At language functions are related to language and language studies. Communication. Some scholars point to the existence of at least six functions of language, each linked to a different communication element. Understanding these manifestations helps interpret texts with more efficiency and to understand how the communicative acts are organized, being able to generate more efficiency when speaking or writing.
Also know: Five tips to improve your text interpretation
Language functions in communication
roman jakobson, Russian linguist, was one of the great theorists who presented to the world studies related to the functions of language in communication. However, regardless of the results of academic research, we can say that perceiving the acts communicative and the use of language does not depend on appropriating theories or axioms, we just need to look at the around us.
We communicate from the moment we wake up to the time we go back to sleep, either through the
verbal language (written, spoken), or through the nonverbal language. For each interaction, consciously or intuitively, we are submitted to a minimum scheme that allows us to elaborate and understand messages, as shown below.
It is important to remember that, although it is possible, in most cases, to identify the predominant function, we can see that the six language functions can permeate the texts, since all the elements are present in the communication.
Read too: Difference between language and language
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
→ Referential or denotative function
THE referential or denotative function it is the function of information. Present in texts such as scientific articles, didactic texts, leaflets, manuals and encyclopedic texts, it emphasizes the referent, that is, the subject or context where that particular text is inserted. In its structure, the speech in direct order and the focus on the third person with the use of the objectivity.
One textual genre representative of this function is the news, whose intention is to inform readers about relevant and recent facts, and which, in most cases, is constructed without opinions or linguistic sequences that they intend to lead to persuasion. If you want to know more about this topic, go to: Referential or denotative function.
Example
|
With special programming, the Student Fair starts this Monday in Praia Grande Check out everything that will happen at the Jair Rodrigues Events Pavilion until next Wednesday (25). By Mariana Nadaleto, G1 Santos Starts this Monday (23) the 4th edition of the Student Fair, organized by the City of Praia Grande, which will offer lectures, workshops, workshops, special attractions, raffles, an amusement park and a Projota show for the young people. The event runs until Wednesday (25), at the Jair Rodrigues Events Pavilion, and admission is free (except for the closing show). More than 20 teaching units, including universities, language courses and technical courses, have already confirmed their presence at the Fair, and will offer lectures and stands. In addition, special activities were also organized, such as Espaço Urbano, Espaço Cultural and Lounge Fals, with a program for the three days of the event. The objective of organizing the Student Fair, which is part of the Praia Grande Youth Festival, is to give young people the opportunity to get to know the universities and the various language and technical courses offered in the region, so that they can choose more clearly what they want to follow. professionally. The Jair Rodrigues Events Pavilion is located inside the Espaço Alvorada, on Avenida Ministro Marcos Freire, height of nº 6.420, Bairro Quietude, near Viaduto Paschoalino Borelli da Via Express South. |
→ Emotional or expressive function
Unlike the referential or denotative function, which values objectivity, the main particularity of emotional or expressive function it's the subjective character, that is, the language fulfilling the function of emitting opinions, emotions, desires, feelings, individual expressions.
Structured with sequences in the first person of the speech, it has as representatives the opinion articles, daily, personal letters and poems lyrical, for example. So, the speaker's point of view it is essential in working with language. If you want to know more about this topic, go to: Emotional or expressive function.
Examples
|
Holding hands I will not be the poet of a decrepit world I won't be the singer of a woman, of a story Carlos Drummond de Andrade Obstetric violence, a way of dehumanizing women The expression 'obstetric violence' offends doctors. They say that the phenomenon does not exist, but isolated cases of medical malpractice or negligence. What happened to the Brazilian Adelir Gomes, pregnant and forced by the health team to carry out a Caesarean section against their will, they say is an extreme case, scandalized by feminists as one of violence obstetric. Is not true. Obstetric violence manifests itself in various ways in the reproductive life cycle of women. In every woman verbally insulted because she feels pain during childbirth or when analgesia is not offered. In sexual violence suffered in prenatal care or in assisted reproduction clinics. In the use of forceps, in the prohibition of doulas or trusted persons in the delivery room. In cesarean section as a medical indication for safe delivery. The truth is that obstetric violence is a form of dehumanization of women. Jornal El País Brasil, March 20, 2019. |
Read too:Literary language - know your specifics
→ poetic function
Although its name is poetic function, this function of language is not exclusive to poems. When the discursive intention is to build a message that values the type in its elaboration, we see the manifestation of this type of function.
