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deal with information about the topic under discussion. Relational messages are signals
indicating how they feel about one another. Relational mesages indicate a variety of
attitudes such as affinity, control and respect
3. Communication is irreversible. Our words and deeds are recorded in others’
memories. The old saying “Forgive and forget” is difficult to follow. People may forgive,
but they don’t forget. This means people should weigh their words carefully.
4. Communication is a process. Sending or receiving a message is not an isolated
event.
5. Communication is not a panacea. Communication can smooth out the road to
success, but it will not always get you what you want.
6. Communication often presents ethical challenges. The following ethical standards
may help communicators decide how to behave in a principled manner:
6.1. The Golden Rule Standard: Is this the way I would be treated by others?
6.2. The Professional Ethic: How this would be judged by an impartial jury of my
professional peers?
6.3. Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative: Could our society continue to function if
everyone acted in this fashion?
6.4. The Utilitarian Rule: Does this action do the most good for the most people over the
greatest period of time?
6.5. The TV Test: Would you be comfortable explaining your behaviour on a famous
national TV show?

MAJOR AREAS OF COMMUNICATION STUDIES

1. Linguistics Traditional distinction in linguistic analysis includes syntax and semantics.
Syntax is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms, how they are arranged
in sequence, and which sequences are well-formed. This type of study takes place
without considering any world of reference or any user of the forms. The American
linguist Noam Chomsky, the founder of transformational grammar, found that languages
of the world are similar in more ways than they are different and that certain principles
are true of all languages. Transformational grammar consists of rules that determine all
the sentences that can possibly be formed in any language. Semantics is the study of
the relationships between linguistic forms and entities in the world, how words literally
connect to things. Semantics analyzes the meaning of linguistic forms. Semantic
analysis attempts to establish the relationships between verbal descriptions and states
of affairs in the world as true or not, regardless of who produces the description.
2. Pragmatics Pragmatics is the study of the relationships between linguistic forms and the
users of these forms. It includes the study of speaker meaning, contextual meaning, the
expression of relative distance, of the choices made, the constraints encountered in
social interaction, the effects their use if language has on other participants in the act of
communication. It is a study of how more gets communicated than is said. The term is
attributed to the British philosopher Charles Morris (1936-1971) who singled out
pragmatics as the relation of signs to interpretation. Within pragmatics, discourse
analysis (the study of language in communication) has become a major focus of
attention. The study of the principles governing the communicative use of language,
especially as encountered in conversations, is called general pragmatics. The study of
verbal interaction in such domains as counseling, medical interviews, language teaching,