Man is a creature that communicates, as stated by H. Dalziel Duncan (quoted in Ferrer, 1994: 21) when he points out that, due to his nature and to satisfy his needs, man has had to communicate with his fellow men using signals, movements or signs, because nobody can exist in a group or a society without some form of communication.
oral-and-written-communication-kCommunication
Communicating is getting to share something of ourselves. In other words, it is a specific rational and emotional quality of man that arises from the need to get in touch with others, when he exchanges ideas that acquire meaning or meaning according to previous common experiences.
Several authors define this phenomenon called communication. According to Ferrer (1994: 25), it consists of establishing communication with a purpose of understanding, that is, they seek to achieve something in common through the message they are trying to share.
The various ways in which we human beings exchange ideas, from the signal, the gesture or the image, to the spoken or written word - all the signs, symbols and means by which we transmit meanings and values to other human beings, constitute what we call forms of expression (Paoli, 1985: 67).
Expression
The word expression comes from the Latin term expressus which means "squeezed", "left".
To transmit an expression it is enough to remove it, whether or not the reception is given "Expressing" is simply "removing"; it is to manifest the thoughts and impressions of our reality through words, gestures or attitudes ”; "It is the representation, through symbols and images of a manifestation of our own individuality, and may or may not be directed at another subject."
Instead, the concept of communication comes from the prefix -com, of sharing that something with others; So, communication does not only mean taking ideas or feelings and transmitting them to others, the true meaning of communication is in our intention to send messages to provoke a response in others, because this response is what will allow us to know that we were understood others.
Based on the aforementioned definitions, there is communication when in an expression that corresponds to the reality of a subject there is an exchange of ideas with another or others; when there is the psychological intention of union; when two or more individuals manage to think and feel in such a way that the ideas of one become shared property of the other: they become common.
When reviewing the concepts of expression and communication, the basic difference that we observe is the following: to express it is enough to get something out of ourselves; instead, to communicate we need to have the intention to do so.
Language
The means by which we humans communicate is called language, which can be defined as "a set of structured signs that imply a thing" (Morris, 1985: 37). In its origins, man communicated with non-verbal languages, through his body and his sensory organs: the voice, the gesture, the movements, the eyes. Each shape, sound or human identification constituted a signal that identified one man with another, related one thing to another, went from one territory to another; For this reason, language is “man's own faculty for the expression of his ideas” (Blake and Haroldsen, 1980: 7) and is considered “the primary vehicle for communication” (Ferrer, 1994: 25).
Language is born as the most transcendental of the inventions that man has developed to understand his world, and plays a central role in civilized societies, influencing both his level of development and progress and that of knowledge. Like communication, language has a social nature, since humans have the power to make ourselves understood by other means (sounds, mime, drawings, etc.), although no language would work without human interaction, as Rafael Seco says (quoted in Fernández de la Torrente, 1990: 7)
"Language is the great instrument of communication available to humanity, intimately linked to civilization, to such an extent that it has been argued whether it was language that was born of society, or was it society that was born of language "
Language functions
According to Karl Bühler, German linguist, n distinguishes three transcendental functions of language, which accompany the basic intentions of man when he wants to communicate with others:
- The representative function: is the one through which the language comes to transmit a content. It requires a system of representative signs of events or things. It belongs only to man, who is able to symbolize his reality with ideas. The expressive function: is what manifests the psychic state of the speaker. Unlike the previous one, this function can also be found in the expressions of certain animals; for example, the birds whose song is not a call to the neighboring birds, but an expression of their affective state. In man's communication, this function is manifested with singular clarity and is notorious, above all, in the language of children. The appeal or call function: by means of this one acts on the listener to direct or attract their attention. It can be compared with the traffic signs of the big cities or, for example, with the barking of the dog that drives away. Language is, first of all, a call to the listener.
Verbal language
"It is the attribute that markedly distinguishes man" (Blake and Haroldsen, 1980: 7) and belongs to the people, to the groups, to the countries. With verbal language ideas are translated into words. Words have to do with changes of thought and with the evolution of our peoples in all their activities; Such changes influence the different ways of saying or naming things; Thus another term arises linked to expression, language and human communication: language (Ferrer, 1994: 23-25).
Language
It is the way in which a group or a society uses verbal language according to their region, way of living and behaving. It is the way of expressing yourself through the word, whether it is spoken or written. Social result of a specific community.
