コミュニケーション (communication) は，言語学でもよく使われる用語だが，一方で日常的に広く使われる用語でもある．実際，言語学でもかなり緩く用いられている．定義を確かめておこうと思い，Crystal の言語学辞典を引いてみた．それによると，communication とは次の通りである (89--90) ．
communication (n.) A fundamental notion in the study of behaviour, which acts as a frame of reference for linguistic and phonetic studies. Communication refers to the transmission and reception of information (as 'message') between a source and a receiver using a signalling system: in linguistic contexts, source and receiver are interpreted in human terms, the system involved is a language, and the notion of response to (or acknowledgement of) the message becomes of crucial importance. In theory, communication is said to have taken place if the information received is the same as that sent: in practice, one has to allow for all kinds of interfering factors, or 'noise', which reduce the efficiency of the transmission (e.g. unintelligibility of articulation, idiosyncratic associations of words). One has also to allow for different levels of control in the transmission of the message: speakers' purposive selection of signals will be accompanied by signals which communicate 'despite themselves', as when voice quality signals the fact that a person has a cold, is tired/old/male, etc. The scientific study of all aspects of communication is sometimes called communication science: the domain includes linguistics and phonetics, their various branches, and relevant applications of associated subjects (e.g. acoustics, anatomy).
Human communication may take place using any of the available sensory modes (hearing, sight, etc.), and the differential study of these modes, as used in communicative activity, is carried on by semiotics. A contrast which is often made, especially by psychologists, is between verbal and non-verbal communication (NVC) to refer to the linguistic v. the non-linguistic features of communication (the latter including facial expressions, gestures, etc., both in humans and animals). However, the ambiguity of the term 'verbal' here, implying that language is basically a matter of 'words', makes this term of limited value to linguistics, and it is not usually used by them in this way.
いろいろと説明されているが，核心部分を端的に解釈すれば，コミュニケーションとは「2者間における信号体系を用いた情報の精確なやりとり」となろう．言語は，このようなコミュニケーションを達成するための手段の1つということになる．しかし，言語はコミュニケーションのためだけに用いられているわけではない．言語は，しばしば上記のコミュニケーションの定義から逸脱するような用いられ方もする．言語の諸機能 (function_of_language) については，以下の記事を参照されたい．「#523. 言語の機能と言語の変化」 ([2010-10-02-1])，「#1071. Jakobson による言語の6つの機能」 ([2012-04-02-1])，「#1862. Stern による言語の4つの機能」 ([2014-06-02-1])，「#1776. Ogden and Richards による言語の5つの機能」 ([2014-03-08-1]) ．
もちろん，コミュニケーションの定義に含まれる「情報」 (information) とは何か，という大きな問題が残っている．これも厄介な問題だが，当面は「#1089. 情報理論と言語の余剰性」 ([2012-04-20-1])，「#1098. 情報理論が言語学に与えてくれる示唆を2点」 ([2012-04-29-1]) を含む information_theory の各記事を参照されたい．
・ Crystal, David, ed. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 6th ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008. 295--96.
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