A signal may be considered as an interruption, indicating the presence of an individual in a room, his impatience, agreement, or disagreement with some aspect of the environment. In the case of screaming for help, a critical situation demanding attention, coded to refer to spoken or written language. Signs are usually less germane to the development of words than signals; most of them contain greater amounts of meaning of and by themselves.
All known cultures utilize signs to convey relatively simple messages fast and conveniently. Symbols are more difficult than signs to understand and to define because unlike signs and signals, they are intricately woven into an individual’s ongoing perception of the world. The symbol has been defined as a device with which an abstraction can be made; they may include written or spoken language as well as visual objects. Rich clusters of related und unrelated symbols are usually regarded as icons.
They are a group of interactive symbols, like the White House in Washington D. C. or an Impressionist painting. Professional actors and dancers have known since antiquity that body gestures also generate a vocabulary of communication more or less unique to each culture. Proxemics involves the ways in which people in various cultures utilized both time and space as well as body positions and other factors of purpose of communication. The body heat human’s give of, odour they perceive in social situations. Communication can be nonvocal or vocal, a respond does not has to be observable action, also could be a mental responds.
Every received and responded message is rooted in culture (Samovar, 2001). About 150,000 years ago our first ‘relatives’ initiated an activity that would have a profound and everlasting effect on all lives. It took another 140,000 years to refine the process; these early ancestors evolved the vocal tracts necessary for human communication. This extraordinary accomplishment was one of the major precursors for the development of culture around 6,000 years ago. From that day until now, communication and culture have been inseparable.
Although communication and culture are two different words, and in some way different concepts, they are directly linked. They are so inextricably bound that some anthropologists believe the terms are virtually synonymous. Culture is learned, acted out, transmitted and preserved through communication. The dictionary meaning of culture is the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generation (Britannica, 2003). The dictionary meaning of communication is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviour (Britannica, 2003).
But every communication event takes place on a time-space-continuum, and the amount of time allotted, whether it is for social conversation or a formal speech, affects that event. Cultures as well as people use time to communicate (Samovar, 2001). A general part of communication event is the cultural setting. ‘The largest system affecting communication is our culture, which is the context within which all our interactions take place. ‘(Higgings, 1995).
The rules, values, norms, traditions, taboos and customs of a culture all affects the other areas of the communication system. Every culture has a language, rules and norms about age, gender, a system of government, religions, economic system, recreational and play activity, art and music. In modern society different people communicate in different ways, as do people in different societies around the world. The way people communicate is the way they live. It is their culture. Who talks with whom, about what? These are questions of communication and culture (Samovar, 2001).
Heritage includes ‘those places and events which define and sustain a country’s character and provide a living and accessible record of the nation’s history (Elms, 1999). It represents the important examples of our landscape, the critical moments in our development as a nation and the joys and sorrows in the lives of our varied inhabitants’ (Australia Heritage Commission, 1997). Our cultural heritage, both indigenous and non-indigenous, contributes significantly to the quality of life humans value. Our heritage is a living heritage and will be continually added to. Through stories, folktales, legends, myths, language and written documents.
In conclusion a cultural heritage is communicate through culture, which is based on humans communication verbal and nonverbal.
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Enviromental Operations Unit, 1999, Cultural Heritage Guidelines, Heritage Consulting Australia, Walkerville SA. Gopalkrishnan, N. , 2003, Cross Cultural Communication, Paper presented at the Lecture for COR 109, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore. Higgins, A. G. , ‘Multimedia Readiness of U. S. Ranked No. 1’, San Diego Union- Tribute, 19. October 1995. Samovar, L. A ; Porter, R. E. , 2001, Communication Between Cultures, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, Belmont C. A.. Semmelroth, E. , 2003, A Brief History of Fire And Its Issues, [online] Available: http://hearth. com/what/historyfire. html [2003, March 28].
