TASK 2: Constitutive factors

1 - Watch this scene and then identify and/or describe the constitutive factors of the speech events (Consider all addressers and addressees; maybe you may want to transcribe the dialogues first).

Task due Saturday 31st May, 9 pm.

ADDRESSERS: The first one is the wife & her ADDRESSEE is her ex - husband, Rex, and as the conversation develops roles are inevitably changed. I. e. the wife sends a MESSAGE to Rex, addresser and addressee respectively, but when the man answers roles are changed. Thus, he becomes the addresser giving a message to the woman, the addressee.
ADDRESSEES: as I said before the woman and the man become addressees in different parts of the scene. Besides, the other golf player becomes an addressee when Rex asks him for a minute. I am not quite sure whether the audience has to be taken as an addressee too but I think it should since it has to decode the message as well.
The MESSAGE: is what is sent from the addressers to the addressees (what is exchanged).
CONTEXT: a couple talking in a golf ground about their son’s drug urine analysis. The discussion ends with an argument about the couple’s relationship. It is seizable by the addressees and verbal.
The CODE: is fully common to the participants of the dialogue. The system used is language, English. If we take the audience as an addressee too, we may consider that the code is partially common to no professional or amateur users of English.
CONTACT: the physical channel would be the sound waves (?) while the psychological connection would be the state of being ex - wife and ex- husband (?)

Adriana, how about the exchange bet. Rex and the sort of caddie?

I included that exchange in the part of addresse:Besides, the other golf player [for me he does not seem like a caddie] becomes an addressee when Rex asks him for a minute. But I can enlarge it. I think that in this exchange the ADDRESEE does not become an ADDRESSER. The MESSAGE seems to be understood so the CODE is common to both players. As regards CONTEXT, I believe it is the same as the one I already developed. Finally, the CONTACT. Whereas the physical channel is the same as the already analysed, the psychological connection is definitely not. The participants of this exchange seem to be merely mates in golf.

I'm sorry, I have to correct myself in the part of CONTEXT between Rex and the other player. I meant that it was the same just because of the physical place (the golf ground) where both exchanges(the one between Rex and the other player and Rex and the woman) take place.

Addresser: (the person that sends the message depends on the moment in the exchange) Wife - Rex
Addressee (the person that receives the message, also depends on the moment in the exchange) Wife - Rex - caddie
Context : frame of reference shared by addressers and addresees
(between wife and Rex)the fact that their son is on drugs and the disagreement about whether to punish him or not.
(between Rex and caddie) The fact that there is an interruption and Rex needs to stop playing for a moment
Message: all what is exchanged and communicated
Contact: the physical channel, the air, sounds?
Code: spoken English language, common to all the participants.

The first "addresser" is the woman, who starts the conversation to his ex husband ("addressee"). The "message" intended, at first, to be transmitted is the fact that their son is consuming drugs. But later the conversation, the message takes another direction when the couple starts arguing about their marriage.
Then, the ex husband becomes the addresser of the man who is playing golf with him (addressee) The message has to do with the interruption of the game.
The "contact" is the physical channel and psychological connections between the addresser and addressee. The former refers to the way in which speech is produced in the speech mechanism and the latter to their marital relation and the fact that they have a son in common.
The "context" is verbal and seizable by the addressee. It refers to the situation of their child, previouly mentioned, and the couples´problem to agree about a possible solution for that.
The "code" is spoken informal English, shared by all the participants.

First of all, before going to the actual example we need to clarify that the form of the 'addresser' and the 'addressee' is constructed through discourse. Thus, one person may become addresser at one exchange and addressee at another.
We can see in the video that there are three participants: Rex, Bree (Rex's ex-wife) and Rex’s friend or caddie.
Next, I will post the transcription of the script so as to be clearer when explaining the different “constitutive factors.”

Rex: What's this?
Bree: Your son's urine.

Participants: Rex and his ex-wife. First, Rex is the addresser and Bree, the addressee. But note that when Bree answers she becomes the addresser and his husband the addressee.

Rex: I'm gonna need a moment. (To his friend or caddie)
(Caddie: laughs and walks away.)

Participants: Addresser: Rex and Caddie: Addressee.
Note that the caddie responds with a non-verbal message (laughs and walks away)

Bree: I think Andrew's been smoking marijuana, so why don't you get this and get it tested right away.
Rex: Why?!
Bree: Because I wait upon from the swim-team and I don't think you're allowed without proof.
Rex: Proof or no proof, you're not gonna take him off the team.
Bree: Yes, I am.
Rex: If you try I'm gonna go to the coach to tell him that you're not. You're not gonna screw up his future just because he “sparked a doobie”, I mean come on, we've all done it.
Bree: Not all of us. Rex I thought you moved back home to try to straight Andrew out and teach him the consequences of his actions, I don't understand why your fighting me on this.
Rex: Because I disagree, because we're still getting divorced and don't have to (?) to push me around anymore.
Bree: I never pushed you around. We always made our decisions together.
Rex: No, you always made decisions and then tell me I agree. Eighteen years of smiling and taking and what a liar I was. Thank God you're out of my life.
Bree: Rex!
Rex: What the hell are you doing?
Bree: The same thing you just did with every memory I have of our marriage.
Rex: You know what?! If you were my mom I'd smoke pat/pod too.

Participants: Rex and Bree. Addresser and Addressee interchangeably.
The Context of the message is the fact that Andrew (Bree and Rex's son) is apparently going on drugs. When the couple starts arguing about which actions they should take regarding Andrew's problem the Context is deviated to their marital situation.
As regards contact, the psycological relationship they have is that of ex-husband and ex-wife. Concerning the physical channel it is sound waves, gestures and intonation.
In coonection to the Code of the message, all three participants are English native speakers, so they share the same linguistic code.
Finally, I would define the message as being the "verbalized version" of the context, drawing a connection between what is being said and reality.

The first addresser is Bree Van de Kamp, and her addressee is Rex (her ex-husband). The other person in the scene, the one with the red polo-shirt (he's another player, isn´t he?) becomes the adressee when Rex talks to him after being interruped by Bree.
The message will be what the adresser and adressee exchange during their "forced" meeting.

Daniel, body language and facial expressions could also be consider part or a component of the message they are trying to convey or part of the code they share?

The context will be the golf court whre the conversation take place.

The code used is English Language (of course it is common to all the participants, otherwise the message will be lost or not even understood)

The contact will be the physical one (sound waves, sound articulation & production,etc) and their "psychological" relationship (ex husband & ex-wife)

Addressers and addressees (depending on the point of view during each exchange): Wife and Rex - Rex and caddie.
Context : The couple refers to their son's addiction and after a heated argument they turn to the problems they had during marriage / Rex asks the caddie to leave him alone for a moment.
Message: The actual expressions conveyed during the conversations.
Contact: The physical channel: the air. Psychological connection: The normal cognitive ability to process language and interact socially. The fact of knowing each other.
Code: English.

If we enhance our view, we can think of the series on TV and the audience. Then, the extract on the Internet in You Tube and web users. And also, our task as a class interacting this way. The problem of Jakobson's model is that it seems to treat an exchange at a time and interactions usually are more complex. There appears to be an assumption that the message is understood and this is not always the case. We are more subjective in terms of our perceptions, misunderstandings, personal interests, cultural background, ideologies, memories and past experiences. With this model it seems as if anybody can understand everything even when a shared code has been used. Do you agree?

I agree with VTrinidad on including non-linguistic features. Yet, I think we should include them in the CODE as well. Not only body language, facial expressions, intonation, gestures and the like but the fact that the wife throws her son's urine at the husband, as well. That action is a message in itself and it suggests a social code being broken. I believe the areas of linguistics that deal with that are pragmatics and proxemics. Am I right?

The following factors of communication can be identified in the scene:

Addresser – Addressee: Bree – Rex / Rex – Bree / Rex – caddie. The sender and the receiver of the message change during the conversation.

Context: Bree and Rex are discussing their son’s drug problem and trying to decide what to do about it. This difficult situation is worsened since they are also getting divorced. This context is verbal and seizable by the addressee.

Message: What is enchanged during the conversation. At least two major messages can be distinguished: the fact that their son has a drug problem and their divorce.

Code: The participants share the same code: informal (spoken) English. Being common to all participants, the code allows the message to be verbalized.

Contact: The physical channel which allows the participants to stay in communication are sound waves travelling through the air. The psychological connection is the dissolution of their marriage.

As Vtrinidad has pointed out, it should also be mentioned the use of non-verbal features like body gesture, which I believe, agreeing with JavierS, that should be included in both the Code and the Message.

Does Jakobson include non-verbal features in code? I'm not sure about it. That's why I didn't include it in the task.

julietaf wrote:

Does Jakobson include non-verbal features in code? I'm not sure about it. That's why I didn't include it in the task.

