Communication 1 Unit 1 - Fundamentals of Communication PDF

Course: Communication I Unit: One Topic: Fundamentals of Communication Objectives At the end of this unit, students should be able to: 1. define communication 2. define Language 3. identify the Purposes/Functions of language in given writings 4. discuss the h...

Course: Communication I Unit: One Topic: Fundamentals of Communication Objectives At the end of this unit, students should be able to: 1. define communication 2. define Language 3. identify the Purposes/Functions of language in given writings 4. discuss the historical factors which shaped the Jamaican Language Situation 5. describe how language is used in the Jamaican society today What is communication? Communication has been defined as the process of sending and receiving messages. It involves the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions or information. Communication may be done using different media: written, oral, visual or computerised. What is Language? Language is defined as a system of communication. It is said to be a natural ability that all human beings possess. Human Language has several features. These include: A. Displacement This refers to the ability to speak not only about what is happening at the time and place of talking, but also about other situations, future or past, real or unreal. B. Arbitrariness Language is arbitrary: there is no relationship between the form and meaning of a word. That is, there is no natural connection between a word or sound and the thing it denotes. Therefore, we cannot determine the meaning of a word simply by looking at it. For example, nothing in the German word 'Handyspiele' tells us that it means the same as the English word 'handball' or Polish word 'piłka ręczna'. It must be noted that onomatopoeic words are an exception. These are words which imitate sounds. For example, when we say the word boom, crash or slash, it is almost as if we are hearing the actual sounds that these words represent. C. Productivity (also called creativity or open-endedness) Human language has an infinite potential number of potential utterances, as well as words and meanings. For instance, humans can come up with new terms to represent new ideas, as well as express the same idea in different ways. D. Cultural Transmission  All humans are born with certain fixed genetic predisposition for language use (e.g. shape of vocal tract). However, it is our culture - the environment in which we are reared- which determines which language we are going to use as our mother tongue. Therefore, if a Chinese baby is brought up in Jamaica and raised by a Jamaican family, this baby will use the Jamaican language. E. Duality Human languages have two levels: minimal units - the alphabet for writing and phonemes for speech - which do not have a meaning on their own, and the level where the meaning emerges as a result of combination of the units from level one. It is emphasised by the fact that with a limited set of letters in the alphabet an unlimited number of words and expressions may be produced. F. Prevarication Humans have the ability to make sentences knowing that they are false and with the purpose of misleading the receiver of the information. G. Learnability Humans are also able to learn any number of other languages other than their mother tongues. We are not genetically limited to use only the language of our parents. H. Reciprocity Speakers are also receivers of information under usual circumstances; Properties of Language In order for any code to be considered a language, certain properties must be present. These are Phonology, Lexicon, Morphology, Syntax and Semantics. 1. Phonology Phonology is the sound system of a language. It is the component of grammar which includes the inventory of sounds and rules for their combination and pronunciation. For example in Jamaican Creole, ‘d’ and ‘t’ are the equivalents of the sounds represented by ‘th’ in Jamaican Standard English 2. Lexicon Lexicon is the vocabulary of a language. For example, in Jamaican Creole, we have words such as ‘duppy’, ‘pickney’ and ‘bickle’. 3. Morphology Morphology is the structure of words. It is the component of grammar which includes the rules of word formation. A morpheme is the smallest unit of linguistic meaning. In morphology, we consider areas such as prefixes, suffixes, how we mark for tense, plurality etc. For example, in English, to make a regular noun plural we may add ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ (depending on the word). In Jamaican Creole, we use ‘dem’ or no marker. 4. Syntax  Syntax is described as the rules of sentence formation. Simply put, it is the grammar of the language. It looks at what words can be stringed together in a sentence and in what order. For example, English has rules on Subject Verb Agreement. Also, English has an SVO word order; that is subject, verb, object. 5. Semantics Semantics is the study of the meaning of words and sentences. For example, ‘ignorant’ in Jamaican Creole means easily irritated, while in English it means lacking knowledge. Purposes of Language (The Reason Why Language Exists) 1. Expressive purposes Language can be used to simply express one’s feelings, ideas and attitudes, without necessarily taking a reader or listener into consideration. Language used in this way is not designed to effect change in an audience or to elicit a response. It is merely a means to give vent to emotions or needs. Diaries and journals are obvious examples of language used for expressive purposes. 2. Informative purposes Language is employed with the intention of conveying information to others. Therefore, a news broadcast, a bulletin board at your school or a textbook are all examples of language being used for this purpose. 3. Cognitive purposes Language used in this way is with the intention of affecting the audience in some way in order to evoke a response of some kind. Therefore language used to persuade, entertain, stir to anger or arouse sympathy is used for cognitive purposes. 4. Phatic purposes Language is sometimes used to establish or maintain contact among people. This use of language is most obvious in spoken communication. Language used for phatic purposes does not necessarily seek to generate a meaningful response. For example, when we greet each other by saying ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ we are using language to maintain social customs. 5. Metalinguistic purposes This is the use of language to comment on, refer to, or discuss language. A critique of yours friend’s speech or essay is metalinguistic. Functions of Language (What language Does) 1. Communicative Function This is the main function of language and involves communicating information, ideas and thoughts. The communicative function can be divided into statements, commands and questions. 