CHARACTERISTIC OF COMMUNICATION Communication is the process by which information is passed between individuals.

It is a system of passing information, idea, messages, feelings etc between two or more people through previously agreed language, code, sign or symbol. Asemah (2011) emphasize that for there to be a meaningful communication between or among persons or groups, there has to be an agreed language, code, symbols or signs that is comprehended by all the actors particularly, between the sender and the receiver of the message. For communication to take place there must be shared meaning. It should be noted that communication does not have a beginning and surely does not have an end. As a result of feedback there is interchangeability of role between the source and the receiver. Every form of communication is aimed at influencing the receiver. Communication has been identified as (the process of) meaningful interaction with people in such a manner that the idea/thought is same and getting the feedback also. Communication is commonly defined as the exchange of thoughts, ideas, feelings, information, opinions and knowledge. It also involves mutuality of understanding (http://m.articles.com/self-i...).

Definition of Communication Communication is a meaningful interaction, information sharing, a link force, understanding, it is fundamental requisite of life. Forms/Types of Communication A. Verbal Communication 1. Oral Communication: this is information spoken by mouth the use of speech, some of the examples of oral communication are: Face to face communication; telephonic communication; public address system (speech); informal rumour mill (grape vine); audio and visual media meetings, 2. (Radio, TV); Lectures, conference interchange of views; cultural affairs.

Written Communication: this is communication by means of written symbols (either printed or handwritten). Some of the examples are:

orders, information bulletin, Fig. 1)

instructions, letters,

memos,

reports,

policy

manuals,

complaint system, suggestion system etc (See

Non Verbal Communication 1. 2. Body Language this includes facial expression, eye contact, postures, gestures, touch. Para Language this is the way we say something rather than what w say, is another non- verbal code.
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3. 4.

Space and Time Language: this includes surroundings (design and language). It communicates status. (See Fig. 2) Sign Language this is language which, instead of conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns. (See Fig. 3)

Communicati on

Verba l

Non Verbal

Oral

Written

Body languag e

Para languag e

Space & Time Language

Sign Langua ge

FIG. 1

Source: www.universityparadise.c...

Space & Time Language PERSONAL (18inches 4feet) e.g. friends, brother, sister, family members FIG. 2

INTIMATE (18inches) e.g. Mother and child

SOCIAL PUBLIC (12ft (4fts infinity) e.g. 12fts) e.g. Leaders, Managing Teacher & Director e.t.c. Source: student www.universityparadise.c...

Sign Language

VISUAL Painting, Red Light FIG. 3

AUDIO Fire Alarm Source: www.universityparadise.c...

Importance Characteristics of Communication 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. It is a two way process. Communication process happens between or among two or more parties (sender and receiver). Communication involves exchange of ideas, feelings, information, thought, and knowledge. Communication involves mutuality of understanding between sender and receiver. There are two types of communication i.e. verbal and non-verbal

Elements of Communication Communication as a system means that it works through interrelated set of elements. We can identify about seven elements that are involved in communication process. They are: 1. Stimulus: This is the impulse that triggers off the communication exchange. It takes place at the ideation stage of communication. We can also call it the reason one has for communicating, which may be to inform, educate, entertain etc.

2. Source: This is the person who begins the communication process. He is the one triggered by the stimulus and from him begins the communication activity. He could be referred to as the initiator, encoder or sender. He is the initiator because he begins the communication process. As the encoder, he packages the message in a way that it can be communicated and as the sender when he passes across the message by himself. 3. Message: This could be the idea, feelings, information, thought, opinion, knowledge or experience etc. that the source/sender wants to share. 4. Medium/Channel: Medium and channel are generally used interchangeably. But here, a distinction is made between the two. Medium could be regarded as the form adopted by the sender of the message to get it to the receiver. It could be oral or written form. The channel then is the pathway, route or conduit through which the message travels between the source and the receiver e.g. the channel of radio, television, newspaper, telephone etc. Channel provides a link that enables the source and the receiver to communicate. It may also be seen in term of the five physical senses- sight, sound, touch, taste and smell-through which messages can be sent, received, understood, interpreted and acted upon. 5. Receiver: This is the person to whom the message is sent. He is the target audience or the recipient of the message. All the source/sender effort to communicate is to inform or affect the attitude of the receiver. That is why communication must be receiver-centred. 6. Feedback: This is the response or reaction of the receiver to the message sent. Communication is incomplete without feedback. It confirms that the message is well received and understood. Feedback guides the source in communication process and helps him to know when to alter or modify his message if not properly received. A feedback is
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positive when it shows that the message has been well received and understood and it could be negative when it shows that the intended effect has not been achieved. 7. Noise: Noise is interference that keeps a message from being understood or accurately interpreted. It is a potent barrier to effective communication. Noise may be in different form: I. Physical Noise: This comes from the environment and keeps the message from being heard or understood. It may be from loud conversations, side-talks at meetings, vehicular sounds, sounds from workmens tools etc. II. Psychological Noise: This comes from within as a result of poor mental attitude, depression, emotional stress or disability. III. Physiological Noise: Results from interference from the body in form of body discomforts, feeling of hunger, tiredness etc IV. Linguistic Noise: This is from the sources inability to use the language of communication accurately and appropriately. It may be a grammatical noise manifested in form of defects in the use of rules of grammar of a language, and faulty sentence structure. It may be semantic as in the wrong use of words or use of unfamiliar words, misspelling, etc. And it could also be phonological manifested in incorrect pronunciation.

