非言语交际和跨文化交际

Non-verbal communication and intercultural

communication

Abstract: Language is the tool of communication and carrier of culture. Non-verbal communication can effectively complement verbal communication. Non-verbal communication often happens as verbal communication takes place. It also has the same communicative function as verbal communication does. People only emphasize verbal communication while they usually neglect non-verbal communication which is of much importance in information transmission. The main concerns in this paper include the relation between verbal and non-verbal, classification, feature, and function of non-verbal communication. The way solving intercultural conflicts in non-verbal communication is also discussed here.

Key words: non-verbal communication; function; intercultural communication

1.Introduction

Language is a necessary and very important tool in human communication. When people talk about the

communication, they always regard verbal communication as a kind of way to communicate, but neglecting the non-verbal communication. In fact, verbal communication and non-verbal communication are both ways for people to communicate. Comparing with verbal communication, non-verbal communication can transfer information and express the meaning in a better way. This paper mainly talked about the relation between verbal communication and non-verbal communication, the function of non-verbal and the function of non-verbal in the intercultural communication.

2.the non-verbal communication

2.1 The definition and classification of the non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication (NVC) is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture;by body language or posture; by facial expression and eye contact.Object communication such as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture; symbols. Speech may also contain non-verbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation and

stress. Likewise, written texts have non-verbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons.

Language is the most important way in human communication, but it is not the only way to communicate. For example, sometimes we need lots of non-verbal communication symbols to help us understand well. In fact verbal and non-verbal communications are both very important. Some researchers divided the non-verbal communication into three types; the first one is that people just show the dynamic posture in a silent way. For example, when people show their agreement they will just nod their heads instead of saying yes to others. Another example, smiling is also a kind of non-verbal communication; it can express many different meanings. It can show the satisfaction of something or even the polite refusal. These depend on the different contexts. The second one is static posture. For example, people were standing straight or leaning on the chair or sitting on the floor etc. The different postures of the static bodies also can express different meanings according to the different contexts. The third one is a kind of sounds which are produced by human