This enables members of that community to recognize and interpret correctly a specific symbol whenever they encounter it. This would be impossible, if set conventional rules for written English language did not exist. Go to the top of this page. Go to index for Human Comm Goes to the Movies. The use of artifacts, physical objects that we possess, adds meaning to the messages that people communicate to others.
Clothing is an important artifact.
One of the signals given out by it is people's social position, which turns into messages about wealth, status, and power. As a successful and sober-minded corporate mogul, Lewis always dresses in elegant dark suits and a tie. On the other hand, Vivian, a carefree young girl who has lived all of her life on the strreet, selling herself for money, wears quite bold and revealing clothing. Their clothes communiacate clearly what they are and where they stand in societal order. When, at the time of their first meeting, Edward invites Vivian to his hotel room, he asks her to cover her clothewear, giving her his coat, so that other people in the hotel can not make assumptions about her.