NATURES OF COMMUNICATION
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Michael Burgoon and Michael Ruffner (1978:8-13) posited that communication has the following natures. i. Transactional nature during communication process both the source and the receiver constantly have impact on each other through symbolic behavior. Any change in one of the element of communication process automatically brings about a change in the other elements and in the whole process. ii. Affective nature of communication here our emotional responses (subjective evaluation) affect the way we communicate with other. iii. Personal nature of communication this mean that meaning attached to a message exists in the participant and notion the non-verbal symbols that is employed in communicating. Participants are able to understand each other (or one another) because of the shared codes of verbal and non-verbal this is possible because of what Melvin De Fluer (1958) called Significant symbol. iv. Instrumental nature of communication: Here communication is seen as a tool to control our environment and to affect or influence other people. v. Consumatory purpose of communication this is simply to provide satisfaction to the communicator without any intention to influence others or control the environment. According to Folarin( ) any observed effect may be accidental. Taking a cursory look at communication Bert Bradley (1984:7-8) also draws attention to the following six characteristics of communication: 1. Communication is dynamic, not static: It involves changes and effects as the elements interact. Participants are obliged to adapt to these changes and effect.
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2.

It is continous: This is no beginning and no end to communication in a persons life. Man cannot not communicate. At conception stage of a baby, the protruding belly communicates what is on the way. At birth the baby announce (communicate) his or her arrival by cry. Throughout the stages of life the child interact with others and when he or she eventually dies at old age the corpse equally communicate something, that people want to quickly interred because of perceived danger of keeping it around for more than necessary period which might cause health hazard.

3. 4.

It is complex: communication occurs at many levels and reflects many influences It is irreversible: The process of communication cannot be turned back e.g. what has been said cannot be unsaid. A message once sent and received produces effects

on later messages. 5. It is non-sequential elements of communication process are not rigidly patterned, it is a linear or circular manner. This is saying that the placement of elements of communication is a product of the situation. 6. It is unrepeatable an already given communication act cannot be recreated.

Significance of Communication Asemah (2011) gave six significance of communication as follows.

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1.

Communication helps us in meeting our needs through our interaction with others. Interaction will be impossible without communication. difficult for human beings to relate with one another. It will be absolutely

2.

Communication serves as a means through which human beings establish relationship. With communication relationship with one and another is possible.

3. 4.

Communication is the live wire of every nation. With communication we can know, develop and communicate with the people in our society.

5.

With communication, workers can be oriented in business, companies etc so as to make them know about their business and to create perceptions.

6.

Communication serves as a means of social interaction.

The Process of Communication Communication is a process because it is dynamic, recursive, on-going, continuous and cyclical. There is no recognizable beginning and end, neither is there a rigid sequence of interaction. But we may try to identify how the process begins. Stimulation: This is the point at which the source sees the need to communicate. He receives stimulus that triggers him to communicate. Encoding: The source processes the message he want to communicate into a form that will be understandable to the receivers. This may be a feeling, opinion, experiment etc. Transmission: The message is passed across to the receiver through a chosen medium or channel. Reception: The receiver gets the message that is sent from the source.
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 Decoding: The message is processed, understood and interpreted by the receiver. Response: This the reaction of the receiver to the message received, in form of feedback. The Osgood model of communication presented below shows that communication is both a system and process.

Contexts of Communication Contexts here mean the different levels at which communication occurs. It can also be referred to as the kinds of communication that are available. 1. Intra-personal Communication: This is essentially a neuro-physiological activity which involves some mental interviews for the purposes of information processing and decision making. The basic operations of intrapersonal communication are to convert raw data from environment to information; to interpreter and give meaning to that information

