Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Centro de Estudios ECOEM, S.A, — Curso 2007/2008, EL PROCESO DE COMUNICACION, FUNCIONES DEL LENGUAJE. LA LENGUA EN USO. LA NEGOCIACION DEL /siGntrIcavo. AL_READER 2, THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS. 21. Semana oe canmunteaton procs. BA. Thesiger tte commen pes FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE. 2.1 dalabaus claeton. a spre acs os eanolefirguge nee, 32 Gite cnensonoflongnge am NECOTIATION oF MEANING. 5.2. Paring seh 2 rote sting 5.2m mesg rel ha Copeabe Pcp B._RESOURCES 7. aumusoGRapiey ano REFERENCES (TOPIC) % sinupenarn. 3) INTERNET LiMn, ._SAMPLE SUMMARY AND CONCEPT MAP. 10, SAMPLE suMMaRy. A) Goncerreun. "THE CONNUNICATION PROCESS. FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE. LANGUAGE IN USE: NEGOTIATION OF MEANING, 4, wTRopucTION. hon we use argue to set ther of 0 ley Information, we maka ee of pragmetis. Pragatcs 8 site solute russ falas te lnguoge un tn re “Gevmntie dvtnt.Tat ragratn concer withthe wy gigs edt ‘emaintnatbr than wh away ngage sre “rato, Ings have viewed the Wve apace of guages mahoogy, prondogy sanaics a prayrcrse of sais mporance inctaenpy) Powel, ‘Basal sr cairn 3 mae mpot eto progr. Rearnng aang ay uses ay cen ang 9 ned to commence ete port be us ot lt and for, tee meetin, cau’ trans see rage a te eal ‘Syereng pcp of wngiage. Acar to nora reasrng sa when the rd Serr at Ree ene ne oo, men, ay Prats exacted rch ending ote pce ih oer cep Ne ena fu orang es ved Sono epan fata saps cick alae Nanette pas oe and nagotation of mearing. mt eres 2. THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS. 2.1, ELEMENTS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS. ay autrrs aie anquge rails the aby to ommuncate Prog assem faa See srcten un saled man sre omibngy, Dosh tsar th em ‘eer'n these cain) te scan win sar the ir es gh wel ‘Gerdes gong thr geen a pecuctan,tenamion a change, meta a ‘rect, lonuoge ay Yrm prot fle. arguae's ona! te mays ‘Sirs nanan benge se, Waugh Un mst somples ad pan fs awe, rodeo ‘Sinmuneaton hme an Inne roast am ser as ich pve ‘Sttlogy as they hae became mre compe ay models of nanan carensncaton have bee) propos ove te crn. rays stay hace ade ae ney, Metal ee rac Linear ele Cfrorsgealy sean thet They "co ot conser the prsner of fedbak ‘Seemann ane peer t pasar hoe cece, Inearational model ni he code eink ue, wanna brs toe aby Dette Sosa Astote was riceted i har sd tera ie ose ben o he ence {ebery of spots. Lasswell 1948) apo Shannon and Weaver (1585). prpanes ‘tern a ch one ena ana eye ane es eB RBRY SK, = TPORTE — memaroans — aealaeaane EEL SA SE NOIN — gemecenes — amalgamInglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria Pag. 3 teceived signal ion | Message . ; Information 9 receiver source hy An information source, which produces a message. a A transmitter, which encodes the message into signals. 3. A channel, to which signals are adapted for transmission. 4. A receiver, which 'decodes' (reconstructs) the. message from the signal. 5. A destination, where the message arrives: ae A sixth element, noise is a dysfunctional factor. added by Shannon and Weaver: any interference with the message travelling along the’ channel (such as ‘static’ on the telephone or radio) which may lead to the signal-eeéived:being different from that sent. SHANNON AND WEAVER Shannon and Weaver's model is one'which is, in John Fiske's words, ‘widely accepted as one of the main seeds out of which, Communication Studies has grown' (Fiske 1982: 6). Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver=were: not social scientists but engineers working for Bell Telephone Labs':in the United* States. Their goal was to ensure the maximum efficiency of telephone cablesand radio waves. They developed a model of communication which was intended.to “assist in developing a mathematical theory of communication. Shannon and Weaver's work proved valuable for communication engineers in dealing with such issues as the capacity: of, various*communication channels in ‘bits per second’. It contributed to computer science. It led to very useful work on redundancy in language. And in making ‘information’ destination ‘measurable’ itg ave birth to the mathematical study of ‘information theory’. This model is clearly linear and lacks the explanation of the possible feedback. The consideration of feedback was included by Schramm (1954). At the same time Roman Jakobson in 1950 introduced a theory that considers the way that spoken language is put to use in human communication. This transactional model of communication function consists of two layers of description: one that describes the various elements of language use, and one that shows what humans do with the language when they use it. The elements in Jakobson’s model can be represented graphically: © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma nuede renroducirse o transmitirse vor ninaun procedimiento electrénico o mecanico. Incluvendo fotocopia. araba- Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria Pag. 4 Harts alan act the Ai the ADDRESME the re the CONTENT: the CONTACT the Gi the MESSAGE e. oe ADDRESS. ADPRE SSE: 2.2. THE STAGES OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS. We call a communication process the set of consecutive stages: communication goes through. Those stages for any linear model are the following: i The addresser (also called emitter or send transmit. 2 The message is encoded; thai order to express the content., 3" The message is transmitted through.the appropriate channel. This includes the mechanism of produ the physical;.means through which the message is made material, and the anism of perception. 4" The addressee -(also..called recipient or receiver) decodes the message (he/she divides into.segments. the id the structure which the message has been ‘ elects the.content (s)he wants to at units and structures are selected in coded in) © ee 5° Apprehension: of the transmitted content on the part of the addressee (receiver or recipient). ey, In this definition, content is used to refer to that part of the context the addresser wants to share with the’ addressee. If we consider the presence of feedback or the changing roles between’ the addrésset (emitter) and the addressee (recipient or receiver) some corresponding modifications'have to be included in the description. 3. THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE. The function of language is intimately bound up with the speaker's and the listener’s mental activities during communication, in particular with the speaker's intentions, the ideas the speakers want to convey, and the listener's current knowledge. First, speakers intend to have some effect on their listeners, and must get them to recognize these intentions. The sentences used must, therefore, reflect these intentions. Second, speakers want to convey certain ideas, and to do this the sentences must also reflect the listeners’ ways of thinking about objects, states, events, and facts. And third, speakers must have some conception of what is on their listeners’ minds at the moment and of where they want the communication to lead. The sentences used must reflect these conceptions as well. © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningun procedimiento electrénico o mecanico, incluyendo fotocopia, graba-Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 5 3.1. JAKOBSON'S CLASSIFICATION. MALINOWSKI BUHLER JAKOBSON Pragmatic Expressive Emotive Magical Conative Conative Representational Referential Phatic Metalinguistic ‘| Poetic Functions of language have been considered from different points of view according to the concepts they were based on. According to Malinowski (1923), cited by Halliday (1970), the functions of language were two, namely, pragmatic and magical: Biihler distinguished three, namely, the expressive, the conative, and the representational functions..For Jakobson there were three more functions of language, and below is set: out:in detail the functions Jakobson analysed in language as a system of communication: °°" 1 the EMOTIVE function: focus on.the ADDRESSER |” An utterance performs the emotive-function to the extent that it expresses some feeling or belief of the speaker, or autho One-word example: “Ow : 2 the CONATIVE function: focus on the ADDRESSEE An utterance perforins the conative.function to the extent that it attempts to produce a particular reaction*in.the-hearer or reader—that is, to the extent that it tries to make you:do:something:< believe something. One-word example: “Drink!” 3 the REFERENTIAL function: focus on the CONTEXT ‘An utteranice:pérforms the referential function to the extent that it describes or refers to things outside the speech act itself. (This function predominates, or should: predominate, in most informative writing.) Two-word example: “It’s raining.” 4 the PHATIC function: focus on the CONTACT An utterance performs the phatic function to the extent that it refers to (or questions, or establishes, or breaks off) the communication between addresser and addressee. Three-word example: “Are you there?” 5 the METALINGUAL function: focus on the CODE © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es - central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todas los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 6 An utterance performs the metalingual function to the extent that refers to the language (or other code) in which the message is expressed. Three-word example: “Wo means ‘no’.” 6 the POETIC function: focus on the MESSAGE An utterance performs the poetic function to the extent that it calls attention to its own form. Four-word example: “How now, brown cow?” In real life, none of these functions ever appears entirely alone. To take one of Jakobson‘s examples, the political slogan “I like Ike’(referring to Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, U.S. President 1953-61) clearly expresses a sentiment of the addresser (so the EMOTIVE function is present); it also calls attention to itself through the repeated vowel sound (so the POETIC function is present); finally, and a little less obviously, because it was a campaign slogan, it was intended to encourage the EXAMPLE addressee to like Ike, too (so the CONATIVE) function is present. All these functions appear simultaneously,, mixed ‘in different proportion and, depending on the type of communication, one or some-will pr linate ‘over the others. 3.2. HALLIDAY’S CLASSIFICATION. “HALLIDAY INTRAPERSONAL INTERPERSONAL TEXTUAL (TRANSACTIONAL, «© (INTERACTIONAL) IDEATIONAL) ad Halliday used'a’ different. perspective to establish his language functions. He established those proper of language learners :and those proper of adult language users. The latter are just three, a result of combining of a variety of different functions of language learners (native or not). The first ‘two:are broad pragmatic functions of language, the intrapersonal or transactional function, and the interpersonal or interactional function. The first, also called: ideational by Halliday, is found in the Jnterna/ language used for memory, problem solving, and.concept development. Language serves for the expression of content, that is, of the speaker's experience of the real world, including the inner world of their own consciousness. In-serving this function, language also gives structure to experience, and helps to determine our way of looking at things, so that it requires some intellectual effort to see them in any other way than that which our language suggests to us. The interpersonal function of language is used for communication, for establishing and maintaining social relations: for the expression of social roles, which include the communication roles created by language itself--for example, the roles of questioner or respondent, which we take on by asking or answering a question; and also for getting things done, by means of the interaction between one person and another. Through this function social groups are delimited, and the individual is identified and reinforced, since by enabling them to interact with others, language also serves in the expression and development of their own personality. © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Nila totalidad ni parte de la mismaInglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria Pag. 7 These two basic functions, to each of which corresponds one broad division in the grammar of a natural language, are also reflected in Bernstein’s studies of educational failure, of great interest to EFL teachers. Bernstein’s work suggests that in order to succeed in the educational system, a child must know how to use language as a means of learning, and how to use it in personal interaction; these can be seen as specific requirements on his control of the ideational and interpersonal functions of language. According to Halliday (1970), there is a third function of language. Language has to provide for making links with itself and with features of the situation in which it is used. We may call this the textual function, since this is what enables the speaker or writer. to construct texts, or connected passages of discourse that is situationally relevant, and enables:the listener or reader to distinguish a text from a random set of sentences. One aspect of the’ textual function is the establishment of cohesive relations from one sentence to another in discourse. 