Interpreting Nonverbal Communication: Cultural Insights in Language and Space

1. Nonverbal Communication Linguistic Anthropology

2. Body Language • Learned in cultural groups • Interpreted unconsciously • Often overrides verbal language • ~60% of communication? • Beware of guidebooks.

3. Smell, Taste, and Touch • Smell • And ethnicity, culture • Cigars, perfumes and status • Taste • And group membership • Spicy foods.. • Touch • And gender and power • Relation to proxemics….

4. Proxemics • Edward Hall, 1950s • How people perceive and use space • Cowboy proxemics • Getting to theatre seats.

5. Gender, Status, & Space • Entering into someone’s ‘space’ • Getting the ‘best’ office • Or the biggest bedroom • Having one’s own ‘space’ • “Man caves”

6. Culture and Space • Different arrangements • US grids & French circles • German doors: closed vs open • Different uses • Where to eat in the Comoros • Depends on gender too

7. Kinesics • Ray Birdwhistell, 1950s • Body movements • Shrugs, nods. Arm & leg-crossing • Facial expressions • Smiles, frowns, winks • Gestures • Palm up / palm down • Thumbs up!

8. Gesture Systems • Where verbal communication is difficult • Topics and contexts are limited • Simple alternative systems • Little or no syntax • Sawmills, baseball games, sailboat racing • Complex alternative systems • Syntax based on spoken language: • Australian women mourners • Some monastic orders • Syntax independent of any spoken language • Native American Plains sign language • Signs used in varying order

9. Sign Language • Used by deaf people • ‘Language performed in three-dimensional space’ • Topics and contexts are unlimited • Syntax is complex, unique to specific language • American Sign Language (ASL; Ameslan) vs British • Mutually unintelligible; not based on English syntax • Signs = concepts, not words (‘right’ vs ‘right’) • Syntax = one sign can stand for several words • E.g., “I-ask-her” is one sign • vs Signed English (SEE1 & 2) which follows English syntax.

10. Paralanguage • Sounds that “accompany” speech • But aren’t words themselves • George Trager (1950s) • voice qualities • Loudness, tone of voice • Pitch, speed, rhythm • Vocal modifications: • whispering, cooing, breathy voice, rising intonation • Vocal segregates (or vocal gestures) • Stand on their own • uh-huh, mhmm, shhhh, throat-clearing • Ideophones? • Bam, pow, slurp!

11. Speech Substitutes • Sound signals substitute for spoken words • Or parts of words • Useful for communicating over distances • Examples: • Drum languages • based on tones (Nigeria) • Whistle languages • based on tones (Mazateco) • based on vowels (La Gomera) • different whistled pitches = different vowels

12. So, is itSemantics and Pragmatics?orSemantics versus Pragmatics?

13. Semantics: the study of meaning that can be determined from a sentence, phrase or word. Pragmatics: the study of meaning, as it depends on context (speaker, situation, dialogue history)

14. Problems • Some phenomena are clearly semantic – when one word affects what other words can occur • Some phenomena are clearly pragmatic – when something is implied

15. Reductionism • Reductionism • The distinction should be abolished • Semantic reductionism: pragmatics should be reduced to semantics • Pragmatic reductionism: semantics should be reduced to pragmatics

16. Complementarism • The distinction between semantics and pragmatics is important and should be retained • Radical semantics – most of the study of meaning should be attributed to semantics • Radical pragmatics – as much as possible of the study of meaning belongs in pragmatics

17. Role of Context • Semantics – the context is the other words in sentence; other sentences in text • Pragmatics – at least part of the focus of context is on what is not being said