On-Body-Language-in-Intercultural-Communication-体态语研究论文-范本.doc

学号： 06437318

常 州 大 学
毕业设计（论文）
（2010届）

题 目 On Body Language in Intercultural Communication
学 生
学 院 外国语学院 专 业 班 级
校内指导教师 专业技术职务
校外指导老师 专业技术职务

二○一○年六月

On Body Language in Intercultural Communication

Abstract: Nowadays, with the continuous development of economy and culture, the international exchanges have become increasingly frequent. There is an old saying “to watch the weather outside and the face inside,” which is very beneficial to intercultural communication. As an important part of non-verbal communication, body language also plays a crucial role in intercultural communication. However, by different cultural traditions body languages are not exactly the same. They are restricted by culture and meanwhile have unique cultural connotation. In order to succeed in the intercultural communication, we should have a correct understanding of the cultural differences and similarities between body languages in different cultures. This paper, on the basis of some examples concerning gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, postures and space, attempts to make a comparison between body languages in different cultures. It also aims at enumerating the cultural differences and similarities of body language, putting forward the principles that should be followed in intercultural communication, and making an effective contribution to cultural communication.
Key words: Intercultural communication; Body language; Cultural differences; Cultural similarities; Principles

论跨文化交际中的体态语

摘 要：随着经济文化的不断发展，国际交流活动日益频繁。俗话说：“出门看天色，进门看脸色”。作为非语言交际中的重要组成部分，体态语在跨文化交际中起着举足轻重的作用。然而，不同文化习俗下的体态语并不是完全相同的。它们由文化制约并拥有独特的文化内涵。为了在跨文化交际中能够成功的进行交流，我们应该正确认识不同文化下的体态语之间的差异性同时也必须承认世界各国的体态语与语言和文化一样，也有相似之处。本文从手势语，面部表情，目光语，身体姿势和空间距离等方面对不同文化下的体态语进行对比。其目的在于通过列举体态语的文化差异与共性，提出交际中应遵循的原则，从而有效促进跨文化交流，避免误解的产生。
关键词：跨文化交际；体态语；文化差异；相似之处；遵循原则

Contents
Abstract. I
中文摘要 II
1 Introduction 1
2 Body Language 1
2.1 The introduction of body language 1
22 The importance of body language in intercultural communication 1
3 The communicative functions of body language in intercultural communication 2
3.1 Expressing true emotions 2
3.2 Showing and hiding emotions 3
3.3 Replacing verbal words 3
3.4 Meeting the need of social communication 3
3.5 Reflecting social relationships 4
4 The classification of body language 4
4.1 Gestures 4
4.2 Facial expressions 5
4.3 Eye contact 5
4.4 Postures 5
4.5 Space 6
5 The cultural differences of body language 6
5.1 Traditional cultures 6
5.2 National characteristics 7
5.3 Social customs 8
6 Conclusion 8
References 10
Acknowledgements 11

