Argomentazione sui media

Unit 1: The language of the media

Lesson 1: What are the media?

Give a definition of the words medium and media. Think of as many different media as you can.

Now read the dictionary definitions of “medium” and “media” given below.

Definitions

Medium / mi di m/ adj., noun

• Noun (pl. media or mediums)
• A means by which something is expressed, communicated, or achieved. The medium of radio / television electronic / audio-visual media. Television is the modern medium of communication. A T-shirt can be an excellent medium for getting your message across.
• A substance through which a force or other influence is transmitted.
• A form of storage for computer software, such as magnetic tape or disks.
• A liquid with which pigments are mixed to make paint.
• (pl. mediums) A person claiming to be able to communicate between the dead and the living.
• The middle state between two extremes.

Media / mi di / noun

• Noun The means of mass communication, especially television, radio, and newspapers collectively.
• Plural of medium. The trial was fully reported in the media. The media was/were accused of influencing the final decision. He became a media star for his part in the protests.

The word media comes from the Latin plural of medium. In the normal sense, it stands for ‘television, radio, and the press collectively’. It often behaves as a collective noun (for example like staff), and can be used with either a singular or a plural verb. Although some people regard the singular use as incorrect, it is now generally accepted in standard English.

In English, a distinction is made between the first and second senses of the term media by the use of a definite article. People talk about the media when they are referring to newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, but media when they are using the word as a plural of “medium”.

A medium is the physical or technical means of converting a communication message signal capable of being transmitted along a given channel. TV, for example, is a medium which employs the channels of vision and sound. The properties of the medium determine the range of codes which it can transmit.

Language Note: Acts of Communication

A communicative act is made up of the following elements:

• An addresser: the person originating the message.
• An addressee: the person(s) to whom the message is addressed.
• A setting: the socio-cultural and circumstantial context in which communication takes place.
• A message: form and content of the information.
• A contact: the medium.
• A channel or mode: phonic-audio/graphic-visual/audiovisual, etc.
• A code: the language system. E.g. Standard English, US dialect, music, etc.

If we take the example of a book, the various components will be:

• Addresser: the author of the book.
• Addressees: the readers.
• Setting: for example, a class.
• Message: all the information contained in all the sections of the book.
• Contact: the book.
• Channel: written/graphic.
• Code: mostly standard written English.

Macro Functions of Language

The related macro functions of language (elaborated by Jakobson) can be summarised as follows:

• Expressive: oriented towards the addresser (the speaker or writer) and it expresses his/her own inner states and emotions (e.g., in a poem, a patient talking to his/her psychiatrist).
• Conative: stresses the role of the addressee and aims to persuade him/her, to affect his/her inner state or to influence his/her behaviour (e.g., advertisements, political propaganda).
• Informative (or referential): focus on the content of the message. It is the function that provides information about facts and events in the world (e.g., a newspaper article).
• Metalingual: helps distinguish the codes (e.g., scientific, mass media) of human communication.