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1、Nonverbal Communication and Body Language1 IntroductionVerbal communication is defined as spoken communication, including the use of words and intonation to convey meaning. On the other hand, non-verbal communication is “silent” communication, including the use of gestures, postures, position, eye c
2、ontact, facial expressions, and conversational distance. An investigation into the functions of verbal and non-verbal communication shows: the total impact=7% verbal feeling+38% vocal feeling+55% facial expressions. This result reflects the important role of nonverbal communication in daily communic
3、ation. As David Abercrombie said: “We can speak in vocal organs, but we can use nonverbal gesture to communicate.”As one means of nonverbal communication, body language is the most natural part of non-verbal communication and it plays an important role in non-verbal communication. Just like verbal l
4、anguage, body language is also the carrier and container of culture. The same body language in two cultures has different meaning, so studying the culture and differences of body language in cross-culture communication is very important.1.1 Nonverbal Communication and Body Language“Nonverbal communi
5、cation is a process in which communicators use the natural features of their bodies to deliver information and express specific meaning instinctively to the other communicator.”(Guan yanxiang,2004,p90) The study of nonverbal communication covers three major parts: proxemics, kinesics or body languag
6、e, and paralanguage. Kinesics is also called body language, which studies the meanings of the movement of all parts of body and it includes many nonverbal behavior such as eye language, gestures, postures, facial expressions, touch and so on. In Websters New Dictionary, kinesics is defined as “to sy
7、stematically study nonverbal body action (such as blush, eye movements, etc) and communication.” Samovar once says that “Kinesics is the systematic study of body language movements and action,” and through the study, kinesics makes these action and behaviors formalized and encoded. Hu Wenzhong says
8、that space and orientation, and seating arrangement are also parts of body language. (Hu Wenzhong, 1995;23) Collins English Language Dictionary gives the following definition: Body language is the way in which you show your feeling or thoughts to other people by means of the position or movement of
9、your body rather than words. The definition of body language in this paper can be regarded as one in a wide sense, it includes sign gesture, body gestures, eye contact, facial expression and touch.1.2 The Functions of Body Language Body language is one means of nonverbal communication. It is the mos
10、t natural part of non-verbal communication and it helps verbal communication achieve effective communication. Body language has three major functions: assisting, substituting and expressing or hiding emotional feelings. ( 胡文仲 ,1998.10 ) During the study of communication, researchers just pay attenti
11、on to the verbal communication without paying attention to body language, however, the message and information conveyed by body language is far better than words. For example, when we tell people how to get to the nearest hospital, we are not only telling them the direction but also pointing to the
12、direction with hands. We often suggest that our talk is over by our tone, eyes, head nodding and other body language. For example, the manager stands up to show the end of the interview.1.3 The Classification of Body Language Body language is the richest kind of nonverbal language. It is estimated t
13、hat man can do more than 270,000 kinds of postures and actions, which are more than all the sounds they can make. Samovar employs the terms body behavior to mean body language. He divides it into appearance, clothing, body action, facial expression, eye contacts, starting, touch, ect. And he even co
14、llects paralanguage and show off his language into this category.To some item, people have reached an agreement on whether they should belong to the scope of nonverbal or not. Such as figure, smell and some signals. Since body language covers too many items, and the research in this field has progre
15、ssed rapidly, it is not necessary for us to make an accurate definition on its scope. But starting from cross-cultural communications, and combining with what has been achieved by western scholars, we can roughly divide the category of body language into three types: those of facial expression, gest
16、ure and action. They offer supplementary functions to verbal language, and some can replace verbal language for communication, and some even express much richer ideas. 1.4 Culture and Body LanguageIn cross-cultural communication, we must clearly understand non-verbal communication and the relationsh
17、ip between cultures. Culture and the vast majority of non-verbal communication are handed down from generation to generation and acquired acquisition, and the long historical and culture heritage of a society form a common habit. The relationship between the two, Samovar thought, is that culture and
18、 non-verbal communication are inseparable, many nonverbal behavior is the result of culture acquisition, peoples non-verbal behavior and the effects are usually formed by a culture environment. Therefore, understanding non-verbal communication and the relationship between cultures is essential. If w
19、e dont understand the non-verbal communication from different culture, it is possible that we can make mistakes in understanding the other person. A normal action in this culture will be abnormal in another one. A positive behavior in one culture will be negative in another. People from China advoca
20、te modesty, tolerance, mutual-support and responsibility for the group. But American people admire independence, self-respect, free development, and requiring individual space and so on.2 Comparison of Chinese Culture and American Culture2.1 The core factors of American cultureThe USA is a country w
21、hich has a short history of only about more than 2 hundred years, it is a nation of modernization which is totally open to the outside world. The main content of American culture is the emphasis on individuals value, the pursuit of democracy and freedom, the promotion of competition and the need for
22、 realist and practicality. Its core is individualism: personal need and pursuit of individual benefit and enjoyment is given priority, achieving individual value by self-strive and self-design is highly valued. This type of intentionally build-up of personality and pursuit of customized individualis
23、m has its pros and cons, it gives incentives to people and make them exert their potential and wisdom and as a result accelerate the development of the entire race and nation; on the other hand it is difficult to keep good relationship among people if everyone is egocentric thus make the entire soci
24、ety lack of unity.American citizens emphasize achievements and respect heroes. They have great sense in their hearts to praise success and heroes. Personal achievements are one of those with the highest value in Americans mind. Americans have very strong senses of success. Success is the pursuit of
25、most Americans, it is their attractive future and the incentives for moving forward. They believe that ones personal value is equivalent to his achievements in his career. Some high achievers in their career such as entrepreneurs, scientists, artists and all kinds of super stars became modern heroes