Speaks:
As Ferdinand de Saussure explains, speech is use, the individual instrument, and language is structure, grammatical fabric, organized thought of a people or a society; language is what unites people and, to a large extent, makes a nation (Ferrer, 1994: 29).
It corresponds to the execution of the speech itself. It is an individual act because it depends on the formation of the person, thoughts, principles, etc.
This is how expression, language, language and speech merge into the concept of communication; language is "the articulated system of signs that denotes a meaning and serves as a vehicle for interaction".
Social nature of communication
Communication is a social phenomenon in constant dynamism and alteration, because it is subject to changes in the thinking of man, to changes in language over time and to the effects that the same dynamics of the process is causing in the individuals or groups that interact.
In a valuable study on the subject, Ray L. Birdwhistell wrote: "Communication, for me both yesterday and today, is the dynamic structure that sustains order and creativity within social interaction."
Fernández Sotelo (1990: 14) refers to the social nature of communication, describing four characteristics that define it:
- integrates with dynamic transactional people influences each other
- It integrates with members or people who have the possibility of relating and getting to know each other. This implies that the possibility of meeting needs to exist, for communication to become a reality, manifesting itself in the plural sense. It is the other who will give us a meaning, and only by sharing can we seek that moment of union to achieve the common goal and give meaning to the expectations and responses of both.It is transactional due to the interaction of people who can communicate with each other and manage to understand each other., because without the exchange of ideas we would not be able to share personal experiences, nor would there be concepts such as humanity, fraternity, cooperation, etc. neither would science exist and we would live in a world where life would be meaningless. The transactional approach largely determinesman's way of feeling in relation to the world around him and to the environment in which he has to communicate. It is dynamic because communication flows continuously, in a dynamism of constantly changing forces that cannot be considered immutable elements or fixed in time and space. Communication allows us to glimpse a number of particularities that interact in a dynamic, variable and unrepeatable way, affecting in various ways the participants in the process. It affects each other; If the personal, transactional and dynamic nature of communication has already been made clear, it will not be difficult to understand that man is not alone, that there are other beings living with him and, as instinctively he is aware of himself, he must also have some purpose with respect to others to be.The meaning of human existence has its primary basis in the encounter with others and its effect. Men, by needing, meeting and communicating, will be aware that every human relationship implies a mutual influence and mutual effects.
In accordance with such characteristics of its social nature and the related concepts that we have dealt with, human communication is:
- share with others achieve common meanings exert a mutual influence live in communion have ongoing interaction
The communication process
There is no formula that determines that communication always happens the same between people. The social situations that we live on a daily basis and the events or facts are changing as well as people's thinking and living. Human interaction is passing day by day, with results that affect personal thoughts and behaviors while causing new interactions, making it possible to think of communication as a process of successive phases in time, because it is always in constant change. The dynamics of communication, like a process, is defined as "the set of successive phases of a phenomenon in time" (Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1996: 1311).
To better understand and study how this dynamic occurs, what elements make it up and how the relationship between them is, it is necessary to “stop” the communication process and observe it carefully; identify its components, analyze its relationships, but keeping it detained or static over time, as if we were taking a photograph where each and every one of the registered elements has been fixed for an instant; it should not be forgotten that what is captured is only an instant or moment of the complete dynamics of the entire communication process (cf. Berlo, 1980: 20-27).
To analyze each of the components, their interrelationships and the influence between them, communication scholars have represented the dynamics of this process in some models.
Traditional model
The most current circular models have completed the approach of exchange and reciprocal influence among the participants of the process, which is why they have been called transactional and highlight the following elements:
- The interdependence between source and receiver to share their frames of reference: culture, socialization, knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs and values. The influence of the different media or channels through which messages are constantly sent. Feedback, which favors the interaction and its purpose is to achieve the fidelity of the message, through the understanding of the verbal and non-verbal message. The possible noises that could appear in any of the elements to hinder or block communication. The use of a code (the language or language used), a content (the ideas to be transmitted) and a treatment (the various ways learned to communicate) that determine whether or not the message can be understood by the recipient.The influence of the social context or the physical and psychological environment where communication takes place.
