234 6. Summary and Concluding Comments
As suggested by Burke 1984
, [orig. 1954
] and Lakoff and Johnson 1980
, meta- phors serve to shape perspective and experience. This is particularly true of conceptual
metaphors see again figure 2.1
.. The code model of communication is a conceptual metaphor which shapes the conceptual framework of most traditional linguists. As such,
the code model is, indeed, a powerful metaphor within linguistic metatheory.
6.3. Chapter 3
While a few linguists have made reference to the code model and its role within linguistics
Berge 1994 ;
Harris 1981 :10–13;
Harris 1987 :205–208;
Harris 1990 ;
Schiffrin 1994
:391–393; Sperber and Wilson 1986
:2–6ff., that literature has not provided a detailed analysis of the model itself. Chapter 3 addressed the historical development of
the code model and its composition via the integration of three constituent models: the conduit metaphor, Saussure’s speech circuit model, and Shannon’s information theoretic
model of communication. The chapter provided a detailed discussion of each of the three constituent models. The conduit metaphor, first noticed and cited by Reddy
1979 , is a
ancient metaphor used universally by speakers of English in common speech about communication. It suggests that meaning can be sent from one speaker to another as via a
conduit. Together with an auxiliary metaphor, the container metaphor, which suggests that words can contain meaning, the conduit metaphor is firmly entrenched in common
speech. The status of the metaphor in English metalanguage, together with the frequency in which it is used, make the model intuitively satisfying. The conduit metaphor is a key
component in the code model of communication, providing subconscious motivation and apparent plausibility for the model.
The second constituent model of the code model of communication is the Saussurean speech circuit model see again figures
3.3 and
3.4 . The chapter provided background
information as to how Saussure developed the model, including analysis of how the model relates to the work of the philosopher John Locke. The discussion also discussed
the relationship of Saussure’s model to the academic atmosphere of his day. Briefly stated, Saussure’s speech circuit model described speech that is, communication as a
circulating loop or circuit, wherein speaker and hearer employed a fixed system of signs linking concepts and acoustic images. This model is an expression of key concepts
developed in the Saussurean notion of synchronic linguistics, and in structuralism generally.
By separating langue knowledge of a given language shared by all members of a speech community from parole speech production, Saussure established a fixed,
abstract object of study for linguists. In doing so, he satisfied presuppositions of the academic community regarding the requirements of a science. As Joseph writes:
Since modern science is predicated upon the elimination of the will from any object of inquiry, human desire, action and creation came to be excluded from the ‘scientific’ study of language.
This has necessitated a considerable abstraction of language away from its role in human affairs, treating it as if it existed independently of speakers and speech acts.
1994 :3665
6. Summary and Concluding Comments 235
In addition, the fact that Saussure cast his model of communication in electro- mechanical terms appealed to a community enamored with the newly popular telephone
and electromechanical communication generally, thereby helping to insure that synchronic linguistics would join the ranks of modern sciences.
Saussure’s use of electromechanical contributed to the ease with which linguists and others later incorporated terms and concepts from Claude Shannon’s information
theoretic model see again figure 3.6
. The information theoretic model is the third constituent model from which the code model of communication is composed. As
Shannon 1948
originally described it, the model was simply a schematic diagram and introductory discussion of the mechanics of accurately transmitting and receiving a
signal. The model was presented in the context of a statistical theory for measuring the accuracy of transmission and reception processes.
In 1949 Warren Weaver published a review of Shannon’s theory, making suggestions for how the model and theory could be expanded for application to human communica-
tion. Later in that same year, Shannon’s original paper was republished in conjunction with a revision of Weaver’s
1949a review
Shannon and Weaver 1949 . Coupled with
Weaver’s review, the information theoretic model quickly spread into the fields of psychology, semiotics, and linguistics. Within linguistics, Shannon’s model seemed to fit
readily into the already existing Saussurean tradition. Shannon’s model was soon integrated with Saussure’s speech circuit model and the age-old conduit metaphor,
forming what is referred to in the present study as the code model of communication.
The analysis in this study of Shannon’s theory and of the process of integration with the other two constituent models has shown, however, that what was borrowed was actu-
ally a misrepresentation of Shannon’s theory and model. The information theoretic model was never designed to be able to account for human communication. Nevertheless, the
linguistic community of the mid-twentieth century was ready for a “scientific” descrip- tion of communication and a mathematical model that could account for it. Factors were
right for the adoption of the code model of communication, which soon came to embody an entire set of presuppositions within linguistic metatheory.
Chapter 3
also discussed code model presuppositions, expressed as axioms within linguistic theory. Each axiom is documented through a variety of quotations, demon-
strating that the axioms are held by linguists from a variety of schools. Their collective adherence to these axioms suggests that these linguists are unified in common reliance
upon code model-based metatheory.
6.4. Chapter 4
