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 Taste Touch 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 Different uses 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 Facial expressions 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 Topics and contexts are unlimited ‘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 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