It is true that these kind of non-linguistic features are not explicitly included in his definition of Code. However, it cannot be denied that they are common to a linguistic community and to the addresser and addressee in particular. Therefore, I believe they must be considered part of the Code.

In this scene it can be observed how different two messages are carried out. On one hand, Bree (who in this case is the ADDRESSER) sends a MESSAGE to her ex- husband, Rex (the ADDRESSEE) asking him to take their sons´ s urine to be analysed. He, (now the ADDRESSER of the message) answers that he doesn´ t want to spoil Andrew´s future just for her being suspicious. She becomes the addressee.
Both Bree and her ex- husband share a CONTEXT since they are aware of their son´ s problem with drugs. The CONTACT between them is through a physical channel and due to a psychological connection. The first one is because they share the air, the sound waves…etc, the second one is because they were husband and wife. The CODE, is the English language.
On the other hand, Rex (the ADDRESSER) sends a MESSAGE to the caddie, who becomes the ADDRESSEE. The CONTEXT they share is the golf ground where they are standing. the CONTACT is, again, the sound waves (he yells at the caddie) and the air between them. Finally, the CODE shared is, like in the other case, the English language.

Constitutive factors
Addresser:Rex and Bree both act as addressers in turns when sending a message to the other. Rex is the addresser when telling his golf partner to wait.
Addressee: Rex, golf partner and Bree. They receive and decode the message send by the addresser.
Context: Andrew (their son is the referent)
Message: The fact that Andrew has been smoking pot and the whole following conversation.
Contact: Speech as the physical channel and ex-husband and ex-wife relationship as the psychological connection.
Code: Language. Specifically English.

As it’s a dialoge, roles are changing all the time since it’s dynamic, but we can say that addressers and addressees[/font] are: Bee and Rex - Rex and caddie.

Message: all what is exchanged and communicated between them. They talk about their son’s problem and their divorce.

The context is the golf court where they met and have the conversation about their son’s problem with drugs, both share the same reference.


As regards the code: they use informal english, gestures and expressions. The Fac. that they share the same code, let them understand what they say, making the conversation posible.

And I think that the contact would be the sounds of the words, as it is an oral conversation (physical contact) and the relationship between Bree and Rex as the psychological one.

Addressers and addressees: Rex and his ex wife are constantly and interchangeably assuming these roles. Also, Rex and the other golf player engage in this sort of message exchange. As it seems, the unknown golf player-caddie-like guy shares the same code as Rex's, not only in terms of spoken English but also (and this is just an ad hoc concept of mine) a "sub code" which would include gestures or laughs on the part of the former. I do agree with Javier's idea that these non verbal elements should be included with the Code element of Jakobson's model, though maybe we are going to far into the field of pragmatics or even semiotics. (Hope u shed some light on this Daniel).
Context: Rex and his ex wife's son is on drugs. The argument evolves over whether the kid should be punished or not, though it finishes bringing up the problems concerning their seemingly ill- matched marriage.
Contact: The physical channel, air waves, sounds. No doubt these elements are present (as well as the psychological connection of being a divorced couple having a son) but I wonder whether it is possible that between Rex and the caddie-like guy there also exists a psychological connection which facilitates the latter's understanding of the situation, i.e., his leaving without saying a word (though laughing conspicuously). Can this idea be included here?
To be continued...

ADDRESSER: wife ADDRESSEE ex - husband, Rex. As the conversation develops they exchange their roles
ADDRESSEES: As the conversation develops husband and wife exchange their roles.
The golf player becomes an addressee when Rex asks him to allow him a minute. We could also think of the audience as an addressee.
The MESSAGE: It is the verbal exchange between addresser and addresee
CONTEXT: A couple’s discussion in a golf court about whether to punish their son or not for using drugs. It ends in an argument about the couple’s marriage.
CODE: Spoken English (informal)
CONTACT: physical channel:sound waves

ADDRESSER – ADDRESSEE: the addresser and the addressee are Bree and Rex (their roles are interchanged as the conversation takes place, i.e., when Bree is the addresser, Rex becomes the addressee and vice versa)

CONTEXT: Rex and Bree´s son is facing a problem with drugs. The argument between Rex and Bree is, first, focused on the decision they should take as regards the problem, and, then, it is focused on their situation as a divorcing couple.

MESSAGE: all the words uttered to one another.

CODE: English

CONTACT: the physical channel: sound waves, intonation and gestures. The psychological connection: ex-husband and ex-wife, with a son.