On Communication Models

蒋 娜，谢有琪

(1.桂林理工大学外国语学院;2.广西师范大学外国语学院，桂林 541004)

1 Definition of Communication

According to the definition，communication is the activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information[1]，which tells us that what people do when they are practicing communication is not only conveying messages but also expressing their intentions.In other words，people use language，verbal and non － verbal，to express their intention in the form of proposition.

2 Grice＇s Communication Model—— Coded Model

According to Ferdinand De Saussure＇s semiotics——language is a system of signs，American linguists Grice proposed his own communication model——coded model，which has played a leading role as the most influential communication theory for a long period.Grice argued that coded model is a communication model involving a set of signals，a set of messages，and a code which relates the two.In verbal communication，the signals would be utterances，the messages would be the thoughts that speakers intend to convey，and the grammar of a language would be the code.The coded model can be illustrated as follows:

To put it simply，as Grice proposed，the human communication is merely a kind of one－way message transfer starting at the speaker and ending at the hearer.

3 Gable＇s Communication Model

According to Gable，communication is not just a one－way message transfer starting at the speaker and ending at the hearer，but a more complex model of message transfer，and he created a communication model of his own as follows:

4 Sperber and Wilson＇s Ostensive Inferential Communication Model

After ceaseless work and observations，Grice found that his Coded Model can not hold water—— indefensible.He therefore improved his model on the base of Gable＇s Communication Model by adding a fatal step of addressee＇s inference.Simply，he attaches much importance to the efforts made by the hearer in the comprehension of the utterance.They proposed that communication process should be like that:addresser offers a stimulus to addressee and believes that addressee thinks it is worth to make efforts to make inference，and addressee makes a manual manifest in hisher cognitive environment and gets addresser＇s intention.

5 The processing procedure of utterance

5.1 Grice＇s Communication Model ——Coded Model does not provide us a satisfied access to comprehend the meanings of all levels of the speaker＇s utterance.In other words，Coded Model is a one － way message transfer starting at the speaker and ending at the hearer，in which the message merely concerns the words or utterance.Running a risk of too simple，what speaker does in Grice＇s model is only give information without feelings.According to Grice，pragmatic principles contribute mainly to the implicit side of communication，while communication remains largely code based，so words are enough to infer the semantic meaning of speaker＇s utterance，which，however，does not mean speaker＇s intention or pragmatic meaning can be gotten——because speaker＇s intention can not be coded but can be inferred.For example:

—— I have a sour throat.

If the hearer follows Coded Model，he can merely infer，from the literal level(surface structure)，that the speaker is sick，but the reason why the speaker utters this sentence is still unknown.Speaker may be practising the speech act of expressing the reason why he/she is late or refusing someone＇s invitation etc.

According to the American linguist Charles F.Hockett，there are 13 design features of communication，among which“Duality of Patterning”is an important one.Duality of Patterning indicates that the sound of language has no intrinsic meaning，but combine in different ways to form elements(such as words)that do convey meaning(unlike animal calls，which can not be analyzed into two such levels of structure).[2]401E.Spair said a purely human and non－instinctive method of communicating ideas，emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.[2]400Therefore，we can see that sound of language has two structure levels，as Chomsky said，the surface and the deep structure of a sentence，while the Coded Model can infer only the surface structure.In a word，what can we infer from the formic sentence by following the Coded Model is the proposition meaning.

5.2 From the figure of Gable＇s Communication Model，we can tell it，unlike the Grice＇s Coded Model，is a circling process，in which participants exchange messages of various kinds of forms through different channels in a given context.In other words，Gable＇s Communication Model provides hearer with an access to both the surface structure and the deep structure.

For example:

—— I have a sour throat.

By resorting to the context，hearer can not only comprehend the proposition meaning but also infer the speaker＇s intention of uttering this sentence.If the conversation happens like this:

A:Would you like to go with me to the movie tonight?

B:I have a sour throat.

A can infer that B is refusing A＇s invitation but not just expressing a proposition“I＇m sick”，because B is flouting the Cooperation Principle but following Polite Principle，which can generate the implicate meaning.According to G.Trager，language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which members of a society interact in terms of their total culture.Thus，according to Charles F.Hockett＇s design features of language——semanticity，the elements of the signals convey meanings through their stable association with the real world situation(unlike dog painting，which does not ＇mean＇a dog is hot;it is ＇part of＇being hot)，from which we can see that the comprehension of the contextual meaning of the words should resort to the stable association with the real world situation.

