(HUMAN)
COMMUNICATION
LI 2013
NATHALIE F. MARTIN
Table of Content
 COMMUNICATION:
 JAKOBSON’S MODEL
 NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
 LANGUAGES
 Objectives:


Understand the intricacies of nonverbal communication.
Learn a bit of terminology needed to speak of the world’s
languages
 References:
A
Concise Introduction to Linguistics (Rowe & Levine, 2012)
 (Chapter 1: The Nature of Communication)
 Qu’est-ce que la langue? (Leclerc, 1989)
Communication
D E F I N I T I O N
J A K O B S O N ’ S C O M M U N I C A T I O N P R O C E S S
Communication
 Communication is a behaviour, or the
transmission of information, that affects the
behaviour of others.
 When a living organism (or machine)
communicates it sends messages about itself or its
environment.
 The message is placed into a code.

Humans have a highly elaborate code called language.
Communication
 What is communication?
 1 a the process or act of communicating; b the exchanging
or imparting of ideas and information, etc.
 2 a piece of information, a letter or a message.
 3 social contact.
 4 (communications) the various electronic processes by
which information is conveyed from one person or place to
another, especially by means of wires, cables or radio waves.
 5 (communications) the science and activity of
transmitting information, etc.
http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?title=21st&query=
Communication
 Who?
 Sender
(ex: speaker)
 To whom?
 Receiver
 What?
 Thoughts,
opinions or information
 How?
 Verbal
(language) or nonverbal communication
Communication Process (Jakobson)
Commercial
Communication
 The communication process of coding and
decoding will depend on a number of
factors:
 Culture
 Presuppositions
 Prior
information
 Subjective interpretation
 Experience
Nonverbal Communication
SOME TYPES OF NONVERBAL
COMMUNICATION:
•K I N E S I C S
•P R O X E M I C S
Nonverbal Communication
 Spoken word: 7%
 Body posture, gestures, facial
expressions: 38%
 Voice tone and inflection: 55%
Nonverbal Communication
 Nonverbal communication is the act of
imparting or interchanging thoughts,
posture, opinions or information
without the use of words, using
 gestures,
 sign language,
 facial expressions and
 body language.
Nonverbal & Cultural Misunderstanding
 Pointing: finger, eyes, chin or head ... even lips
(Shoshone Indians)!
Miscommunication:
 Yes-no: shaking head ... Greece & Turkey (opposite
of what we do)
Types of Nonverbal Communication
 Kinesics : involves muscles or body
movement:
 Hand
gestures, eye contact, facial expressions,
head nods, etc.
 Interpretive dance
 Flirting
 Touching
Types of Nonverbal Communication
 Proxemics : how people perceive and use
space.




Standing patterns (intimate, personal, public)
Sitting (side by side, face to face)
Privacy
Classroom
Lets communicate!
 Proxemics:
 Standing:


Sitting: side by side, face to face, angled


2 feet away, 1 foot away, 4 feet away …
Which would be better for counselling? Friends? Lovers?
Crossing legs
 Kinesics:
 Eye contact: Avoid eye contact, sustain eye contact
 Touch shoulder, head, hand
Languages
D I S T I N C T I O N B E T W E E N :

Language, languages & Speech
L A N G U A G E S
D I A L E C T S
Language
 Language
1
any formalized system of
communication, especially one that uses
sounds or written symbols which the majority of
a particular community will readily understand.
 2 the speech and writing of a particular
nation or social group.
 3 the faculty of speech.
Language, Language and Speech
FRENCH
“Language”
ENGLISH
Language/ability
The innate ability to learn and produce language/code.
Natural, universal and innate ability (amongst humans).
“Langue”
Language/code
A code or system, used by consensus.
Ex: different languages (French, English, Spanish, Greek, etc.).
Collective (used within a language group, speakers of the language)
“Parole”
Speech
The individual act of speaking
(Concrete use of the language/code).
Ex: “Please stop the bus!”
Individual.
The world’s Languages
 Geographic distribution of the world’s languages
Living
Languages
Americas 1,013
Africa
2,058
Europe
230
Asia
2,197
The Pacific 1,311
TOTAL
6,809
Percentage
15%
30%
3%
32%
19%
(Source: Ethnologue (1996), www.ethnologue.org)
Languages Across the World
 Top 10 languages by first language population:
1) Chinese (Mandarin)
2) Spanish
3) English
4) Hindi
5) Portuguese
6) Bengali
7) Russian
8) Japanese
9) German
(...)
17) French
873 014 000 (+178 000 000 L2 speakers)
322 029 000 (+60 000 000 L2 speakers)
309 352 000 (+200 000 000 L2 speakers)
180 764 000
177 457 000
171 070 000
145 031 000 (+110 000 000 L2 speakers)
122 434 000
95 393 000
64 858 000 (+50 000 000 L2 speakers)
Contemporary Linguistic Analysis: chapter 8 (O’Grady, 2009; p. 289)
Galaxy of Languages (Calvet, 1999)
Hyper-central Language
Super-central Language
Central Language
Peripheral Language
Gravitational Model (Calvet, 1999)
GRAVITATIONAL MODEL:
 Hyper-central Language
 Super-central Language
 Central Language
 Peripheral Language
Dialects
 Dialect:
A
regional or social variety of a language
characterized by it’s own phonological, syntactic,
or lexical properties.

We will use the term « Variety » in this class
instead of speaking of dialects.
Pidgin
 Pidgin:
A variety that emerges when speakers of a
different language are brought together in a stable
situation requiring intergroup communication;
it has no native speakers and generally is
considered to have a reduced grammatical
system.
Creole
 Creole:
A variety that arises as the native language of
the children of members of a pidgin speech
community.
Creole or Pidgin?
Blood Diamond (Leonardo Dicaprio)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP5ILgKxapI&feature=related
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04QTfxGMe_Y