26、. The process and result of how they strived have become the frame of reference of social culture value and the real life text book for parents to educate their children. American society has great movements within itself. These movements are shown in two aspects: movements amongst locations and mov
27、ements inside the society. The United States are relatively more open and have more freedom. Developed transport and the tradition of adventure and sports makes a lot of American migrate from countryside to cities, from downtown to uptown; and from north to the southern sunny land, from one city to
28、another. Unlike European countries, the social classes in America are not so stable. Further more, with the advocation of public education, movements upwards along the social ladder have become possible. Many people living in the states, no matter whether they are Native American or immigrants from
29、overseas, have the same dream of changing their social class and make their lifetime dream come true through their own efforts. This is what they often called American dream. It is beneficial for us to understand the American social culture.2.2 The core factors of Chinese cultureChina is an old and
30、big socialism country, it has a long history for about 5000 years. Traditional Chinese culture is extensive and profound. The Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism make great contributions to Chinese culture in the long course. Having absorbed their essence, Chinese culture had formed a core concept gra
31、dually, it is “和为贵” thought. Translated into English，its meaning is “和is more precious”. “和” is Chinese character. Such a Chinese character includes the quintessence of traditional Chinese culture. I cant find any word that can translate it accurately in English, because it includes too much meaning
32、. If we translate “和”into English, it means harmony, peace, amalgamation, friendship, kindness. There is a common ground. Thats seeking the harmony between people, the harmony between people and the society, harmonization of people and nature.The Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism play a very importa
33、nt role in Chinese culture. The common stand of their thought is humanity, peace, harmony. This kind of “和为贵” thought has already influenced Chinese people for several thousand years. Chinese culture has super strong absorption and integration. Traditional Chinese culture absorbs and merges the quin
34、tessence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. Western culture was introduced to China in Qing Dynasty. Chinese culture merged western culture in some way.Chinese culture doesnt have invading nature. But if any kind of culture meets Chinese culture, it will be melted and absorbed by it. This is glam
35、our of Chinese culture. 3 Comparison of body language between American and Chinese3.1 PostureAmerican postures are more causal than Chinese speakers. For example, it is not rare to see an American teacher of English in China sitting on a desk with their feet on another desk. When sitting in an armch
36、air, an American often places one foot on the knee of the other leg. It is also quite common for an American to sit in a very relaxed manner in an armchair with his feet on the writing table in a crowed office. In Chinese culture these posture are often associated with arrogance. English speakers ma
37、y also look more aggressive than Chinese speakers. For instance, a young man in jeans standing with two feet apart and two hands placed on hips may seem to be aggressive. And when walking, English speakers, especially the Americans, make big strides, while the Asian normally walk in small strides. T
38、he American think squatting in public area is not appropriate. They are often seen sitting on the grass or on the carpet.Posture is also related to issues such as status, gender, and so on. The person of high status is more causal than the person of low status. A research expresses that the doctor c
39、an sit comparatively casually in labor union meeting in American hospital and he can jump to the nurses side and lean against a table to talk. However the nurse must behave in a proper wany. In China, the position also has an obvious influence on peoples posture. People of low position are supposed
40、to behave comparatively more cautiously, stand more straightly and show respect for others. Posture also has close relations with gender. A research by some American indicates that we can easily distinguish between a male and a female according to his or her posture. A female always put her upper ar
41、m closely on her body when she is walking, while the male upper arms swing within the range between 5-10 degrees. In the social communication, the male stands more closely than the female. Male always stretch out one of his feet and lean his body backward slightly. But the female feel like facing ot
42、hers directly. When sitting, the female always put two knees closed up and put them on one side. 3.2 GestureOne gesture may have different meanings and implications in different culture. Today, in many countries handshaking has become a common custom to show friendliness. But handshaking has differe
43、nt form in different countries. When the Chinese wants to shake hands with others, they usually nod first, then say “hello” and shake others hands up and down at the same time. When the old friends meet again, the Chinese would like to shake hands with both of their hands to express their happiness
44、and excitement. But Americans seldom shake hands with both hands, only the politicians will use their right hands to hold others right hands in an election campaign, and then put his left hand on the shaking hands to make the embracer feel his sincerity and honesty. In USA, when a male meet a female
45、, if the female dont offer her hand first, it is not polite for the male to hold her hand. But the Chinese apparently dont have such taboo. It is inurbane if one reaches out his or her left hand to shake hands with others. This applies both in the United States and in China.The Chinese sticks out a
46、thumb to mean “good”, Stretching out the little finger means “bad”. The Americans stick their thumbs up to show “I want to take a lift”; make their thumbs down to express “bad”; In China, circling the finger round and round beside the temple means “thinking about something”, but to the Americans it
47、means “you are out of mind! Crazy!”When one calls someone to come here, the Chinese used to put their palm down, swinging the fingers up and down, but the Americans put their palm up, make the finger go forward and backward. When asking someone to go away, the Chinese and the Americans use the same
48、posture.3.3 TouchHeslin have divided “touch” into five types: functional, social, friendly, love, lust. The scope, occasion, form of touching, vary in different culture. This is a very delicate field. If it is used in an improper way, it can cause embarrassment or even very unpleasant consequences.
49、People discovered that people from some races tend to make more body contacts than some others, thereby dividing culture into high-contact culture and low-contact culture. Americans are sensitive to physical body contact. Generally they avoid making physical contact with strangers, especially when they are on a crowded bus or subway, they consider it intolerable. Chinese people can tolerate body touch with others. This is probably because China is so densely populated that people are already used to crowdi
