The functions of speech and language

Language has many functions, far too many for me to describe here to understand those deployed in our play, it is imperative for us to refine our communication model(see figure 5.2 on p. ).

Figure 5.2: communication model of verbal communication (from Pfister)

The establishment of communication of any kind does not depend solely upon the presence of a sender and recipient. A channel is also required. A channel is the physical and psychological connection between sender and recipient. The presence of a message is also required. A message is a complex of signs transmitted through the channel. And there is off course the need for a (common) code which enables both the sender and the receiver to en- or decode the message. In doing so the content is revealed.

It must be noted that the sender's and recipient's code(s) are identical only in an ideal situation. In reality, they overlap, to a greater or lesser extent. Hence, the content decoded by the recipient is not identical with the content which the sender encoded in the message. And the message itself may be distorted by the channel's own noise.

Each of the positions in figure 5.2, namely sender, recipient, message, channel, code and content, corresponds with a communicative function of speech. The emotive or expressive function is linked with the sender. The appellative or 'conative' function which is used to influence the receiver, is linked to the receiver. The referential function is linked to the content and the poetic function which refers back reflexively to the specific essences and structures of the sign corresponds with the message. The phatic function is used to create and maintain communication is associated with the channel. And finally the metalingual function is associated with the code. All of these functions are clearly explained in the next figure:

Figure 5.3: The functions of language

I must emphasize that all of these functions work in the internal as well as the external communication systems. However, the function of a particular speech has within the internal communication system is not neccesarily the same as its counterpart in the external communication system. In the following sections all these function will be discussed in greater depth.