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Contents
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1Birdwhistell's work
2Modern applications
3See also
4References
5External links
Birdwhistell's work[edit]
Kinesics was first used (in 1952) by Ray Birdwhistell, an anthropologist who wished to study
how people communicate through posture, gesture, stance, and movement.[2] His ideas over
several decades were synthesized and resulted in the book, Kinesics and Context.[3] Interest in
kinesics specifically and nonverbal behavior generally was popularized in the late 1960s and
early 1970s by such popular mass market (non academic) publications as How to Read a
Person Like a Book.[4] Part of Birdwhistell's work involved filming people in social situations
and analyzing them to show elements of communication that were not clearly seen otherwise.
One of his most important projects was The Natural History of an Interview, a long-term
interdisciplinary collaboration including Gregory Bateson, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann,
Norman A. McQuown, Henry W. Brosin, and others.[5]
Drawing heavily on descriptive linguistics, Birdwhistell argued that all movements of the
body have meaning and that nonverbal behavior has a grammar that can be analyzed in
similar terms to spoken language. Thus, a "kineme" is "similar to a phoneme because it
consists of a group of movements which are not identical, but which may be used
interchangeably without affecting social meaning."[6]
Birdwhistell estimated that no more than 30 to 35 percent of the social meaning of a
conversation or an interaction is carried by the words.[7] He also concluded that there were no
universals in these kinesic displays, a claim that was disputed by Paul Ekman, who was
interested in analysis of universals, especially infacial expression.[8]
Modern applications[edit]
In a current application, kinesic behaviors are sometimes used as signs of deception by
interviewers looking for clusters of movements to determine the veracity of the statement
being uttered.
Relevant concepts[9] include these:
Emblems - Body movements or gestures that are directly translatable into a word or
phrase
Illustrators - Accompany or reinforce verbal messages
Batons - Temporally accent or emphasize words or phrases
Ideographs - Trace the paths of mental journeys
Deitic movements - Point to a present object
Kinetographs - Depict a bodily action
Spatial movements - Depict a spacial relationship
Pictographs - Draw a picture of their referent
Rhythmic movements - Depict the rhythm or pacing of an event
Affect Displays - Show emotion
Regulators - Control the flow and pace of communication
Manipulators - Release physical or emotional tension
See also[edit]
Intercultural competence
Metacommunicative competence
Nonverbal communication
Body language
Cold Reading
Eye contact
Facial expression
Gesture
Posture
Proxemics
Paralanguage
References[edit]
file:///E:/KULIAH/SEMESTER%208/SOCIOLINGUISTICS/Kinesics/Kinesics%20-
%20Wikipedia.html
file:///E:/KULIAH/SEMESTER%208/SOCIOLINGUISTICS/Kinesics/Application%20of
%20Kinesics%20in%20Linguistic%20Abilities%20_%20Linguistics%20Science.html
First of all, let us define nonverbal communication. So, nonverbal communication can be
defined as a system of non-linguistic signs which complement or substitute linguistic signs.
This system includes the following components (Pankovskyi, 2010):
1) adornment items of clothing, hairstyles, and jewellery;
2) chronemics time use such as waiting and pausing;
3) haptics tactile communication or, simply, touch;
4) kinesics (= body language) foot tapping, gestures, nodding, shrugs, waving by hands,
and other body movements;
5) locomotion displacements in space such as limping, stumbling, running, walking;
6) facial expressions such as smiling, frowning, and squinting;
7) oculesics eye movements (e.g. winking, closed eyes, eyes wide open);
8) olfactics kinds of smell (e.g. pleasant, strong, strange, like Church incense, etc.);
9) paralanguage variations in voice qualities and manner of speaking:
a) silence pauses, secrecy;
b) sound symbols grunting, mumbling (e.g. ah, hm, uhu);
c) vocalics speed, timbre, tone of voice, and volume;
10) posture position of the body;
11) proxemics use of interpersonal space (see also Proxemics: Personal space post).
I hope that these types of NMC may help you and me to do better conversation and discourse
analysis or contribute to our knowledge on NMC. Please, feel free to add your comments.
Thank you!
References
Pankovskyi, I. (2010). Nonverbal means of communication: Benefits for SLA. Nauka I
studia:Przemyl, Poland, 31-44.
file:///E:/KULIAH/SEMESTER%208/SOCIOLINGUISTICS/Kinesics/Types%20of
%20nonverbal%20communication%20_%20BLOG_ON_LINGUISTICS.html