Body_Language_in_Intercultural_Communication.doc

1、 一 、本课题研究的目的及其意义 人类除了能用语言交际、交流思想和传递信息外，还使用非言语性的手段，如表情、姿势等表达情感和思想，进行人际沟通。这就是肢体语言。 “肢体语言”同语言一样，都是文化的一部分。语言与非语言交际的同时运用是在任何一种文化中都极为重要的表现形式。在交际过程中，两者互为依托，相辅相成，共同传递信息与情感，构成整个交际行为。在不同文化中，肢体语言的意义并不完全相同。各民族有不同的非语言交际方式。因此，要用外语进行有效的交际，在说某种语言时就得了解说话人的手势，动作，举止等所表示的意思。同时，进入 21 世纪， 随着国际经济文化交流的加深，由于语言，文化的差异而产生的障碍随时

2、都可能存在，在跨文化交际中，消除障碍的最有效的方法就是了解身势语的含义。 然而即使我们对常用的身势语有所了解，我们仍然面临着一些困难，身势语含义千变万化，即使同一身势语在不同的文化背景都有不同的含义。错误地用身势语不仅会使我们在跨文化交际中失败，而且会造成和外国朋友之间的冲突，所以怎样正确地使用身势语，怎样理解身势语的差异都非常重要，该篇论文中作者在借鉴前人成果的基础上分析了各种身势语在不同文化背景下的用法和功能，以及产生差异的原因和供读者参考的交际原则等，以求达到更好的交际效果.二、本课题研究的现状，并列出主要参考文献（至少 15 项）胡文仲在英美文化辞典中说：“体态语是指传递交际信息的表情

3、和动作。 ”同时另一位学者斯特说：“ 体态语是以同外界交流情感的全身或部分身体的反射性或非反射性动作。 ”究竟何为体态语？人际间交流的工具和符号，可以概括的分为两类：即言语交流和非言语交流。而构成非言语交流的方式有三种：即动态无声交流，静态无声交流和有声交流。其中动态无声交流又称体态交流，即体态语(Body language)，它又称为身势语(kinesics)。它是包括以身体姿态(posture)、面部表情(facial expression)、眼神 (eyes)、手势(sign behaviors)和其他动作表示意义的信息传输系统。据统计，一个人的面部能表达 25 万多个表情和动作，用手可

4、以做出 1000 多种不同的姿势。这类非言语行为既可与言语同时使用，又可单独使用。而在罗杰 阿克斯特尔的身势语：可行与禁忌的身体语言 （Gestures: Taboos of Body Language Around the world， John Wiley Sons 出版）一书。在书中，阿克斯特尔介绍了超过七万种不同的肢体动作和各地的文化习俗。人类的肢体语言如此丰富，肢体语言的重要性可见一斑。达尔文说 :“面部与身段的富于表达力的行动，极有助于发挥语言的气力.”法国作家罗曼.罗兰也曾说过:“面部心情是多少世纪作育乐成的语言，是比嘴里讲的更庞大到千百倍的语言。 ” 美国学者 Brownian

5、 在中国与英语国家非语言交际对比一书的绪论中指出：人类交际一般分为书面、口头和身势三部分，由于文化教育的偏见，绝大多数受过教育的人往往认为书面语最重要，口语次之，至于身体动作，是名列最后的。然而，无论是从不断进化的整个人类，还是从个人角度看，这些技能的习得次序，出现率以及平常所提供的信息量，都表明三者之间的重要地位正好相反。随着改革开放的不断深入，国际交流的不断增加，非语言交际在跨文化交际中的作用越来越引起国内语言学界的关注，不再成为一个被冷落的课题。1952 年，美国宾夕法尼亚大学的 Birdwhistell 教授出版了体语学导论(Introduction to Kinesics), 正式提