2. The Reflective Function Humans have the power to reflect. That is, they can deliberately focus their attention on and analyse the past in order to deal with future events. This involves language because this deliberate thought which humans are capable of is substantially verbal in nature. Man uses language to ruminate on past events, to think about strategies for coping. Also notable is the fact that some memories are preserved and provoked through specific words. Also, some visual memories are accompanied by words. Humans can consciously use language to recall and recapture experiences. When we imagine, fantasise or reason, language plays an important role, because the visual is normally accompanied by the oral. Also associated with the reflective function is the idea of a voice in the head speaking to and directing us. 3. The Expressive Function For this function, language is used as a form of self expression. It offers an outlet for the feelings and attitudes. As such, language has been described as a release valve for the emotions. 4. The Ritual Function Rituals are normally a part of ceremonies which involve the repetition of a prescribed, usually written form of language. Ritual also involves the repetition of familiar or set formulaic statements or questions and their corresponding responses. Because of the repetitive nature of rituals, their words will lose their meaning/value. Therefore, people may simply repeat these statements without having an understanding or appreciation for them. The function of language in ritual is not necessarily to communicate or reflect, but to include the individual as part of a social activity. The individual, through language, participates in a ceremony prescribed by society and, thereby, is recognised as a part of that society. 5. Social/Identifying Function As a social function, language may be used to: I. express solidarity with someone or establish distance; II. to say something about oneself; III. establish an individual as a native of a specific country or region of a country; and IV. cultivate group peculiarity  Development of Jamaican Creole This is a brief description of the situations which led to the development of Jamaican Creole. Jamaican Creole evolved out of a contact situation. This contact was between English and West African Languages such as Twi. People from all over Africa were taken from their homelands and brought to Jamaica as slaves. They were placed on plantations to work. English was the dominant language of conquest and the African languages were the codes of the slaves. In this situation, the majority group (slaves) was forced to learn the language of the dominant minority group (Europeans). As such, the Jamaican language is the result of a 17th century creolization process which consisted of West and Central Africans acquiring the language with which their enslavement brought them into contact. The language was created out of a need for the British plantation owners to communicate with their slaves. This led to the development of a Pidgin language (a simplified language that develops as a means of communicating between two or more groups which do not share a common language). Once the slaves had been on the plantation long enough to bear children, the dialect began to evolve. The children of these slaves were taught the Pidgin as their first language. As such the Pidgin developed in to a Creole Language. Creole is defined as a language constructed from two or more languages as a result of extended contact between communities, one of which is usually European. It must also be noted that on the plantation, there was a division of labour between field slaves, house slaves, slave craftsmen and slaves performing other tasks (i.e. fishing and hunting). These differences in function correlated not only with differences in status, but also with the amount of linguistic interaction with the whites (Therefore, for example, a house slave would use more English structures than a field slave). *See accompanying handout on differences between Jamaican Creole and Standard Jamaican English. I think it is taken from a book by Peter Maxwell. Terms to Know 1. Language Community A community which shares a common language, bears a specific cultural possession and makes mutual understanding possible or easier 2. Dialect This term has two usages: the layman and the linguistic usage. Layman Usage Dialect is a variety of language that is regarded as the typical speech of uneducated, rural people. It is also thought to be the characteristic, substandard, incorrupt or relaxed speech of the general population. Linguistic Usage Dialect is a variety of a language. For example, Canadian and European French (Dialects of French); British, American, Canadian Australian, West Indian English (etc) (Dialects of English) Dialect may be regional (a variety spoken in and typical of a specific geographical area) or social (a variety spoken by and typical of a specific social class) Dialect may be standard. This is a special variety accorded special privileges. It is normally the subject and medium of more than one literary work and has a technical vocabulary. It is also used in mass education, official government documents, courts of law and on official occasions. Dialects may also be non-standard: This contrasts in status from the standard. It is native speech regarded as broken language. Dialectal differences are evident in: I. Spelling American English British English Color Colour  Center Centre Program Programme Realize Realise Instill Instil Fulfill Fulfil II. Vocabulary American English British English Parking lot Car park Bus Coach Service station Garage Elevator Lift Telephone booth Call box Drug store Chemist Dialectal differences across the Anglophone Caribbean: Barbados Guyana Jamaica St. Lucia Gossip talkname cass-cass roro Firefly candle fly peenie wallie firefly Homosexual/buller antiman b…man buller/antiman Pidgin Pidgin is a simplified language that develops as a means of communicating between two or more groups who do not share a common language (in situations such as trade). The creation of a Pidgin includes: I. prolonged, regular contact between the different language communities; II. a need to communicate within them; and III. the absence of a widespread inter-language. It is posited that Pidgins became Creole languages when a generation, whose parents speak pidgin to each other, teach it to their children as their first language. Not all Pidgins become Creoles as some may die out before this phase. Lingua Franca This is a language used in an area where speakers of more than one language live to permit communication and commerce among them (one language is used by common agreement) Creole Creole is a language constructed from two or more languages as a result of extended contact between communities (one usually European). Creoles emerged out of situations of social dominance (in most cases slavery) in which the majority group had to learn the language of the dominant minority group. Continuum Creole speakers, in trying to use Standard English, modify their speech. This process leads to a spectrum or continuum of varieties ranging from the Creole or non-standard variety at one pole and Standard English at the other. The continuum ranges from the acrolect (characterised by socially prestigious forms) to a basilect (the language given low status). Within these two varieties is the mesolect. Jargon Jargons are special words peculiar to members of a profession or group. Slang Slangs are words and phrases used in casual speech. These are often invented and spread by close-knit social or age groups.