Language as Communication: Oral and Written Language, Factors Defining a Communicative Situation

Introduction to Linguistic Theories and Communication

UNIT 1
LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION: ORAL AND WRITTEN
LANGUAGE. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE
SITUATION: TRANSMITTER, RECEIVER, FUNCTIONS AND
CONTEXT

0. INTRODUCTION: LINGUISTIC THEORIES
1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION
1.1 Language Definition
1.2 Language Functions
1.3 Communicative Competence
2. ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
2.1 ORAL LANGUAGE
2.1.1 Methodology for Teaching Oral Language
2.1.2 Assessment of Oral Language
2.2 WRITTEN LANGUAGE
2.3 COMPARISON BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
3. FACTORS THAT DEFINE A COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION: TRANSMITTER,
RECEIVER, FUNCTIONS AND CONTEXT
3.1. Elements of Communication
3.2. Functions of Communicative Act
4. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: LEARNING SITUATIONS RELATED TO THE TOPIC
5. CONCLUSION
6. REFERENCES

Theories of Communication and LOMLOE Framework

10. INTRODUCTION: THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION
Language as Communication is one of the main points in LOMLOE, the current legal
framework which presents new terminology that needs to be known. The law talks
about an 'integral' or 'whole child' approach.
According to this approach, three contexts for development, where communication is
essential, are identified:

• The personal sphere, including intellectual and emotional development.
• The social sphere, relating to the people and environment around you at a local and
  ever-changing global level.
• The academic sphere, relating to success in the world of work and effective
  participation in a knowledge-based society.

Thus, the Andalusia Decree 101/2023 of 9th May and the Order of 30th May, 2023
develop the different elements of the Curriculum for Primary Education where the
Specific Competences for foreign language, directly connected to Communicative
development, are included along with the Key Competences, especially the
development of competence in linguistic communication and multilingual competence,
also linked to the Communication intention.
In addition, he best introduction to understand the content of this topic is knowing the
main Theories of Communication and the most important experts around it:

• The Swiss linguist, Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is often known as the
  founder of modern linguistics. In Saussure's Course in General Linguistics, a
  book summarising his lectures at the University of Geneva from 1906 to
  1911, he explained the relationship between speech and the evolution of
  language, investigating language as a structured system of signs. He viewed the
  linguistic unit as a combination of: sound-images' and 'concepts.' He was not
  referring to spoken or written words, but to the mental impressions made on
  our senses by a certain 'thing.' It is our perception, or how we view this 'thing,'
  together with the sound system of our language that creates the two-part
  mental linguistic unit he referred to as a 'sign.'
• Another American expert who investigated on Communication Theory was
  Edward Sapir (1884-1939), the creator of The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: Culture
  refers to the values, norms, and beliefs of a society. Our culture can be thought
  of as a lens through which we experience the world and develop shared
  meaning. It follows that the language that we use is created in response to
  cultural needs. In other words, there is an obvious relationship between the
  way in which we talk and how we perceive the world. One important question
  2that many intellectuals have asked is how the language that our society uses
  influences its culture. Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorf were
  interested in answering this question. Together, they created the Sapir-Whorf
  hypothesis, which states that how we look at the world is largely determined
  by our thought processes, and our language limits our thought processes. It
  follows that our language shapes our reality. In other words, the language that
  we use shapes the way we think and how we see the world. Since the Sapir-
  Whorf hypothesis theorizes that our language use shapes our perspective of
  the world, it follows that people who speak different languages have different
  world views.
• Likewise, American-born linguist Noam Chomsky (7th December, 1928) believes
  that we are born with a predisposition to learn language. The essence of his
  theories of language acquisition state that human beings are pre-wired to learn
  language and in fact are born with the basic rules for language intact. Many of
  the unique details of any specific language structure are heavily influenced by
  the environment, but according to Chomsky, the human brain is ready made to
  quickly acquire language at specific stages in the developmental process.
  Chomsky proposed some ideas that were new ways of thinking about language:
  the theory of universal grammar, the idea that language is innate and the
  notion that language acquisition occurs during critical development stages. The
  Theory of Universal Grammar: Chomsky believed that it was more than a
  coincidence that the majority of human languages follow similar rules and
  patterns when it comes to grammar. He believed that, while differences exist
  between languages, the fact that they all share core common grammatical
  traits were not just a chance occurrence. Noam Chomsky, a pioneering linguist
  and a professor, put forth an idea called the language acquisition device or
  LAD, for short. The LAD is a hypothetical tool hardwired into the brain that
  helps children rapidly learn and understand language. Chomsky used it to
  explain just how amazingly children are able to acquire language abilities as
  well as accounting for the innate understanding of grammar and syntax all
  children possess. Chomsky developed the LAD in the 1950s and since then, has
  moved on to a greater theory called Universal Grammar (or UG) to account for
  the rapid language development in humans. While universal grammar is a bit
  beyond the scope of this article, just remember for now that LAD later evolved
  into this theory.