6、出了身势学理论。Birdwhistell 对同一文化的人在对话中语言行为和非语言行为做了一个量的估计， 认为语言交际最多只占整个交际行为中的 30%左右。同时，美国心理学家阿尔伯特 马洛比恩发明了一个原则：总交流量7的文字交流 + 38口头交流 + 55的面部表情交流，议决心情的变革，眉、目、鼻、嘴的行动，能极好地实现信息交换。在日常交际活动中，我们都通过言语和非言语相互交流。肢体语言是非言语交流的重要组成部分，在人际交往中起了不可忽视的重要作用。但是并非所有的肢体语言都表达了同一种意义，它会受多种因素的影响而有差异。那么到底会受哪些因素影响呢？美国人类学家 Barnett Pearce, V

7、arian Cronin 的研究表明，人类的行为和思考问题的方式等等都受它们自身的信仰影响。并且每一种文化都有其独特的信仰体系。在一种文化中被认可的行为在另一种文化中可能就会被误解为是粗鲁的，不可接受的。东方世界的国家崇尚谦虚，宽容，忍耐，相互支持和团体责任感。就是由于我们国家的核心价值观是集体主义；而西方国家的人崇尚独立，自尊，自由发展，尊重隐私，要求有个人空间等等。这是因为西方国家的价值观是个人主义。本文作者从跨文化交际目的出发，为了避免这些不必要麻烦的产生，进而对中英身势语的对比作了详细介绍，比较了不同文化背景下身势语的异同，探讨了产生差异的原因，论述了身势语在跨文化交际中的重要性，提供

8、了读者参考的交际原则等。作者希望通过这一研究，再次唤起广大师生对中外肢体语言差异的重视，同时对他们在以后可能从事的跨文化交际工作提供一些帮助。参考文献：1 David McNeill. Hand and mind: What Gesture Reveal about Thought. Chicago: the University of Chicago press, 1992. 2 Fast, Julius. 1971. Body Language . Pocket Books, N.Y.3 Genelle.GMorain. Kinesics and Cross-cultural Unders

9、tanding. London: London Cambridge University Press, 1986.4 Larry A. Samovar, Richard E. Porter Western countries who advocate independence, self-esteem, freedom, respect for privacy, personal space, and so on. This is the reflection of the values of Western individualism.In order to avoid the unnece

10、ssary trouble, the author proceeds from the purpose of cross-cultural communication, and then on Sino-British comparison of body language in detail, comparing the different cultural similarities and differences of body Language, discussing the causes of the differences, the importance of intercultur

11、al communication, providing the reader the principle of communication. On the hope that through this research, once again arouse the importance of body language in Chinese and foreign between teachers and students, which may help the later cross-cultural communication,I. The Importance of Learning B

12、ody Language in Cross-Cultural Communication1.1 The Importance of Learning Body LanguageAn investigation into the functions of the factors of verbal and nonverbal communications shows: 35 information are transferred by language; the other 65 are by nonverbal patterns (Samovaretal, 1981). Other study

13、 indicates: only 7 emotions in peoples communication are passed by language. The other 93 are by nonverbal patterns. American scholars (1991) pointed out that “Humans communication consists of writing, oral and body three parts. Owing to the culture prejudices, a great majority of educated people of

14、ten think that written language is most important; while the oral language is the second. And the body language is ranked last. However, whether from the continuously evolution of whole humanity or from a personal point of view, the study indicate that thee important position among the three are par

15、t opposition. This shows the necessity and importance of body language.Searching from the human societys long historical evolution, labor played a decisive role in the course of humans evolution. At beginning, human ancestors rely on all sorts of gestures and postures for mutual coordination and com

16、municate. So body language is actually the most primitive instrument of communication. The phonic language is gradually developed 黄冈师范学院本科毕业论文3with the continuous deepening of communication. Human gradually learned verbal communication after a far-flung nonverbal communication. This shows that the n

17、on-verbal communication came into being earlier than verbal communication, it is the origin and base of verbal communication, body language is the earliest communication tool of human. 1.2 The Role of Body Language in Communication1.2.1 To Exchange IdeasTo exchange ideas is the most basic social fun

18、ction of the language. In daily verbal communication, body language also participates in verbal communicate actuality. Speakers consciously or unconsciously use body language to match the language for expressing ideas; the listeners also understand ideas transferred by body language (Yang, 1994:26).