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and to use such meaning. In other words, it is communication that occurs within you. Because interpersonal communication is cantered in the self, you are the only senderreceiver. The message is made up of your thoughts and feelings and the channel is your brain, which processes what you are thinking and feeling. There is also feedback because you talk to yourself, you discard certain ideals and replace them with others. 2. Interpersonal Communication: Is occurs when you communicate on a one-to one basis usually in an informal, unstructured setting. It occurs mostly between two people, though it may include more than two. Each participant functions as a sender-receiver; their messages consist of both verbal and non-verbal symbols and the channels used mostly are sight and sound. It also offers the greatest opportunity for feedback. 3. Group Communication This form of communication occurs among a small number of people for the purpose of solving problem. The group must be small enough so that each member has a chance to interact with all the other members. The communication process in group communication is more complex than in interpersonal communication because the group members are made up of several sender-receivers. As a result, there are more chances for confusion. Messages are also more structure in small groups because the group is meeting for a specific purpose. It uses the same channels as are used in interpersonal communication, and there is also a good deal of opportunity for feedback. It also occurs in a more formal setting than in interpersonal communication. 4. Public Communication: Here the (sender receiver) speaker sends a message (the speech) to an audience. The speaker usually delivers a highly structured message, using the some channels as in interpersonal or small-group communication. The channels here are
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more exaggerated than in interpersonal communication. The voice is louder and the gestures are more expansive because the audience is bigger. Additional visual channels, such as slides or the computer programme Power Point might be used. Opportunity for verbal feedback is limited in most public communication. The setting is also formal. 5. Mass Communication: Mass Communication is a means of disseminating information or message to large, anonymous, and scattered heterogeneous masses of receivers which may be far removed from the message sources through the use of sophisticated equipment. It is the sending of message through a mass medium to a large number of people.

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Physical Barriers - One of the major barriers of communication in a workplace is the physical barrier. Physical barriers in an organization include large working areas that are physically separated from others. Other distractions that could cause a physical barrier in an organization are the environment, background noise Language - Inability to converse in a language that is known by both the sender and receiver is the greatest barrier to effective communication. When a person uses inappropriate words while conversing or writing, it could lead to misunderstanding between the sender and a receiver. Emotions - Your emotions could be a barrier to communication if you are engrossed in your emotions for some reason. In such cases, you tend to have trouble listening to others or understanding the message conveyed to you. A few of the emotional interferences include hostility, anger, resentfulness and fear. Lack of Subject Knowledge - If a person who sends a message lacks subject knowledge then he may not be able to convey his message clearly. The receiver could misunderstand his message, and this could lead to a barrier to effective communication. Stress - One of the major communication barriers faced by employees in most of the organization is stress. When a person is under immense stress, he may find it difficult to understand the message, leading to communication distortion. At the time of stress, our psychological frame of mind depends on our beliefs, experiences, goals and values. Thus, we fail to realize the essence of communication.

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METHODOLOGY The methodology adopted in this work will be Historical. The paper relied majorly on completed works of scholars, researchers and stakeholders in communication industries. The study would document the communication its types and forms not leaving alone it nature, its characteristics, models of communication. The work will equally look into different communication scholars available from the beginning to the present moment. Books, magazines, articles, journals would be consulted to give comprehensive study on media theories.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION SUMMARY We have taken holistic approach in looking at communication, its nature and significant. In this study we have looked at the essence of communication. Communication is seen as the transmission of information, ideas, emotions norms, concept and feelings from one person to another. This information, ideas, emotions norms, concept and feelings so transmitted is a product of internal or external stimulus which prompts the originator of the message, who Wilbur Schramm described as the Sender. Efforts has been made to looked at all the elements in communication process, not leaving out noise, which happen to be a determinant of the success and failure of any given communication process.

CONCLUSION Having delved into communication genesis, types, forms, nature and other elements and characteristics we will like to conclude that communication is central to human existence and therefore can never be ignored. As we move deeply into ever- evolving communication revolution, we need an understanding of communication process and nature to guide our actions and decisions in message design and communication effort. The understanding recognizes that all communication messages is a human construction which is dynamic, always changing as society, technology, and people change. This dynamism can be readily seen in the
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transformation of our understanding of the process of communication itself. New communication technologies have changed traditional notions of mass audience, the communicator and the relationship between the source and receiver need to understand this change that determines the success and failure of any communication activities.

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Reference
Asemah S. (2011) Principles and Practices of Mass Communication 2nd Edition, Jos, Plateau, Nigeria. Great Future Press Folarin B. (1998). Theories of Mass Communication: An Introductory Text: Ibadan, Stirling Horden Publisher McQuail, D. (2005) McQuails Mass Communication Theory. 5th Edition ed. London: Sage Publications Severin, W.J. and Tankard, J.W (2001). Communication Theories: Origin, Methods and Uses. New York: Hastings House Publisher Shannon, C. and Weaver, W. (1999) The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. De Fleur, M.L. and Larsen, O.N (1958) The Flow of Information. New York: Harper and Brothers. Bradley, B. (1984) Speech Communication: The Credibility of Ideas. Dubuque IOWA: WM Brown Publishers Burgoon, M and Ruffer, M. (1978) Human Communication: An Introduction. New Jersey: Holt, Riuehart and Winston Berlo, D.K. (1960) The Process of Communication. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Anaeto, S.G, Onabajo, S.O, and Osifeso B.J. (2008) Models and Theories of Communication. Lagos. African Renaissance Books Incorporated. Argyle, M. (1975) Bodily Communication. New York: International Universities Press Internet Sources http://Changingminds.org/explanations/behaviours/body_language/using_ non-verbal.htlm http://m.articlesbase.com/self-i....

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http://wiki.answers.com/Q/chera.. www.universityparadise.c...

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