UNIT 4: Language and language-based codes.
Verbal communication
Verbal communication is a communicative process mainly based on the use of words either in written or spoken form in order to convey ideas, thoughts, opinions, etc. This process occurs in order to establish a connection with other people. On the other hand, many people consider that this type of communication only occurs via speech or writing, however it also involves listening and reading since feedback of what has been written or said is an essential feature of communication. The components of verbal communication are: Pitch of the voice, speed of the voice, tone, language and grammar. If speech contains these components, effective communication will take place once they get executed correctly.
Some examples of this could be when in a television program the presenter and a guest have a conversation about a topic, another could be conventions such as San Diego Comic-Con where the actors or directors of a project answer people's questions; in the case of writing, it could be text messages or publications on social networks, since a feedback is maintained through comments, among many other examples.
Likewise, non-verbal communication is part of a form of feedback that can be received on some occasions. Example of this could be when you are at the eucharist and the priest is preaching, he does not always receive an answer when he tells an anecdote or asks a question, the listeners usually just nod their heads as an affirmation or they move it sideways showing negation, and this is known as head nodes, which is related to paralanguage.
TYPES OF LANGUAGES
Talking drums
Talking drums are part of language substitutes, and they consist of a set from one to two drums with the shape of hourglasses that were carefully crafted using environmental materials in order to adjust their pitch while playing. They are well known because of their large range at the time of transmitting the message and their simple system of sounds; only two kinds of sounds can be played with them: high and low pitch, and since every word has a strong and weak sound, the process of encoding the message becomes easy even though they are only using two sounds.
Secret spoken languages
They are a derivative kind of language, which means that they appropriate one language and then revamp it to get singular codes or signs which are only understood by the ones that know the new structure created, examples of this can be the Sacred Language (which is used by the church and it modifies languages like Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic) and the Argot (which is a modification made to a language by a particular group to speak freely around people that they don’t want to know what they are talking about).
Morse Code
Being one of the most popular types of languages around the world, the morse code can use either sounds or points and dots drawn in a piece of paper to code letters that at the end convey a message. In the case of sounds anyway, what differentiates the sequence of one letter to another is the longevity of every sound. But what is really funny and creative about this language is that it offers many forms of conveying a message besides those two, you can use blinking, taps, lighting, etc.
Salvadorian Code
There are several ways in which the distinct codes give special features to speech in El Salvador. Although we have similarities with the verbalization of other Central American countries (as the use of the “s” sound for “z” and “c” or the slow pace at talking) and with their syntax as well (due to the use of “vos” and the changes in conjugation that it carries out), there are some attributes that can be only found in here, for example, lexically speaking we have many unique words such as “bolado” which is a curious word since It can be used to substitute almost everything; “chivo” is another funny word since it literally means “goat” but we use it as an “okay,” and lately more and more anglicisms have been added to our language such as verbal forms of the various social medias (facebookear, chatear, etc).
But talking more about non-verbal communication, we tend to be very expressive people and to show affection easily and we don't respect proxemics too much unless we are told to do so, which is kind of annoying but that’s how it is. Normally we use head-nods a lot, especially to salute somebody when we are talking with someone else; we are very practical as well, that’s why the most common car in here is the Toyota Corolla (because of its cheapness and enduring), on the other hand, religion is the only important ritual in here, and we don’t tend to follow protocols, that’s why many people preconceive Salvadorans as people who is never on time.
Salvadoran are not fond of any kind of art at all, we have had magnificent poets as Alfredo Espino, writers as Salazar Arrué or artists as Fernando Llort but they are more like historical figures than icons. About mass media, either we just use modern social media (especially YouTube and Whatsapp) or we don’t consume any media, because newspaper and the national TV is just seen by old people; and about fashion, the appearance for Salvadorans is not a big deal, we just prefer comfort, and actually it’s rare to see someone in El Salvador who had tattoos or piercings since it’s not a very spread culture.
We are normally disposed to celebrate our hugest or most popular festivities like “El Carnaval de San Miguel”, “Semana Santa”, “Los Farolitos” only if we go with friends because it becomes a special moment. Food is actually something we are very into, we all eat pupusas at least twice a week, the cafecito, atoles, tamales, empanadas and pasteles are very good options at any time and the Torrejas are a Must during Semana Santa along with Pescado Forrado.
And you see, the dressing code here in el Salvador is a pretty discreet one, differently from the dressing in for instance USA, here in el Salvador you don’t have too many options to dress; The times when you see a woman dressing short clothes or skirts are rare, because of her own security, the same goes to men, they cannot wear some kinds of shoes or t-shirts because they may be a symbol for gangs, that’s why our dressing is pretty generic and standard… and our national clothes are never used.
Finally, oculesics are kind of a big deal here in El Salvador, and for that reason we are told not to look at spots or people for too much time, not only when we were child, but also when we go to somewhere with a person; even when a tourist arrives to this country, he or she is told not to stare at people because let’s be honest gangsters in here lacks of class and they are just mad-dogs waiting for the minimal provocation to cause troubles. But anyway, eye contact is still very important in here though, because people don’t use to trust you unless you at least can look at their eye, if not, they will think you are “dándoles paja.”
