We use language to communicate at all times, right? Even when we don't speak, we are communicating, either through gestures or facial expressions. The human being is always involved in the most diverse communication situations and in each one of them we use a type of language.
Adapting the language to a given context explains why the existence of language functions. They are classified into six different types: referential, conative, emotive, metalinguistic, phatic and poetic. Today we will talk about a very common language in our daily lives, which has very interesting characteristics that can lead the interlocutor to adopt a certain type of behavior. We are talking about conative language function.
In the conative function of language, the message is centered on the recipient. What do you mean, recipient-centric? Well, this means that the message is intended to influence, involve and convince the interlocutor. When we think of this type of language, we can immediately associate it with the language used in the advertising, which uses some artifices to conquer new consumers. Watch:
The main feature of the conative function is the development of a recipient-centered language.
With a careful and careful reading, we can see that most ads use the imperative verbs, as this encourages the reader or interlocutor to adopt some type of behavior, as this verbal mode always expresses an idea of order, advice or request. Another important feature is the use of the 2nd person, ie the ad is talking directly to you. Now, look at an example of a conative function in poetic language:
poem about insufficiency
boy
study quickly
because dumb at thirty
It's dumb as hell.
Millôr Fernandes
Did you notice the elements of the conative function in Millôr Fernandes' poem? They are there, but there is also another function that predominates in the literary texts, known as the poetic function of language. But that's a subject for another conversation! Good studies!
By Luana Castro
Graduated in Letters
