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Lec4 Language Functions

This document discusses the six language functions proposed by Roman Jakobson: referential, emotive, conative, phatic, metalingual, and poetic. Each function connects an element of verbal communication - context, addresser, addressee, contact, code, and message - and examples are provided to illustrate how language is used for each function. The referential function relates to statements of fact or truth, the emotive expresses emotions, the conative urges action, the phatic establishes contact, the metalingual discusses language itself, and the poetic emphasizes beauty of language.

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220 views2 pages

Lec4 Language Functions

This document discusses the six language functions proposed by Roman Jakobson: referential, emotive, conative, phatic, metalingual, and poetic. Each function connects an element of verbal communication - context, addresser, addressee, contact, code, and message - and examples are provided to illustrate how language is used for each function. The referential function relates to statements of fact or truth, the emotive expresses emotions, the conative urges action, the phatic establishes contact, the metalingual discusses language itself, and the poetic emphasizes beauty of language.

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Mi Noucha
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Abdelhafid Boussouf University Center, Mila

Institute of Letters and Languages


Department of Foreign Languages
English

Level: 1st year (BA/ LMD)


Initiation to Linguistics1

Lecture Four: Language Functions

Language is basically used for communication. According to Roman Jacobson (the Russian-

American linguist), six elements are necessary for the description of an effective act of verbal

communication: the context, the addresser, the addressee, the contact, the code, and the

message. Each of these elements is connected with one of the six functions of language as

introduced by Jacobson and illustrated in the following figure:

Context
(Referential)

Addresser Message Addressee


(Emotive) (Poetic) (Conative)

Contact
(Phatic)

Code
(Metalingual)

1. The Referential/ʻdenotativeʼ, ʻcognitiveʼ Function (context): the context is the target

factor of this function. According to Hébert (2011), “The referential function is

associated with an element whose truth value (true or false status) is being affirmed

(or questioned), particularly when this truth value is identical in the real universe and

in the assumptive or reference universe that is taking it on”. To exemplify, we

consider statements like "the sun rises in the East", "the Earth is round", etc.
Abdelhafid Boussouf University Center, Mila
Institute of Letters and Languages
Department of Foreign Languages
English

Level: 1st year (BA/ LMD)


Initiation to Linguistics1

2. The Emotive/ʻExpressiveʼ Function (addresser): this function focuses on the

addresser and is obvious when expressing emotions using such interjections like: Oh!,

Bah!, Yuck!, etc.

3. The Conative Function (addressee): this function is concerned with urging the

listener to act. It suggests a “vocative and imperative, which syntactically,

morphologically, and often even phonemically deviate from other nominal and verbal

categories” (Jacobson, 1960, p.355).

4. The Phatic Function (contact): this function is concerned with establishing the

connection and contact between the speakers, as in ʻHello?ʼ.

5. The Metalingual Function (code): It is used when speaking about the language.

According to Jacobson (1960), “whenever the addresser and/or the addressee need to

check up whether they use the same code, speech is focused on the CODE: it performs

a METALINGUAL (i.e., glossing) function. ʻI don’t follow you-what do you mean?ʼ”

(p.356).

6. The Poetic Function (poetic): It emphasizes the beauty of language, and puts “the

focus on the message for its own sake” (Jacobson, 1960, p.356).

Reference

Jakobson, R. (1960). Concluding statement: Linguistics and poetics. In T. Sebeok (Ed.), Style

in Language. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Hébert, L. (2011). The functions of language. In L. Hébert (dir.), Signo [online], Rimouski

(Quebec), http://www.signosemio.com/jakobson/functions-of-language.asp.

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