Forms of Expression and their Characteristics

The forms of expression they are the manifestations of communication mediated mainly by the text or language. Throughout its history, the human being has used various forms of expression to communicate thoughts and emotions .

These types of expression include music, art, gestures and, of course, verbal language, whether written or spoken. Therefore, the human being can not only be expressed in a linguistic way, but with music, art, movies...

The concept of forms of written expression is related to the notion of speech modes . Each of these discursive forms-narration, description, exposition and argumentation-has a distinctive communicative purpose.

Another related concept is gender. This is defined as a type of text or speech that users recognize as such due to their characteristics of style or form (journalistic genre, literary genre, among others).

In this way, the modes of discourse and genres are combined in a wide range of options -called forms of verbal expression- to carry out the communicative function of the texts.

There are several criteria to classify the different forms of textual expression: according to the medium, according to the degree of elaboration of the message, according to the degree of participation of the interlocutors and according to their function.

According to the medium

The spoken language and the written one are two of the most important forms of human expression. Through these are exchanged knowledge, thoughts, culture, feelings and others. They are different modalities, but not dissociated.

In theory, oral forms are more colloquial and written forms are more formal. However, at present, new forms of communication (for example, social networks) have been erasing these differences.

Forms of written expression

Written language demands greater reflexivity and rigor. Their forms of expression are also varied, but they require a good handling of vocabulary, grammatical property and spelling correction.

In this way, this form is more normative and elaborated, and not all the speakers of the language handle it, since it is an artificial code that must be learned.

From the written medium, the forms of textual expression comprise innumerable areas: literary (poems, novels), journalistic (chronicles, news), academic (theses, reports), labor (memoranda, manuals), etc.

Within the written expression are the discursive modes. These are the different ways in which a text can be created to communicate. A classification of discursive modes can be:

• Description: the language illustrates (objects, people, situations).
• Narration: used to tell an event.
• Exhibition: presents a topic objectively.
• Argumentation: defend a position.

Forms of oral expression

All users of a language, regardless of their sociocultural status, use the oral mode, that is, speech (unless they have a physical impairment). It is characterized by being generally spontaneous and instantaneous.

In addition, this is acquired naturally (as a mother tongue) or learned (as a second language), and is accompanied by paralinguistic elements such as gestures, intonation, movements, among others.

Thus, the forms of textual expression by oral means are as numerous as the areas of human action: everyday (conversations), religious (sermons), political (meetings), academic (conferences) and others.

According to the degree of elaboration of the message

According to the degree of elaboration, the forms of textual expression can be classified as spontaneous and prepared.

Spontaneous forms of expression

The spontaneous forms of expression are characterized by the lack of a script or previous preparation, usually presented in oral language. The themes and structures arise naturally.

Some of these forms include daily conversations, impromptu speeches, informal chat on social networks, debates and unprepared discussions, and others.

Prepared forms of expression

The forms of expression prepared suppose the elaboration of a previous scheme where the ideas, the arguments and the conclusions are organized. In advance the subjects, the interlocutors and the finality are agreed upon.

In addition, more attention is paid to the type of structure and vocabulary to be used. Because of this particularity, it is associated more with the written medium.

However, they do not manifest themselves exclusively through writing. For example, debates, gatherings, colloquiums and interviews, although oral, require a lot of preparation and preparation.

According to the degree of participation of the interlocutors

If the degree of participation of the interlocutors is taken into account, then there is talk of monological and dialogal genres.

Monological genres

In the forms of monologal expression the interaction does not exist and only one person or entity participates. These can be manifested both in orality (soliloquy, master class) and in writing (testament, decree).

Dialogical genres

In the dialogical genres more than one person participates and at least there must be a minimum of interaction. The most representative examples of this type of genre are conversation and interview.

However, the fact that there are several people involved does not imply that they must share the same physical space. A telephone conversation or an epistolary exchange (by letter) are examples of this.

According to its function

Communication has three basic functions or purposes. These determine the forms of textual expression used by the actors of a communicative interaction.

Representative function

The representative function, also called informative or referential, is essentially the transmission of information. This affirms or denies propositions, as in science or the declaration of a fact.

In itself, it is used to describe the world or the reason for the events (for example, whether or not a state of affairs has occurred or what could have caused it).

Generally, authors associate this function with two specific modes of discourse: narration (stories of events) and description (presentation of the characteristics of a person, thing or situation).

As for the narrations, these can be fictitious (fairy tales, novels) or non-fictional (newspaper report, biography), and it is very common to combine them with descriptions.

Reflective function

The reflexive function is associated with exposure and argumentation. This allows to inform feelings or attitudes of the writer (or the speaker), the subject or evoke feelings in the reader (or the listener).

In addition to literary texts (poems, stories, plays), many forms of textual expression exhibit this function, such as personal letters, harangues, among others.

References

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