Correct Answer - Option 3 : Words
All communication, including linguistic ones, makes use of symbols. This is attributed and accepted as such as a medium of communication.
- Non-verbal communication, as well as verbal communication, is symbolic. A shrug of the shoulders, drop-down eyes, and distance or closeness to others, all are a symbol of a message at that moment and condition.
Communication play important role in Socio-cultural constituents, the quality of communication is based on transmitting messages through three means:
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Sign/symbol: Messages are made up of signs/ symbols.
- Symbols may be: verbal, as in spoken words, graphic as in the written word, or representational as in a flag.
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Words we use are symbols to which we attach signification.
- Communication is possible only when the communicator and the receptor are in a position to attach similar meanings to the symbols employed.
- The human person is not only capable of engaging in symbolic interaction with other human beings or with God but is also capable of creating symbols. Symbols, therefore, are a fundamental unit of the communication process.
- What the symbol stands for is determined by the social group. Society agrees that a given symbol stands for a particular object (e.g. the word cat).
- If the individual uses some other word as a symbol, for instance, to stand for such an animal, it will in all probability, result in blocked communication.
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Language: Language is a system of symbols (oral and written) used by members of a social community in a standardized way to call for meaning. We can consider three important functions that language performs:
- Language is the primary vehicle for communication, Language reflects both personalities of the individual and the culture of his/her society. In turn, it helps shape both personality and culture, Language makes possible the growth and transmission of culture, the continuity of societies, and the effective functioning and control of social groups.
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Noise/ sound: Communication to be successful must be free from noise. Noise in communication theory refers to any limitation or obstacle in the process of message transmission.
Therefore, We live in a symbolic world and interact through symbolic communication. Here symbolic communication refers to words.
