Week 2 - COMMUNICATION THEORY

Question 1

Communication theory

Answer 1

“study of message making as a process”

Mathematical theory of communication by SHANNON AND WEAVER 1948
> model to determine efficiency of comms systms
> useful in telecomms/adapted to human/other animal comms “THE MESSAGE MODEL”

Question 2

telecommunication

Answer 2

Something PHYSICAL transferred

• sound of source’s voice on phone
• GLYPHS (lttrs,Nmbrs,punct) and white-space of a written message that’s telegraphed

in TELEcoms - it is PHYS PACKAGING of info thats trnsferred

Question 3

Messages

Answer 3

comms is distinguished from other types of TRANSFER bc object transferred (THE MESSAGE) = MOVED IN PHYSICAL FORM DIFF FROM ITS FORM AT SOURCE

land line mssg:

1. speech sound
2. conv by trasmitter –> electric current
3. moves through wires
4. reciever conv –> back to (something approx) original message

Question 4

Telegraph transmission

Answer 4

• consist of discrete components (GLYPHS/WHITE-SPACE) used in writing
  eg. ENG: distinguish 26 letters, 10 digits, punc glyphs, word boundaries, etc.

early problem: impossible to transmit such large # of discrete variations in electric current reliably over distance
solution: Samuel Morse (inventor of telegraph)

Question 5

MORSE CODE

Answer 5

Samuel Morse

each glyph = rep by distinct BINARY SEQUENCE
> ‘dot’
> ‘dash’

electric system 4 distinct states:

a) short duration current “DOT”
b) long duration current “DASH”
c) no current short period BTWN GLYPH
d) no current long periof BTWN WORDS

1st demo: May 24 1844
> washington DC&raquo_space; baltimore (60km)
> w h a t h a t h g o d w r o u g h t ?

Question 6

Coding and decoding

Answer 6

telegraphy - mssg transmitted is TRANSFORMATION of origional message, using code that maps glyphs2binary sequence

Encoding:

1. translate message into intermediate coded rep
2. translate coded message into a transmitted signal

Decoding; REVERSE

Question 7

THE MESSAGE MODEL

Answer 7

Shannon and Weaver 1948
applied to telecomms + natural lang comms

SOURCE-->(encode message)-->TRANSMITTER
-
- SIGNAL (thru channel)
-
RECIEVER-->(decode message)-->DESTINATION

Question 8

Message Model applied to Telegraphy

Answer 8

messages = written text (glyphs)
signal = electric current
channel = wire
transmitter = hand switch
reciever = printer to tickertape
code = morse code

Question 9

Message Model applied to spoken lang

Answer 9

messages = "objects" w cognitive reality
signal = soundwaves
channel = air
transmitter = speech organs
reciever = ears
code = lang

Question 10

Message Model applied to singed lang

Answer 10

messages = "objects" w cognitive reality
signal = light moving
channel = through transparent medium
transmitter = reflected off signing organs (hands/face)
reciever = eyes
code = sign lang itself

Question 11

Message Model - How does linguistics study nat lang comms?

Answer 11

SIGNALS (prod/trans/rec) = PHONETICS

MESSAGES (purpose/content/relation to code) = PRAGMATICS/SEMANTICS

CODE = GRAMMAR

Question 12

design/evaluation of comms systems (factors)

Answer 12

1. nature of messages transmitted
2. available tech for trans and recept
3. physical properties if CHANNEL
4. desired levels of FIDELITY/EFFICIENCY

Question 13

FIDELITY

Answer 13

Measure of CORRESPONCE between ENCODED and DECODED message

• closer correspondence = higher fidelity
• max fidelity not always necessary
• practical prob: ensure sufficient fid by minimising effect of noise in channel of comms

MONDEGREENS - a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.
near-homophony