19、 Sometimes body language even can express ideas directly, especially when it is inappropriate to speak or somebody doesnt want to speak. For example, it is inappropriate for people to talk at the place where is as quiet as the reading room. 1.2.2 To Convey SentimentBody language is often affected by

20、 the impact of personality; the same body language, different people use it can express different feelings. Even a little change in the emotion will be reflected in peoples face immediately. Laughter is a kind of facial brow, in general it is behaved when people feel buoyant (Zhang, 1990:26). Usuall

21、y the sentiments expressed joy. But in different contexts, different laughers express different sentiments. Sometimes laughers even express completely reverse sensibility. For example, “forced smiled”, “a wan smile”, “an artificial smile”, “sneer”, “sinister smile”, “be mock” and so on (Zhang, 2000:

22、32). “The eyes are the window to the soul”, eyes is most good at behaving peoples inner emotion. Sometimes a pair of eyes which looks can speak can convey very delicate and complex emotions. The eyes that convey peoples emotion always go with eyebrow. Eyebrow also is an important part of expression.

23、 1.2.3 To Bring Forth Peoples Psychology and to Behave Peoples CharacterIn fact, besides verbal language, the body language of gestures, facial changes, meaningful glance are all reflection of peoples innermost movement and character. French literary theorist Turner said: “ Be carefully studying his

24、 (Shakespeare) every role, you will discover at any moment that there is a kind of echo, a kind of omen among one wording, one gesture, one touch of idea, one rip and one speak mode to leak characters whole bosom,.” (Chen,2001/3/8)黄冈师范学院本科毕业论文4Speaking of the humanity, each person can express our in

25、nermost feelings through the body, the idea, but Wests expression also differs. For instance, we split out renting a car, we can use the entire palm of the hand to summon, but the westerner surely stretches out the thumb to summon, also has us and others kiss is surely relational but not common betw

26、een friends and the family members, but the westerners kiss is only the friends greet.1.2.4 To Denote Social RelationsPeople who communicate with other ones have different identity, status, seniority and sex, so there are some differences in their body language. Therefore, the social relations betwe

27、en them can be reflected by their body language. A smile and shaking hands with the initiative are the commonly used body language when they first meet somebody. But it is not suitable to stretch out with the initiative when meeting a person who has status that is much higher than you. No other than

28、 the person offers his hand, you can be approached to shake hands. The people who are more familiar often hold each others hands after shaking hands. But most women do not shake hands when regarding with each other, they draw their fingers together lightly. In Europe and the United States people oft

29、en use kissing ceremony. The form and place of kissing is different because status and longevity is different.The way which Chinese people greet are the same in many places, the majority of Chinese peoples greets are all shake hand. Certainly, there are also some young people who run into the very f

30、amiliar friend, can use the hug as the way to come a big greeting.II. The Characteristics of Body Language2.1 SynonymyOne meaning can be shown by more than two body languages. For instance, gestures of shaking hands, nodding, or raising hand can show greeting. Looks like we meet the acquaintance at

31、the time we are able to shake hand, for us to some matter express satisfactory time we can nod, at unsatisfactory time we can shake the head and so on.2.2 ObscurityEven experts in kinesics cannot name precisely all the vocabulary of gestures, for example, when an American rubs his nose, it may mean

32、he is disagreeing with someone. But there are other explanations too. When this occurs, we must try to get further information or guess the meaning from the context of the situation. In a word, all body language should be 黄冈师范学院本科毕业论文5explained in a certain context. To ignore the situation that coul

33、d cause misunderstandings. Actually the meaning of some body language should be inferred in a specific consent, but many more gestures have their own meanings. 2.3 Symbolic The symbolic characteristic is an important sign for distinguishing the body language and body physiological actions. Although

