Language is a particular kind of system for encoding and decoding information. It is used to communicate or spreading information. In order to understand a certain language better, we need to identify the properties and the characteristics of language. There are several properties of language that have identified, that is divided into six sub-categories, which is displacement, arbitrariness, productivity, cultural transmission, discreteness and duality.
Displacement is defined as human language that users can refer to past and future time and to other locations which allows us to talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment such as to talk about things and places whose existence we cannot be sure of. Animal communication is almost exclusively designed for this moment, here and now. Yet, human language allows the users of a language to talk about the past, present and future, things that do not exist in real life.
Arbitrariness means there is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. There is no natural relation between the word and what the word designates. However, in animal’s communication, there is a connection between the message and the signal used to convey the message. Their communication consists of a set of fixed and limited sets of vocals and gastrula forms. Example is a dog barking and salivating.
Productivity is when humans were capable of creating new expressions for new objects. It is an aspect of a language which is linked to the fact that the potential number of utterances in any human language is infinite. Yet, on human signalling, it appears to have little flexibility. They have a limited set of signals to choose from a fixed reference.
Cultural transmission is when humans inherit physical features from their parents but not language. Language is passed on from one generation to the next, acquiring the language from other speakers and not from parental genes. Animals’ communicative signals are produced instinctively and not learned.
Discreteness means sounds that are meaningfully distinct. For example, the pronunciation of pack and back leads to distinction of meaning and that is only due to the difference between p and b sounds in English. In speech production that is the spoken language, two distinct levels are recognised which is a level of distinct sounds and a level of distinct meaning.
Duality means language that is organised at two levels simultaneously. This property is called duality or double articulation. We have a physical level at which we can produce individual sounds like n, b and i. When we produce these sounds in a particular combination as in bin, we have another level producing a meaning which is different from the combination in nib. Therefore, at one level, we have distinct sounds and different meanings in another level we have this is economical features while animal’s communicative signals are fixed and cannot be broken into parts such as meow is not m+e+o+w.
Other properties includes the vocal-auditory channel, which is the speech sounds used in human communication are produced by the vocal organs and perceived via the ears, reciprocity, which involves a speaker and a listener for the communication to occur, specialisation, where linguistics signals are only for language-communication, non-directionality, that once produced, linguistic signals spread out in all directions, and rapid fade where linguistic signals are produced and disappear quickly.
It is suffice to say that this list is not exhaustive in its entirety but might be good to study the details of what is behind every language. These properties make up the language and therefore are the key to the progress of human communication.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Differences between Communicative and Informative Language
There are many differences between communicative and informative language that can be discussed upon. To differentiate between those two, we need to know what the characteristics of the two are. This will give each of the two very different definition altogether although it overlapped in some of its system.
Communicative language is commonly known as the way people use language to communicate with other people, communication as it is better known. It is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. It is perceived better as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas towards a mutually accepted goal or direction. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. The interaction requires some sort of activities that can be divided into two separate means which is verbal means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are non-verbal means such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, media (pictures, graphics and sound), and writing.
Verbal communication requires verbal means but visual aid can support the process. Often when we communicate face to face the body language and our voice tonality has a bigger impact than the actual words that we are saying. There are a few of verbal communication types: discussion, speeches, presentations and singing. It is possible to have a visual aid helping you to provide more precise information.
Meanwhile, non-verbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture, body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact, object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, or symbols and infographics. Written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons. A portmanteau of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon, an emoticon is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or message form.
Informative language means how people use the language to inform or to give information to others. This is also done through verbal and non-verbal forms but focuses on the information or input of the communication. It is common that a person listening may be become informed via signals which have not intentionally sent. It can be said that information is something potentially perceived as representation, though not created or presented for specifically for that purpose. Means for information that can be presented includes in written forms that are books, encyclopedia, magazines, posters, flyers, journals, manuscript and the internet. Other means includes audio forms such as songs, singing and poetry reading, and visual forms such as pictures and movie clips.
There are not many differences between these two because they very much overlaps each other in its contents of discipline but the point is that it is a way of widening the contexts of language that can be utilised.
Communicative language is commonly known as the way people use language to communicate with other people, communication as it is better known. It is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. It is perceived better as a two-way process in which there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas towards a mutually accepted goal or direction. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and a receiver. The interaction requires some sort of activities that can be divided into two separate means which is verbal means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are non-verbal means such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, media (pictures, graphics and sound), and writing.
Verbal communication requires verbal means but visual aid can support the process. Often when we communicate face to face the body language and our voice tonality has a bigger impact than the actual words that we are saying. There are a few of verbal communication types: discussion, speeches, presentations and singing. It is possible to have a visual aid helping you to provide more precise information.
