1. At first, spoken language was just a symbol that connected sound with surrounding things or environment.

2. In the social practice of human understanding and transforming the world, it has gradually improved its abstract ability and become a sound symbol system that can express complex meanings.

At the same time, spoken English has greatly promoted the development of human thinking ability. It has greatly accelerated the evolution and development of human society. Until today, oral English is still the most basic, commonly used and flexible means of communication for human beings.

Limitations: First, oral English relies on the vocal function of human body to transmit information. Due to the limitation of human energy, oral English can only be transmitted and communicated in a short distance.

Second, the phonetic symbols used in spoken English are fleeting things and can't be recorded well. The preservation and accumulation of spoken information can only rely on the memory of the human brain.

Therefore, spoken English is greatly limited by space and time. Without telephone and other oral media, it can only be used for information dissemination in small-scale intimate social groups or tribes. -Time and space constraints

The second stage: the era of text communication

Writing is the second important milestone in the history of human communication development. Developed on the basis of knot symbols and original drawings.

Important significance-first, writing overcomes the transience of spoken language and can save information for a long time, so that the accumulation and storage of human knowledge and experience no longer depends solely on the limited memory of the human brain;

Second, words can transmit information to distant places, break the distance limit between sound and language, and expand the space for human communication and social activities;

Thirdly, the appearance of characters makes the inheritance of human culture no longer rely on the easily deformed myths or legends, but have accurate and reliable data and literature basis.

In a word, the appearance of characters has greatly changed human communication in space and time. As the first set of externalized symbol system, its appearance has accelerated the process of human using externalized media system. It has greatly promoted the economic, political and cultural exchanges and integration of various regions. It has played a great role in the formation and development of the unified Chinese nation and Chinese culture.

Limitations: low efficiency, small scale and high cost of handwritten communication. It takes a lot of time and manpower to copy many books. The production scale of written information is small, and the popularization of education is low. The dissemination of written information basically belongs to the privilege of the government, officials and the ruling class.

The third stage: the era of printing and communication

Great contribution: (On the contribution of China's printing invention to the development of printing communication)

China's papermaking and printing have made great contributions to the development of world civilization and human communication. The invention of printing marks that human beings have mastered the technical principle of copying text information and have the concept of mass production of information. The printing press makes it possible to produce and copy a large number of text information mechanically. It has great influence in social politics, culture, education and other fields. It has also played a huge role in promoting the social economy.

The fourth stage: the era of electronic communication

One of the most important contributions is to realize the long-distance rapid dissemination of information. Judging from the development of human social information system, electronic media has two other symbolic meanings: it forms an externalized sound information system and an externalized image information system. It has achieved a large number of copies, dissemination and historical preservation of sound and image information (posterity-listening-sound-laughter). Let the content of cultural heritage be richer, feel more intuitive and have more reliable basis. In a word, they have made a new leap in the accumulation of human knowledge and experience and the efficiency and quality of cultural inheritance.

The appearance of computer means that the information processing center of human brain has also begun the process of externalization. The transmission of electronic signals has also realized the development from analog signals to digital signals. The development of electronic communication technology has brought mankind into a brand-new and unprecedented information society.

This process is a history in which the media used by human beings are constantly enriched and the social information system is constantly developing and complicated.