Study of Differences in Chinese and English Nonverbal Communication.doc

study of differences in chinese and english nonverbal communication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 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 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: nonverbal 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.1ii. 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 life.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 are 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 very 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 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 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, 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 century, 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 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 kees 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 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 history 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 chinese 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 communication 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 some 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 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. definition 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 that “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 value 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 describe 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 communication, 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 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 categories. 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 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 disapproval 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 category 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 (“un-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 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 the 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 provides 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 indicate 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. westerners 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 with 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 mother 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, such 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, 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 in 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 communication.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 the 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 above 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 can 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 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 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 contradictory. (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 communication supplements verbal communication. for example, gesturing to show the direction a person went in reinforces the words. the smile that goes with the verbal congratulation at graduation is complementing. moreover, people should have a correct understanding of their relationship. on the other hand, nonverbal communication can convey explicit meanings only in certain context with verbal communication or other types of nonverbal communication.iv. differences in chinese and english nonverbal communicationits known that many cultural differences exist between china and other western countries, such as differences in geographical environment, historical development, mode of production and society system, religion and traditional customs, in national psychology and mode of thinking, language and characters, and sense of value. nonverbal communication, like verbal communication connects closely with culture in the expression of thoughts. however, because of the great differences between chinese culture and english culture, there are a lot of differences in nonverbal communication. as a result, if people do not have enough knowledge of nonverbal communication in target culture, they often have misunderstanding during their communication process, which may eventually lead to the failure of their communication. therefore, the study is of great significance. in this part, the author wants to explore the differences between chinese and english nonverbal communication in daily life and social life.a. in daily lifea comparative study of chinese and english speaking country nonverbal communication in daily life shows a number of similarities; for example: men dont hug or embrace when meeting; a handshake is the most common gesture that goes with a greeting; waving a hand to say “goodbye” is the same; a frown shows displeasure, and the wrinkling of ones nose is a sign of dislike, disgust or disapproval; nodding means “yes”, and shaking ones head means “no”; pouting has the same meaningdispleasure, bad humor, resentment; a pat on the back of a man or boy indicates approval, praise, encouragement; gritting ones teeth may express anger, fury, or determination. but some nonverbal communication shows a number of differences; for example: one culture may determine that snapping fingers to call waiter is appropriate; another may consider this gesture rude. another example is the “ok” gesture in the american culture .this gesture is obscene in some latin american countries; while for chinese is zero or nothing (kuang 13). the same movement with different meaning in cross-cultural communication will lead to misunderstanding in minor degree otherwise to court disaster. the gesture for applauding over the head in america usually means arrogance to defeat the counterpart, while in china it is a symbol of friendship. when the chinese people visited an american family, he performed such gesture to indicate friendship