FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION

Regulation/Control as a Function of Communication

It means being able to use language, gestures, and emotions to manage individual or group
activities such as a parent telling a child not to misbehave or a policeman directing pedestrians
not to jaywalk but cross on the pedestrian lane.

The Regulation/Control is also observed when a student asks his or her parents to stop teasing
him or her about having a crush in school. He or she also urges his or her siblings not to look for
that crush in school. His or her friends/classmates are likewise under strict orders not to talk
about that crush at all.

Regulation/Control is observable if we focus on the verbal and nonverbal cues used by the
Speaker to achieve his or her purpose. The speaker and the listener, when using verbal cues,
should be respectful of each other's culture as well as of their age, gender, social status, and
religion.

1.Verbal cues are the specific words chosen and used. The words are usually
directives, orders, requests, and so on, meant to regulate and control other people's
behavior. In certain cases that involve women or in situations in the Philippines
that involve a superior and a subordinate, an order is oftentimes worded as a request.

2.Nonverbal cues include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal
tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. The tone and the bodily action that
accompany the words are authoritative and firm. Eye contact is direct. In our culture,
these cues may be softened for children and the elderly.

Social Interaction as a Function of Communication

The most familiar and the primary reason why people communicate. This is because people do
love to talk and love to talk with each other. Conversing with one another pleases and
entertains them while passing the time. Humans talk for the purpose of coming together as a
society. Social interaction allows people to be connected with one another. A family becomes
close not because they live under the same roof, but because each member interacts with
another. Friends get together to interact and enjoy each other's company. A new acquaintance
can become a friend by getting to know that person through more opportunities for
interaction.
Social interaction is the most obvious, the most often used, and the most popular function of
communication, just think of how many times people interact with other people by talking to
them, conversing with them, laughing with them, and just enjoying each other's company.

Recall what communication activity one recently engaged in that used social interaction
involving friends, classmates, neighbors, or even other people like vendors and
jeepney/bus/tricycle drivers. Notice that one's interaction with different people from different
groups will not be the same interaction experience. Still, communication happens between you
and them.

Like regulation/control, social interaction occurs when verbal and nonverbal cues are
appropriately applied. The speaker and the listener, when using verbal cues, should be
respectful of each other's culture as well as of their age, gender, social status, and religion.

1.Verbal cues are the specific words chosen and used. The words usually used
are mostly informal terms and casually delivered, although Philippine society
dictates certain decorum when talking to elders or figures of authority.

2.Nonverbal cues include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal
tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. The tone used is friendly, even teasing, and
bodily action is relaxed.

Social interaction uses the most verbal and nonverbal cues with the most adaptation for the
simple reason that it occurs every day, nearly 24 hours a day. Given the number of people
interacting with each other, the verbal and nonverbal cues used, including possible
combinations, make interactions uncountable or countless.

Motivation as a Function of Communication

Motivation is the third function of communication. This is when the speaker's purpose is to
persuade or try to persuade another person to change his or her opinion, attitude, or behavior.
This is different from regulation and control where the speaker simply directs others and insists
on his or her own agenda. In this function, persuasion is used to move the listener away from
his or her own position toward the speaker's own or the position where the speaker wants the
other person to move. For example, having the listener agree with the speaker that there is a
"Pope Francis effect" is one such agenda. Convincing your friends to go to the mall to watch a
movie after school is another example.
Motivation is the third function of communication and is the most purposive. When people
communicate, they always have a purpose or a reason. Why do people talk about this and not
that? Why talk to him but not to her? It is because there is a goal to be achieved, a motive that
must be accomplished. The motivation to talk with the teacher is perhaps to ask him or her for
more time to finish a class project. The members of a church youth group listen to a certain
candidate in the upcoming Church Council elections. A customer convinces a vendor to sell a
bigger sized mango for the same price as a smaller one. The speaker and the listener, when
using verbal cues, should be respectful of each other's culture as well as of their age, gender,
social status, and religion. Motivation is accomplished using the following:

1.Verbal cues are the words chosen and used specifically to achieve this function.
More direct and purposeful words are chosen for both men and women, although
these can be softened for children and the elderly.

2.Nonverbal cues include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal
tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. Strong words are accompanied by emphatic
gestures and a forceful tone of voice. Direct eye contact is necessary to underscore the
speaker's sincerity and conviction.

Information as a Function of Communication

The most useful function of communication. Whether talking to friends or acquaintances, to

1.Verbal cues Words are carefully chosen. Avoid too much technical jargons and
use simple words.

2.Nonverbal cues Include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal
tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. Do an actual demonstration. Show pictures or
videos.

Emotional Expression as a Function of Communication

The speaker appeal to the listener’s feelings and emotions to encourage him/her to act in
particular direction. Filipinos can be moved to tears by a movie, drama or song. A speaker may
appeal to a Filipino listener how he/she was moved by that particular movie, drama or song.
Photos of suffering or devastation tug at the heartstrings of Filipinos. When using verbal cues,
should be respectful of each other’s culture, age, gender, social status, and religion.

1.Verbal cues Words that may appeal to men may not appeal to women. There
are words children use that the elderly might find insulting and vice versa.

2.Nonverbal cues Include hand gestures, bodily action (including posture), vocal
tone (paralanguage), and eye contact. When we appeal to someone by using
emotions, we accompany this appeal with touching, holding hands or hugging, or even
putting an arm around someone’s shoulder.

These Functions are not mutually exclusive, they do not exist independent of each other. In
most times, the Functions overlap. To be able to use Regulation and Control, Information must be given
first. Information is also important so that there will be a basis for Motivation to persuade the Listener
to believe in what the Speaker is saying. Motivation will also be achieved if there is Emotional Expression
in the appeal. Finally, Social Interaction is the basis for the other Functions to be accomplished.