Actually, rant does stray from the topic – a prepared statement, presented to an expectant audience. You know, like a play, or a recital, or performance art. A concert.

No, rant pulls away from the list, and tends more towards the curse. The verbs brow-beat, nag, chew out I can think of, but the nouns? What is the message that a brow-beating delivers? A chewing out? These are examples of ’scolding’. I scold also a noun, a message intended to instruct in correction of an error, delivered in a manner intended to inflict punishment or at least an unpleasant manner intended to cause the listener to desire to avoid future recurrences.

Message and statement. These aren’t exclusively spoken, as speech and message are, and sometimes are only inferred. An audience is implied, though may not be physically present at the moment of delivery, and may be unknown or inaccessible to the author/speaker. Statement might not imply a connection between audience and speaker/author, but message implies that the identity of the speaker is part of the value to the intended recipient.

Telegram, text message, email, web page, document, chapter, section – these are all firmly written and remotely delivered statements and message, so they wouldn’t go on your initial list. But what about voice mail? Voice mail would be a message, somewhat closer connection between intended listener and speaker. Except for those annoying unsolicited political blurbs and endorsements. Blurbs and endorsements, like other advertising messages, are only seldom welcome or expected by the recipient/audience/resident.

An anecdote or shaggy dog story would usually be a part of a speaking engagement or event. There are verbal illustraions, points of an argument, summaries and introductions, too.

Just as a sermon is usually part of a larger event or worship service, so are prayers and eulogies. We witnessed one form of dialogue this past week, an oath. There are pledges, vows, and dedications, each with a unique relationship between speaker and audience.

A wedding vow typically has three distinct audiences. This oath is performed before an official, to enact and perfect the application for license. The vow is made to the intended spouse, a pledge to them. The vow is also performed before witnesses to fulfill legal and is a means of making the ceremony public – I believe this practice dates back before written records overcame oral traditions in establishing identity and place in the community.

A song is a message, delivered by voice to an audience. “Three Revolutionary Marches” by Frederic Smetana, was considered so revolutionary that it was a capital crime, at one time, to perform it in Czechoslovakia . “The Harp That Once Through Tara’s Halls”, Thomas Moore in Ireland was a reasonably effective “rabble rouser” in it’s day, though I found it in a student’s “Beginning Recorder” book.

An audio book, by it’s nature, separates speaker from audience. A poetry, dramatic, or scripture reading, however, would deliver an author’s words second hand to an audience. Would that be a message that the speaker delivered, or would that be a message from the author to a remote audience? Would it matter if the selection of the piece were the message and the content being read merely used to illustrate points of the selected topic? What if the reader made the selection of material – or the material was selected, then the reader to perform the presentation?

Oops. The cats want fed. I can tell, because they show up at the door in studied “cat-casual” poses only to announce that I am late for feeding time. You know. Something like a brief, eloquent, non-verbal speech.

Or is “Myaou” actually an expression of language? “Late for lunch” is distinct sound, different in tone, in eye contact, in body posture from other, similar expressions. Gotta go!