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1、中西非言语交际的差异Study of Differences in Chinese andEnglish Nonverbal CommunicationAbstract: Nonverbal communication plays an important role in intercultural communication. Like verbal communication, nonverbal communication is connected closely with culture in the expression of thoughts. But because of the
2、 great differences between Chinese culture and English culture, there are a lot of differences in Chinese and English nonverbal communication. After briefly reviewing achievements made in the study of nonverbal communication, this thesis introduces the definition, function, and cultural differences
3、on cross-cultural nonverbal communication. In real life, nonverbal communication has been widely used in many fields so it is necessary to learn something about it and the differences between Chinese and English nonverbal communication in order to improve peoples communication quality.Key words: non
4、verbal communication; differences; function; definition; study摘要：非语言交际在日常交际中扮演着一个十分重要的角色。非语言交际与言语交际一样，在表达思想时与文化紧密联系在一起。但由于中英文化的巨大差异，中西非言语交际也存在着大量的差异。本文简述了非语言交际的研究成果，从定义，功能，跨文化非语言交际的文化差异等方面对其作了简要介绍。在现实生活中，非语言交际被广泛应用与许多领域，因此为提高交际质量有必要对非语言交际及其中西方存在的差异做一些了解。关键词：非语言交际；差异；功能；定义；研究ContentsI. Introduction.1
5、II. Literature Review of Nonverbal Communication Studies.1III. Overview of Nonverbal Communication2A. Definition of nonverbal communication.2B. Some types of nonverbal communication.3C. Functions of nonverbal communication5IV. Differences in Chinese and English Nonverbal Communication.6A. In daily l
6、ife.6 B. In social life81. Visiting82. Distance.93. Physical contact.94. Etiquette feature.10V. Conclusion.10Works Cited.12I. Introduction People usually use languages to express their thought or to transmit the information and to communicate, as a result, people think of language first when they ar
7、e talking about communication. Most of them seldom realize the role of nonlinguistic communication played in their intercourse. But nonverbal communication takes place with verbal one at the same time in the communication, and actually the element of nonlinguistic, as a communicating tool, plays a v
8、ery important role in peoples daily communication. Recent research has shown that in a presentation before a group of people, 55 percent of the effect on the audience is determined by the body language of the speaker, 38 percent by their tone of voice and only 7 percent by actual content of what is
9、being said (Bi 16). It can be easily concluded from the research that nonverbal communication speaks louder than words. Just try watching a politician on televisionwhat they do is likely to be truer than what they are actually saying. Recently, nonverbal communication has drawn much attention of the
10、 linguistic scientists. II. Literature Review of Nonverbal Communication StudiesThe study of nonverbal communication has a long history both at home and abroad. The earliest study of nonverbal communication in western countries could be traced back to Greek philosopher Aristotle (Li 10). After that,
11、 one of the most influential pre-twentieth century works was Darwins Expression of the Emotions in man and Animals in1872. This work spawned the modern study of facial expression, and many of his observations and ideas have been validated by other researchers. In the first half of the twentieth cent
12、ury, the study of nonverbal communication still remained unsystematic for there were only isolated studies of voice, physical appearance, dress and facial expressions. The three influential works during this period were Kretschmers book Physique and Character in 1925, Sheldons book The Variations of
13、 Human Physique in 1940, and Efrons book Gesture and Environment in 1941. In 1950s, there was a significant increase in the number of nonverbal research efforts. Birdwhistells Introduction to Kinesics in 1952 and Halls Silent Language in 1959 were two milestones of this decade. In 1956, Ruesch and K
14、ees produced a book entitled Nonverbal Communication: Notes on the Visual Perception of Human Relations. This was the first book to use the term nonverbal communication in its title.1960s produced a” nuclear explosion “of nonverbal studies. During this time, the classic theoretical piece was Ekmans
15、and Friesens article on the origins, usage, and coding of nonverbal behavior. The 1970s proved to be a time of summarizing and synthesizing on nonverbal studies. It began with Julius Fasts Body Language in 1970. The 1980s were a time of further development of nonverbal communication studies. The his
16、tory of Chinese scholars studies about nonverbal communication can be traced back to that of various schools of thinkers in pre-Qin Dynasty; Confucius paid more attention to appearance and posture on different occasions. Then, since Joseph Stalin had criticized the “gesture” of Mar in1950, the Chine
