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TheDifferencebetweenChineseandWesternBodyLanguageandTheirApplicationincommunication

Abstract:

Inhumancommunication,peopleusebodylanguagetocommunicate,aswellasverballanguage.BodylanguageisalsocalledKinesics.Itbelongstothescopeofnonverbalcommunication.Bodylanguageplaysanimportantroleincomplementing,accenting,symbolizingorsubstitutingutterancemeaning.Bodylanguage,likeverballanguage,isalsoapartofculture.Butindifferentculturesbodylanguagemeansthedifferentthings.Differentpeoplehavedifferentwaysofmakingnonverbalcommunication.UnderstandingthedifferentculturalimplicationofWesternandChinesebodylanguagecanpromotepeople’scross-culturalcommuni-cationcompetence,reinforcetheheart-to-heartunderstandingandintheendwillbenefitthecommunicationbetweenWesternandChinesepeople.Thispapermainlyexpoundsthedefinition,theimportance,thefunctionsandcharacteristicsofbodylanguage,presentsthedifferentmeaningsofbodylanguageindifferentculturalbackgroundfromthepointviewofcultures,researchesbodylanguage’sdifferencesbetweenAmericanandChineseincommunication,especiallythoseinposture,facialexpression,eyecontact,touchandphysicalcontact,anddiscussestheimportanceofknowingmeaningsofbodylanguage.Finally,therearesomecountermeasuresfromthedifferencesincommunicationtoguidethecross-culturalcommunicationbetweentheWestandChina.TheresearchofWesternandChinesebodylanguageinnonverbalcommunicationishelpfulforpeopletodiminishandavoidmisunderstandingscausedbytheculturaldifferencesofbodylanguage.

KeyWords:

bodylanguage；communication；Westerncountries；China;differences

Chapter1Introduction

Bodylanguagecanconveyinformation,expresssentimentandcancommunicatewithpeople.However,ithasonlybeenaboutthirtyyearssincetheanthropologistR·L·Birdwhistellestablishedthekinesics.Bodylanguage,asayoungsubject,hasjuststudiedformorethanthirtyyears.Inforeigncountries,ithasbeenprevalentforacertaintimeaboutthestudyofbodylanguageandexpertsstudythebodylanguagefromdifferentaspectsinadeeperway.Somescientistsinforeigncountrieshaveconcludedthatthefaceofhumanbeingscanpresentabout250,000kindsofdifferentexpressions.InJapan,apsychologistdrewaconclusionthateyebrowscouldconveymorethanfortykindsofmeanings.Inthe1980s,bodylanguagehasbecomeanewedgediscipline,attractingthelinguistsforitsfurtherstudy.InChina,Huwuzhongthinksthatnon-verbalcommunicationasanindependentdisciplineisthemostimportantcomponentinlanguagecommunication.However,itisjustthebeginningofthestudyaboutthestudyofbodylanguageandthebodylanguagewithChinesecharacteristicshasnotbeensetup.

Whenpeoplespeakofthecommunication,firsttheywillthinkofthelanguage,whichistheverbalbehavior.Theverbalbehaviorisaprocessrelyingonthelanguageinstrument,includingtext（writtenlanguages）andverbal（orallanguage）tocarrythroughcommuniondeliveringideaandopinionandtransferringinformation.Languageisanimportanttoolofhumancommunication,butitisnottheonlytoolofcommunication.Infact,inadditiontolanguage,thereisamoreabundantcontentofthemeansofcommunicationthatisnon-verbal.Thenon-verbalcommunicationisthelanguageofalltheactsofcommunication;itisveryfrequentinthefrequencyofdailylife.Asmile,alook,andagesturebelongtobenon-verbalbehavior（huang,2003:

16）.Itisdifficulttofancyandcannotbeprocessedthatthecommunicationbetweenthepeoplejustdependonwordswithoutanyaccompanyinggesturesorpostures.That,atleast,isnotasufficientcommunication.Itisimpossiblenottohavetheverbalbehaviorinhuman’scommunication,butthenon-verbalcommunicationgoeswiththeverbalcommunication.Bothofthemformthecompleteprocessofcommunicationandalsohavetheirowncharacteristicsandfunctions.Non-verbalcommunicationcanrepresentpeople’spsychologicalactivitiesrichlyandaccurately.

Asthemaincomponentofnon-verbalcommunication,bodylanguagehasitsowntrait,effect,andfunction.Itmustcomplywiththe“principlesofcooperation”justasverbalcommunication（Yang,1994:

16）.

Inthethesis,itmainlyanalysesthedifferencesbetweentheChineseandWesternbodylanguageandtheirapplicationincommunication.Whatismore,wecanlearneffectivemethodstoguidethecommunicationincross-culturalcommunication.

Inordertounderstandaculturewellandmakethecommunicationmoreeffective,itisnecessaryandsignificanttoknowthedefinition,theimportanceanddiscussthecharacteristicsandfunctionsofbodylanguages.Atthesametime,itisalsoveryusefultoenhancethecommunicationanddeepentheunderstandingfromtheresearchofthedifferences.Wecanbuildupbetterrelationshipsandharmoniousatmosphereswithwesterncountriesfromthethesis.

