What to Look for When You Look at Communication

There is one more communicative model to consider. This model, developed by Dell Hymes, is a kind of field guide for describing communication. Communication teachers often ask students to develop sensitivity to different speech communities. Students may be asked to describe “locker room talk” or “children’s playground talk”. Or they may be asked to compare the rules governing female speech with those governing male speech; the student must do what is called ethnography of communication. Hymes presents a systematic way to undertake this kind of observation. Figure 2.4 presents Hymes’s model.

Hymes begins by giving a general overview of the context in which communication occurs. When people share common ways of thinking about communication and common styles of talk, they have formed a speech community. These communities may be large (as when we describe “women’s speech”) or small (as when we examine the way athletes of a particular team engage in locker room talk). The first step in doing an ethnography is identifying a speech community. Next, you need to catalog speech situations within the community. A speech situation is a clearly marked occasion that calls for a specific type of speech. Each situation consists of a series of speech events, or identifiable sequence of speech. Speech events can often be broken down into speech acts, or individual, purposeful acts of communication.

Figure 2.4 – Hymes’s Model of Communication

Contexts for Observing Communication

Speech Community People who share common attitudes toward speech Speech Situations Clearly marked occasion that calls for speech Speech Events Identifiable sequence of speech activity Speech Act Purpose served by forms of talk

Elements of Communication
S ituations P articipants E nds A ct Sequence K eys I nstrumentalities N orms G enres	Setting and scene of interaction Who speaks, who is addressed Goals and outcomes of interaction Content, means of expression Tone or spirit of interaction Channels, or media of interaction Rules regulating interaction Type of communication enacted

Hymes lists a series of specific items that an ethnographer of communica­tion observes (see Figure 2.4). Conveniently, the first letters of these items spell the word speaking. Hymes believes it is important to describe the specific situation, or the environment in which communication takes place (including the time, place, and physical circumstances), as well as the psychological weight a given situation carries. He also believes it is important to describe the partic­ipants who take part in a given form of speech, as well as their goals, or ends. In describing act sequences, the ethnographer carefully records communica­tion content and form, noting not only what is said or done but also how it is expressed.

Key is the tone or spirit (for example, joking, aggressive, or ecstatic) in which a given activity is undertaken. Instrumentalities are the channels of transmission used (for example, verbal or nonverbal, written or spoken). In looking at norms, the observer indicates the values and beliefs attached to a given form of communication, as well as the rules that regulate its use. Finally, a genre is a specialized type of encoded message. Examples of genre include prayers, orations, curses, and so on. Hymes believes the conventions governing each genre should be carefully described to gain a true understanding of com­munication in a given speech community. Observing communication behavior often seems to be an overwhelming task. By breaking communication down into smaller units, Hymes helps make that task more manageable.

II. discussion

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