key element for the foreign
languages learning is also highlighted in the European portfolio Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching, assessment, which has
become a key reference for the present Spanish educational system. This European
portfolio classifies communicative competence in the following components:

- Linguistic competence or the ability to use the formal resources of language to

assemble well-formed and meaningful messages. This component includes
lexical, phonological, syntactical dimensions of language.
- Sociolinguistic competence, which refers to the sociocultural conditions of
language use. This competence affects the communication between participants
of different cultures and fosters sensitivity to social conventions.
- Pragmatic competence is concerned with the functional use of linguistic
resources. It involves the mastery of discourse, identification of text types and
their functions.

As a CONCLUSION of this topic, I would like to highlight that communication is the

main purpose of any language, and it is a key word for us as English teachers. Not only
is it the essence of human interaction, it is also the centre of language learning, where
both oral and written communications are included.

To sump up I will mention the BIBLIOGRAPHY with the most important books that
have been consulted for the elaboration of this topic and LEGAL REFERENCES:

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ASHER, James J. Learning Another Language though Actions
BYRNE, D.and RIXON, S. Communication Games
DUNN, O. Developing English with young Learns
HADFIELD, J. Elementary Communication in classroom
Organic Law for the Improvement of the educational quality, BOE of 10 December
2013 (LOMCE)
Royal Decree 126/2014 whih establishes the basic curriculum of Primary Education
(BOE of 1 March)

ESQUEMA-RESUMEN

AIM

- To study language and its functions, and

- To develop the notion of communication as one of these functions.

0. INTRODUCTION

Language theories - Traditional approach (items of language and written lg).

- Communication-oriented approach.
Foreign languages - Past: people learned a language.
teaching - Now: people acquire the language. Communication.

1. DEFINITION AND PROPERTIES OF LANGUAGE

Definition of language
Main properties of language:
o Cultural transmission
o Communicative versus informative
o Productivity
o Arbitrariness
o Discreteness
o Reciprocity
o Displacement

2. SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

Historical attitudes
o Written language: medium of literature (linguistic excellence).
o Speech: primary medium of communication.

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* Nowadays, speech and writing complement each other.

Main differences
SPEECH
Transmitting medium Phonic substance
Physical features Time-bound, dynamic,
temporary
Situational features Extralinguistic clues
Discourse features Looser constructions
Syntactical features Coordinate sentences
Unique features Prosody
Errors Cannot be withdrawn
* Nowadays, their dependence has proved to be mutual.
WRITING
Graphic substance
Space-bound, static and
permanent
Lack of visual contact
Careful organization
Subordination
Spatial organization and
punctuation
Can be eliminated

3. COMMUNICATION THEORY

Definition of communication
Elements: sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback and noise.
Communicative functions:
o Emotive or expressive (sender)
o Poetic (message)
o Phatic (channel)
o Conative or appellative (receiver)
o Metalinguistic (code)
o Referential (context)
Context: linguistic context and context of the situation.
Communicative competence:
o Hymes vs Chomsky (definition)
o Main aspects: systematic potential, appropriacy, occurrence and
feasibility.
o Components: linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and
pragmatic competence.

CONCLUSION

- Communication is the main purpose of any language.

- Communication is the essence of human interaction and the centre of langua ge
learning.