Title: The Functions of Nonverbal Signs in Conversation
Abstract: Speech is the central activity in the type of social interaction we call
conversation. At the same time, conversation is a multichannel
communication phenomenon, which involves both verbal and
signs in a highly structured relationship. Yet students of conversation have
been excessively concerned with verbal phenomena. In the psycho-, socio-,
anthro-, and ethnolinguistic research traditions, all of which turn their
attention increasingly to conversation analysis, signs of both the
vocal variety (voice quality, intonation, pausing) as well as the nonvocal
variety (gaze, facial expression, gestures, body posture, and movement) are
often neglected.1 Conversely, students of nonverbal have
been mainly concerned with behaviors as dependent variables
indicative of either social rules or psychological states of the sender. Often,
nonverbal signs are studied in isolated channels, neglecting the structured
interrelationships between these signs as well as the also highlyThis chapter advocates a functional approach to the role of signs
in social interaction. It is hoped that the conceptual scheme offered is more
suitable for conversational analysis than the categorization of
signs by the communication channel in which they are transmitted. No claims
concerning originality or exhaustiveness of coverage are being made. Clearly,
the importance of considering conversation as a multichannel communication phenomenon was recognized very early by workers in linguistics,
anthropology, and psychiatry (cf. Birdwhistell, 1952; McQuown, Bateson,
Birdwhistell, Brosin, & Hockett, 1971; Pittenger, Hockett, & Danehy, 1960;
Trager, 1958). Similarly, the functions of signs have been dealt
with in important early work, particularly in discussions of animal
communication (cf. Marler, 1961; Sebeok, 1962; Smith, 1977) but also for
human communication (Ekman& Friesen, 1969b; Ruesch& Kees,
1956; Wiener, Devoe, Rubinow, & Geller, 1972). Given the present flurry of
publication activity both in speech research and in communication
research, it would not only be immodest but also quite impossible to attempt a
comprehensive survey of the literature relevant to the functions of
signs in conversation within the scope of this chapter.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-05-13
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 6
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