Chapter 3 Communication theory（第三章通信理论）.pdf

Chapter 3 - Communication theory 3.1 Introduction The work of past researchers of communication theory has influenced both the development of my own theoretical model and my practical research. So before I elaborate on my own work, I shall introduce the origins and development of communication theory, demonstrating how we have arrived at some of the models that are considered important today. This account is my own, drawn from a variety of sources; the texts that I have drawn from most extensively include Cobley (1996), Silverman (2001) and Littlejohn (2002). My account is however a partial one, and does not seek to provide an exhaustive guide to the development of communication theory. Rather I have chosen to highlight those parts of communication theory that are, I feel, particularly relevant to my own research. One particular aspect of communication that has played a significant role in my study is metaphor. While it forms part of the wider literature on communication, metaphor itself has been much studied, to the extent that is has developed into a subject in its own right. Consequently, and because it has played such an important role in my own work, metaphor will be dealt with in a separate chapter that follows this one on communication theory. The way meaning is generated is one of the leading questions in communication theory; this will therefore be a central theme in my discussion. The development of models of communication, from the relatively simple, to those that are more complex, follows a more or less chronological sequence. So, I too shall present the models ordered roughly by the time that they were developed, beginning with a discussion of the work of the language specialists who introduced the subject of semiotics in the early 1900s. 58 3.2 Model 1 – meaning in the words: language and semiotics 3.2.1 The signs specialists: