Chapter 2

Communication codes and meaning

Ellis and Beattie identify ‘five primary systems of communication’ which occur in face-to-
face interactions:
■ verbal: all the words, clauses and sentences which we use in speech and writing;
■ prosodic: all the stress and pitch patterns such as pauses and intonation which we
use in speech and which are ‘linguistically determined’ – we use them to punctuate
the speech and make its meaning clear.
■ paralinguistic: all the pauses, ‘ums’, ‘ahs’ and other sounds which are not ‘real’
words and which do not have a clear linguistic function;
■ kinesic: all the ways we move our bodies during communication, including
our posture, gestures and so on;
■ standing features: more static non-verbal features such as appearance, orientation
or distance.

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN LANGUAGE

Michael Clyne suggests that language has four main functions:
1 Most important medium of human communication.
2 Means of identification.
3 Means of intellectual development.
4 Instrument of action.

Language variety
Three main concepts: register, dialect and accent
Register
 different sub-sets of the language
Dialect
 Language variety which is characteristic of a region or a socio-
economic group.
Accent
 The distinctive pronunciation which characterizes a group or a
geographical area.

LANGUAGE FEATURES

a. Expanding and developing vocabulary

Various ways:
Borrowing words from other languages, such as ‘shampoo’ from India or
‘ketchup’ from China.
Putting new meanings into old words. An obvious example here is the word
‘gay’.
Adding or subtracting parts from old words, usually by abbreviating them.
‘Examination’ - ‘exam’, ‘television’ - ‘TV’.
Creating new words, usually by making some analogy.
‘Sound-bites’ to mean short snatches of political rhetoric

b. Multiple meanings for words

An example of a word with multiple meanings is ‘set’; this has 58 uses as a noun,
126 uses as a verb and 10 uses as an adjective.

c. Variety in pronunciation
d. Flexible syntax

e. Speaking versus writing

Writing is: Speech is:

Objective Interpersonal
 A monologue A dialogue

Durable Ephemeral

Scannable Only linearly accessible

Planned Spontaneous

Highly structured Loosely structured

Syntactically complex Syntactically simple

Concerned with the past and future Concerned with the present

Formal Informal

Expository Narrative

Argument oriented Event oriented

Decontextualized Contextualized

Abstract Concrete

OTHER BUSINESS CODES NON-VERBAL CODES

1. Non-verbal codes may contradict the verbal
2. Non-verbal messages can be very important
■ verbal – 7 per cent;
■ tone of voice – 38 per cent;
■ visual – 55 per cent.
3. Non-verbal communication cannot be avoided

4. Much non-verbal communication is culture-bound

5. The meaning of non-verbal behaviour depends on the context
6. You can improve your interpretation of non-verbal communication
NON-VERBAL SIGNALS IN EVERYDAY BUSINESS SITUATIONS
a. The importance of paralinguistics
b. Appearance
c. Eye contact
d. Personal space and distance

Edward Hall identified four distance zones for middle-class Americans:

■ intimate – physical contact to 45 cm;
■ casual–personal – 45 cm to 120 cm;
■ social–consultative – 120 cm to 365 cm;
■ public – over 365 cm.

CAN WE DEVELOP PRACTICAL GUIDELINES ON COMMUNICATION CODES?

Three main stages:
■ identifying linguistic features
■ identifying ‘key audience groups’
■ training managers to follow the guidelines and monitoring