Understanding Communication: Key Concepts and Text Types

Communication is the process by which a sender transmits a message to a receiver.

A sign is something (a set of sounds, a figure, a light) which suggests the idea of something else.

Schematic Diagram of Communication:

• Issuer: The one who prepares and sends the message.
• Receiver: The one who receives and interprets the message.
• Message: The information that the sender transmits.
• Context: The set of circumstances surrounding the communication.
• Code: The sign system used to develop the message.
• Channel: The medium that carries the message (visual, auditory).

Text: A complete message that is transmitted orally or in writing.

Classes of Texts:

According to the communicative intention, we can distinguish four types of texts:

• Informative: Aim to facilitate new knowledge.
• Persuasive: Convince the receiver of a proposed idea.
• Prescriptive: Seek to guide the action of the receiver.
• Literary: Try to create an aesthetic impression.

Language and Linguistics

Language: The faculty that allows humans to communicate.

Language: The language shared by a particular community. It consists of signs that are issued orally.

Linguistic Signs:

• Signifier: A set of sounds or writing used to express a concept.
• Signified: The idea or concept we associate with a signifier.

Speech: The use of language by a speaker to construct a message.

Bilingualism: When two languages have official recognition and coexist in a state of equality.

Diglossia: When one of the languages is in a socially inferior situation.

Organization of Language:

• Phoneme: The smallest units (e.g., a, d, r, e, i).
• Words: Combinations of phonemes.
• Utterances: Combinations of words.
• Texts: Combinations of utterances.

Word Classification: Lexeme and Morpheme

Word <Lexeme> <Morpheme>

Types of Morphemes:

• Inflectional: Gender, number.
• Derivational: Prefix, suffix.

Acronyms: Words formed by the initials of the terms that constitute them.

Narrative

Narrative: The story of real or fictional actions, carried out by characters.

• Internal Narrator: A character who is present in the story.
• External Narrator: Not participating in the events described.

Utterances

Utterances: A set of words by which an idea is expressed. Characteristics: phonic independence, complete sense.

Classes of Statements:

• Sentences: Statements that have one or more verbs in person.
• Phrases: Sentences without a verb in person.
• Interjections: Express feelings and impressions such as pain.