Thus, the presence of speech figures, whether in poetic texts, whether in prose texts, as well as different vocabulary choices, or even the textual structure itself in verses with the presence of rhymes demonstrate the intention of working with the message.
Examples
Millôr Fernandes
→ phatic or contact function
channel centered or vehicle of communication, the factual or contact function is the one in which the intention is in the maintenance of the communicative act, that is, when the sender (speaker) seeks strategies to maintain the interaction with the receiver (speaker).
Who has never got into an elevator and “made small talk” about what the weather is like? even in the most unpretentious speaking moments, language functions are present. When wishing “Good morning!”, or even when the teacher, in the classroom, asks “Got it?”, we perceive the desire for communication to follow its course. From “hello” to “goodbye”, from “good morning” to “good night”, we see that the human being is really the one who speaks and that our social ties are strengthened when faced with the need to communicate.
Example
Communication
It's important to know the names of things. Or at least know how to communicate what you want. Imagine walking into a store to buy a... a... what's the name again?
"May I help you, gentleman?"
"He can. I want one of those, those..."
"May I help?"
"One... what's the name again?"
"Yea?"
"Dove! One... a... What a head of mine. The word completely escaped me. It's a simple thing, very well known."
"Yes sir."
"You'll laugh when you find out."
"Yes sir."
"Look, it's pointed, right?"
"What, gentleman?"
[...]
"Call the manager."
"It won't be necessary, gentleman. I'm sure we can reach an agreement. This thing you want, what is it made of?"
"It's from, I don't know. Of metal."
"Very well. Of metal. Does it move?"
"Well... It's like that. Pay attention to my hands. It's like this, fold here and fit the end, like this."
"Is there more than one piece? Is it already assembled?"
"It's one piece. I'm pretty sure it's one piece."
"Quite frankly..."
"But it's simple! A simple thing. Look: like, like, a turn here, it comes, it comes, another loop and click, it fits."
"Ah, there is click. It's electric."
"No! Click, which I say is the snapping noise."
"I already know!"
"Excellent!"
"You want an outdoor television antenna."
"No! Listen here. Let's try again..."
"Let's try on the other hand. For what you serve?"
"This is how to arrest. He understands? A sharp thing that holds. You stick the pointy end through here, fit the end into the groove, and hold the two parts of one thing."
"Right. These instruments you are looking for work more or less like a gigantic safety pin and..."
"But that's it! That's it! A safety pin!"
"But the way you described it, it seemed a huge thing, gentleman!"
"It's just that I'm kind of expansive. See me there a... a... What's the name again?"
VERÍSSIMO, Luis Fernando. Communication. In: TO enjoy reading, v.7. 3rd ed. São Paulo: Attica, 1982. P. 35-37.
→ Conative or appealing function
The conative or appealing function is one in which the emphasis is on the emitter (interlocutor). With the intention of persuading, convincing, we structurally see the presence of verbs in the mood imperative, which have intention to indicate how the other should act.
We can verify the occurrence of this type of function in advertising texts, political and religious speeches, and also in argumentative letters. So when the sender (talker) tries to influence the receiver (interlocutor), we are certainly facing the conative or appellative function.
Examples
|
"My friend, my friend, if you have not yet found the root of the evil that has brought you harm by many years, participate in the “Cut the Root” campaign, which will help you discover and uproot it once a year. all." “But, let it be clear, no one is obliged to do anything [...] not even to make the Holy Bonfire. Bongueira Santa is an exclusively personal attitude. Don't sacrifice for what we're talking about, but do it for your faith! If you haven't been touched, haven't heard the Voice of faith, of the Holy Spirit, don't participate! Because if you manifest any doubt, even a thread of doubt, this purpose of revolt is not for you”. |
→ metalinguistic function
The metalinguistic function is the function of explanation. We often hear that the metalinguistic function is one where the code explains the code itself, that is, the language explains the language itself, and then we would have the dictionary as the main representative of this function.
