Communication


Communication entails an interactive, dynamic process of sending a message from an encoder to a decoder e.g. sharing information, thoughts and feelings by means of sounds, signals, signs and movements.

For a message to be interpreted there must exist a common system of meaning by which the message is transmitted, i.e. a language and a similar frame of experience.


[table1: Model of Primal Chat]


Necessary elements for communication: encoder, decoder, channel, Graphically and Phonetically Expressive Message (GPEM), feedback.

Channels we use to communicate are sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste. This particular model deals with electronic communication. Therefore sight and hearing are emphasized and the message is conveyed on more than one level: through graphic symbols, words, emphasis, quality of voice, facial expression, etc. Channels can affect meaning of the message, specially in the cases of contradiction between verbal and non-verbal expressions, e.g. irony, .

Communication is an interactive process which entails the existence of feedback. The route from an encoder to a decoder in the case of encoding and vice versa in the case of decoding, leads from a communicative intention of the encoder to an interpretation of the decoder. The feedback confirms that the communication has been realized.

... "the groundwork of which lies in the distinction between the decontextualized semantic system and the contextualized use thereof. Meaning is regarded as a matter of contrast and choice; it is, furthermore, an intersubjectivized phenomenon, processable mentally and verifiable empirically." *1


*1 (Lexical meaning, Modern approach, Tvrtko Prcic, 1997, Semantic and Pragmatic of the Word)