Meanwhile, non-verbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture, body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact, object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, or symbols and infographics. Written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons. A portmanteau of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon, an emoticon is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or message form.
Informative language means how people use the language to inform or to give information to others. This is also done through verbal and non-verbal forms but focuses on the information or input of the communication. It is common that a person listening may be become informed via signals which have not intentionally sent. It can be said that information is something potentially perceived as representation, though not created or presented for specifically for that purpose. Means for information that can be presented includes in written forms that are books, encyclopedia, magazines, posters, flyers, journals, manuscript and the internet. Other means includes audio forms such as songs, singing and poetry reading, and visual forms such as pictures and movie clips.
There are not many differences between these two because they very much overlaps each other in its contents of discipline but the point is that it is a way of widening the contexts of language that can be utilised.
Development of Writing
One of the greatest inventions of humans, writing, allows human knowledge to transcend space and time from being an extension of human language. It is considered as the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols. The development of writing is relatively a recent phenomenon which means that the modern practices of writing are distinguished from prehistoric means such as the cave drawings of Altamira in northern Spain and clay tokens.
There are several practices in the development of writing such as pictograms which is drawings or pictures beginning to represent particular images or objects in a consistent way. They are considered a form of picture-writing or pictograms. It is a direct image of the object it represents. There is non-arbitrary relationship between the form and meaning of the pictogram. However, pictograms do not have any direct relationship to the language spoken, since pictograms represent objects rather than their linguistic names. Examples are road signs and the signs on public toilets.
Other practices such as ideograms are the pictograms that represent ideas. The more ‘picture-like’ forms are pictograms while the more abstract derived forms are ideograms like the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Ideograms, like pictograms, do not represent words or sounds in a particular language. Meanwhile, the logograms are when symbols come to be used to represent words in a language. The written form or visual shape of the symbol has no direct relationship with the object it represents or symbolises. The relationship between written form and the object it represents becomes arbitrary. The written form represents the meaning of the word, not its sounds.
Then, there is rebus writing which involves a process whereby the symbol used for an entity comes to be used for the sound of the spoken word used for that entity. That symbol (syllable) then can be used for that sound in any word. Example is the pictograms in developing logogram for ‘eye’ and then for the sound I. The other is syllabic writing which is when a writing system uses a set of symbols, which represent the pronunciation of syllables. A single symbol represents a syllable in syllabaries or syllabic writing systems such as the Japanese, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Chinese and Russian. The first known syllabic writing system is the Phoenicians. Some, like the alphabetic writing is when a writing system uses a single symbol to represent a single sound. Examples are like Arabic and Hebrew. Also there is the Cyrillic alphabet which is a modified version of the basis of the Russian writing system.
Then there is the written English where the spelling of written English was largely fixed in the form that was used when printing was introduced in the 15th century England. Many printers were Dutch speakers who could not make consistently accurate decisions about English pronunciations. Many changes in spoken English occurred between 1400 and 1600 that were mostly in vowels from Middle English to Modern English. These changes increased in opacity between English alphabet letters (graphemes) and English sound types (phonemes). Conventions derived from those that were used for writing Latin and French words were used for writing English words.
This is to say that all these types of writing are relatively new and recent phenomenon as reliable means for transmitting information and similar activities. These may have evolved through calendrics and political necessity for recording historical and environmental events.
There are several practices in the development of writing such as pictograms which is drawings or pictures beginning to represent particular images or objects in a consistent way. They are considered a form of picture-writing or pictograms. It is a direct image of the object it represents. There is non-arbitrary relationship between the form and meaning of the pictogram. However, pictograms do not have any direct relationship to the language spoken, since pictograms represent objects rather than their linguistic names. Examples are road signs and the signs on public toilets.
Other practices such as ideograms are the pictograms that represent ideas. The more ‘picture-like’ forms are pictograms while the more abstract derived forms are ideograms like the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Ideograms, like pictograms, do not represent words or sounds in a particular language. Meanwhile, the logograms are when symbols come to be used to represent words in a language. The written form or visual shape of the symbol has no direct relationship with the object it represents or symbolises. The relationship between written form and the object it represents becomes arbitrary. The written form represents the meaning of the word, not its sounds.