4. LANGUAGE IN USE. 4.1, SPEECH ACTS AS EXAMPLES OF LANGUAGE IN USE. © Each sentence, taken as a whole, is designed to serve a specific function. It may be meant to inform listeners, warn them, order them to do.something, question them about a fact, or thank them for a gift or act of kindness. The fun it serves is critical to communication. Speakers expect listeners to recognize the functions of: the.sentences they speak and to act accordingly. But just how is this function of sentences to be characterized? And how does each (1962) and Searle (1969) in their theory of * speech, acts.” According to them, every time speakers utter a sentence, they are re, aftempting ae Spee with the words. the: interpersonal, interactional or communicative "act's a unit of linguistic communication, which is Pfagmatic rules, and which functions to convey a speaker's conceptual. representations and intentions (Dore, 1974). In speech act theory it is assumed that the minimal.unit of communication is not a word or a sentence, but the performance of an act such as.asking’a question, giving a command, thanking, and so on. The speech act is a larger conceptual unit than the syntactic and semantic units, which serves to categorize meanings of utterances in terms of the intended effect by the speaker on the listener or environment. function is called a speech act: expressed according to gfammati The: idea that: led to the concept of speech act was introduced by Wittgenstein, who suggested that. speakers can play the following “games” with language: giving orders and obeying them; describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements; constructing an object from a description or drawing; reporting an event; speculating about an event; forming and testing a presenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagrams; making up a story and reading it; play-acting; singing catches; guessing riddles; making a joke; telling a joke; solving a problem in practical arithmetic; translating from a language into another; asking; thinking; cursing; greeting; and praying. (Wittgenstein, 1958, pp. 11-12). The concept of speech act was first introduced by John Austin (1962). He theorized that discourse is composed not of words or sentences, but of speech acts. Searle (1965) strengthened this point by stating, “it is the (...) performance of the speech act that constitutes the basic unit of linguistic communication”. According to Austin, each speech act can be analyzed into three parts: locutions, or propositions; illocutions, or intentions; and © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma nuede renrnducirsa a transmitirsa oor ninatin procedimiento electrénico a mecanico. incluvendo fotocopia, graba- Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 8 perlocutions, or the listener’s interpretations. Searle further clarified the work begun by Austin and redefined Austin’s illocutions, or illocutionary acts. He proposed illocutionary act categories including the following: 1) Representatives: Statements that convey a belief or disbelief in some proposition, such as an assertion, and can be judged for truth value. 2) Directives: Attempts to influence the listener to do something, such as a demand or command, by means not only of clear imperatives, but also of embedded imperatives (Can we get ready dn time? = Hurry up!), statements of personal need (I need you to do something) , permission directives (May-I talk to you without interruption?), question directives (Have you finished? = Finish now!), hints (This room is so messy = Tidy it up!), etc. 3) Commissives: Commitments of self to some future: course of action, such as a vow, promise, or swearing (I promise...; I will if I:can;-I’m free at 4:00; You know how busy I am, all of them likely to mean “Not now")... 4) Expressives: Expressions of a psychological state,...such as thanking, apologizing, complimenting, expressions‘ of joy, like or dislike, disappointment, or deploring. Typical of poetic language “alte a state of affairs, such vife/innocent; Abracadabra, now 5) Declaratives: Statements of as “I confer upon you; I decla you're a frog!” In order to be successful i communication ‘by.means of language, speech acts have to meet certain felicity conditions; for exary ple, a marriage ceremony can only be performed by someone with the authority to-do. so, ‘ala e consent of the parties agreeing to the a ‘speech act consists of the conceptual content of the utterance, or its meaning. The speaker's ‘attitude toward the proposition is found in the illocutionary force, that. is, the speaker's intentions rather than his/her actual words. For example, the one-word. proposition candy can be altered in several ways with gestures and intonation. A rising intonation and*a: quizzical look might convey a question, whereas pointing might signify a labelling type of utterance. Reaching while whining the word candy might be considered:a demand or request for the item. Thus an utterance with fixed form and semantic content-can fulfil several:intentions. The:reverse Is also possible; several different forms or propositions can fulfil a single intention ‘or: function. For example, you can ask for the salt using many different forms, including: Please, pass the salt. May I have the salt, please? Salt, please. Does this dish taste like it needs more salt? Is the salt over there? Where's the salt? This leads to the notion of indirect speech acts, illustrated by the following example: although in English the standard way to command someone to do something is to use the imperative form, that is not the only way. It can also be done with declarative constructions, interrogative constructions, and other special devices, as illustrated below: © ECOEM, S.A. ~ 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningun procedimiento electrénico ° mecanico, incluyendo