Non Verbal Communication

English Department / College of Education for the Humanities/ University of Kerbala

hajaralbayati90@gmail.com 

Introduction 

Non-verbal communication (NVC) has been envisaged in this review mainly from a (broad) pragmatic/linguistic perspective. Naturally non-linguistic views have been adopted, and many topics are covered at the same time by different (sub)disciplines. The option chosen here does not neglect these cross sections but seeks to assess the amount of work that has (or has not) been done in NVC in relation to their relevance for linguistics and pragmatics. Because of this choice of approach only works concerned with face-to-face interaction are discussed, and special attention is paid to gesture. NVC is the transmission of messages or signals through a nonverbal platform such as eye contact, facial expressions

Types of Non-Verbal Communication 

1. 1. Prosody: Wharton says that prosodic inputs range from the natural to the linguistic and interact with information from different sources. Although their effects highly depend on context, prosodic inputs convey information about emotions or attitudes, create impressions or alter the salience of some interpretations. Accordingly, prosody interacts with lexical items so as to fine-tune their meaning, and unexpected stress patterns, costlier in terms of processing effort, divert hearers from expectable interpretations towards alternative ones.

• Facial Expressions: are responsible for a huge proportion of nonverbal communication. One can consider how much information can be conveyed with a smile or a frown. The look on a person’s face is often the first thing we see , even before we hear what they have to say. (the facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, and fear are similar throughout the world.) Firth G. (2009) states that facial expressions are responsible for a huge proportion of nonverbal communication.

•  Gestures: are deliberate movements and signals to communicate meaning without words. Common gestures include waving, pointing, and using fingers to indicate numeric amounts. Other gestures are arbitrary and related to culture. Another classification of gestures divides gestures into iconic, indexical and symbolic gestures. Iconic refers to a sign standing for an object. Indexical refers to a sign standing for an object because it has a relation of actual continuity (spatial, temporal or causal) with that object.

4. Paralinguistics: refers to vocal communication that is separate from actual language. This includes factors such as tone of voice, loudness, inflection, and pitch. Consider the powerful effect that tone of voice can have on the meaning of a sentence. When said in a strong tone of voice, listeners might interpret approval and enthusiasm. The same words that are said in a hesitant tone of voice might convey disapproval and a lack of interest.

5. Body Language and Posture: Posture and movement can also convey a great deal of information. 

6. Proxemics: The amount of distance we need and the amount of space we perceive as belonging to us is influenced by a number of factors including social norms, cultural expectations, situational factors, personality characteristics, and level of familiarity. 

7. Eye Gaze/ Contact: eyes play an important role in nonverbal communication and such things as looking, staring and blinking are important nonverbal behaviours . When people encounter people or things that they like, the rate of blinking increases. Looking at a person can indicate a range of emotions including hostility, interest, or attraction. People also utilize eye gaze as a means to determine if someone is being honest. Steady eye contact is often taken as a sign that a person is trustworthy.

8. Haptics: Communicating through touch is another important non-verbal behavior. There has been a substantial amount of research on the importance of touch in infancy and early childhood. Moreover, ‘touch’ can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, sympathy, and emotion.

9. Appearance: Our choice of colour, clothing, hairstyles, and other factors affecting appearance are also considered a means of NVC.

10. Artifacts: Objects and images are also tools that can be used to communicate nonverbally. On an online forum, for example, you might select an avatar to represent your identity online and to communicate information about who you are and the things you like. Uniforms, for example, can be used to transmit a tremendous amount of information about a person.

To end this short article, it is important to note that NVC creates meaning in interactive context even more evidently than verbal language does. It is seen as vital as speech in linguistic studies. Austin, for instance, recognizes that non-language devices could produce the same effects as standard speech acts.