Then, there is rebus writing which involves a process whereby the symbol used for an entity comes to be used for the sound of the spoken word used for that entity. That symbol (syllable) then can be used for that sound in any word. Example is the pictograms in developing logogram for ‘eye’ and then for the sound I. The other is syllabic writing which is when a writing system uses a set of symbols, which represent the pronunciation of syllables. A single symbol represents a syllable in syllabaries or syllabic writing systems such as the Japanese, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Chinese and Russian. The first known syllabic writing system is the Phoenicians. Some, like the alphabetic writing is when a writing system uses a single symbol to represent a single sound. Examples are like Arabic and Hebrew. Also there is the Cyrillic alphabet which is a modified version of the basis of the Russian writing system.
Then there is the written English where the spelling of written English was largely fixed in the form that was used when printing was introduced in the 15th century England. Many printers were Dutch speakers who could not make consistently accurate decisions about English pronunciations. Many changes in spoken English occurred between 1400 and 1600 that were mostly in vowels from Middle English to Modern English. These changes increased in opacity between English alphabet letters (graphemes) and English sound types (phonemes). Conventions derived from those that were used for writing Latin and French words were used for writing English words.
This is to say that all these types of writing are relatively new and recent phenomenon as reliable means for transmitting information and similar activities. These may have evolved through calendrics and political necessity for recording historical and environmental events.
Reading Strategies
In order to comprehend and understands a certain text, there are many reading strategies that can be applied. One can simply read and just scanning through the words freely without any guidelines or instructions whatsoever, but with certain strategies, the reading will be of greater purposes and the comprehension can be of deeper meaning. These strategies are not somewhat procedural but as means to further easing the pleasures of reading.
The mother of all strategies is to specify the purposes for reading. This is not to say that reading needs purposes whatsoever to enjoy it, but specifying a purpose for reading is to find the ultimate goal of the reading, be it for the purpose of learning from the texts, to find a certain information, as a source of information or inspiration, or just simply for the pleasures it can bring, that is to simply finish and enjoy certain texts. Pointless reading without purposes may be signs of boredom, fatigue or just passing time. The more purpose one can find for reading, the greater the pleasures it can bring and the knowledge that is gained will be more satisfying.
Sometimes, connecting texts to background knowledge will gratify even more. This is because due to prior knowledge of certain information, the latter reading is easier to comprehend as we can relate to the information. The understanding is wider and one will not be wandering the texts pointlessly without even knowing where the information comes or leads to. Prior knowledge also makes it enjoyable for the readers as they can predict the contents of the texts and also can be surprised maybe by a twist to the plot of a story or by new information related to the background knowledge.
When reading long and complex texts, it is also good to summarised the information from the texts as to understand only the main points to have a better view of the whole perspective of the texts instead of just rummaging through the pages. This is common amongst scholars who are reading through past journals researching for their thesis as they will have more specific information on the topic they are researching. The information will be straight to the point and precise; only the most important parts are taken. There is no need for the whole texts to be draw upon. Time is of the essence and lots of energy can be preserved.
Then after reading a certain text, one can read the whole text again. Rereading is a good strategy to consider for a person who does not have much time and is very busy. They can simply just skimming through the texts the first time around, that is to read it on a fast pace for just the surface of the text without the need to comprehend. The next time they read it is when they will comprehend it much better. One can also reread for the sake of enjoying the texts itself. The texts may be very interesting or it is simply captivating that it requires a second reading or maybe a third and so on.
Last but not least is to reflect on the whole journey of reading and what has been learned from the text. Relations to one’s own experience are also reflected. It is an interesting strategy to apply as it recounts the whole process and recollects the data or information or the story and think of the morale, rationale or the underlying principles it resonates. There also the reason and logic to think of behind the text. There may be subliminal messages under the motivation of the text. To reflect is also to find the foundation and what makes the basis of the text.
These strategies are not somewhat procedural, but to some extent it can be quite religious for a certain people. This not to say that it is bad thing but following strictly to a certain strategy may reduce the whole point of reading, which is the excitement it can bring. As a wise man once said too many formulas kill creativity.
The mother of all strategies is to specify the purposes for reading. This is not to say that reading needs purposes whatsoever to enjoy it, but specifying a purpose for reading is to find the ultimate goal of the reading, be it for the purpose of learning from the texts, to find a certain information, as a source of information or inspiration, or just simply for the pleasures it can bring, that is to simply finish and enjoy certain texts. Pointless reading without purposes may be signs of boredom, fatigue or just passing time. The more purpose one can find for reading, the greater the pleasures it can bring and the knowledge that is gained will be more satisfying.
Sometimes, connecting texts to background knowledge will gratify even more. This is because due to prior knowledge of certain information, the latter reading is easier to comprehend as we can relate to the information. The understanding is wider and one will not be wandering the texts pointlessly without even knowing where the information comes or leads to. Prior knowledge also makes it enjoyable for the readers as they can predict the contents of the texts and also can be surprised maybe by a twist to the plot of a story or by new information related to the background knowledge.