17、se scholars who studied linguistic theory considered it as guiding principle to confirm the function of language communication absolutely without considering the position and function of nonverbal communication in communication. As a result, the range of study is only limited to language and communi
18、cation tool based on language (Li 1). And during 1960s-1970s the Cultural Revolution happened in China bringing a disaster to the study of this field. So, the research on nonverbal behavior in China began from 1980s. Scholars such as Hu Wenzhong, Bi Jiwan, Deng Yianchang and Liu Runqing have done so
19、me research work (Li 40).To conclude, it can not be denied that those linguists mentioned above contributed greatly to the study of nonverbal communication and their writings will have a deep influence on the future scholars studies of this subject. Based on their findings, the author of this paper
20、intends to do research on the differences of Chinese and English nonverbal communication, in hope of helping intercultural communicators have a better understanding of nonverbal expressions and achieve great success in intercultural communication. III. Overview of Nonverbal CommunicationA. Definitio
21、n of nonverbal communicationThere are various definitions for nonverbal communication among different scholars. According to Knapp, the phrase nonverbal communication refers to communication effect by means other than words (Li 41). When defining nonverbal communication, Samovar and Porter propose t
22、hat “nonverbal communication involves all those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment and that have potential message value for the source or receiver”. In this definition, the role of the environment, the message val
23、ue of nonverbal stimuli and the communication setting are emphasized as three important factors in nonverbal communication (Li 41). In short, nonverbal means for communication, which is considered as “silent language”, expresses meanings or feelings without using words. As different linguists descri
24、be nonverbal communication in different dimensions, there is no general agreement in classification as yet. B. Types of nonverbal communicationAll types of communication that take place without words are defined as nonverbal communication. Furthermore, due to the unconscious quality of nonverbal com
25、munication, many people fail to realize its significant role in intercultural communication, which brings them lots of trouble. This paper is to form a system in readers mind, thus increasing their nonverbal communication awareness and enhancing their intercultural communication. Some people regard
26、it simply as body language. This is, of course a mistake, for they neglect other nonverbal elements, such as paralanguage, time, distance, etc, thus leading to cross-cultural misunderstanding. In order to show a clear picture of nonverbal communication, it is reasonable to divide it into four catego
27、ries. The first category is body language, including the messages sent by body movement posture, gesture, facial expression, eye contact gaze and touch. It is known to all that body language exists in both Chinese and English cultures, but with different meanings. For example, a speaker or performer
28、 claps his hands at the same time the audiences applaud. In Chinese culture, this means “thank you” to express the speaker or performers gratitude for the audiences presence. While in English, applauding oneself is considered improper and immodest. A long hissing “shhh” is generally deemed to show d
29、isapproval in Chinese. While in English, it is intended to call for silence, hence the phrase “to hiss for silence”. In intercultural communication, the cultural differences in body language must be taken into consideration; otherwise, misunderstanding or conflicts can not be avoided.The second cate
30、gory is paralanguage, which involves the linguistic elements of language, that is how something is said and not the actual meaning of the spoken word. It includes silence, turn-taking, vocal characterizer (laughing, crying, etc), vocal qualifiers (volume, pitch, rhythm, etc) and vocal segregates (“U
31、N-huh”, “shh”, etc). As with all other aspects of peoples nonverbal behavior, culture influences their use of and response to paralanguage. People only have to look at differences in the use of volume to see this. Chinese and English are two different language systems. Chinese have four tones; it is
32、 the most difficult part for foreigners to grasp, because different meanings are often attributed to the same pronunciation. Some paralinguistic features can be even more important than words in communication. A monotonous, loud or raspy voice may serve as important cues in judging whether or not th