fotocopla, graba-Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 9 Direct command: Open the door. Indirect command: Can you open the door? Would you mind opening the door? The door should be open. Why not open the door? Havent you forgotten to do something? I would prefer the door open. You will open the door right this minute or else. Its hot in here. Obviously, the particular form of the speech act is somewhat dependent upon the communicative context. Speakers expect listeners to recognize the functions of the sentences they say, and to act accordingly. Whenever they ask a question, for example, they expect their listeners to realize that it is a request for information. If the listeners fail to appreciate this intention, they are judged as having misunderstood, even though may have. taken in everything else about the utterance. Speech act theorists attem| jo beyond the literal meaning of words and sentences by classifying utterances accord to their-implicit, rather than explicit functions. 4.2. DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF LANGUAGE USE Language use is a class of human activity hich language is but one ingredient. Language use is more than language structure . That*may be its body, its outward form, but its soul lies in the intentions and acti participants toward one another. To understand language use, we must look beyond the structure of language to the activity itself. The essence of these activities can. be -organized around four dimensions. These dimensions let us represent the, main factors that.go into a speaker's choice of what to utter, and a listener's understanding‘ of what the speaker meant. The bipersonal dimension: of language use consists of a purposive relation between a speaker and a listener. These two-base many of their dealings on their cultural common ground their mutual knowledge, beliefs, and suppositions. When two people engage in a social process in’ Which: the. actions: of one depend in part on the actions of the other, they must choose their: actions ‘in part:based on what they take to be their common ground. This principle doesn’t change: when that social process brings in language. The ‘relation between the speaker and the listener is defined by the two notions, introduced by’ H: Paul Grice in 1957, of speaker's meaning and listener's understanding (or recognition) of that meaning. This would be impossible without reference to their common ground (which also includes recognition of social status, place, time, etc.). This bipersonal dimension will also determine the sentences produced by the speaker. Given the discourse and the intention to produce a sentence with the right message, speakers must select one that will do this. They must decide on the speech act and on the thematic structure, what to put as subject, as given and new information, and what to subordinate to what, according to the speaker's judgments about the listener’s current mental states. © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 10 Speakers must also decide how they want to convey their message: directly, by means of the literal meaning of a sentence, or indirectly, by means of irony, understatement, or other rhetorical devices. 2) +The audience dimension. Different listeners may be assigned different roles at any point in a conversation. Five basic types of listeners are shown below: . Self (Monitor) . Others: Participants: = Addressee. 2 Side Participant. Overhearers: = Bystander. = Eavesdropper. The speaker listens to his/her own utterances for bad phrasing and:outright errors and corrects them as he/she goes along. This way he/she-assumes the role of self-monitor. Other listeners divide into those who are truly participati the conversation at that moment, and those who are not, participants versus overhearers. earerscome in two main kinds. Bystanders are openly present during the Jer 1 hough they do not take part in it, whereas eavesdroppers listen in without th In designing his utterances,.the speaker must pay special attention to the distinction between two types of participants’ addressees (those:the utterance is addressed to and who are supposed to respond to it, for example a'question such as ‘Did you meet the new guest, Bob?’,) and side participants (partici jough that utterance was not addressed to them). The audience dimension distinguishes among a variety of listeners. Without this dimension we have no account of thé-ways the speaker tailors his/her utterances for distinct types of listeners,’ Nor can.we: explain how different types of listeners are led to different interpretations of the same utterance. When there is more than one listener, the audience dimension is just.as.important as the bipersonal dimension. 3) ‘The layered dimension. Language is also used in settings where there is layer upon layer of participants and communication. Each layer is constructed around several parameters: a principal, a respondent, a setting, a time frame, and a social process the principal and the respondent are engaged in. With layering we can make sense of a diversity of language uses. Conversation, personal letters, and certain other uses are normally managed in one or two layers. Works of fiction —novels, short stories, parables- take at least two layers. In Melville’s Moby Dick, the narrator Ishmael tells a story to his contemporaries at one layer, and Melville writes for us at one or two deeper layers. Shakespeare's Hamlet, like other plays, requires at least three layers: the layer with the characters Hamlet and Ophelia; the layer of the actors playing Hamlet and Ophelia; and the layer of Shakespeare creating a fiction for a contemporary audience. When we dictate a letter for a friend to our secretary, we are at one layer with our friend and, simultaneously, at a deeper layer with the secretary. © ECOEM, S.A. ~ 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Nila totalidad ni parte de la mismaInglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 11 Layering is also needed, then, to account for what we produce and understand, especially in complicated settings. To understand any use of language requires the recognition, however vague, of the whole pyramid of layers present at that time. The layered dimension is as critical as the bipersonal and audience dimensions in the design and interpretation of utterances in context. 