Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 742metacommunication to understand both the content and intention of linguistic utterancesis a large part of communicative competence. Investigations in metacommunication thatpertain to pragmatic and psycholinguistic factors can be divided into two groups: (a)explicit metacommunication, where the speaker refers to an immediate utterance andexpands or modifies it by correcting it, making it more precise, taking a position inreference to it, adding commentary and the like; (b) implicit metacommunication, whichcorresponds to Watzlawick’s an alogue communication . This refers to the relationalaspects between communication partners which occur primarily through non-verbal bodylanguage. Since an excess of metacommunication can be a symptom of a distortion of therelationship between communication partners, and because the inability to usemetacommunication has proved to be a serious disadvantage in therapy forcommunication disorders, the investigation of the functions and means ofmetacommunication is the common object of study both for linguists and forpsychologists.ReferenceWatzlawick, P., J.H.Beavin, and D.D.Jackson. 1967. Pragmatics of human communication: a studyof interactional patterns, pathologies, and paradoxes. New York.metagrammarmetarulemetalanguageSecond-level language (also called language of description) by which natural language(object language) is described. ( object language vs metalanguage)ReferenceRiley, K. 1987. The metalanguage of transformational syntax: relations between jargon and theory.Semiotica 67. 173–94.