Concept
Jakobson’s functions of language
According to Roman Jakobson a verbal message has six functions: referential, emotive, conative, poetic, phatic and metalingual. Each function is oriented to one factor of communication; one of them is usually dominant.
Jakobson (1960) lists six factors of verbal communication and assigns a function of language to each. A message oriented to the context has the referential function: it speaks about the world. A message oriented to the addresser has the emotive function: it carries the speaker’s attitude and feeling. A message oriented to the addressee has the conative function: it wants to move the addressee to act. A message oriented to the message itself, that is to how it is said, has the poetic function. A message oriented to contact (the channel) has the phatic function: it checks that the line is open or keeps the conversation going. A message oriented to the code has the metalingual function: it talks about language.
According to Jakobson no message has a single function; the differences lie in the hierarchy of functions. The function on top is the message’s dominant function. The model comes from a linguist and asks what a message is trying to achieve, not how accurately it is carried.
Example
“Hello, can you hear me?” is phatic; “The plane has left” is referential; “Oh no, the plane has left” adds an emotive layer to the same fact; “Walk to the exit” is conative.