When reading long and complex texts, it is also good to summarised the information from the texts as to understand only the main points to have a better view of the whole perspective of the texts instead of just rummaging through the pages. This is common amongst scholars who are reading through past journals researching for their thesis as they will have more specific information on the topic they are researching. The information will be straight to the point and precise; only the most important parts are taken. There is no need for the whole texts to be draw upon. Time is of the essence and lots of energy can be preserved.
Then after reading a certain text, one can read the whole text again. Rereading is a good strategy to consider for a person who does not have much time and is very busy. They can simply just skimming through the texts the first time around, that is to read it on a fast pace for just the surface of the text without the need to comprehend. The next time they read it is when they will comprehend it much better. One can also reread for the sake of enjoying the texts itself. The texts may be very interesting or it is simply captivating that it requires a second reading or maybe a third and so on.
Last but not least is to reflect on the whole journey of reading and what has been learned from the text. Relations to one’s own experience are also reflected. It is an interesting strategy to apply as it recounts the whole process and recollects the data or information or the story and think of the morale, rationale or the underlying principles it resonates. There also the reason and logic to think of behind the text. There may be subliminal messages under the motivation of the text. To reflect is also to find the foundation and what makes the basis of the text.
These strategies are not somewhat procedural, but to some extent it can be quite religious for a certain people. This not to say that it is bad thing but following strictly to a certain strategy may reduce the whole point of reading, which is the excitement it can bring. As a wise man once said too many formulas kill creativity.
Purposes of Skimming
Skimming is defined as a process of speed reading that involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues to meaning. For some people, this comes naturally, and usually can not be acquired by practice. Skimming is usually seen more in adults than in children. It is conducted at a higher rate than normal reading, sometimes done at a speed three to four times faster than usual.
It is done and applied mainly to quickly identify the main ideas of a text such as when reading a newspaper, it is probably not done word by word, but instead done by scanning the text, which is moving the eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words or phrases. It is useful when searching for a specific information rather than reading for comprehension.
There are several strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and the last paragraphs using headings, summarises or other organisers as they move down the page. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading and look at the illustrations or pictures. You can also consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph to find the main point of the text.
Skimming also works well to find dates, names and places in a certain text because these items usually are the important points of a text. It might be used to review graphs, tables and charts as the illustrations might be misleading with lots of figures scattering around and the actual information that is seek might be vaguely hidden in the illustrations.
As discussed above, skimming is seen as an integral part of reading as it can wastes no time in finding the main points from a text.
It is done and applied mainly to quickly identify the main ideas of a text such as when reading a newspaper, it is probably not done word by word, but instead done by scanning the text, which is moving the eyes quickly down the page seeking specific words or phrases. It is useful when searching for a specific information rather than reading for comprehension.
There are several strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and the last paragraphs using headings, summarises or other organisers as they move down the page. You might read the title, subtitles, subheading and look at the illustrations or pictures. You can also consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph to find the main point of the text.
Skimming also works well to find dates, names and places in a certain text because these items usually are the important points of a text. It might be used to review graphs, tables and charts as the illustrations might be misleading with lots of figures scattering around and the actual information that is seek might be vaguely hidden in the illustrations.
As discussed above, skimming is seen as an integral part of reading as it can wastes no time in finding the main points from a text.
3 Types of Information
There are three types of information that can be used in the process of researching. These are required as steps which the information will be collected and analysed to increase our understanding of a topic or issue. The three basic kinds of information in order to look for materials are the primary information, the secondary information and the tertiary information.
Primary information is the information that is original, that has been obtained first hand by the researchers from the source. It is done through many forms such as conducting surveys through handouts that is given to people or by face-to-face surveys that is surveying in person. We can also obtained information through interviews that is going to a person and having a questions and answers session in private or group. Another one is through human resources such as from friends or relatives. It is considered original because these information are obtained personally and not through others.
Secondary information is defined as information that is derived from other information. It acts as pointers (indexes) to the primary sources, which have been selected and rearranged under subject headings, authors or other organisers. Examples of this type of informations are the library catalogues, encyclopedias, handbooks, reviews, databases and the internet. This is a relatively easy way of obtaining information because it is always there when needed although some information might be outdated and the information might be too wide to explore and needed some kind of summarising to be done. It can also be an arduous task to scan through thousands of pages and maybe a little too much information but it also open up lots of other possibilities of obtaining a new kind of information.