4) The temporal dimension. Human activities take place in time, and language use is no exception. Speaking and listening are like playing ensemble. Speech is evanescent and the speaker and listener must synchronize their listening with their speaking, or communication will fail. This synchrony requirement has diverse consequences. One consequence is turn taking. For two people to converse, they must arrange for only one of them to speak at a time, and for the other to listen. This is accomplished through the well-known system of turn taking, as described, for example, by Sacks,.Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974). In this system only one person speaks at a time, except for: intervals. Further, the participants who are not speaking must attend closely to the current utterance to judge when ~ to take their own turns. Another consequence is sentential structure; Indeed, languages have evolved constituents (such as noun phrases and clauses) and.agreement (asin the gender of adjectives and nouns, and in the use of deixis) that appear to ‘provide precisely these ‘packages of information’ the listener is able to grasp in-precisely; the time:it: takes the speaker to produce them. A third consequence is discourse sirneture® “Speaker and listener must coordinate their entry into talk about a topic, thei f } through the topic, and their exit from it. Each conversation as a whole has opening and closing sections; each topic is opened and closed in turn; even interruptions and: sidesequ are opened and closed in synchrony by the participants. Such an entry-body- -exit: structure: :iS ubiquitous in conversation. Much language use,’ of, course, occurs when speaker and listener are at a distance in place or time or.-both. Think: of. letters, novels, newspaper reports, essays, telephone calls, television shows, and their kin.-In these the synchrony requirement is still present but in an altered form. The logic behind linearization is as pertinent in writing as in speaking. At first these four-dimensions appear to have little in common. The features they cover are too diverse. A closer look, however, reveals a common core that is central to language use: coordination of action. Each dimension specifies a set of elements that must be coordinated by the participants in the communication. Coordination is needed on the bipersonal dimension (Grice’s Cooperative Principle explains it), but it is also needed on the audience dimension. The speaker may design different utterances depending on what he/she wants the overhearers to understand, so it is only when the participants worry about the audience dimension too that they see what the speaker really means. (For example, when we say something with an implied meaning we want only the addressee to understand). Coordination on the layered dimension usually takes quite a different form. It is often achieved by the setting. In the theatre we expect the players on stage to act out parts written for them by a playwright, not to converse as themselves. In novels we expect the narrator and © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Nila totalidad ni parte de la misma nuadae ranradurirea n transmitirse oor ninatin orocedimiento electrénico o mecanico, incluyendo fotocopia, graba- i 4 j Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 12 the story he tells to be fictional, and both to be creations of an author. These settings automatically create the right layers for the words to be understood. Coordination on the temporal dimension takes the form of synchrony, as was mentioned earlier. These four dimensions, then, define elements that the participants in a communication need to coordinate. The fundamental problem is for the speaker and the listener to coordinate what (s)he means and what (s)he understands. But to do so they must regard all four dimensions at once. 5. NEGOTIATION OF MEANING. 5.1. PLANNING SPEECH AS PROBLEM SOLVING. In planning what to say speakers implicitly have a problem:to:solve, namely, what linguistic devices should be selected to affect the listener in the way: that the: speaker intends to. The solution to this problem is not easy. It requires a battery of considerations, including these five: 1) Knowledge of the listener: Depending on what speakers think listeners know, they will refer to a third person as she, door neighbour, or the woman over there. 2) The cooperative principle: Spea ers: expect their listeners to assume that they are trying to ooperative-*that they are trying to tell the truth, be informative, be relevant,’andebe clear-“They can therefore say What a glorious day out! on a rainy day,<1 for example, and be confident that their listeners will catch the irony.: : % 3) The reality principle: Speakers expect their listeners to assume they will talk about somprEly nsible events, states, and facts. Thus the invented compound e construed as “shoes made from alligators”, not as “shoes for: alligators”, an-unreal possibility analogous to the legitimate horseshoes. 4) The: social context: Different social contexts lead to different vocabularies. Depending'-on- the listener's status, a speaker will address him as Floyd or Mr. - Thursby, and depending on the formality of the situation, they will refer to police as policemen or cops. 5) The linguistic devices available: Many things speakers may want to talk about have no ready linguistic expression. To refer to an odd-looking house, one may have to use a circumlocution like ranch-style cottage with California Gothic trim, simply because no better single expression is available. For many, the term problem-solving may suggest that people are consciously weighing alternatives and making explicit choices. In mathematics, problem solving implies involving countless decisions and processes that are not open to conscious inspection. In the planning of what to say, too, the problem solving is usually accomplished so quickly and easily that people are not aware of what they are doing. Planning is a process with choices, heuristics (the use of experience and practical efforts to find answers to questions), and a goal to be accomplished; it © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos, Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningiin procedimiento electrénico o mecanico, incluyendo fotocopia, graba-Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 13 is open to mistakes and corrections; and it takes time. With these and other characteristics, it is appropriately viewed as a kind of problem solving. 