III
常州大学本科生毕业设计（论文）
1 Introduction
There are two kinds of communication existing in the human society. They are verbal communication and non-verbal communication. The non-verbal communicative behavior refers to the process that people use the natural characteristics of body to transfer information and express specific thoughts and ideas. It includes body language, object language and context language. Body language, of the three kinds of non-verbal communication, is the most important part in communication both home and abroad. With the rapid economic and cultural development in the latest decades, intercultural communication is becoming a fashionable trend in international affairs, and meanwhile, body language in intercultural communication is inevitably a hot topic among people and scholars of various fields.
2 Body language
2.1 The introduction of body language
Body language in intercultural communication has always played an important role in the study of various scholars. It was not until 1950s that some scholars made a systematical study of body language in intercultural communication. From the late of 1970s to the early period of 1980s, more contents have been added to body language, which have a great influence on the other fields. Today, body language has achieved great developments and become a marginal subject in foreign research. Birdwhistell, the professor at the University of Pennsylvania of America, made an accurate evaluation of the quantity of language communication. According to his study, verbal language only takes up 30% of the whole communication while nonverbal language (mainly body language) accounts for almost 65% of that (Birdwhistell, 1970:189). And psychologist David Aberconbie also pointed out that we speak with verbal organs but we talk with our body. And in China, famous scholar Bi Jiwan stated in 1999 that non-verbal communication was the most important part of the communication (Bi, 2001:9). All these researches home and abroad are vital evidences showing the importance of body language in intercultural communication.
2.2 The importance of body language in intercultural communication
Nowadays, with the rapid economic and cultural development, international communication is becoming particularly important. Intercultural communication refers to the interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds. Broadly speaking, intercultural communication includes not only the international cross-cultural communication and interracial communication across the nation, but also the communication between different groups which belong to the same cultural background. With the expansion of cultural exchanges of western and eastern countries, more and more attention is being paid to intercultural communication by people around the world.
In the meanwhile, body language is an important factor which can not be neglected in intercultural communication. However, body languages deriving from different cultural traditions are not exactly the same. They are confined by culture and have unique cultural connotations. For example, in the year of 1959, after visiting America and stepping onto the airplane, Khrushchev clapped his hands above his heads in order to express friendship to Americans. But it was the gesture that made Americans feel uneasy and caused a misunderstanding. This gesture in Russia is a symbol of friendship, which in America it is usually expressed after the victory, pride, and satisfaction. And especially Khrushchev had mentioned words that he wanted to bury American capitalism. Many Americans considered this gesture a show of Khrushchev (Deng, 1989:45). Why did such a little gesture cause so much misunderstanding? This is actually the cultural differences of body language. So, in order to succeed in the intercultural communication, we should have a correct understanding of the cultural differences between body languages in different cultures. And at the same time we must admit that body languages around the world also have some similarities.
3. The communicative functions of body language in intercultural communication
Body language is one of the most common means of non-verbal communication in intercultural communication. It is well known for its expressiveness and a sense of humor. The communicative functions of body language can be divided into five categories according to its classification (Claire, 2000:27).
3.1 Expressing true emotions
Body language is very effective in expressing emotions. Both the “make eyes at somebody” in Chinese and the “cast sheep’s eyes at somebody” in English seems to be self-evident that body language can express emotions. For example, Chinese young people often use eyes to express their feelings when they fall in love with somebody. In the first stage of love, they will look away shyly; thereafter throw one glance at each other, and then turn their head to one side (Hu, 1988:76). Due to the influence of Chinese traditional culture, Chinese people often show their feelings in a reserved way, and control their emotions in a proper way. In China, it is common to see a woman smiling with her hands covered her mouth. However, it is quite opposite for Americans who often show their true emotions. Therefore, westerners can not guess easterners’ true feelings according to their facial expression on many occasions. In our daily life, our conversation is always accompanied by some body languages unconsciously. A good command of body language is helpful to perceive people’s true emotions.
3.2 Showing and hiding emotions
Body language sometimes reveals real feelings. People often smile when happy while make a blessing expression when anxious. The change of facial expression is generally an expression of true feelings（Jia,1997:23）. For example, in a football game, we can often see the players take off their shirts or run on the pitch to express a feeling of excitement when they kick a ball. In addition, body language can also conceal the real feelings. People often hide their uneasy feelings by some petty acts such as scratching, rubbing hands, or dusting the clothes. For instance, in the classroom, student who can not answer the question will sometimes use his forefinger to make a friction on his nose in order to hide the nervous mood. But this act may be misunderstood by a foreign teacher. That is because in western countries, people who use the forefinger to make a friction on the nose may be thought as a liar. In our daily life, one’s body languages are so complicated that can easily show or hide emotions. If one wants to perceive people’s inner emotions correctly, try to read their body languages first.
3.3 Replacing verbal words
Body language can be used to replace verbal words. It plays a unique role on many occasions. An illustration can make the point clear. The police usually use body language to command the moving of traffic. And basketball referees use body language to organize a basketball game. In daily work and life, people often use body language to communicate with each other. They use handshake to show greeting, hand wave to show farewell, applause to show welcome, and thumb to show praise and so on. However, the same body language may have the different connotations in intercultural communication due to the cultural differences. For instance, putting tongue out can be understood in America as a feeling of contempt and arrogance, whereas in China, putting tongue out is a kind of easing embarrassment. Stretching the thumb and the forefinger in America means “2”, while in China, the same body language means “8”. Therefore, body language is a silent language which can express us most effectively and efficiently.
3.4 Meeting the need of social communication
Body language plays an important role in meeting the need of social communication. In social communicative situations, especially in face-to-face conversation, people often use body language to figure out the message from the conversation to go on or finish a speech. A case in point is that people may intend to finish a talk by watching his watch from time to time. If people are interested in the topic, they may exchange eyes with the speaker. For American speakers, they will scan the audience with eye mutually in the process of a speech, and the audience will respond to the speaker with the same body language to show their interest in the speech. On the contrary Chinese audiences usually avoid eye contact with the speaker. So many western speakers assume that their speech is not appealing. A misunderstanding which could be prevented is caused. Thus, in daily social communication, body language may be helpful when you are puzzled in a talk.
3.5 Reflecting social relationships
Body language sometimes is a symbol of social relations. In the process of communication, we can often know people’s social status, family background and education background through their body language. For example, the relationship between two persons is subordinate or equal can be speculated by their sitting or standing postures. In a face-to-face conversation between Chinese, whether the superior and the subordinate or the elder and the younger, the later ones always sit or stand pretty straight to show respect while the former ones always sit backward to show dignity. However, it is opposite in the western countries, generally speaking, the people standing are much superior to the people sitting both in age and rank. And kissing in western countries is commonly used to show politeness in the public. We can judge the relationship and their social status by looking the body parts where they kiss each other. It’s a custom that the husband and the wife always kiss on the lip while the elderly and the younger always kiss on the cheek or forehead. And two peers can make a cheek-cheek touch and a gentleman can kiss a beauty’s hand to show friendship. In this aspect, body language can fully show us the correct relationship of people whom we don’t know well.
4 The classification of body language
Language is the main but not the only means for humans to exchange ideas and feelings. People often need to and even have to use non-verbal means in daily communication such as body language, dressing and color, of which body language is the most important (Xu, 2001:62). Human’s non-verbal language such as eye movement and facial expressions are so rich and colorful that they can easily convey meanings that verbal language can not express, properly making up for deficiencies of verbal language. Body language is also as various as verbal languages. Some body language is very specific and some are very general. And some are used to communicate only and some are used to provide information only. Body language is one part of a country or nation, making a close contact with the national culture. One must first observe and study the gestures, facial expressions, eye contact, and postures and so on if he wants to understand body language comprehensively (Knapp, 1978:65).
4.1 Gestures
Gestures are the main part of non-verbal communication, whose meaning is quite colorful. The reason why gestures are widely used to communicate is that our hands are very flexible and most easily seen. It has been generally accepted that if one spreads his forefinger and middle finger, he must have the determination to win something or wants to share his joy with others. And some professional persons even use gestures to form their unique image. For example, the conductor with diverse gestures can direct dozens of, even hundreds of musicians with different instruments to play an excellent symphony orchestra. And the traffic police with standard gestures can command the busy traffic flow orderly. And the international referee with various gestures can handle the complex situations on the playground smoothly. What th