34、body language has the same physical attribute as body movements, but body language expresses an unique idea in some language condition, it is doing some communicate. In peoples daily life, body language not only can express a variety of fondness emotions, but also can express various kinds of unders

35、tanding or dont care, powerless; Knocking on the table shows angry, warning or impatient. Numerous facts have shown that as a non-verbal communication symbols, body language is a key link in the communication speaking of communication symbols system and the important part of purport system.2.4 Cultu

36、ral DifferenceRound or “OK” has been widely used in the United States, but on the “OK” meaning, there are so many different views.The meaning of “OK” is all the same in all of the English-speaking countries. However, after it quickly expanded to Europe and Asia, the meaning changed. For example, in

37、France, it denotes “zero” or “nothing”; in Japan, it has the meaning of “money”; in some Mediterranean countries, it is often used to express that the male is a homosexual.This shows that body language has a strong cultural identity. In a different culture there should be a different understanding o

38、f body language; some different body language can express the same meanings. Some of the same body language indicates different significance or concept; It affects the effect of communication and even can make the misapprehension and conflict of cross-cultural communication if we can not understand

39、the special meaning of the nonverbal sign of communication. This is also embodiment of the dialectical relationship between nonverbal communication and culture difference. In fact, in the same community bosom, the culture, society status and even difference of occupation all have a distinctive embod

40、iment by body language.黄冈师范学院本科毕业论文6III. Several Sorts of Body Language3.1 GesturesOur world would be static and colorless without gestures. The movements of our arms, hands, eyes, and feet constitute another important way in which we broadcast interpersonal data. So we will talk more about this sub

41、ject.Generally speaking, we all use gestures to reinforce an idea or to help describe something. When we say, “Thats an English book”, at the same time we are pointing to the book. If someone asks us the way to the library, we point to the right, adding a little information about it, which will be m

42、ore clear and concrete. We may literally roll up our sleeves when talking about cleaning up the room, run to meet the person we are eager to see, stand up when saying or nodding. Perhaps we learn those gestures and movements at an early age, and probably use and interpret them without thinking.Gestu

43、res and body language communicate as effectively as words- maybe even more effectively. We use gestures daily, almost instinctively, from beckoning to a waiter, or punctuating a business presentation with visual signals to airport ground attendants guiding an airline pilot into the jet way or a pare

44、nt using a whole dictionary of gestures to teach (or preach to) a child. (Samovar L. A., 1981).Gestures are woven inextricably into our social lives, but also that the “vocabulary“ of gestures, can be at once informative and entertaining but also dangerous. Gestures can be menacing (two drivers on a

45、 freeway), warm (an open-armed welcome), instructive (a police man giving road directions), or even sensuous (the liquid movement of a Hawaiian hula dancer). Bear in mind that the following gestures are in general use, but there may always be exceptions. In recent years, Western and contemporary val

46、ues and ideas have become more popular and has either influenced, altered, or even replaced, some of the more traditional gestures, understanding human behavior is tricky stuff. No two people behave in precisely the same way. Nor do people from the same culture all perform exactly the same gestures

47、and body language uniformly. 3.2 Eye ContactEyes are important aspects of body language. People often compare eyes to the window of mind, and eye contact plays important part in interpersonal communication, However, There is much knowledge and question during communication about eye contact. For exa

48、mple, 黄冈师范学院本科毕业论文7could speakers look at their partner directly when talking? How to look? How long could be looked at? Which part could be looked at? And which part couldnt be looked at?The functions of eye contact are quite rich and various. Eye contact is important way of judging the relationshi

49、p between two speakers. But the cultures of different countries of eye contact have great differences. Contrary to the above example, the Middle East women believing Islamic will be very angry if men look at their eyes, in their daily life, their faces are always covered with black veil. Chinese people are unaccustomed to being looked at directly, which is taken as an impolite action, Indians and Japanese also have such view. So there exit such embarrassing situation that when Chinese people converge with English-speaking peopl