Review of the Methods so Far

Taxonomic Location

To understand communication in practice, we are now focusing on how people use language.

The taxonomic study of the use of language has identified 7 distinct ways that language is used. They form a Principal Typology in THEE, PH'5, and each Type is a Method or Paradigm.

It is now held that methods are generally about optimizing the quality of Domain functioning. In this case, each Method contains a meaning generator whose validity is based on giving primacy to one of the levels in the Primary Hierarchy of Communication (PH5).

All of these methods will be familiar to you, even if they are not conventionally recognized within current popular or academic discourse. The methods, so far only briefly explained here and tabulated here so as to permit recognition, possess many additional properties.

Reminder of General Features

  • We use communication to sustain every person individually and in groups. The way we use language controls groups and the discourse that sustains any group.
  • Each method of language use has strengths and weaknesses in relation to oneself, relevant groups and practical issues.
  • There is no perfect method of communication, no super use of language that embodies the strengths of all and avoids the weaknesses of each.
  • Communication is required for all endeavours, and because the use of language supports these endeavours, the methods are not necessarily always used in a pure form.
  • Wiio's law that «communication usually fails except by accident» appears to apply to associative (L'2) and universal (L'4) methods, and probably logical (L'6) as well. It does not appear to apply to concrete (L'1) or conceptual (L'3) methods. It may apply to gestalt (L'5) (hence all those guides to reading Shakespeare), and mythic (L'7) language poses a challenge to most.

Summary of Properties Identified So Far

Return to the initial description by clicking on the name of the method.

    Practical Function Group Aspect Personal Aspect Reality Aspect
L'7 Mythic To provide stories about what is unknowable including good and evil. Galvanizes a group to form a united front. Activates spiritual energies and magical thinking. Fosters transcendence of mundane reality.
L'6 Logical To identify and link useful assumptions. Overcomes irrelevancy and emotionality in debates. Enables proper handling of situations. Specifies fundamentals as essences or principles.
L'5 Gestalt To reveal the multi-faceted significance of a topic in human terms. Elevates group consciousness. Evokes understanding of human experiences by a variety of means. Represents complex personal or social issues as a whole.
L'4 Universal To allow for the wide dissemination and influence of ideas. Ensures commonality by sharing values and emotions. Enables engagement with everyone in a specific society. Affirms received reality and opposes alien ideas.
L'3 Conceptual To investigate in depth so as to explain the unknown. Enables an informal community of disciplined thinkers. Allows dispassionate perspicuity in thought and exposition. Develops and establishes knowledge in a bounded field.
L'2 Associative To make immediate personal observations. Uses familiarity and sustains social contact. Asserts self in terms of actions and relations. Reveals operative or expedient subjective associations to things.
L'1 Concrete To specify procedures in the finest practically relevant detail. Provides for uniform or synchronized actions. Provides routine, ritual and self-discipline. Covers obvious features for actions on and with things.

Typology Properties to be Elaborated

Then move on to the TET analysis.

Originally posted: 5-Jan-2013. Last updated: 10-Feb-2023.