Transmission media most commonly fall under four categories: audible, visual, and tactile, and chemical. The many different types of transmission media allow for the definition of a language to be flexible and to move away from the common assumption of language being either verbal or nonverbal. There are many ways to express messages using language; we can speak language, dance it, write it, paint it and so on. Dance can be language, braille can be a language, even hugging can be a language. There are many different ways to hug someone and each way communicates a different message. The language of hugging is explored by Swedish medical doctors, An Lena M. Forsell and Jan A. Åström’s in their article, Meanings of hugging: from greeting behavior to touching implications (2012). In their publication, the circumstances under which hugging occurs is discussed, along with messages hugs can communicate such as a demonstration of love shared between family, an act of empathy and support during times of grief, or a display of excitement when two friends reunite. At first glance, giving a hug may not seem very informative but by hugging we can communicate messages of compassion and gratitude. Hugging is a tactile language because it conveys meaning through a touch based transmission medium. Braille is also a tactile language as it is defined as “a system of touch reading for the …show more content…
Many people speak with their hands in order to illustrate abstract concepts with visual language. The visual performance of dance is commonly partnered with music. While audible, tactile, chemical, and visual language are effective on their own, they are limited. Verbal media are restricted by the range of pitch we are able to produce and hear. We communicate through tactile media mainly with our fingertips and hands because those are very touch sensitive parts of the body and the most convenient to communicate with. In order to best convey our meaning, we often communicate our message in more than one medium. However, something interesting happens when the messages sent through transmission media conflict. If someone were to say, “I agree with you” but roll their eyes at the same time, we receive two messages which can be interpreted in different ways. In other words, when messages from transmission media conflict, there can be many