Language as a Communication Tool

1. LANGUAGE AS COMMUNICATION
1.1. Language Definitions.

3The word language has prompted innumerable definitions. Some focus on the general
concept of language (what we call lengua or lenguaje) and some focus on the more
specific notion of a language (what we call lengua or idioma).
Hall (1964) defined language as "the institution whereby humans communicate and
interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols".
As we can see in these two definitions it is difficult to make a precise and
comprehensive statement about formal and functional universal properties of
language so some linguists have tried to indentify the various properties that are
thought to be its essential defining characteristics.
The most widely acknowledged comparative approach has been the one proposed by
Charles Hockett (1916-2000). His 13 design Features of Communication using spoken
language were as follows:

• Auditory-vocal channel: sound is used between mouth and ear.
• Broadcast transmission and directional reception: a signal can be heard by any
  auditory system within earshot, and the source can be located using the ears'
  direction-finding ability.
• Rapid fading: auditory signals are transitory.
• Interchange-ability: speakers of a language can reproduce any linguistic message they
  can understand.
• Total feedback: speakers hear and can reflect upon everything that they say.
• Specialization: the sound waves of speech have no other function than to signal
  meaning.
• Semanticist: the elements of the signal convey meaning through their stable
  association with real world situations.
• Arbitrariness: there is no dependence of the element of the signal on the nature of
  the reality to which it refers.
• Discreteness: speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly contrast with
  each other.
• Displacement: it is possible to talk about events remote in space or time from the
  situation of the speaker.

4- Productivity: there is an infinite capacity to express and understand meaning, by
using old sentence elements to produce new sentences.
- Traditional transmission: language is transmitted from one generation to the next
primarily by a process of teaching and learning.
- Duality of pottering: the sound of language has no intrinsic meaning, but combine in
different ways to form elements, such as words, than do convey meaning.

Functions of Language

1.2. Language Functions.

The most usual answer to the question "why do we use language?" is "to communicate
our ideas" and this ability to communicate or communicative competence is studied in
the next part. But it would be wrong to think of communicating our ideas as the only
way in which we use language (referential, ideational or propositional function).
Several other functions may be indentified where the communication of ideas is a
marginal or irrelevant consideration.
One of the commonest uses of languages, the expressive or emotional one, is a means
of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress. We do not try to
communicate ideas because we can use language in this way whether we are alone or
not. Swear words and obscenities are probably the most usual signals to be used in this
way, especially when we are angry. But there are also many emotive utterances of
positive kind, such as expressions of fear, affection, astonishment ...
Malinowsky (1844-1942) termed the third use of language we are studying "phatic
communication". He used it to refer to the social function of language, which arises
out of the basic human need to signal friendship, or, at least, lack of enmity. In these
cases the sole function of language is to maintain a comfortable relationship between
people, to provide a means of avoiding an embarrassing situation. Phatic
communication, however, is far from universal; some cultures prefer silence, e.g., the
Aritama of Colombia.
The fourth function we may find is based on phonetic properties. The rhythmical
litanies of religious groups, the persuasive cadences of political speechmaking, the
dialogue chants used by prisoner or soldiers have only one apparent reason: people
take delight in them. They can only be explained by a universal desire to exploit the
sonic potential of language.
The fifth function is the performative one. A performative sentence is an utterance
that performs an act. This use occurs in the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony,
or when a priest baptizes a child.

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