5.2. IMPLIED MEANING AND THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE. Discourse, whatever the genre, has certain important features: for instance, it is connected (i.e. it does not consist of unrelated sequences); it has a purpose; and it is a cooperative effort. These features give rise to a general principle of communication, the Cooperative principle, which participants are expected to observe: Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. (Grice, 1975: 45) One of the most important notions which have emerged in text studies in recent years is that of ‘mplicature-the question of how it is that we come to understand: more than is actually said. Grice (1975) uses the term implicature to refer to what the: speaker means or implies rather than what s/he literally says. Implicature is not to be confused with non-literal meaning, for instance with idiomatic meaning. Idiomatic meaning is conventionat-and: its interpretation depends on a good mastery of the linguistic system in question, rather than on interpretation of a particular speaker's intended or implied meaning: in. a given context. For instance, in the following exchange: : A: Shall we go for a walk?.... 8: Could I take a rain check:on that? the successful interpretation .of B's response depends on knowing the conventional meaning of take a rain check in American:English (‘to.decline to accept an offer or invitation immediately but indicate willingness to “accept it at-a later date’), No conversational implicature is involved here, but the mere:use.of an’ liomatic“expression. Let's compare this with a similar exchange which does not involve the’use of an idiom, but conversational implicature itself: A: Shall we go for.a walk? B; It’s:raining. How does.A or anyone observing the scene, know how to relate the utterance It's raining--a,mere comment on the weather--to the question of going for a walk? Why do we assume: that It's raihing.is meant to be an answer to the above question? One answer is that we do itin order to maintain the assumption of coherence: If we do accept it as an answer, how do'we know how to interpret it? Does it mean No, we'd better not, because it's raining; OK, but we'd better take an umbrella, or perhaps Yes, be both like walking in the rain? It should be noticed that the same utterance Jt's raining can mean something totally different in a different context. Implied meaning which is not signalled with textual resources derives from the Cooperative Principle and a number of maxims associated with it: quantity, quality, relevance (relation), and manner: 1) Quantity: a) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current Purposes of the exchange). b) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required. © ECOEM, S.A. ~ 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 14 2) Quality: Try to make your contribution one that is true, specifically: a) Do not say what you believe to be false. b) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence. 3) Relevance: Make your contributions relevant to the current exchange. 4) Manner: Be perspicuous, specifically: a) Avoid obscurity of expression. b) Avoid ambiguity. c) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity). d) Be orderly The principles outlined above provide points of orientation ‘tather,than, strict: rules which have to be followed by some language users: We can and do refuse: to, adhere to.the maxims in some situations: for example, a participant may try to avoid adhering to one or more maxims in order to evade a topic or question. This is often the case in political..interviews. Grice's Principles provide a point of orientation for Participants, even when the maxims are flouted, so that flouting them is recognized as a way of exploiting:the convention in order to convey an intended meaning. 6. CONCLUSION. The different phenomena discussed. in this topic are of primary importance in foreign language teaching, by revealing the-real:nature of communication by means of language, and also by giving direct guidance as.to, what: leach aiid how to do it. ynicative’teaching has been possible since the process of n:the other hand, defining functions of language, first in More “and more detailed forms (from macrofunctions to builders to find a principle according to which the rest of last'modern syllabi are functional, at least in greater part. Finally, modern teaching takes into account the possibility of communication not perfect, because we know that the Process of negotiation of meaning 2 such a situation to reach a common understanding in the end. What is ng: investigated and has still not been confirmed is whether negotiation of meaning contributes to-acquisition or not. communication was clearly defined® global terms and then’ i microfunctions), help’ syllab linguistic material. is presented: © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma eos ae fate ee TF nonandintnntn alacteiminn mn marknlon inchuanda fatneania arsha_Toma 3 (secundaria 15. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES (TOPIC). BIBLIOGRAPHY Soke M951 er Wars Lend a Now Yr: Roda, are ih (197) For Omer of Langage ser). Veschucen fern (eda) The Pagmane Papa, Krauss nt Bean 2 Crt H 8 Ct E1977. Bilas al Lacuna New Yor: ame. 191, Tne Sasi of freh Lata Lean, Leon 8 Hew “rt Lorman [eau aa Unie eprey, Sevt: Pubescens ea UnNest o sm yor) (6) 170. Neu ons nti Pees, artes Gin, dsr pur ata a enum Bacon; Econ Sea oo ‘es Language Deskpent An asada, Ne a rn. oe, v.16: noi ans on Yes CBE Clee REFERENCES. ‘sin 3190, Monn aT a ars Onc: Oo ey Pes Benstan. 1970. A-Socoinadei Aad: a Socal, Gampere nd Se, 197. me eanent ash cs: Yew YOR: cx ety (Site I». 4975) opiandcniesoton iL Cle & Ltr (0s), ‘Sescand Sma, Sat ats New fo dec Ps. Ruias MR apes fence ar rage cto 2 0s (ci) Mista emacs, Pe, gone sete se stlamiane fi See eS E, a Detonon & 1576 snpt ons fr he of uring or cvaratn. aaa, 069735, SOUR eka smack meh Boe), Bay don Gage a wn, 21298 “ate ne oun ats poy ‘Witgewzan 1958. ew Yoke Het 8 J. BIBLIOGRAPHY. Leyes Bacto 1006, LOGS, LOPECCE yLOCE). nkacnECDEN, St, ae Tees Eacabar Vp (LODE y LO) Fein CDE, Sea, 2007. {& cpenesde exeacn (C08) Reh ECDEM, So 26. ‘Ale tas rer y gd robes (or), ey Aci oa of ‘sored Baas en Ves funda E2064, Sell, 207, Ste eta Fuente tara (Cone) ab note Fan EON, Se 7 Fetes Ame, Goat Pomaiee y Sie Reine Sines (Come). (odo oct Atta Exon anaes ECO, Se, 207 Angids, Tema 3 (Secuedarts) +o Amano Grade Rutile y Jen Gia Pueta, Gime Babar ena Progranscdn do Avo en Enseloa Sendo. Fancin ECOEM, Se, ud Anniosbur Hue eet Gin Peta Gino Ebooar Uns hts n mst Seca. uracin ECDEN, sr 207 + Jean Gina | Oman Le Decara Bole’ expo Euope” co ‘Etre Suaror Fon CDM, Sei, 208 +r ta Stans Lov ao eae ECON (Gut Picea pe Krar ‘jr Fans ECE, Sea, 207 ("Ean ete arp. + Re aust Pacer y Yori Conoat afar (Cour) faa pace |S ude (Pops de Actes) Paras ECOEM,Sevil, 207 INTERNET LINKS. 