Understanding the Characteristics and Power of Language as a Tool of Communication, Lecture notes of Communication

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• BY- DR PARUL SINGH

• LECTURE ON PROFESSIONAL

COMMUNICATION

• 3rd lecture.

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

AND TECHNOLOGY

Language as a tool of

communication:

In order to express his ideas emphatically,

man needs some common medium of

expression.

Physical gestures or certain noises like

crying in anger, weeping or laughing may

help a person

to communicate some of his feelings, just as

a little baby weeps when he is hungry. In

both the

above examples communication takes place

without words. But man needs some means

of

linguistic communication in order to express

his fine ideas and emotions.

Language is Arbitrary (Illogical or

random):

Language is arbitrary (illogical) in the sense that there is no inherent relation between the words of a language and their meanings or the ideas conveyed by them. There is no reason why a female adult human being be called a woman in English, aurat in Urdu, Zen in Persian and Femine in French. The choice of a word selected to mean a particular thing or idea is purely orbitrary but once a word is selected for

Language is Artificial (Manmade):

Language is created by people. It did not

exist in isolation or outside the minds of

people. It is

created by humans based on their needs.

Language is Restricted

(limitations):

When we think and translate our thoughts

into language, some meaning is lost in the

process.No symbol or word can transmit our

exact perception. Language has its

limitations.Language is Abstract

(conceptual):

Language is abstract because it represents

generalized ideas of things or thoughts. A word

could

represent different ideas at different times. A

‘table’ can be of different shapes and sizes, and

Displacement

This means that the speaker can talk

about things which are not present,

either spatially or

temporally. For example, human

language allows speakers to talk

about the past and the future,

as well as the present. Speakers can

also talk about things that are

physically distant (such as

other countries, the moon, etc.). They

can even refer to things and events

that do not actually

Difference between Technical and General writing: Definition: Technical writing consists of reports, letters, papers, proposals, articles,Thesis and some other writings which are popular among the professionals such as doctors, engineers, scientists and the researchers. Literary and other type of writings such as essays, poems, novels, stories etc. are known as general writings. Reply: In technical writing a reply is expected from the reader. In general writing reader does not send a reply to the writer. Purpose: Technical writing aims at imparting information, instructions and explanations. General writing aims at amusing, entertaining and inspiring the readers. Style: Style of technical writing is impersonal and objective Style of general writing is personal and subjective. Nature: Technical writing is based on facts General writing is highly imaginative.

Technical

writing

General writing