Jakobson's functions of language

Roman Jakobson defined six functions of language (or communication functions), according to which an effective act of verbal communication can be described. Each of the functions has an associated factor. For this work, Jakobson was influenced by Karl Bühler's Organon-Model, to which he added the poetic, phatic and metalingual functions.



The six functions of language

 * The Referential Function : corresponds to the factor of Context and describes a situation, object or mental state. The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions and deictic words, e.g. "The autumn leaves have all fallen now."
 * The Expressive (alternatively called "emotive" or "affective") Function : relates to the Addresser and is best exemplified by interjections and other sound changes that do not alter the denotative meaning of an utterance but do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's) internal state, e.g. "Wow, what a view!"
 * The Conative Function : engages the Addressee directly and is best illustrated by vocatives and imperatives, e.g. "Tom! Come inside and eat!"
 * The Poetic Function : focuses on "the message for its own sake" and is the operative function in poetry as well as slogans.
 * The Phatic Function : is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with the Contact factor. The Phatic Function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of the weather, particularly with strangers.
 * The Metalingual (alternatively called "metalinguistic" or "reflexive") Function : is the use of language (what Jakobson calls "Code") to discuss or describe itself.