4+ nape ham ma seers 01704. + hep: are oalamnaiaresiey tems bepiabdec subg cfdccaleenaric i, $7 Se Tin autetuucese'o rementiree por rangun procadimuante shecranice 0 mache, Icyende ORSCapD, abe CL cl etree eed ‘Seto mosarana mame or gun pcan eecramess enna weapon eta oeInglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 17 10. SAMPLE SUMMARY Introduction The way in which the process of linguistic communication has been understood over recent decades has changed many times. One of the decisive factors in the definition of communication is the definition of language itself. Therefore, both are going to be analysed in the first two parts of this presentation, setting out the most relevant theories. Next, functions ascribed to language by such authors as Jakobson or Halliday are presented. Finally, we take a look at the current state of considerations on the questions of language in use and the negotiation of meaning, which are of primary importance to modern foreign. language teaching theory. The communication process According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, communication is defined as the. exchange of meanings between individuals through a common system of symbols. ‘This way of defining communication is a result of scientific work done in the last century. Most of the definitions and models of communication which followed have been mainly based upon. the theory of communication developed by Shannon and Weaver and published in 1948.:It was linear, i.e. it did not account for the fact that the receiver of the:message can provide feedback to the sender (which the latter usually expects). id not account for the fact that communication involves constant changes of. ait. the ‘fecéiver and the sender. In order to compensate for those shortcom proposed a whole theory of communication which involved the desc! athe» pro ss and of functions (described below). The way in which communicati takes, placewin, the model car be explained in the following way: addresser sends a message to the’receiver or addressee; to be operative, the message requires a context referred:to, Understandable to the addressee, a code, fully or partially common to the addresser ‘andsaddressee and a contact, a physical channel of communication. The different elements art efore defined as follows: - addresser: the person:who originates the message, - addressee: he, personito whom the message is addressed, - channel: the medium through which the message travels, - message: the content and particular grammatical and lexical choices of the message, # code: language or dialect, : context: social or physical circumstances of communication. Functions of language Jakobson’s description of communication process allowed him to define language functions, focusing upon one element of the process for each function: - emotive: communicating the inner states and emotions of the addresser (Ouch”), - conative: seeking to affect the behaviour of the addressee (“Drink!"), - phatic: making sure that the channel is working (‘Are you still there?”), - referential: carrying information (“It’s raining now’), ‘ - poetic: in which the particular form chosen is the essence of the message (Beanz meanz Heinz’), - metalingual: focusing attention on the code itself “Baum” means “tree”’). 2 ee © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Nila totalidad ni parte de la misma eiewecetn bn i | i ] Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 18 The names of function may-change from author to author (e.g. referential is sometimes called representational) by different authors and we can even find additions to this list, like the contextual function proposed by Dell Hymes (“Right, let's start the lecture”). Another typology of functions was proposed by Halliday for adult and proficient users of English (in his theory, learners of a language use different and more numerous functions which later combine to form the three presented here). He proposes three functions which take into account the pragmatic aspects of language. They manifest themselves in the following situations: intrapersonal - when we use language in our minds to formulate thoughts; interpersonal — when we communicate with other people; and textual - when we create discourse which is situationally relevant. Language in use Each sentence, taken as a whole, is designed to serve a specific function when we use the language to communicate. It may be meant to inform listeners; warn:them, order them to do something, question them about a fact, or thank them for a gift or act of kindness. One of the first theories which was developed to explain how language is used was. the speech act theory. The term speech act was explained by Austin in his work How to Do. Things with Words (1962) to refer to acts performed by utterances, for example giving orders or making promises. In saying “I name this ship the Queen Mary”, one performs an act of naming, for instance, and which corresponds to the intention of the person who‘uttered it: Therefore, we can say that each utterance has a meaning which can be defived from the 1 eaning:of words and structures (locutionary force) but they also reflect the’ speaker's intention (illocutionary force). The addressee’s interpretation of the speaker's message’is ‘called’ perlocutionary. From another point of view, when we speak we perform, locutionary or illocutionary acts. Searle identified five types of illocutionary acts: Boe 1) Representatives: Statements that convey a belief or disbelief in some proposition, such as an assertion;.and can be judged for true value. 2) Directives: Attempts: to influence the listener to do something, such as a demand orcommand,:by means of not only clear imperatives, but also of embedded imperatives (Can we get ready in time? * hurry up!), statements of personal need (I. Aeed:you to do s.t.), permission directives (May I talk to you without interruption?), question directives (Have you finished? =Finish now!), hints (This room is so messy = Tidy it up!), etc. 3) Commissives: Commitments of self to some future course of action, such as a . Vow, promise, or swearing (1 promise...; I will if 1 can; I'm free at 4:00; You _- know how busy 1 am, all of them likely to mean “Not now”). 