33、e speaker is depressed, angry or excited. The well-known example is the change of voice in pronouncing “London Bridge is falling down” along with the modulation of tone, pitch and tempo. The third category is time language. It refers to time orientation. Hall describes time as a “core system” that p
34、rovides a framework for cultural, social and personal life. The fact that each culture has its own particular time frame must necessarily serve as a complicating factor in intercultural relations. The varying attitudes toward time and the utilization held by the various cultures in the world indicat
35、e that serious misunderstandings may arise in cross-cultural communication.The last category is space language. It is body distance or proxemics. Edward Halls writings suggest four types of distances over which people communicate: public space, formal space, informal space and intimates space. Weste
36、rners have a strong sense of territoriality of personal space and privacy. Compared with Westerners, the Chinese tend to value social conformity and intimacy. In the United States, the conversational distance is about arms length. People in same cultures stand much closer; others further apart. As w
37、ith most communication traditions, violation of such a cultural habit can cause discomfort, even distress. In English-speaking countries, physical contact is generally avoided in conversation among ordinary friends or acquaintances. Merely touching someone may cause an unpleasant reaction. Western m
38、other commonly complain that Chinese often fondle their babies and very small children. Such behavior like touching, patting, hugging or kissing can be quite embarrassing and awkward for the mothers. Although they know these are merely signs of friendliness or affection, yet in their own culture, su
39、ch actions would be considered rude, intrusive and could arouse a strong dislike and even repugnance. C. Functions of nonverbal communicationNonverbal behaviors and verbal communication interact in communication process. For simplicity, nonverbal communication serves to repeat, complement, reinforce
40、, substitute, regulate or even contradict peoples verbal behavior (Xu 137). That indicates that nonverbal communication is supplementary to verbal behavior in communication. If it is separated from verbal language, the message conveyed by nonverbal symbols will fail to be understood, which results i
41、n failure of performing normal human communication. So only when linguistic communication system mixed with nonverbal communication can form a complete communicative system. If it breaks away from the cooperation and assistance of nonverbal behavior, it is hard to attain effective goal of communicat
42、ion.Since nonverbal communication includes so many elements, people should take them all into consideration. Although people classify nonverbal communication clearly, it seldom occurs in isolation. They are normally linked to both verbal messages and the setting in which people find them, and from t
43、he classification, People have already known the main ingredients of nonverbal communication, pay attention to all those aspects in real communication. If people do so, it will inevitably benefit a lot. The important roles of nonverbal communication in intercultural communication as it mentioned abo
44、ve in common communication situation are: nonverbal behavior is largely unconscious. People use nonverbal symbols spontaneously. So it is useful to clarify the six important roles nonverbal communication has in relation to verbal communication in order to increase the awareness. Therefore, people ca
45、n manage their behaviors skillfully. (1)Accentuation: For instance, when people are angry, they convey their anger with the tone and volume of our voice together with the verbal message, making it more emphatic. (2)Repetition: people often use non-verbal action to repeat what have said, when people
46、say “I dont understand,” people shake their head simultaneously. (3)Substitution: sometimes, people nod their head to express “yes” or shake head for “no”, without saying the words. (4)Complement: that means nonverbal actions add some information to supplement the verbal message. For instance, when
47、talking about the big fish you caught you indicate how big it is with your hands. (5)Contradiction: sometimes a persons nonverbal actions contradict this verbal message. Think of someone who slams the door behind him but says that he or she is not upset the verbal and nonverbal messages are contradi
48、ctory. (6)Regulation: nonverbal communication also helps people to regulate the flow of verbal communication. It may indicate who is to speak next simply by changing who is looking at a nod of the head may encourage some one to continue or stop what they are doing.In this way, nonverbal communication shapes and changes the flow of a conversation. In an ideal relationship, nonverbal communicati
