2 Class Language and Communication Own

LANGUAGE AND
COMMUNICATION
Communicative Competence
A LOOK AT LANGUAGE
Two basic points of view:
• How language is constructed or structured
and the rules it follows, which we call
grammar, and how we refer to grammar to
say things correctly;
• What language does, how it achieves its
purpose (which is communication), and how
we use language to communicate successfully.
THREE LEVELS, OR COMPONENTS OF
LANGUAGE
• Sounds: small parts of language with no meaning
by themselves, such as vowels and consonants,
• Words, which are units of meaning, and can be
modified to change meaning. Example: cat, cats
(the s is added to indicate more than one cat)
• Sentences and phrases: words combined with
words to create rich and complex meanings:
"Cats are pets."
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
• If you learn the vocabulary and rules of
grammar in a foreign language, can you
successfully communicate with people in that
language? YES / NO
• Successful communication, which is
communicative competence, requires more
than grammar knowledge. WHAT?
• Language is social behavior, and in addition to
knowing how to form a grammatically correct
sentence, communicative competence
requires such knowledge as...
1. ...the social roles and status of the
interlocutors (people talking to each other).
Examples:
- Younger people often are expected to use
different ways of speaking when addressing
older people.
- An ordinary citizen would be expected to
speak respectfully to a president.
2...the background knowledge interlocutors
share:
- In the example above, I did not share the
background knowledge that "eat slowly" in
that context means "enjoy your meal."
- People often make verbal references to TV
shows, music, previous conversations, etc.,
assuming the listener is familiar with the
references.
3...what interlocutors are trying to accomplish in
their interaction:
- An American host saying to a guest, "Well, look
at the time!" means much more than the words
spoken; the host is trying to tell the guest it is
time to leave.
- A friend to a friend: "I like your shirt." In one
culture this might mean the friend wants the
shirt. In another culture it might be a compliment
(meaning "That is a nice shirt.")
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
• Successful communication requires
knowledge and awareness of social context
(which is part of the cultural context).
• The study of language as communication in
social context is called sociolinguistics, which
considers the effects of all aspects of society
on the way language is used.
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
• In simple terms, Sociolinguistics is the study
of...
who says what to whom...
and how...
in what situation...
and why.
SOCIOLINGUISTICS
• Analyzes all kinds of language interaction
(who speaks to whom and how) in terms of
differentiations such as gender, social class,
age, etc.
• Is concerned with context and setting, and
with the types of speech expected in events
such as talking on the telephone or greeting a
friend on a college campus. Example
Grammar
• rules and native speaker habits:

• examples in songs, narrative structures, etc
SPEECH ACTS
• Dell Hymes, the linguist who coined the term
communicative competence, was a pioneer in
the field of sociolinguistics.
• He proposed the term speech act to describe
a minimal unit of verbal communication.
SPEECH ACTS
• A speech act is what one intends to accomplish
with language, such as greet someone, give a
compliment, apologize, answer the telephone,
request information, offer a blessing, etc.
• A speech act takes place in a speech event,
which is the larger context of a speech act. The
largest level of context is the speech situation.
SPEECH ACTS: example
• To illustrate: My friend Mu-ling was
performing the speech act of requesting
information from Freeman, the speech event
was meeting an acquaintance, and the speech
situation was college students interacting on
campus. Each of these levels of context are
governed by cultural rules of communication,
many of which Mu-ling was unaware.
SPEECH ACTS
We may analyze the language that was used in
sociolinguistic terms as...
• Speech situation:
A meal in a Chinese home in honor of a foreign
guest.
• Speech event:
A gracious host speaking to an honored guest
• Speech act:
Expressing wishes of enjoyment, "a blessing"
SPEECH ACTS
• When examining a speech act, who the
speakers are and the situations they are in, :
gender, age, occupational/educational/ethnic
backgrounds must be taken into account.
• Attention must be paid to who is
complimenting whom, such as: family
members, co-workers, classmates, teacher to
student, student to teacher, and so on.
SPEECH ACTS
• Moreover, the topics discussed need to be
noted. All of these factors might have an
influence on the form of the speech act.

2 Class Language and Communication Own

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2 Class Language and Communication Own

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

2 Class Language and Communication Own

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LANGUAGE AND

• rules and native speaker habits:

You might also like