All the elements presented are variable. In reality, messages always travel through various channels and media, so the way they come together, relate and change, according to the socialization or "frame of reference" of people, who attribute meanings to words, signs or symbols, depending on the context or social situation in which they are at the time of communication.
In such a dynamic, it cannot be said that the elements go one after the other, nor that they are independent. In the communication process, everyone intervenes at the same time in a constant and unrepeatable interaction over time; all influence and come to affect the meaning of the message or the identification between sender and receiver, that is why all the components are important for communication knowledge and none should be excluded in the analysis of this human and intangible process.
The components of communication
A communication complies with the following components:
- The source (encoder). It is the origin of the message; It can be any person, group or institution that generates a message to transmit it. The issuer also encodes. It is the person who issues or sends the message. Source and sender are considered a single element when the person who creates and creates the message is the same person who transmits it. The receiver (decoder). It is the person or group of people to whom or to whom the message is addressed. It is the intended audience or audience for the communication and everyone who gets the message. Like the sender, the receiver has capabilities to decode the message and respond to communication; they are between them:
- Communication skills: they involve hearing, processing information, reading, writing, speaking, etc. Knowledge: on the subject, the people, the situation or on oneself. Attitudes: to judge the source and the issuer, the subject, the situation. Social system: group to which one belongs; region or country where sender and receiver have lived.
- The message. It is the content expressed and transmitted by the sender to the receiver, which is made up of three elements:
- The code: it is the structured system of signs, such as Spanish, English, Chinese, German, French, etc., or other types of languages such as music. Content: they are the ideas that constitute the message; it is what is communicated. Treatment: the choice of a “style” or way of saying things, with the aim of facilitating the understanding of the message, due to the probability that, if the language is inappropriate, the content of Ideas may have no meaning to the recipient.
- The channel. It is the medium or vehicle through which the message is sent and travels. A letter is a written medium that travels through a mail, fax or person system; a book, the cinema, television, the newspaper, a magazine, the computer are means that transmit messages. The physical senses themselves are channels that carry information to the brain. The voice is a means that we use to send messages that travel through the air to reach the ears of the receiver, etc. We can use a large number of channels or types of media, although we must not forget that the more direct the channel used, and the more senses are stimulated, the greater impact the message will produce on the recipient.
- Feedback. It is the key element that fosters the interaction or transaction between the sender and the receiver, since both parties ensure that the message was received and shared. A large amount of non-verbal feedback occurs when people speak face to face, directly and immediately; There is feedback after the communication act, that is, in a mediated form and through various means, such as a message by letter, telephone, fax, email, etc. Also the message itself is a source of feedback, a phenomenon that occurs when a person is writing and, after reading their text, corrects errors to improve language or communication.
- Noise. They are barriers or obstacles that appear at any time in the process and cause misunderstandings, confusion, disinterest; they even prevent the message from reaching its destination. The most common noises that alter the communicative situation are classified according to the element of the communication process that they directly affect; we have several types:
- Psychological noise: it occurs in the emitter and receiver. It is a mental or emotional state of mind produced by the current situation; for example, tension, sadness, anguish, anger, apathy, etc. Physiological Noise: it consists of discomfort or incapacities of the human organism of the emitter and the receiver; for example, loss of sight, hearing, hoarseness, body aches or pains, hunger, tiredness, shortness of breath and any other. Semantic Noise: it is presented in the message, in its content; the words used can have a confusing, wrong or unknown meaning for the receiver. Technical Noise: it appears in the medium or channel that transmits the message; for example, ink blots in printed texts, illegible or blurred words, lack of sound on the radio,Interferences in the sound and image of the television or computer.Environmental noise: these are natural disturbances in the environment, such as rain, thunder, heat, cold, etc., and artificial disturbances produced by machines and devices such as airplanes, cars, hammers, bells, phones and many more.
- The context. It refers to the physical environment, the social situation and the psychological state in which the sender and receiver are at the moment of communication.
- Physical: refers to the place or physical conditions in which the communication process is carried out; for example, a very elegant room, an outdoor garden on a sunny day, a very old museum, a busy street, an auditorium, etc. Social: it has to do with the different areas or fields of activity of a society; for example, business, labor, academic, religious, cultural, political, etc. contexts. The norms, habits and behavior patterns of the groups are determined by the social context; the language and the meanings vary according to the interpretation that people make according to the social and cultural situation in which the communication takes place. Psychological: it is the emotional "state" or "environment" that is generated due to character, behaviors or the attitudes of the sender and receiver;for example, in a work meeting there can be tension due to a strong conflict; at a birthday party, there becomes a very relaxed and happy atmosphere, etc.
