TOPIC 1.- Language & Communication. Language Functions. Communicative Competence

1. What students need to communicate
   1. general capacities
   2. linguistic capacities
2. CEF includes
   1. knowledge of the world
   2. sociocultural/intercultural knowldg
   3. skills & know-how
   4. existencial competence
   5. ability to learn
3. to achieve mastery
   1. communicative competence (brief expl.)

Annotations:

• Communication is the exchange & negotiation of information between at least two individuals through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols. Language is the system of symbols that we use so that communication takes place.

1. 2.1. ASPECTS OF SPEECH SITUATION
   1. Pragmatics
      1. meaning in relation to a speech situation, which results from

         Annotations:

         • Speech situations are verbal acts or 'speech acts'. These acts are perfomed through 'utterances'. The utterance is the product of speech acts.
         1. addesser (speaker/writer)
         2. addressee (hearer/reader)
            1. Leech: relationship of convenience
               1. Lyons: significant distinction:
                  1. receiver: person who receives and interprets message
                  2. addressee: person intended to receive message
         3. context
         4. goals
         5. utterance
            1. performs speech acts
            2. context of the utterance

               Annotations:

               • relevant aspects of the physical or social setting of an utterance
               1. Leech: any background knowledge assumed to be shared by speaker/hearer and which contributes to the hearer's interpretation of what the speaker means
               2. Halliday: it is shaped by the register and the genre

                  Annotations:

                  • Register: context of situation. Genre: context of culture
            3. Main goal: achieve a function/intention
         6. illocutionary acts
2. 2.2. SCHEMATIC MODELS OF COMMUNICATION
   1. Jakobson's model of communication
      1. addresser
      2. addressee
      3. context
      4. message (what is said/written)
      5. contact (physiscal connection speaker/hearer)
      6. code
   2. Halliday & Hasan's Systemic Functional Lingusitics: communication must be understood within the speech situation
      1. Field

         Annotations:

         • Content of the message, i.e the topic. It influences the language because it defines the degree of generality or specificity.
      2. Tenor

         Annotations:

         • Status and role relationships. It shapes language by considering the nature of the participants and their relation to each other (distance/power relationships)
      3. Mode

         Annotations:

         • Role and part that the text is playing: written/ spoken, Spontaneous/prepared...

1. 3.1 Formalism & Functionalism
   1. Formalism
      1. language as a mental phenomenon
      2. universals derive from a common genetic linguistic inheritance of human species
      3. Children language acquisition as a built- in human capacity
      4. language as an autonomous system
   2. Functionalism
      1. societal phenomenon
      2. universals deriving from the universality of uses to which language is put in societies
      3. Children language acquisition as a result of the child's communicative needs in society
      4. language is analysed in relation to social functions
   3. 3.1..1 Formal & Functional explanations of language
      1. Formal explanation
         1. Comsky's Transformational Grammar
            1. Language as a set of sentences
               1. sentences have meanings (senses) & pronunciation
                  1. Grammar defines a set of mappings to match particular senses to pronunciations
                     1. Grammar has three levels of representation
                        1. syntax (essential level in the mapping)
                        2. semantics
                        3. Phonology
      2. Functional explanation

         Annotations:

         • Language is defined and studied as a form of communication and therefore theories show how it works within the larger systems of human society. When we discuss meanings or intentions, we talk about purposes, goals and ends.
         1. Malinowsky
            1. Anthropological model
               1. magical function

                  Annotations:

                  • Ritual use of language for social or religious activities in a particular society.
               2. pragmatic function

                  Annotations:

                  • Practical use of language- active and narrative.
         2. Bühler
            1. It focuses on the individual
               1. Expressive fucntion

                  Annotations:

                  • It is oriented towards the self.
               2. conative

                  Annotations:

                  • oriented towards the addressee.
               3. representational

                  Annotations:

                  • Oriented towards the world.
         3. Jakobson
            1. referential

               Annotations:

               • It defines the relationship between the message and the object it refers to.
            2. emotive

               Annotations:

               • It refers to the attitude of the speaker towards the message, referent and context. 'It's raining cats and dogs'= melancholy or nuissance
            3. poetic

               Annotations:

               • Words and the aesthetics created by them are more important than the message. The goal of the message is to create beauty.
            4. conative

               Annotations:

               • Ir defines the relation between the message and the receiver. Reaction of the receiver.
            5. phatic

               Annotations:

               • Establishes, maintains or interrupts communication. Hello! Bye! Listen!
            6. metalingual

               Annotations:

               • Language is capable of speaking about itself.
         4. Popper
            1. Based on the evolution of human language

               Annotations:

               • There is a progression from lower to higher functions. In more primitive systems, expressive and signalling functions are more frequent.
               1. Expressive

                  Annotations:

                  • Using language to express internal states of the individual
               2. Signalling

                  Annotations:

                  • Using language to communicate information about internal states to other individuals
               3. Descriptive

                  Annotations:

                  • using language to describe the external world
               4. Argumentative

                  Annotations:

                  • using language to present and evaluate arguments and explanations
   4. 3.1.2. Halliday's Metafunctions
      1. Systemic Functional Linguistics
         1. semantic and functional orientation
         2. intends to explain how language is structured to be used in accordance with the contextual situation
         3. Language performs these functions in different ways, which are represented in the language system through metafunctions
            1. Ideational

               Annotations:

               • It is related to the speaker's or writer's experience of the world, used to describe events or states.
               1. experiential

                  Annotations:

                  • Grammatical choices that enable speakers to make meanings about the world around us and inside us.
               2. logical

                  Annotations:

                  • systems “which set up logical–semantic relationships between one clausal unit and another
            2. Interpersonal

               Annotations:

               • Language is used to express the speaker's roles in the interaction.
               1. MOOD system

                  Annotations:

                  • It allows the speaker to express his/her role by displaying a range of speech functions. These are embodied in the different mood types: indicative, imperative
                  1. allows to express the speaker's role by using speech functions
                     1. giving info/goods/services
                     2. Demanding info/goods/services
                  2. Mood types: indicative, imperative
                  3. Mood structures express interpersonal meanings
            3. Textual
               1. creates an appropriate context for the expression of ideational and interpersonal meanings
               2. The speaker makes lexico- grammatical choices, organises info to make a whole
         4. MEANING is the main expression of the functions
         5. Language organises itself around the ideational and interpersonal meanings/functions