4) .‘Expressives: Expressions of a psychological state, such as thanking, apologizing, complimenting, expressions of joy, like or dislike, disappointment, or deploring. Typical of poetic language. 5) Declaratives: Statements of fact that presume to alter a state of affairs, such as “I confer upon you; I declare you man and wife/innocent; Abracadabra, now you're a frog!” In order to be successful in communication by means of language speech acts have to meet certain felicity conditions; for example, a marriage ceremony can only be performed by someone with the authority to do so, and with the consent of the parties agreeing to the marriage. Finally, speech acts may be direct or indirect, e.g. “Shut the door, please” and “Hey, it’s cold in here” both have the same illocutionary force. © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma cents panenducires « tranemitirea nar ninatin neoradimientn elertrénicn 0 mecAnicn. Incluvendo fotaconla. araba-Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 19 Another view of language use is seeing it as organized around four dimensions. These dimensions represent the main factors that go into a speaker's choice of what to utter, and a listener’s understanding of what the speaker meant: 1) The bipersonal dimension, which consists of a purposive relation between a speaker and a listener. 2) The audience dimension, in which different listeners may be assigned different roles at any point in a conversation, like addressee or eavesdropper. 3) The layered dimension, which refers to settings where there is layer upon layer of participants and communication. Each layer is constructed around several parameters: a principal, a respondent, a setting, a time frame, and a social process the principal and the respondent are engaged in. 4) The temporal dimension, based on the fact that human activities take place in time, and language use is no exception. The consequences are turn taking, sentential and discourse structure of language communication. These four dimensions thus define elements that the participants: in a: communication need to coordinate. The fundamental problem is for the speaker and the listener to coordinate what (s)he means and what (s)he understands. But to do so they must regard all four dimensions at once. Negotiation of meaning re that:their communicative intentions :nto take into account a number of When using language, speakers havé'to:r are understood and interpreted correctly. They considerations, such as: 1) Knowledge of the listener: Depending on what speakers think listeners know, they will refer. to.a:third person as she, my next door neighbour, or the woman over there..> : aS 2) The cooperative principle: Speakers expect their listeners to assume that they are trying to be cooperative--that they are trying to tell the truth, be informative, be relevant, and be clear. They can therefore say What 2 glorious day, out! on a rainy.,day, for example, and be confident that their listeners will catch, the irony. 3)... The reality principle: Speakers expect their listeners to assume they will talk about. comprehensible events, states, and facts. Thus the invented compound alligator-shoes will be construed as “shoes made from alligators”, not as “shoes for alligators”, an unreal possibility analogous to the legitimate horseshoes. 4) © “The social context: Different social contexts lead to different vocabularies. Dépending on the listener's status, a speaker will address him as Floyd or Mr. Thursby, and depending on the formality of the situation, they will refer to police as policemen or cops. 5) The linguistic devices available: Many things speakers may want to talk about have no ready linguistic expression. To refer to an odd-looking house, one may have to use a circumlocution like ranch-style cottage with California Gothic trim, simply because no better single expression is available. One of the most important notions which have emerged in relation to negotiation of meaning in recent years is that of /mplicature-the question of how it is that we come to understand more than is actually said. Grice (1975) uses the term implicature to refer to what the speaker means or implies rather than what s/he literally says. Implicature is not to be © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de ta misma nuede reoraducirse o transmitirse por ningtin procedimiento electrénico o mecanico, incluyendo fotocopia, graba- | i i { i i | | i | | Inglés, Tema 3 (Secundaria) Pag. 20 confused with non-literal meaning, such as idiomatic meaning. Idiomatic meaning is conventional and its interpretation depends on a good mastery of the linguistic system in question, rather than on interpretation of a particular speaker's intended or implied meaning in a given context. Conclusion The different phenomena discussed in this topic are of primary importance in foreign language teaching, first by revealing the real nature of communication by means of language, and also by giving direct guidance as to what to teach and how to do so. The shift towards communicative teaching has been made possible since the. process of communication was clearly defined. On the other hand, defining functions of language; first in global terms and then in more and more detailed forms (from macrofunctions to microfunctions), help syllabus builders to find a principle according to which the rest of linguistic material is presented. Most moder syllabi are functional, at.least.in‘greater: part. Finally, modern teaching takes into account the possibility of communication even if learner talk is not perfect, because we know that the process of negotiation of'meaning enables the speakers in such a situation to reach a commoni-understanding in the end. What is still being investigated and not finally confirmed is whe egotiation of meaning contributes to acquisition or not. ae © ECOEM, S.A. — 902 930 870 — www.ecoem.es — central@ecoem.es Esta publicacién se encuentra registrada, estan reservados todos los derechos. Ni la totalidad ni parte de la misma puede reproducirse o transmitirse por ningun procedimiento electrénico o mecanico, incuyendo fotocopia, graba- ie ie ee Ge a gulese ce cag Rar atebacen dn eronnemaliea ninimnemicn nneihe AS EPAEM © 8