Primary Message System

Operates in this context...

Interaction

Language of, well, language.   Includes meaningful gesture, meaningful non-verbals (with semantic content).

Association

Language of power, hierarchy, status, how we communicate who is more important than whom and by how much.

Subsistence

Language of how we survive.   Includes communication through food habits, shelter meaning, economics, work.

Gender

Language of roles.  Includes how gender identification is communicated, how gender means.

Territoriality

Language of space, objects, distance (known as "proxemics").

Temporality

Language of time.  Includes use of time, duration of events and life phases, lateness, etc., as communication.

Learning

Language of education, child rearing.  Includes beliefs about age appropriateness, epistemology, pedagogy.

Play

Language of entertainment and recreation.  Includes belief systems of what is recreation, value of play.

Defense

Language of protection, health, belief systems, religion.  Includes military, local security, to self esteem.

Exploitation

Language of relationship to physical environment.  Includes  relationship to technology and its values.