Linguistics and communication

Psychology Press eBooks, 2013

Copyright 1951, by the McGraw-Hill Book. Company. Inc. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission of the pubUshers. First published as a McGraw-Hill Paperback in 1963. This manuscript was begun in the summer of 1946, when the author first tried to select a text for an undergraduate course entitled The Psychology of Speech and Communication. No text could be found. The choice was between assigning six or seven different books or no book at all. This annoyance pro- vided a stimulus. Now, five years and two mimeographed versions later, the response to this stimulus has been completed. The outcome is a book aimed at upper-class undergraduate or graduate courses in the psychology of communication. Cormnimication, if it is anything at all, is a social event. The spread of information through a group of people is one of the most important social events that can occur. When one tries to assemble the facts about this important social event, however, the data come from all fields of science. The diversity of sources has made the job an exacting one. One is never certain that some- thing of vital importance is not hiding in an obscure transaction of a mathe- matical, philological, phonetic, sociological, anthropological, philosophical, or engineering society. The author does not want to suggest that he has either read all this literature or evaluated it correctly. This text is not an encyclopedia of linguistics. There are a lot of facts here, but certainly not all of them. The purpose was to pull together in one book the more important approaches to the study of communicative behavior. In an introductory and necessarily superficial way the book tries to suggesLOie breadth of the spectrum of Unguistic studies. These various approaches are discussed in terms that make sense to a modern psychologist. The bias is behavioristic-not fanatically behavioristic, but certainly tainted by a preference. There does not seem to be a more scientific kind of bias, or, if there is, it turns out to be behaviorism after all. The careful reader wiU discover occasional subjective lapses. Undoubtedly in these instances, a scientific approach is possible, but the author was unable to find one or think of one. The argument nonetheless goes as far down the behavioristic path as one can clearly see the way. It is necessary to be expUcit about this behavior- istic bias, for there is much talk in the pages that follow about patterns and organizations. Psychological interest in patterning is traditionally subjective, but not necessarily so. Discussion of the patterning of symbols and the influences of context run through the manuscript like clotheslines on which the variegated laundry of language and communication is hung out to dry. It VI PREFACE is not pleasant to think that these clotheshnes must be made from the sand of subjectivity. It is a pleasant chore to recaU help received from others. Professor C. T. Morgan deserves the reader's gratitude for his corrections of many obscurities and some downright mistakes. Professor S. S. Stevens' dogged persistence as an editor and critic made it possible to avoid some of the stylistic hazards an author can put in the reader's way. Doctor J. G. Beebe-Center has taken some of the argiunents seriously enough to answer them with criticism and encouragement. Doctor D. A. RamsdeU has never tired of contending that language is even more comphcated than this book pretends to find it. Doctor M. R. Rosenzweig gave valuable criticisms of the first draft, Doctor R. L. Solomon made numerous improvements in Chap. 9, and Professor B. F. Skinner was kind enough to read Chap. 8. Doctors F. C. Frick, E. B. Newman, and J. C. R. Lickhder scuttled many of the author's thoughtless thoughts before they could become embarrassing in less congenial gatherings. Professor Roman Jakobson helped to reduce the number of linguistic blunders, and Doctor Yehoshua Bar-HiUel provided similar advice on several points of logic. The most valued critics, however, have been the undergraduates whose examination papers were faithful mirrors of their teacher's inadequacies. Against all these friendly critics is balanced the one person who was never critical, who t)q)ed four versions of the manuscript and mimeographed two, and who had persistent faith that the job was worth doing. Students and colleagues were helpful, but without the unwavering interest and industry of Katherine James Miller, the job would not have been done. Some of the writing was done while the author held a position in the Psycho- Acoustic Laboratory. Good use was made of the laboratory's secretarial, drafting, and photographic faciUties. Consequently, this book appears as PNR-100 from the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory, Harvard University, under contract with the United States Navy, Office of Naval Research (Contract N5ori-76, Project NR142-201), and reproduction for any purpose of the United States government is permitted. PREFACE VU 1939, pp. 59, 61; Prentice-Hall, for the quotation in Chap. 12, from C. W.

International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy

Linguistics is generally agreed to be the scientific study of language. There is nevertheless debate about what constitutes proper scientific study (the methods and theories underpinning linguistic analysis) and what is encompassed by the term language (the object of linguistic analysis). However, while there is still heavy emphasis placed in much of present-day linguistics on the analysis of language form and structures that are abstracted or idealized away from the particulars of communication, there is increasingly a range of linguistic theories that readily engage with linguistic form and structure as key resources that influence the ways in which we communicate with others. Understanding the diverse range of offerings in linguistics is thus of critical importance for scholars of communication wishing to draw from it in theorizing or analyzing communication.

Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 2002

2025

New Paradigm in Business and Education, 2020

Language as a conceptual aspect acts as a medium between the individuals and the community. This chapter is directed at the linguistic aspect in the process of communication assisted by some qualitative research reviews and the researchers' conventional perspectives on the role of language in the context of communication. With the prevailing assumption that the linguistic framework is the one significant aspect of the verbal communication process apart from the cultural and ethnic background of people, that too reflects in the communicative practices. Human communication is full of complexities due to misinterpretation and misunderstanding between the communicators. The contemplation over the role of language in communication is acknowledging the amount of information, supported by the coherent articulation of speech. The adaptation of language relies upon the circumstances and finds its variation in contexts of distinct situations. The use of words, the intonation of speech, the facial expression, the body language of an individual, and the social-cultural environment, altogether help form productive communication.

Journal of Neurolinguistics, 2017

The beginning of the human language story Half a century ago, Eric Lenneberg (1967) wrote "The Biological Foundations of Language" and Noam Chomsky (1968) "Language and Mind". Both pioneered from different perspectives research on the neurobiological and cognitive underpinning of the human language system. In turn, many different research programs emerged to examine how structures can be mapped onto computations and how they correspond to properties of the human brain and vice versa. Specific questions about "language evolution", that is about how the biological capacity for language emerged or evolved, have been mainly left out until Paul Bloom and Steven Pinker (1989) took up this issues in the late 80s by publishing their seminal work on "Natural Language and Natural Selection". In the last ten years, research on the biology and evolution of language resurfaced as a mainstream research agenda in many disciplines and reflects a truly multidisciplinary endeavor, including in cognitive science and linguistics. In this vein, here a collection of rather diverse but distinguished contributions are presented by experts from different disciplines to further the discussion about what human language is and how its biological foundations might have emerged or evolved in our species. Many aspects are controversially discussed and must remain without doubt to be mysterious. New data produced faster than ever close often those differences but raise at the same time new challenging questions. Since Charles Darwin (1871) published in "The Descent of Man" his view on language as one of the most important distinction between "man and the lower animals" by emphasizing at the same time the similarity between animal and human communication, some questions are fundamental and current as before. These questions include the biological capacity of language, whether this capacity is specific to language or comprises other cognitive domains such as music or mathematics, how is language related to the theory of mind, mentalizing or intentionality, did other species in the human lineage used "language", did the biological capacity of language and/or cognition gradually evolve, which brain structures or circuits sustain language and what is the relationship of phenotypic plasticity such as preference for (certain) language structures and successful biological adaptation (if such a relationship exists). Various studies demonstrate that language is not an isolated and encapsulated module, which operates completely independent of other cognitive domains (e.g., Fadiga, Craighero, & D'Ausilio, 2009; Hillert, 2014). Syntactic principles of language seemed to be shared with other human-specific cognitive domains to various degrees: rhythmic synchronization in music (e.g.,

Language has many definitions, and is viewed as an important medium of communication. It is also considered a unique human trait. However, a review of many theories of communication shows that language is probably not as critical to communication as is generally believed. For example, the work of the Ethnolinguists and the Semiologists only helps to highlight the improbability of effective communication. Even the Mathematical Theory demonstrates that the more distorted a message, the more informative it appears to be. Research also shows that we might even be predisposed by our genders to view realities in different ways. Further, the study of Kinesics reveals that there exists a range of patterned body motion behaviour, limited to a particular culture, which might account for a phenomenal 93% of the meaning that is generated in any interaction. Therefore, an accurate use of language (if there were such a thing) cannot by itself ensure communication effectiveness. What is needed is a better understanding of Kinesics and the myriad factors that affect emotions. We also need to know how emotions affect the communication process and the consequent generation of meaning; which, is more than the sum of the signs, symbols, and signals that constitute a message. Communication effectiveness depends more on how one feels, and makes others feel, rather than on how adept one is at using language. Thus, emotions seems to play a key role in the generation of meaning. They are, probably, intertwined with the process of perception and cognition; and are not a distinct process, as is generally believed

This 500-page best-selling book is the highly readable account of the this century's discovery that human language probably evolved and became a natural part of every human's biological and psychological character. Here, one of the world's leading linguists and mind-scientists tried very hard to explain much of language but fails to explain the deepest levels of neuronal activity. It will not change the way we talk about talking and think about thinking but it will amuse you for a few hours of fun.

Language holds a very important place in our lives. It is fundamental to everything we do. Without language, human civilization, as we know it, would have remained an impossibility. . In spite of the varied opinions about the origin of language, one thing that is quite clear is that it is present everywhere in our lives. . It is a very complex phenomenon. It is a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. So, the primary purpose of language is communication. It transmits information from a source to a receiver, operating with a set of signals, each signal having an arbitrary yet conventionally determined value. But language is not only a means of communication; it serves some other major functions also. Furthermore, language is not the only means of communication. There are some nonverbal signs such as eye- contact, facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, appearance, speed & physical touch also that serve as the means of communication. Even silence communicates. To sum up, we can say that in spite of there being a number of other non- verbal & non -linguistic signs to facilitate communication, none of them is so flexible, perfect, and extensive as language is. Language is the best means of self- expression. Most of the activities in the world are carried on with the help of language. It is chiefly through language that human inter-action takes place. It is the language that yokes the past, the present and the future also by serving as a means of communication.