Concept
nonverbal communication
Communication through everything other than words, such as facial expression, gesture, posture, tone of voice and distance; it works together with verbal communication and often complements it.
Nonverbal communication is communication through everything other than words: facial expressions, arm and hand movements, posture, gaze, tone of voice, even how close people stand to one another. The study of body movement is called kinesics; the term was coined in 1952 by the anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell.
In 1969 Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen divided nonverbal behaviour into five groups: affect displays, regulators (which manage the turn-taking of conversation), adaptors (movements for coping with tension), illustrators (which support speech visually) and emblems (which have a direct verbal translation, such as the “OK” sign).
A claim circulates that “93 per cent of communication is body language”; in fact it is a myth born from the over-generalization of two small experiments. Nonverbal and verbal elements usually work together, and one does not replace the other.
Example
Raising a thumb (an emblem), showing with your hands how big a fish was (an illustrator) and nodding to invite the other person to go on (a regulator).