Tema 1 1.1What is communication and what is language?

Communication is defined as exchange of ideas, information, between 2 or more individuals through a common system of symbols. In an act of communication there is at least one speaker, message, and a person - people to whom message is intended. It is not only performed by HB, but also by animals and complex machines. But linguistic communication is only produced by and between HB and what is being communicated must be something new to the receiver. It is the element of unexpectedness and unpredictability what makes communication what it is and the reason why it is hard to teach students to communicate by conventional teaching methods. Human beings use language to communicate but the exchange and negotiation of meaning may be achieved through either verbal and non-verbal symbols, oral or written models and production and comprehension processes. Human communication takes place through oral and written language, but it can also take place through visual, tactile, sound, or olfactory means. Language is a system of linguistic signs that are related according to rules that both, sender and receiver are familiar with. Therefore, language is a product of the society that uses, and it is adapted depending on the needs of the community it belongs to. From the big set of language definitions, we can point out: “Language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory symbols” (R.A. Hall, 1964). One of the most important contributions to this topic was Charles F. Hockett development of approach to comparative linguistics where he attempted to distinguish the similarities and differences among animal communication systems and human language. Hockett argued that while every communication system has some of the 13 design features, only human spoken language has all 13 features. In turn, this differentiates human spoken language from other types of communication. Hockett’s 13 Design Features of Language are:

• Auditory-vocal channel. The ability to participate in activities while simultaneously communicating through spoken language.

• Total feedback. The ability to hear yourself speaking and monitor your speech production.

• Arbitrariness. There is no limitation and connection between the sounds and the message.

• Traditional transmission. Human language is acquired and transmitted by a long process.

• Duality of patterning. The phonemes become meaningful when they are combined.

• Displacement. Speakers can talk about events remote in time and space.

• Productivity. The ability to create new meanings from existing utterances and sounds.

• Interchangeability. A person has de ability to both speak and hear the same signal.

• Structure dependence. Language operations depend on an understanding of the internal structure of a sentence, rather than on the number of elements involved.

• Discreteness. Phonemes can be placed in distinct categories which differentiate them.

• Specialization. Human language sounds are specialized for communication.

• Rapid Fading: Wave forms of human language dissipate over time, do not persist.

• Broadcast transmission and directional reception. Human language can be heard if it is within range of another person’s auditory channel and to determine the source of a sound.