A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

90 communication science
that language is basically a matter of ‘words’, makes this term of limited value
to linguists, and it is not usually used by them in this way.
communication science The scientific study of all aspects of communication;
sometimes referred to as the communication sciences. The domain includes
linguistics and phonetics, their various branches (e.g. psycholinguistics,
sociolinguistics), and relevant applications of associated subjects (e.g. acoustics,
anatomy, neurology). All modes of communication are involved – spoken,
written and signed.
communicative (adj.) A term derived from communication, but often used
in a restricted sense. In the phrase communicative competence, for instance, it
is in contrast with ‘linguistic’, a distinction being made between the nativespeakers’
awareness of the formal patterning of their language, on the one
hand (their ‘linguistic competence’), and of the situational appropriateness
of their language, on the other. This emphasis on functional appropriateness
also characterizes several uses of the term in the field of foreign-language
teaching (communicative grammar, communicative syllabus, etc.). See also
competence.
communicative dynamism (CD) A fundamental concept of the Prague School
theory of linguistics (see functional sentence perspective), whereby an
utterance is seen as a process of gradually unfolding meaning, each part of
the utterance contributing variously (‘dynamically’) to the total communicative
effect. Some parts of an utterance will contribute little to the meaning, because
they reflect only what has already been communicated: these ‘thematic’ aspects
would be considered to have the lowest degree of CD. By contrast, ‘rhematic’
aspects have the highest degree of CD, containing new information which advances
the communicative process. Other aspects are also recognized.
commutation (n.) A term used by some phonologists to refer to a process of
sound substitution to show contrastivity. It is especially encountered in the
phrase commutation test, which is a systematic use of the substitutability technique
of minimal pairs for establishing phonemes. Some linguistic theories
have used the term in a more restricted sense: in glossematics, for example, it
is contrasted with ‘substitution’, and refers only to one type of relationship
between the members of a paradigm.
comp An abbreviation for compact, complement and comparative;
also, in generative linguistics, as Comp or COMP, an abbreviation for
complementizer.
compact (adj.) One of the features of sound set up by Jakobson and Halle (see
Jakobsonian) in their distinctive feature theory of phonology, to handle
variations in place of articulation, its opposite being diffuse. Compact
sounds are defined articulatorily and acoustically, as those which involve a
stricture relatively far forward in the mouth, and a relatively high concentration
of acoustic energy in a narrow, central part of the sound spectrum. For
example, open vowels are [+compact] (abbreviated as [+comp]); high or mid