chapter 10

The communication model according to Jakobson involves six factors. The addresser is the sender of information and the addressee is the receiver of this information. The message is the information conveyed and the contact is the means by which it is conveyed. The context is similar to the relevance theory meaning that it deals with what you know and how you interpret the given information but often has to do with the situation or surroundings. The code then, is the framework of the conversation such as words, sounds and gestures and the rules that govern them. Each of these refers to a different function of language. All the pieces work together and do not function without one another. Based on this model, Scholes agrees that in any communication there is a message being conveyed by a sender to a receiver. He goes on to say that these three obvious parts of the communication model depend on those that we don’t recognize as easily. We need the contact, code and context for everything to come together as conversation. Context means we much take into consideration the surrounding situation at the given time. When reading Shakespeare, we have to keep in mind that he often repeated lines of dialogue two or three times in slightly different wording because the theaters his plays were performed in were so large. There were many people at these shows and it was often loud. So that people wouldn't miss an important line or part in the play, Shakespeare wrote lines multiple times in different wording. Now, this may seem redundant but in its intended context, it makes sense. In addition, there is what we call the emotive which is the expressive function which can involve attitude and possibly tone. So what this means is that the addresser will always send a message which is received by the addressee but the message must be interpreted and may not end up with the same meaning attached to it, the code must be the same for the message to be correctly interpreted. This is why mass media can cause problems and misinterpretations because not everyone is operating under the same code. Jakobson also talks about referential functions of language which deals with the denotation or cognitive parts of a message as opposed to the emotive or emotional attitude about what’s being conveyed.