MediaSpace Wiki

Functions Of Communication

One outline of the functions of Communication follows what might be thought of as a rhetorical approach and is as follows:

• Information
• Education
• Persuasion
• motivation
• instruction
• raising morale
• advice
• warning

Another (see http://www.nvcc.edu/home/aeldridge/communication/nature/functions.htm), focuses more on needs:

• Physical
• Identity
• Social

An outline of the interpersonal functions of commmunication (see http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/interpersonal/infunctions.html) asserts the following:

• Gaining Information (which often requires disclosing information; self-disclosure)
• Building a Context of Understanding (via relationship messages that are a subtext of many "content" messages).
• Asserting identify (by adopting "roles" and creating and maintaining "face").
• Social needs, including inclusion, control, and affection.

According to Del Hymes ethnography of communication (see http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/hymes.htm), communication serves:

• an expressive function when message creators focus on themselves
• a directive function when message creators focus on message consumers
• a phatic (contact) function when message channels are concerned with message channels
• a metalinguistic when codes are focused on codes
• a contextual when settings are focused on settings
• a poetic when message-forms are focused on forms
• a referential when topics are focused on topics
• a metacommunicative when events are focused on an event