Classification of communication
There are several ways to classify communication to study it, but most authors (cf. Hybels and Weaver, 1976; R. Miller, 1978; Blake R. and Haroldsen, 1983; Berlo, 1980) have developed typologies, the elements of which Categorization are the main components that we have analyzed in the communication process and that function as variables in each situation.
Emitter and receiver
According to the number of participants that intervene in the communication process as senders and receivers, we have the following types of communication:
- Intrapersonal: with oneself.Interpersonal: between two people.Group: in a small group (three or more people).Public: a person or a group before an audience.Massive: a person or a group towards an indeterminate number of people through from various media.
Medium
As many types of communication can be considered as there are resources for the transmission and reception of messages, but the most significant classification, according to the medium used, is:
- Verbal: oral and written.Non-verbal: visual, auditory, kinésica and artefactual.Electronics: the resources that technology allows to establish communication with others.
Message
For the content (idea, theme or subject) and the destination to which it is sent, the communication can be:
- -Public: topic or issue that is made or is feasible to be made known to all individuals. -Private: topic or issue whose content is restricted to the knowledge of one or more individuals related to it.
For the treatment (the way of saying or naming things) of the language used in communication, this is:
- Cultured: the academic, specialized, technical languages. Standard: the language spoken and understood by the majority of individuals that make up a society or a country. Colloquial: the most personalized or familiar language among people whose interaction is close (friends). Popular: the common, vulgar language, characteristic of all speakers of specific towns, regions or groups. It can become obscene.
Context
According to the place, the social situation and the psychological environment in which communication occurs, it can be:
- Formal: it is subject to the order, norms and roles established by the group at a certain level or stratum of society. Informal: it is spontaneous, more natural, according to individual tastes and preferences.
GENERAL PURPOSES OF THE COMMUNICATION
The general purpose of informing uses the representative function of language, since it attempts to explain some event or term, describe relationships between concepts, or instruct about some process or knowledge. Some types of oral communication that are considered informative are, for example, instructions, reports, demonstrations, explanations of machine operations, and so on.
The general purpose of entertaining uses the expressive function of language, since it attempts to achieve the encounter and understanding between speaker and listener through the very social nature of language. It fulfills the human purpose of communication, which is precisely to approach others, share some idea, only to reach an understanding or identification. Some examples of oral communication for this purpose are a coffee talk, the characteristic humor of a comedian before an audience, the confidences of two friends, the narration of personal experiences of a boss to his employees during a meeting, and so on.
The general purpose of persuading uses the appellative function of language, since the person, when communicating, wants to influence, make a call to the listener's thought to form some idea, provoke a change of attitude or reinforce beliefs and values. This purpose is aimed at rational and emotional conviction of people to think in a certain way. Examples that express this purpose of oral communication are: convince people not to use products that harm our planet; participate in a discussion and express our points of view for or against; make an audience believe in the benefits of health care, etc.
The general purpose of acting, which is also carried out through the appellate or directive function, which tries to direct or bring the listener to a degree of motivation that prompts him to carry out some action. This purpose is also considered persuasive, since it seeks to influence people's beliefs or attitudes, but through well-structured arguments that meet the needs or expectations of the listener; the communicator will try to "move" the thought of the former so that he decides to act. Examples of this type of purpose in oral communication are the chair of a teacher who motivates his students to study their subjects more; the coach who motivates his athletes to win; the boss who promotes his employees to be more productive, and so on.
There may be many objectives that people have to communicate more specifically, but the general purposes represent the intentions that people have when communicating orally.
Oral and written communication
When we have the purpose of communicating, we manage to do it through two types of communication that use verbal language: speaking and writing.
As children we learn to speak and then, from formal school education, to write; therefore, speaking may seem to us to be an easier process than writing, because the written word is subject to a structure or syntax, to a spelling, and so on; However, writing well is very useful for ordering ideas and managing vocabulary more precisely when speaking, because errors and deficiencies in writing are generally reflected when speaking; Although the two skills are different communication processes in terms of knowledge and skills, both are the product of verbal reasoning and are therefore complementary, although with notable differences that should be analyzed to better understand oral communication.
