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Communication Theory
Assessment Students
will be assessed onOne project to describe and analyse the communication units and systems involved ina communication situation of the student’s choice. There must be explicit descriptionof a communication system and related processes with a clear, critical use of theoryand communication-theoretic models. ( 2,500 words).Students must keep to the word limits and must avoid plagiarism – see handbook. Correctreferencing and bibliographical citation are required – see Handbook and also the guidelines onthe avoidance of plagiarism..The Project must contain:1. An example of human or animal communication that you have seen orread about in the last 3 months.2. a clear description of the communication event3. an analysis that draws on the theoretical principles that are associated4. an application of the chosen theory to communication data to produce aclear and theoretically justified description of the system or processchosen.(Note: students should avoid topics which are too general or too big in terms ofthe amount of data; they are required to select topics which will demonstratelearning from the unit.
Tutorial advice is available in office hours and studentsmust seek advice before starting projects.)Here are few suggestions of areas to explore:- analysis of conversational interaction/ written texts- animal behaviour- use of public signs ( ie road/ maps/ supermarkets, airports)- features of advertising- dress codes( ie Military, uniforms)- facial gestures in humans- hand gestures in different cultures- interaction of verbal and non-verbal in writing (e.g. on labels or in emails)- visual communication in diagrams or maps- The project could include evidence of examples of communications citedabove ( eg.photos etc…)
Communication TheoryLecture 6Starter• What does your hairstyle say about you?• Focusing on men... How did men weartheir hair in the 1950s?‘Julius Caesar’ (1953)• Focus on the hairstyles and faces.• What signs can you read?• What do the signs signify?Frontal locks and sweat• “The frontal lock overwhelms one with evidence:no one can doubt that he is in Ancient Rome”• “A Frenchman, to whose eyes American facesstill have something exotic, finds comical thecombination of the morphologies of thesegangster-sheriffs with the little Roman fringe”• “all the faces sweat constantly”• “sweat is a sign. Of what? Of moral feeling.Everyone is sweating because everyone isdebating something within himself” (Barthes,1957, p. 26-7)Today’s focus• Examine structuralist applications ofSaussure’s ideas• Explore key concepts: denotation andconnotation, syntagmatic andparadigmatic relationships• Highlight how you can engage instructuralist analysisWhat do structuralists do?• Structuralists seek to describe the overallorganization of sign systems as'languages'• They engage in a search for 'deepstructures' underlying the 'surface features'of phenomena11/4/20112Discuss with a friend• What clothes are you wearing?• Why did you select them?• How did you select them this morning?• Do your clothes go well together or is there aclash of styles or materials (deliberate orunintended)?• What do they say about you as a member ofsociety, as an individual?• Could your choice of clothes be interpreted inanother way, maybe a way that doesn’t fit withyour own self-image?Discuss with a friend• Lisa Armstrong in the Times last year:• “Years ago, when I was staying in NewYork with friends, I complimented one ofthem on her enviably eccentric style. Shewas appalled. Quirky? She thought she’dbeen doing Killer Executive.”• Have you ever felt like this?Clothes and semiotic analysis• the way clothes are chosen, worn, put on andtaken off has a communicative as well asfunctional dimension.• Barthes explored this in the 1950s and 1960s,drawing on the work of Saussure.• Key ideas that Barthes drew on were theconcepts of langue and parole (he was moreinterested in parole), signifier and signified,denotation and connotation (which we willdiscuss later) and system with syntagmatic andparadigmatic relationships (which we will focuson now)Paradigmatic and syntagmaticrelations• Saussure emphasized that meaning arisesfrom the differencesbetween signifiers;these differences are of two kinds:syntagmatic(concerning positioning orsequence) and paradigmatic(concerningsubstitution)• Let’s look at an example sentence:Paradigmatic and syntagmaticrelations•http://www.ukassignment.org/ygkczy/ The 'value' of a sign is determined by bothits paradigmatic and its syntagmaticrelations. These provide a context.• Syntagmatic chains follow syntactic rulesand conventions• signifiers are drawn from paradigm setsParadigmatic & syntagmaticrelations - clothes• Applied to clothing, paradigmatic elementscannot be worn at the same time: thegreen or the blue shirt? • The syntagmatic dimension is thejuxtaposition of different clothes: which tiewith the shirt?11/4/20113Getting dressed this morning• What decisions did you make?• Can you relate these to paradigmatic andsyntagmatic relations?• Discuss in pairsGetting dressed• My decisions:• Syntagmatic (social purpose): suit, tie• Paradigmatic (relating to mood, weather,day, classes and meetings): colour,material• Other sentences: a walk by the sea• Confusing sentences: adding somethinginappropriateClothing is an importantsemiological system• provides the first information when wemeet someone• is the outermost layer of the private selfput on display• is part of ornamentation, withcommunicative as well as instrumentalpurposes• allows tribalism through allusion in a worlddominated by mass mediaDenotation and connotation• 'Denotation' tends to be described as thedefinitional, 'literal', 'obvious' or 'commonsense'meaning of a sign• ‘Connotation’ relates to further, sometimes moremetaphorical, meanings.• We use these terms in linguistics. In these pairsof sentences, which meaning is moredenotational and which more connotational?• ‘the snake bit me’• ‘he’s a real snake in the grass’Denotation and connotation• However, when analysing cultural signs, Barthesconcluded that 'denotation is not the firstmeaning, but pretends to be so’.• The denotative meaning is not 'natural‘, but aprocess of ‘naturalization’ occurs.• This leads to the powerful illusion thatdenotation is a purely literal and universalmeaning which is not at all ideological.• This allows dominant groups within society toimpose their view of the world as a ‘natural’ one• E.g. what does a cowboy hat signify toAmericans?Connotational meaning• Connotations are personal but not purely'personal' meanings• they are determined by the codes to whichthe interpreter has access• Cultural codes provide a connotationalframework• we all have different experiences to drawupon• You may have seen different films…11/4/20114What does clothing communicate?• cultural position (role, status) - what does thebride’s dress at a wedding say?• cultural principles (degree of egalitarianism) – asuit, but not a bow-tie? Chairman Mao?• cultural processes (embodying youth culture)black of mods, tartan of punks - interestingfashion statements in this room?• individual meanings, such as social distance – ifone of your friends is always more smartlydressed?• messages about religion, gender, age,occupation, social class, socio-political identity -Gandhi’s loincloth, colour-coded politicians? A summary• Clothing is one semiotic system we can exploreusing Saussure’s terms – signifier & signified,paradigmatic & syntagmatic relationships, andthe distinction between denotation andconnotation, a distinction made by Barthes• Structuralist analysis can be useful, as candeconstructing this – there are many ways inwhich signs provided by clothing can beinterpreted. What does our interpretation sayabout us?Application: Another semioticsystem - food• What connotations do you associate withdifferent food and drink? (wine, beer, milk,coca-cola, champagne, roast beef, pizza,hot dogs, fish & chips, white rice, brownrice, noodles, sandwiches, potatoes,yoghurt, caviar)Decisions about food• When selecting a meal to eat with a friend,what decisions do you need to make?• Firstly, you need to think of a context andappropriate syntagm – Chinese, Indian,French, British food.• Secondly, we select from paradigms –potatoes, white or brown rice, for example,probably not all together.
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