HFCL GLOSSARY S

. SELF . SELF-DISCLOSURE . SEMIOTICS . SIGN . SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY . SOCIETY . SPEECH . SPEECH ACT THEORY . SYNTAGM . SYSTEM .

SELF [HFCL TUTORIAL]
The individual human being. Human communication is said to originate within the minds of individual selves.

SELF-DISCLOSURE [HFCL TUTORIAL]
The act of providing others with information about oneself.

SEMIOTICS [HFCL TUTORIAL:]
Semiotic theory explains the process by which meaning arises during the perception and interpretation of sensory data. There are a number of variations of the model, however the semiotic triangle is probably the most common. The semiotic triangle model include three elements:

a perception of something that exists in the physical world,
an object or concept to which the perception is said to refer,
a thought, image or concept that is formed in the mind as a result of the perception and which relates to the object.

It is this relationship, present among the elements of the many signs that human beings constantly encounter, that forms the basis for the patterns of meaning that develop in human communication. Models involving the use of signs have been developed by a number of semiotic theoreticians, most notably, Saussure and Pierce. See also Barthes, Eco.

Semiotic approaches to the analysis of communication texts often begin by first identifying the paradigms involved. The following is an example of a [paradigmatic semiotic analysis]. More complex semiotic analysis focuses on the changes that occur in the structure of the sygntagms over time. The following is an example of a [syntagmatic semiotic analysis].

OUTLINKS

SIGN
Loosely defined as "a pattern of data which, when perceived, brings to mind something other than itself," the notion of the sign is central to the semiotic approach to the study of communication. The term can refer to the relationship among the elements of the semiotic model, or it can be used to indicate the first of the three elements, i.e., the physical thing perceived.

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY [HFCL TUTORIAL: THE COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT]
The theory, as expounded by Berger and Luckmann, that the actions of human beings as they live their everyday lives create a social reality that is as unavoidable as the non-social reality that is usually termed "nature."

[Summary of the Model]

SOCIETY
Although any group of humans connected by means of communications may be termed a "society," the term usually refers to a very large group that has developed a wide variety of shared languages, institutions and behaviors.

OUTLINKS

SPEECH [HFCL TUTORIAL: SIGNS AND LANGUAGE]

A form of communication that propagates messages using language via the medium of sound.

Speech is generally acscribed only to humans, although arguments are made in support of beings such as dolphins, whales and various primates.

TO GIVE A SPEECH: to speek formally to an audience. Speeches of this type may be categorized as informative, persuasive, and so on as described in the study of Rhetoric.

SPEECH COMMUNICATION: the study of speaking and speech. This may involve the biology, physiology, physics, psychology and sociology of the speech act. It may involve the study of the art of public speaking. It may involve the analysis of the nature of speech in social discourse.

OUTLINKS

SPEECH ACT THEORY [HFCL TUTORIAL: RELATIONSHIPS]
The study of human speech as action.