Chapter2TheDefinition,ImportanceandFunctionofBodyLanguageinCommunication

2.1TheDefinitionofBodyLanguage

Bodylanguage,asamostcomponentpartofnonverballanguage,whichisnotalanguageinthestrictsenseoftheword“language”.“Bodylanguageisexpressinghowonefeelsbyone’ssitting,standing,moving,etc,ratherbywords”（OxfordAdvancedLearnersEnglish-ChineseDictionary,1997）.BodylanguageisalsocalledKinesics,includingeyecontact,gestures,postures,facialexpressions,andphysicaldistance.

2.2TheImportanceofBodyLanguage

Aninvestigationintothefunctionsofthefactorsofverbalandnonverbalcommunicationsshows:

35%informationistransferredbylanguage;theother65%arebynonverbalpatterns（Samovaretal,1981）.Otherstudyindicates:

only7%emotionsinpeople’scommunicationarepassedbylanguage.Theother93%arebynonverbalpatterns.AmericanscholarDeleig•Bronan（1991）pointedoutthatHuman’scommunicationconsistsofwriting,oralandbodythreeparts.Becauseofcultureprejudices,agreatmajorityofeducatedpeopleoftenthinkthatwrittenlanguageismostimportant;theorallanguageisthesecond.Thebodylanguageisrankedlast.However,whetherfromthecontinuouslyevolutionofwholehumanityorfromapersonalpointofview,thestudyindicatesthatbodylanguageisthemostimportantpartamongthethreeparts.Thisshowsthenecessityandimportanceofbodylanguage.

Bodylanguageincommunicationplaysanirreplaceableroleinhuman’scommunications.Psychologystudyfound:

Intheface-to-facecommunicationbetweentwopeople,morethan50%oftheexchangeofinformationisachievedthroughasilentbodylanguage.BodyLanguageisaninternationalone,anddifferentcountriesinthecaseoflanguagebarriercanusebodylanguagetocommunicate.Ithasbeenfoundthatpeoplewithadailyaverageofspeech,only10%ofthetimeofthecontactscommunicationwithverballanguage.Withpeopleoftheirtimeareengagedinasubtlebodylanguagetocommunicate.Sometimes,thebodylanguageisenoughtoexpressalltheinformation,butratherredundantlanguage.Aslongaspeoplefeelthattheyareinthescopeofoneanother,bodylanguagechannelsofcommunicationexist.Theso-calledbodylanguagemeans,includesthosefromtheeyes,physicalcontact,posturemoves,facialexpressions,aswellasthenon-verbalsignalstothebody.Asdifferentculturehasbeendeeplyingrainedintheirhabitsandacceptstheoppositesignal.Therefore,weshouldnotoverlooktheimpactofculturalbindingonbodylanguageandtheenvironmentgivendifferencesinthedifferentmeanings.Inourconversation,thecommunicationmeansisnotlimitedtowords,althoughwearenotawareofthispoint.Ourfacialexpressions,gestures,movementsinotherpartsofthebody,canconveythemessagetothepeoplearound.Lendingahandwithasmileistoshowthewelcome;frowningexpressesdissatisfaction;noddingisagreement,andwavingmeansgoodbye.Whenlisteningtospeechorreport,thebodyreliesonagainstthebackofachairoronesyawn,whichreflectsthespeechorreportuninteresting.Itisgenerallyacceptedthattheseactionsindicatedabovesense,atleasttheChineseandAmericansarelikethis.Theseactionsarepartofthemeansofcommunication.Bodylanguageisapartofourculture.However,inadifferentculture,thesignificanceofbodylanguageisnotexactlythesame.Allethnicgroupshavedifferentwaysofthenon-discourse.Therefore,theeffectiveuseofEnglishCommunication,insomelanguagemustbeunderstoodbythespeaker’sofgestures,movements,andcanbeexpressedbythemeaningofsuchbehavior.

2.3TheFunctionofBodyLanguage

2.3.1ToExchangeIdeas

Toexchangeideasisthemostbasicsocialfunctionofthelanguage.Indailyverbalcommunication,bodylanguageisalsoinvolvedintheoralcommunication.Thespeaker,consciouslyorunconsciously,usesbodylanguagetomatchthelanguageforexpressingideas;thelistenersalsounderstandideastransferredbybodylanguage（Yang,1994:

26）.Sometimesbodylanguageevencanexpressideasdirectly,especiallyatthekindofoccasionthatisinappropriatetospeakorsomebodydoesn’twanttospeak.Forexample,attheplacewhereisasquietasthereadingroom,itisnotappropriateforpeopletotalkorcommunicate.

However,languagecanexpresspeople’sthoughtandreflectthereality.Bodylanguagecanexpressandexchangeideas,butitcannotbeequivalentwithverballanguageincommunication,especiallyinthecomplicatedthoughtandemotionsofhumanbeings.However,ifthebodylanguagecanbeusedaccompanyingwiththeorallanguage,whichcanmakepeople’sexpressionsbetterandcomplete.Besidesp