Essential Elements and Functions of Human Communication

Core Components of Communication

• Sender: The issuer who originates the communication and sends the first message; this can be a person, animal, or thing.
• Receiver: The individual or entity who receives the sender's message.
• Message: The specific content intended to be communicated.
• Code: A set of signs used to transmit the message.
• Channel: The physical medium through which the message is transmitted, such as air or a newspaper.
• Context: The extralinguistic situation and surrounding factors that influence the act of communication.

Functions of Language

• Expressive: Conveys moods, anxiety, or interest; often uses exclamations and interjections.
• Appellate: Messages designed to influence the recipient.
• Poetic: Focuses on the aesthetic shape and structure of the message.
• Metalinguistic: Focuses on the code to discuss language itself.
• Phatic: Uses language to verify the proper operation of the communication channel.
• Representative: Refers to the extralinguistic context to represent the world around us.

Understanding Signs

A sign is a physical reality perceived by the senses that refers to something else to transmit information.

• Natural Signs: Exist independently of human intervention and have a physical connection to the object they represent.
• Artificial/Verbal Signs: Basic oral and written communication.
• Non-Verbal Signs:
  • Signals: Influence human behavior or modify an action.
  • Icons: Signs that share a likeness with their object (e.g., maps, graphics).
  • Symbols: Arbitrary signs determined by convention or law to represent abstract ideas.

Speech Acts

• Direct Speech Acts: When the literal meaning matches the intended meaning.
• Indirect Speech Acts: When the statement must be interpreted in a different sense.
• Locutionary Act: The physical act of producing sound.
• Illocutionary Act: Expresses the speaker's communicative intention.
• Propositional Act: References made to the external world.
• Perlocutionary Act: The consequences or effects produced on the listener.

Phonetic Units

A syllable is a phonetic unit consisting of at least one vowel:

• Open Syllables: End in a vowel.
• Closed Syllables: End in a consonant.