- Oral communication is linked to a time, it is always dynamic in a continuous coming and going. Normally, people interact by talking and listening; the speaker has the listener in mind and the listener has the speaker. Written communication is tied to time and space, is more static, and remains. In general, the writer is far from the reader, in addition, he often does not know who will receive the message (as in most books). Written communication remains over time and the reader can read or "listen" to the author as many times as they want. Written communication becomes more dynamic when it is similar to oral communication, as in the case of personal letters and messages through the computer, in which we write almost the same as we speak. Oral communication has the ability to use the voice,the gestures and all the resources of expressiveness of movements of the speaker. The intonation of the voice, gestures and movements help to interpret the meaning of the messages more accurately; support and complement it. Written communication only uses linguistic signs to denote "expressions" or "moods"; it has a grammatical structure; therefore, it tends to be more formal than spoken. The more knowledge there is of the language and its grammar, the greater the probability of writing or writing correctly. In oral communication we make many mistakes; We use vocabulary with incorrect meanings and pronunciation; we say incomplete sentences; we use repetitions, redundancies, etc. however, for the listener many of them go unnoticed, due to the speed or naturalness of the speech.In written communication, we try to avoid errors of any kind, be it of syntactic construction or spelling. The repetitions and redundancies become noticeable, as well as the scarcity or poverty of vocabulary.
The following table by Chávez (1993: 104) summarizes the main differences between oral and written communication:
| Oral communication | Written communication |
| It is spontaneous | Is more reflective, uses reason |
| It is rectified | Does not admit rectifications (a new text must be made) |
| Use idioms, sayings, etc. | He uses them only in the literary |
| There is bodily action | Signs are used |
| Words are repeated | Repetitions and redundancies are avoided |
| It is almost always informal | Language and form are selected |
| It's dynamic | It becomes static or dynamic |
| Expands with explanations | It must be precise and concise |
| Break the syntax | It is careful with the syntax and structure |
| Use new meanings | They are avoided in formal texts |
SUMMARY
Man is a social being by nature, so to achieve his goals and objectives requires communication with his fellow man. People need to share what they observe, think and feel through language; that is why communication is defined as the creation of shared meanings through various symbolic phenomena.
Examining communication as a social process, its dynamism is distinguished, that continuous movement that emphasizes the characteristics of its nature: dynamic, transactional, personal and affective. In accordance with such a nature, the human being also has its own characteristics for communication, since he considers himself a message generating system with the capacity to receive information, process it and transmit it.
Language, like communication, is considered social in nature, since it is born in people and fosters the interaction of groups and the formation of societies.
The two complement each other, since language is a mere instrument to communicate and communication needs language to function. When speaking of oral communication we also speak of the language or the particular way of expressing itself of a group or people.
To study and better understand how human communication works, it is necessary to stop the dynamics of the process and observe each of the elements that compose it through the representation of models. The models serve to see the interrelation of the components and their effects or results tending to the acceptance or rejection of the communication. Different models demonstrate these components; Among those considered basic are: the sender, who sends the message; the message, with its content and treatment; the receiver, who receives the message. Added to these are the elements that indicate the response and fidelity of the message, such as feedback and possible noise, the means or channels used to deliver the message to the recipient and, finally, the social context;all are variable and will have an effect on the results of the process.
Human communication, as a process, is distinguished by its dynamism or continuous movement that emphasizes the characteristics of its social nature, made up of people who, through transactions of ideas, influence each other and become members of a group, which, for To meet your expectations and meet goals, you communicate for the purpose of informing, entertaining, persuading, or acting.
In human communication we find two ways of handling verbal language: oral and written. Both use verbal reasoning, but they differ in terms of the use of skills by people to transmit their ideas. Written communication is more reasoned, structured and to some extent static and permanent; On the other hand, oral communication is distinguished by its dynamism, its spontaneity and its speed to express ideas, although people make many mistakes when speaking, such as repetitions, incomplete phrases or pronunciation mistakes.
Language as the primary vehicle of communication, whether oral or written, is the one that fulfills that vital function for the human being to share his ideas and feelings with others.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fonseca Yerena, María del Socorro. (C2005). Oral communication. Pearson Education. Retrieved on 2010-07-24, from
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