communication elements they relate to every aspect present in the communicative flow, from the moment the message is issued, to when it is received and understood. It is important to emphasize that these elements are present in any type of communication and can be altered to suit the context in question.
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What are the elements of communication?
We all perform communicative acts from the moment we wake up until we go back to sleep, and for that, we can use the verbal language written, spoken, as well as non-verbal language. For every moment we use this tool called language, consciously or intuitively, we check a minimum scheme, a structure that allows us to create and understand messages, as shown below.
This structure with the presence of six communication elements was disclosed by roman jakobson, Russian linguist and one of the great theorists who presented to the world studies related to language and communication.
According to his studies, in all communicative acts we can perceive the presence of six elements: sender (speaker), receiver (speaker), message, channel, code and referent. In the absence or misuse of one of the elements, it is said that there was noise in communication, which is to say that it was not successful. In this sense, it is important to know the elements, so that we can make good use of them and establish effective communicative acts.
- Issuer or announcer — who elaborates the message, who says.
- receiver or interlocutor — to whom the message is addressed, by whom it is captured.
- Message — verbal or non-verbal text itself, is the textual structure.
- Referent or context — the subject that permeates the communicative act.
- Channel or vehicle — the means by which the message is broadcast, disseminated, its driving vehicle.
- Code — the way the message is organized is a set of signs organized in a way that both the speaker and the interlocutor know and have access.
To better illustrate the elements, let us take as an example an expository class, taught by a Portuguese language teacher on communication elements.
- The announcer would be the teacher.
- The interlocutors would be the students.
- The message would be the oral text prepared by the teacher in her speech act.
- The referent would be elements of communication, the subject of the class.
- The channel would be the teacher's voice, driven by the air that enters and leaves her lungs, also using her vocal tract.
- The code would be the Portuguese language.
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What is the function of communication?
Human beings naturally have the need to communicate, since, through this process, we managed not only to establish our permanence on planet Earth, but also create communities, societies, develop technologies, knowledge, science, and, above all, we manage humanize us.
It is through communication that we we relate with each other, we build empathy and self-knowledge. Without it, it would not be possible, for example, to perform exchanges ideas, feelings, opinions, and, certainly, we would live closed, isolated in a particular universe. With it, we created bonds of all kinds, we influence and are influenced, we build history and memories, and we project the future, interacting and solidifying knowledge.
Relationship between communication elements and language functions
Every communicative act foresees a intentionality. As unpretentious as it is, like an elevator conversation or a “good morning” via Whatsapp, when we communicate, we have a reason for that. And so, depending on our goals, language can fulfill different functions: explaining, informing, exposing a point of view, performing aesthetic work with the text, keeping the communication going and/or persuading, influencing, convincing.
each of the language functions it is linked to a particular element of communication. Let's see:
1. If the focus is on the sender (speaker), language fulfills the function of expressing an opinion, a point of view, emotions and feelings of the speaker — an emotive or expressive function;
2. If the focus is on the receiver (interlocutor), the language fulfills the function of convincing, persuading, influence, lead the interlocutor to assume a certain posture or thought - appealing function or conative;
3. If the emphasis is given to the referent (context), language gets rid of subjectivities and tends to present data, information, situations and facts of reality – a referential function;
4. If the emphasis is given to the message itself, with the aim of working it aesthetically — function poetics;
5. When the focus is given to the channel (vehicle), and the objective is to keep the communication going - factual or contact function;
6. Finally, when emphasizing the code, when the intention is to explain — metalinguistic function.
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solved exercises
Question 01 (Enem - adapted)
Vent
Sorry, but I can't do a fun little chronicle today. It just can't. There's no disguising it: this is a typical Monday morning. Starting with the light on in the living room that I forgot last night. Six messages to be answered on the answering machine. Boring messages. Bills to pay that were due yesterday. I'm nervous. I am angry.
CARNEIRO, J. AND. See, 11 Sept. 2002 (fragment).
In texts in general, the simultaneous manifestation of several language functions is common, with the predominance, however, of one over the others. In the fragment of the chronicle Vent, the predominant language function is the emotive or expressive one, because
A) the enunciator's speech focuses on the code itself.
B) the enunciator's (sender) attitude supersedes what is being said.
C) the interlocutor is the speaker's focus in the construction of the message.
D) the referent is the element that stands out at the expense of the others.
E) the enunciator has as main objective the maintenance of communication.
Solution
Alternative B
Question 02 (Enem 2016)
Reading is not deciphering, as in a guessing game, the meaning of a text. It is, from the text, to be able to assign meaning to it, to be able to relate it to all other texts that are significant for each one, to recognize in it the type of reading that its author intended and, with his own will, give himself to this reading, or rebel against it, proposing another not Preview.
(LAJOLO, M. From the world of reading to the reading of the world. São Paulo: Attica, 1993)
In this text, the author presents reflections on the process of production of meanings, using the metalanguage. This function of language is evident from the fact that the text
A) emphasize the importance of intertextuality.
B) propose different readings from the predictable ones.
C) present the author's point of view.
D) talk about the act of reading.
E) focus on reader participation.
Solution
Alternative B
Question 03 Establish the relationship between the columns, numbering the second according to the elements of the communication process expressed in the first:
(1) issuer
(2) receiver
(3) code
(4) channel
(5) message
(6) referent
( ) It is who elaborates the message, who says.
( ) Set of signals organized so that both the speaker and the interlocutor know and have access.
( ) Subject, context.
( ) To whom the message is addressed.
( ) Text itself.
( ) Means by which the message reaches the receiver.
Solution
1-3-6-2-5-4
by Sara de Castro
Writing Teacher