Tertiary information is the product of people reflecting on the things they or other people have recorded. This is mostly done in journals on a particular subject that have been researched and compiled in a single entry. This kind of information is arguably the most useful of the three as it tells how other people have solved or understood similar problems that they faced. It also exposes the subject to its tiny details. The information obtained here is reliable as it deals with only the specific subject that needed to be used.
Between these three types of information, I prefer the tertiary information as I have discussed above that it narrows the point of problems or subject that I am dealing with specifically. It is also very reliable and the easiest way of obtaining information as long as it is published for general use of the public and are not copyright controlled as I can be prosecuted for plagiarised.
Although there are three types of information, it is not exactly correct to precisely choose one type of information at any one time because you may prefer one type of acquiring information but the other two will somehow overlap into your procedure as it is strictly limited to only use one type of source. The information is greater if all three are utilised at the same time in researches.
Primary information is the information that is original, that has been obtained first hand by the researchers from the source. It is done through many forms such as conducting surveys through handouts that is given to people or by face-to-face surveys that is surveying in person. We can also obtained information through interviews that is going to a person and having a questions and answers session in private or group. Another one is through human resources such as from friends or relatives. It is considered original because these information are obtained personally and not through others.
Secondary information is defined as information that is derived from other information. It acts as pointers (indexes) to the primary sources, which have been selected and rearranged under subject headings, authors or other organisers. Examples of this type of informations are the library catalogues, encyclopedias, handbooks, reviews, databases and the internet. This is a relatively easy way of obtaining information because it is always there when needed although some information might be outdated and the information might be too wide to explore and needed some kind of summarising to be done. It can also be an arduous task to scan through thousands of pages and maybe a little too much information but it also open up lots of other possibilities of obtaining a new kind of information.
Tertiary information is the product of people reflecting on the things they or other people have recorded. This is mostly done in journals on a particular subject that have been researched and compiled in a single entry. This kind of information is arguably the most useful of the three as it tells how other people have solved or understood similar problems that they faced. It also exposes the subject to its tiny details. The information obtained here is reliable as it deals with only the specific subject that needed to be used.
Between these three types of information, I prefer the tertiary information as I have discussed above that it narrows the point of problems or subject that I am dealing with specifically. It is also very reliable and the easiest way of obtaining information as long as it is published for general use of the public and are not copyright controlled as I can be prosecuted for plagiarised.
Although there are three types of information, it is not exactly correct to precisely choose one type of information at any one time because you may prefer one type of acquiring information but the other two will somehow overlap into your procedure as it is strictly limited to only use one type of source. The information is greater if all three are utilised at the same time in researches.
Purposes of Reading
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of deriving meaning (reading comprehension) and/or constructing meaning. Reading is an important tool for people of many societies, allowing them to access information which might have otherwise been unavailable.
There are several purposes of reading. One of them is to search for simple information, which is finding the main point from a text in order to know a specific kind of information such as when reading the contents written at the side of a soft drink. This is also applied to skimming which is to read at a faster pace and finding specific information but also to make a quick assumptions and making a summary of the text. Example of this is like informing someone of an article from a newspaper.
Most of the time, reading is related to learning. That is to say that we read to learn from texts. The information that we gain from the text is gathered so that it can be used in different times later when in need. Examples like knowledge from a text book, a learner use the information for examinations, or a user’s manual of a washing machine, the user will have a wider perspective on the specifications of a said washing machine and can even learn how to use the washing machine from the manual.
Sometimes, reading is also applied to integrate with the information. This is because of the importance of the information and the greater benefit it can give or done by assimilating with the reader’s mind. This is highly likely because it must be shared or spreaded through mediums like flyers or speech or television commercials. Example is like when there is an epidemic such as the Influenza A, there is a need to educate people the importance of wearing a face mask to prevent the spreading of the H1N1 virus.
There is also the need to write something, like a university scholar’s thesis or a writer writing a book. They will need as much information as possible as a source of materials or maybe just as plain inspiration. They will gather the information from other works and put it in the context of their own work. If it is unaltered, then they must state the source in the bibliography as to acknowledged the source or else it will be identified as plagiarising, that is to copy someone else’s work note for note without acknowledging and certainly without permission and can be prosecuted in court.
Then there is the purpose of critiquing a certain text, using analysis and evaluation, of the merits and faults of the actions or work of another individual. Criticism can mean merely to evaluate without necessarily finding fault such as when a writer of a music column of a magazine reviewing an album by an artist. However, usually the word implies the expression of disapproval. That is the case when a certain product do have some kind of fault or it is simply broken.
Finally, reading is simply applied as a general comprehension on a certain texts. That is to just read and understands the relevancy of the information or in the case of a fiction or storybook, to simply read and enjoy the story without any restrictions.
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