Communication and Competence
* 126 definitions for communication * any living organism counts as communication
communication is the process whereby human collectively create and regulate social reality
-any object or activity can be viewed as either a thing or a process
-things are static, bound in time, and unchanging
-processes are moving have no beginning and no end, constant change
-the communication process is like a river; active, continuous, and flow, never the same from one minute to the next
-people use language naturally and spontaneously, giving us a flexability and creativity denied to all other creatures
Communication as Collective Acitvity
- communication is collective, the relationship between human society and human communication is circular; one coulnd’t exist without the other.
-communication presupposes social co-operation interpersonal communication can not occur unless at least 2 people mutually engage in creating meaning
-Joost Meerloo: communication comes from munia, meaning service and cannot mutual, help, exchange, and interaction of those belonging to the same community
Communication as a creative endeavour * when we agree that things can be talked about we create that thing, cause we cause it to exist
Communication as regulatory
-communication allows us not only to create the world around us but to take possession of it as well, through communication we can act on our world.
Implications 1. through communication we each create our own reality 2. 2. We allow what we have created through communication to control us 3. communication always takes place in a cultural context 4. what is important in interpersonal communication is what people do when they are together, not what each does separately
Communicative competence: the ability to communicate in a personally effective and socially appropriate manner
2 separate levels * a surface level: consisting of the part of