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Communication is transfer of information, such as thoughts and messages, as contrasted with transportation, the transfer of goods and persons. The basic forms of communication are by signs and by sounds. The reduction of communication to writing was a fundamental step in the evolution of society for, in addition to being useful in situations where speech is not possible, writing permits the preservation of communications, or records, from the past.

Communication theory is a mathematical theory formulated principally by the American scientist Claude E. Shannon to explain aspects and problems of information and communication. While the theory is not specific in all respects, it proves the existence of optimum coding schemes without showing how to find them. For example, it succeeds remarkably in outlining the engineering requirements of communication systems and the limitations of such systems.

In information theory, the term information is used in a special sense; it is a measure of the freedom of choice with which a message is selected from the set of all possible messages. Information is thus distinct from meaning, since it is entirely possible for a string of nonsense words and a meaningful sentence to be equivalent with respect to information content.

The outpouring of scientific research on human communication has increased at a staggering rate. This burst of research activity is due to the ever-widening usage of the term "communication" and to a declaration of vested interest in communication research by numerous scientific disciplines. One review of developments in the field lists more than twenty academic disciplines which currently provide content and method for research on some phase of human interaction. The physical sciences contribute to the study of communication largely by way of technical subfields bearing the headings of cybernetics, in formation theory, and general systems theory. The social sciences embrace the inclusive interests of anthropologists, who define culture as communication, and the most specialized investigations of social psychologists, who define the relationships between individual and group activity as communication. At the end of the social science spectrum are the investigations of linguists, who describe their work on language structure as part of communication science. Still other approaches to the study of communication cross disciplinary lines of psychology, sociology, speech- communication, political science, journalism and many others. Finally, within another broad field of knowledge, the humanities--particularly rhetoric and philosophy--provide a rich legacy of tradition and doctrine on human interaction. Clearly, then, the so-called "science of human communication" is not, in any strict sense, a single discipline at all.

Though astonishingly popular as an object of research, the field of human communication has not established any sharply-defined boundaries or domains. Much of the reason for the state of disarray is due to the lack of theoretical integration in the field, a problem noted by Hovland, Fearing, and others. The pace of research activity in recent years has done little to further specify or define the distinctive province of the communication field. One recent review notes the use of twenty-five different conceptions of the term "communication" in current research literature. Investigators have yet to establish a completely acceptable definition of communication. Nor do they share agreement as to what is common to the process of human communication. According to Bettinghaus, over fifty different descriptions of the communication process have appeared in print. Similar conceptual problems limit the many attempts to formulate a general model of communication. Since the publication of a mathematical model of communication in 1949 by Shannon and Weaver, over fifteen different models have been described in the literature.

The meaning of the word "communication" is at once both clear and obscure. It is clear enough in conventional usage, but obscure when we seek to determine the limits of its application. To illustrate, if someone talks to another and common understanding results (indicated by mutually satisfactory action), we have no qualms about saying that communication has occurred. If, however, misunderstanding results (indicated by mutually unsatisfactory action), we are uncertain whether we should say that there has been poor, or no, communication. Further, if someone does not talk to another and the latter as a result gains certain impressions of the former, has communication occurred? Would it make any difference whether the first person deliberately did not talk or unintentionally failed to talk? If someone eavesdrops on a conversation, is he receiving communication? If from the antics of my neighbor's children or from the condition of his house I draw certain conclusions about him, has there been a communication? If I classify a group of objects before me, say, several pieces of lumber, on the basis of certain characteristics, is there communication?

The problem is familiar. It seems impossible to draw a line between those situations that we conventionally term "communication" and those we do not, short of a purely arbitrary distinction. And the many and varied definitions of "communication" appearing in the literature of various fields of study often appear, at first glance at least, to compound the difficulty.

We who are teaching speech must be concerned about defining communication. Certainly our concept of this process determines to no small degree our approach to speech training, how broadly or narrowly we view our subject, how we relate it to other areas of study. My purpose in this paper is to put the problem of defining "communication" in clearer perspective, thus assisting in the selection of a more consistent and pedagogically helpful concept of communication. . .

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