The process and properties of Communication

• Communication involves conveying information, ideas, and emotions through verbal, non-verbal, and written forms, encompassing listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Underlying Processes of Communication

• Encoding involves creating a message
• Transmission involves sending the message
• Decoding involves interpreting the message
• Feedback involves receiving a response or reaction

Key Properties of Communication

• Can be linguistic (involving language), non-linguistic (gestures, body language), or paralinguistic (prosody, tone of voice).

• Speech is a physical process of producing sounds using the vocal apparatus to convey spoken words, but it is not synonymous with language.

• While speech uses sounds and words, language is a system of symbols (spoken, written, or signed).

Components of Speech:

• Articulation refers to how speech sounds are made

• Voice refers to the use of the vocal cords for sound production

• Fluency refers to the smoothness of speech without disruptions like stuttering

• Language is a system of symbols (spoken, written, or gestural) governed by rules (grammar) for communication.

Characteristics of Language:

• Arbitrary: There's no inherent connection between a word and its meaning
• Symbolic: Words represent ideas and objects
• Rule-governed: There are syntax, morphology, and phonological rules
• Generative: New sentences can be created through the combination of symbols

Key Domains of Language:

• Form: Phonology, morphology, and syntax
• Content: Semantics
• Use: Pragmatics

Communication Process

• Listening: It involves the ability to actively receive and process verbal and non-verbal cues
• Speaking: It involves producing verbal messages by manipulating vocal cords and articulators
• Reading & Writing: It involves transmitting information through written symbols
• Attention: It involves focusing cognitive resources on processing communication signals
• Memory: It involves the ability to recall and retain communication content for future use
• Executive Function: It involves the cognitive processes that control attention, memory, and language use during communication

Language Process:

• Phonology: The sound system of language (e.g., phonemes like /b/, /d/, /p/)
• Morphology: Word formation and structure (free vs. bound morphemes)
• Syntax: Sentence structure rules (e.g., subject-verb-object structure)
• Semantics: Meaning of words and sentences (e.g., homophones like "bare" and "bear")
• Pragmatics: Social use of language, context, and conversational norms (e.g., turn-taking in conversations)

The Five Domains of Language:

• Phonology: The study of speech sounds in language.
• Phonemes: The smallest units of sound that can change meaning (e.g., /k/ in "cat" vs. /b/ in "bat")
• Morphology: The structure of words and how they are formed.
• Free Morphemes: Words that can stand alone (e.g., "dog")
• Bound Morphemes: Morphemes that attach to free morphemes to change meaning (e.g., "un-" in "undo")
• Inflectional Morphemes: Change a word's grammatical form (e.g., "cats" adds plural)
• Derivational Morphemes: Change a word's meaning or part of speech (e.g., "happiness" from "happy")
• Syntax: Rules for how words combine to form sentences.
• Syntactic Structures: Can include simple or complex sentences, and even questions or commands ("Did the cat chase the mouse?")
• Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences.
• Lexical Semantics: The meaning of individual words (e.g., "dog" refers to a type of animal)
• Sentential Semantics: The meaning of sentence structures (e.g., "The dog bit the man" vs. "The man bit the dog")
• Pragmatics: The social rules and conventions for using language.
• Example: The phrase "Could you open the window?" is a polite request, whereas "Open the window!" is a command. Both convey the same need but differ in how they approach social interactions

Categorizing Aspects of Language into Domains

• Word "dogs":
• Phonology: /dogz/ (distinct sounds /d/, /o/, /g/, /z/)
• Morphology: "dog" (free morpheme) + "s" (plural bound morpheme)
• Semantics: Refers to multiple animals of the canine species
• Syntax: Subject of a sentence ("The dogs bark loudly")
• Pragmatics: Context changes the meaning ("dogs" might refer to a pet, a group of animals, or even a metaphorical meaning in different conversations)

Generative/Nativist(Chomsky)

• Key Idea: Language is innate, and children have an inborn ability to acquire language through the "Language Acquisition Device" (LAD)
• Universal Grammar: All languages share a common underlying structure
• Example: A child exposed to a language will naturally acquire its syntax, regardless of the specific language

Interactionalist Theory:

• Language development arises from the interaction between biological factors and environmental influences, especially social interactions

• Example: A child learns language through social interactions with caregivers, who model language and provide feedback

• Behaviorism (Skinner): Language is learned through imitation, reinforcement, and repetition.

• Cognitive Theory (Piaget): Language develops as children engage with the world, building mental structures and schemes.

• Social Constructivism: Social interactions and guidance from more knowledgeable individuals help children master concepts and language that they cannot learn alone.

Evidence-Based Practices (EBP)

• Language interventions informed by high-quality research, clinical expertise, and family values/preferences.

Cross-Language Studies

• Purpose: Identify universal aspects of language development and determine if certain language aspects are a result of universal cognitive abilities or specific linguistic knowledge.

Communication involves conveying information, ideas, and emotions through various forms. Processes include encoding, transmission, decoding, and feedback. It can be linguistic, non-linguistic, or paralinguistic.