However, we can say that every form of explanation, with expressions such as “that is”, “being so”, “for example”, introduce the manifestation of this function of language. Music that speaks or explains how to make music, poems that deal with poetic making, as well as films that reveal how to make cinema, mark the metalanguage.
Examples
Code meaning
masculine noun
Collection of laws: Penal Code. Collection of rules and precepts. Symbol system that allows the representation of information: Morse code. Set of rules that allows the transposition of symbol systems without changing the meaning of the transmitted information.
Linguistics: Set of all linguistic elements in force in a community and made available to individuals to serve as means of communication; tongue.
(Source: Dicio.com)
Step closer and contemplate the words.
Each one
has a thousand secret faces under the neutral face
and asks you, not interested in the answer,
poor or terrible, whatever you give him:
Did you bring the key? [...]
(Excerpt from the poem Procura da Poetry, by Carlos Drummond de Andrade)
solved exercises
1. Read this excerpt from the novel Divan, by Martha Medeiros:
Am I starting? I'm not sure what to say about me. I don't feel like a woman like the others. For example, I hate talking about kids, maids and sales. I feel like committing hara-kiri when I'm invited to a baby shower, and I feel awfully weird wearing a handkerchief tied around my neck. But I followed all the commandments of a good girl: I played with a doll, I was afraid of the dark and I was nervous with the first kiss. Anyone who sees me walking down the street, wearing high heels and eyeliner, swears that I'm as feminine as the others: no one suspects my cerebral hermaphroditism. I love gray matter, I hate pink ones. I think like a man, but feel like a woman. I don't consider myself a victim of anything. I'm bossy, stubborn and a real disaster in the kitchen. Ask me to make a bed and ruin my day. Home life is for cats. Wow, I look like a machine gun firing information like she's filling out a file to find a husband. Take account of the anxiety. By the way, I have a husband and three children. [...] I have a male brain, as I told you, but that doesn't interfere with my sexuality, which is very orthodox. The heart, on the other hand, has always been gelatinous, leaving me with slack legs in front of anyone who invites me for a beer. [...] I am so many that I can barely distinguish myself. I am a strategist, a fighter, but betrayed by the commotion. In the blink of an eye I am tender, delicate. I think I'm promiscuous, Dr. Lopes. There are many women in one, and some men too. Get ready for group therapy.
Identify the function(s) of the predominant language(s) in the text above, considering the intention of the communicative act:
- Metalinguistic function and conative function
- Emotional function and phatic function
- phatic function and referential function
- Emotive function and metalinguistic function
Solution
In the text above, we can verify the emotive or expressive function of language manifesting itself, since the verbs and pronouns are inflected in the first person singular, indicating the subjective character of the speech. The narrator-character talks about herself, also presenting her opinions about the female and male universes.
The phatic function also manifests itself from the moment the narrator maintains contact with her interlocutor, calling him and using vocatives as markers of this dialogue.
Letter B.
2. Identify, according to the legend, the definition of each of the language functions.
- Emotive or expressive
- appealing or conative
- Referential or denotative
- phatic or contact
- Metalinguistics
- Poetics
( ) Centered on the issuer, its intention is to express emotions, feelings and subjective opinions.
( ) Its intention is to work with the message, and may even contribute to the aesthetic construction of the text.
( ) Emphasis on the interlocutor in order to persuade him.
( ) Its characteristic is the attempt to keep the communicative act in progress.
( ) It is the code explaining the code itself, that is, the language explaining the language itself.
( ) With objectivity, the intention is to inform. Third-person discursive sequences predominate.
Solution
1-6-2-4-5-3
by Sara de Castro
Writing Teacher
Analyze the poem in evidence, taking into account your knowledge of language functions.
and then throw away whatever floats.
(Cesgranrio – RJ) Check the option in which the inversion of the order of the terms changes the fundamental meaning of the statement:
a) It was simple poetry/ It was simple poetry.
b) Had a vague feeling / Had a vague feeling.
c) I looked at a mimosa parasite/I looked at a mimosa parasite.
d) There was an eternal contrast/There was an eternal contrast.
e) I was living a terrible drama/I was living a terrible drama.
