Nonverbal Communication Linguistic Anthropology

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

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….

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

So, is it Semantics and Pragmatics? or Semantics versus Pragmatics?

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)

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

Reductionism – The distinction should be abolished Semantic reductionism: pragmatics should be reduced to semantics Pragmatic reductionism: semantics should be reduced to pragmatics

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

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