Why we began the research on nonverbal communication later than western countries, so far as I know, there’re some reasons for it. Since Joseph Stalin had criticized the “gesture” of Mar in 1950, the scholars in our country 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 communicative tool based on language. [1](P1) And during 1960s-1970s Cultural Revolution happened in our country bringing a disaster to the study of this field.
2. Definition and classification of nonverbal communication
There are various definitions for nonverbal communication among different scholars. According to Knapp [2](P41) the phrase nonverbal communication refers to communication effect by means other than words (assuming words are the verbal element). 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. [2](P41) 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. Here we only propose some of the common topics most communication theorists address themselves to:
“Nonverbal communication consists of all signaling systems that do not use words.”[3](P181)
1) body modes of nonverbal communication(kinesics): posture, gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, appearance, smell, shifts in skin color, uses of clothing and body decoration, body orientation, any other movement of any other part of the body;
2) space language(body distance or proxemics): body touch and body distance;
3) paralanguage(voice modulation): speed, pitch, volume, pause, intonation, etc;
4) time language: time orientation (past, present, and future), monochromic (M-time) and polychromic (P-time);
5) environmental communication (interrelationship between people and their environments): architecture, object, color, lighting, odors etc;
6) communication of genetic characteristics, which are considered by some scholars as nonverbal communication;
7) various art forms and media such as painting, architecture, music, film, ballet, and mime
3. Functions of nonverbal behavior in communication
In some types of communication people express more nonverbally than verbally. “One study done in the United States showed that in the communication of attitudes, 93% of the message was transmitted by the tone of the voice and by facial expressions, whereas only 7% of the speaker’s attitude was transmitted by words.”[4](P122) Nonverbal communication is significant in human interaction because it is usually responsible for first impression. Think for a moment for how often your first judgments are based on the color of a person’s skin or the manner in which he or she is dressed. More important, those initial messages usually influence the perception of everything else that follows.