communication

In biology, the signalling of information by one organism to another, usually with the intention of altering the recipient's behaviour. Signals used in communication may be visual (such as the human smile or the display of colourful plumage in birds), auditory (for example, the whines or barks of a dog), olfactory (such as the odours released by the scent glands of a deer), electrical (as in the pulses emitted by electric fish), or tactile (for example, the nuzzling of male and female elephants).

communication

The sending and receiving of messages. The messages can be verbal or nonverbal; verbal messages can be transmitted by written communication or by speaking, as well as by a variety of telecommunications. Most nonverbal messages between human beings are in the form of body language. Vocal devices, such as intonation, evade capture in written form. Communication can in this way involve a mixture of verbal and nonverbal messages, and also a blend of written and spoken communication. For example, a politician's speech is often published as a written transcript and actors speak a playwright's script.

The development of telecommunications, including television, radio and the Internet, has led to increasingly sophisticated combinations of visual, spoken, and written ‘texts’.

The level of listening and/or reading skills present in the intended audience should be an important consideration when creating a verbal message.

The language used to describe and discuss language, itself, is called metalanguage, and includes words like sentence, noun, and paragraph.

Verbal messages are by no means the clearest and most powerful. The sense of touch, for example, is one of the most forceful methods of communication.