Unlike the Grice＇s Coded Model which focuses merely on the vocal message，Gable＇s Communication Model shows that communication is carried out in not only the verbal form but also non－verbal，which is correspondent with the semiotics——a subject that owes great deal to US philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure.From the concerning of semiotics，it is obvious that，except for the verbal communication，the non － verbal communication accounts for a pretty large part in daily life.People therefore need to infer from the non－verbal language for a wholly comprehension of the utterance.

如前所述，我们可以把那个一般意义上的启蒙看作是一个过程，是个体逐渐学会主动运用自身理性进行批判性思考的过程，这就从两个层面决定了启蒙要面对并接受种种反启蒙，启蒙要在种种反启蒙的鞭挞下不断地自我完善从而走向那个一般意义上的启蒙。

5.3 Gable＇s Communication Model explains what——messages，and how ——verbal and non － verbal，people exchange when they are communicating，as well as how ——resort to context，to infer the utterance.However，to Sperber and Wilson，it is not satisfactory，so the Ostensive Inferential Communication Model was proposed.

Sperber and Wilson attached great importance to the cognitive competence of the addressee.They hold that language，verbal and non － verbal，relates to not only the experience but also the cognitive environment.To put it simple，language，experience and cognitive environment have mutual influence on each other.

Language←→ Cognitive Environment←→ Experience As mentioned above，in Ostensive Inferential Communication Model addresser offers a stimulus to addressee and believes that addressee think it is worth to make efforts to make inference，and addressee makes a manual manifest in hisher cognitive environment and gets addresser＇s intention from the optimum information.The stimulus can be verbal languages or such tactile languages as wink or handshaking.Besides，what the addresser offers is considered as the most for the addressee to infer，with the least efforts，the speech act force.

For example:

Father:Do you know what time is it now?

Son:Mum promised to wake me up…

In this conversation，the father offers a stimulus“what time is it now”，believing his son would make effort to make a mutual manifest of his cognitive environment.By resorting to his own experience and cognitive environment，the son is able to infer that his father is requesting but not questioning，he，therefore，offers a reason.

In addition，70%of daily conversation is metaphor，and according to Ricoeur＇s Hermeneutics theory and Charles F.Hockett，signals have double even polysemous meanings，therefore，words and context are not enough to infer the addresser＇s intention lying in the deep structure.To be exact，addressee needs to resort to his own experience and cognitive environment to infer what he has received by any kinds of channels，by which the optimum information can be got.

According to Lakoff，spoon － feed is a kind of structural metaphor，so A can not infer B＇s intention by only the surface structure.As G.，Trager said language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which members of a society interact in terms of their total culture.A therefore should resort to his own experience and cognitive environment，rather than the utterance or the context only，for the sake of a wholly comprehension of B＇s intention.In a word，in the limit utterance，Sperber and Wilson＇s Ostensive Inferential Communication Model should be，by far，the most effective and exact way to infer the speech act force.

Apart from the cognitive environment，the experience，the context and the cultural factors，ostensive stimulus，especially the tactile languages，in the Ostensive Inferential Communication Model should be paid more attention to.

The communicative value of tactile activities is usually fairly clear within a culture，as they comprise some of the most primitive kinds of social interaction.They express such meanings as affection，aggression，sexual attraction，greeting and leave taking，congratulation，gratitude and the signaling of attention.[2]406

Conclusion

Communication，verbal and non －verbal，is carried out for the purpose of sharing the information and enhancing people＇s understanding about each other，while a perfect communication model plays a fatal role in comprehending verbal and non －verbal messages.As the TELEOLOGY tells human beings to do things with purpose，so it is safe to say that communication is a means used by human beings to obtain the ends，while the communication model is the very key to make sense of what the addressee＇s intention.

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[5]谭鑫田.西方哲学词典[K].济南:山东人民出版社，1992.

[6]熊婷婷，译.Communication Works(seventh edition)[M].北京:清华大学出版社，2005:13.