This study attempted to further our understanding of the construct of interpersonal communication. Firstly, we need to understand what communication is and what factors influence communication.
Communication is the exchange of messages between at least two people, of which one issues (expresses) information and the other receives it (understand), provided that the partners know the code (know the same language). The communication tool is the language. Body language (messages transmitted by voice tone, face expression, body position, gestures, etc.) is also an important part of communication. Good communication involves the harmonious combination of the verb of the language (spoken, written and read) with the non-verbal (expressed by signs, gestures, and drawings).
The communication is done on three levels – of which the logical (the word) represents only 7% of the total communication, 38% takes place at paraverbal level (tone, volume, speaking speed) and 55% (facial expression, position, movement, etc.). Through communication, we express our thoughts, feelings, desires, intentions, and experiences, receive and provide information. From the dynamics of these exchanges, through learning, man builds himself as a personality. The ability to communicate is a prerequisite for the process of building interpersonal relationships and social integration.
Many people see the process of communication as a simple process, because it is easy for most people. However, if we think of what communication is, we will be surprised at how complex this process is in reality. Speech uses lips, tongue, soft palate, larynx and lungs. Writing and reading involves visual-manual coordination. The sign / gesture language uses the hand, the palm, and the whole body. Drawing language involves visual and manual control. But these tools, in part, are not enough for communication; the most important tools we need are understanding and the ability to learn.
Communication and language are the spikes of the psychic bone that develops and expresses human behavior and personality, marking their valences and the level of the individual’s expectations in the system of integration into the community, aiming at maximizing the socio-cultural potential. This process begins at birth and evolves according to native dignity, but especially in relation to more or less favorable environmental conditions, so that communication and language introduce differentiating notes among the different people and contribute to the overall definition of the ” of the psychological profile of man. Since early childhood, acquisitions in this area have been made in stages or stages, and their quality and quantity are cornerstones for the construction of human becoming. – Emil Verza, Logopedia Treaty, vol. II
Language is defined as a psychic activity among people through language, as is also clear from Rubinstein’s definition: “Language is the language in action”. Language is the axis of the human psychic system, making possible the phenomenon of consciousness; the activity of language does not stop when the communication with others is interrupted, but it is kept during the waking state and even
The functions of language
Language, as a language communication system and activity, fulfills a number of functions that are equally important to man and his social life. Among the most important are:
the function of communication – it is considered that the fundamental, original and propulsive function of language is communication, through which the person outlines the content of the reflection of the psychic processes, and through the language reveals the particularities of the overall profile of the personality sale, opinions, value judgments, attitudes, temperamentally-characterized features.
Cognitive function – derives from the common communication, language that participates in the realization of the process of knowing the objective reality; the specificity of this function consists in mediating the operations of generalizing and abstracting thought, making possible the essential formulation of a logic of relations between the phenomena and objectives of the objective world.
Language makes possible the phenomenon of consciousness, it is the bearer of the whole psychic system and the motives of human activity, of the will, which appears as a verbal self-regulation process.
The symbolic-representative function – is the substitution of objects, phenomena, relationships, etc. through verbal forms (oral, written). The word is the bearer of the information about an object / phenomenon, only insofar as it is in a naming relationship with that object, as a sign. Operating with linguistic signs, we do not regard signs as such (physical phenomena, such as sound or graphics), but their informational content, that is, the objects and phenomena that designate them, replacing them.
Regulative function – is to determine the behavior of oneself or others, the word acting as a real stimulus, causing certain response reactions, certain behavioral manifestations, triggering or stopping some of them, and changing the direction of behavior. In this function, the prevention and warning, in a certain circumstance, of the way to proceed; approval, reinforcement, stimulation or rejection, blaming acts may be instituted.
The expressive-emotional function – consists in the expression of ideas through the extra-linguistic phenomenon: sign, mimic, intonation, gesture, pantomime, producing a conscious effect on the receiving person.
Persuasive function – persuasion, induction of an idea or emotional state from one person to another, its will. (Burlea Georgeta, Dictionary of Logopaedia – 2011).