Six functions of languages by Roman Jacobson

          Introduction

Language is a vital tool that allows us to connect and command, to warn and welcome, and to anchor abstract thought in concrete words in our pursuit of higher knowledge. It is also an artistic medium through which we express our humanity. Linguistics have long sought to classify its myriad uses in a way that would create order from chaos and allow for more manageable study. If we recognise consciousness -as-noticing, consciousness-as-understanding, and conscious-as-control as critical stages in language development, we must engage in a cycle of noticing, internalizing and applying the full scope of the communicative functions of language.

      Jacobson's schema of language

In the field of language, much attention is given to the what (vocabulary as building blocks) and the how (grammar as a blueprint for construction) but we seldom explicitly address why language matters in terms of the greater purpose it serves. Roman Jacobson's model of the communicative functions of language -is a compelling framework through which the overarching aims of language can be examined for richer ESL/EFL instruction and more effective, comprehensive use on the part of English language learners. This is an exposition and exploration of the model in parts and in tandem, as well as a guide to applying its referential, conative, emotive, phatic, poetic and metalinguistic functions.

Working of six functions of language

Language must be investigated in all the variety of its functions. Before discussing the poetic function we must define its place among the other functions of language. An outline of these functions demands a concise survey of the constitutive factors in any speech event, in any act of verbal communication. The ADDRESSER sends a MESSAGE to the ADDRESSEE. To be operative the message requires a CONTEXT referred to ('referent' in another, somewhat ambiguous, nomenclature), seizable by the addressee, and either verbal or capable of being verbalized, a CODE fully, or at least partially, common to the addresser and addressee (or in other words, to the encoder and decoder of the message) ;and finally, a CONTACT, a physical channel and psychological connection between the addresser and the addressee, enabling both of them to enter and stay in communication. All these factors inalienably involved in verbal communication may be schematizes as follows: 

                            CONTEXT

ADDRESSER      MESSAGE     ADDRESSEE

                             CONTACT

                              CODE

Each of these six factors determines a different function of language. Although we can distinguish six basic aspects of language, we could, however, hardly find verbal message that would fulfill only one function. The diversity lies not in a monopoly of someone of these several functions but in a different hierarchical order of functions. The verbal structure of a message depends primarily on the predominant function. But even though a set (Einstellung) toward the referent, an orientation towards the CONTEXT -briefly the so- called REFERENTIAL, 'denotative', 'cognative' function -is the leading task of numerous messages, the accessory participation of the other functions in such messages must be taken into account by observant linguist.

  1. Emotive or expressive function (ADDRESSEE) 

The so-called EMOTIVE or "expressive" function, focused on the ADDRESSER, aims a direct expression of the speaker's attitude towards what he is speaking about. It tends to produce an impression of a certain emotion whether true or fake; therefore, the term 'emotive', launched and advocated by Marty has proved to be preferable to 'emotional'. The purely emotive stratum in language is presented by the interjections. They differ from the means of referential language both by their sound pattern and by their syntactic role. The emotive function, laid bare in the interjections, flavours to some extent all our utterances, on their phonic, grammatical, and lexical level. If we analyze language from the standpoint of the information it carries, we cannot restrict -the notion of information to the cognitive aspect of language. A man, using expressive features to indicate his angry or ironic attitude, conveys ostensible information, and evidently this verbal behaviour cannot be likened to such non symemiotic, nutritive activities as 'eating grapesfruit'. e.g. "Wow, what a view!"

  2. CONATIVE FUNCTION (ADDRESSEE) 

 Orientation toward 'the ADDRESSEE', the CONATIVE function, find its purest grammatical expression in the vocative and imperative, which syntactically, morphologically, and often even phonemically deviate from other nominal and verbal categories. The imperative sentences cardinally differ from declarative sentences: the latter are and the former are not liable to a truth test. When in O'Neill's play The Fountain, Nano, says 'Drink!'-the imperative cannot be challenged by the question 'is it true or not? 'which may be, however, perfectly well asked after such sentences as 'one drank', 'one will drink', 'one would drink.' In contradistinction to the imperative sentences, the declarative sentences are convertible into interrogative sentences: 'did one drink?' 'will one drink?' 'would one drink?'

  3. REFERENTIAL FUNCTION (CONTEXT) 

The traditional model of language as elucidated particularly by Buhler was confined through these three functions -emotive, conative and referential - and the three apxes of this model - the first person of the addresser, the second person of the addressee, and the third person, properly -  someone or something spoken of certain additional verbal functions can be easily inferred from this triadic model. Thus the magic, incantatory function is chiefly some kind of conversion of an absent or inanimate 'third person' into an addressee of a conative message. For e.g; 'May this style dry up, tfu, tfu, tfu'tfu. 'We observe, however, three further constitutive factors of verbal communication and three corresponding functions of language.

  4. PHATIC FUNCTION (CONTACT) 

There are messages primarily serving to establish, to prolong, or to discontinue communication, to check whether the channel works ('Hello, do you hear me?'), to attract the attention of the interlocutor or to confirm his continued attention ('Are you listening?'). This set of CONTACT, or in Malinowski's terms PHATIC function, may be displayed by a profuse exchange of ritualized formulas, by entire dialogues with the purport of prolonging communication. The endeavor to start and sustain communication is typical of talking birds; thus the phatic function of language is the only one they share with human beings. It is also the first verbal function acquired by the infants ;they are prone to communicate before being able to send or receive informative communication.

5. METALINGUAL FUNCTION (CODE) 

A distinction has been made in modern logic between two levels of language, 'object language' speaking of objects and 'metalanguage' speaking of language. But metalanguage is not only a necessary scientific tool utilised by logicians and linguistics; it plays also an important role in our everyday language. Like Moliere's Jourdian who used prose without knowing it, we practice metalanguage without realising the metalingual character of our operations. Whenever the addresser and/or to the addressee need to check whether they use the same code, speech is focused on the CODE; it performs a METALINGUAL function. For e.g; The Sophomore was flunked which means a second year students fail in exam. This equational sentence convey information about the lexical code of Englis;h their function is strictly metalingual. Any process of language learning, in particular child acquisition of the mother tongue, makes wide use of such metalingual operations and aphasia may often be defined as a loss of ability for metalingual operations.

 6. POETIC FUNCTION (MESSAGE) 

We have brought up all the six factors involved in verbal communication except the message itself. The (Einstellung)  toward MESSAGE as such, focus on the message for its own sake, it is the POETIC function of language. This function cannot be productively studied out of touch with the general problems of language, and, on the other hand, the scrutinity of language requires a consideration of its poetic function. Poetic function is not the sole function of verbal art but only its dominant, determining function, where as in all other verbal activities it acts as a subsidiary, accessory constituent. This function, by promoting the palpability of signs, deepens the fundamental dichotomy of signs and objects. Hence, when dealing with poetic function, linguistics cannot limit itself to the field of poetry. 

             Conclusion

Succintly, our cursory description of the six basic functions of verbal communication is more or less complete, we may compliment our scheme of the fundamental factors by a corresponding scheme of the function: 

                            REFERENTIAL

  EMOTIVE            POETIC            CONATIVE

                                 PHATIC

                             METALINGUAL