Cultural Universalities And Differences In Non-Verbal Communication In Cross-Culture Communication

Non-verbal communication is a heated part in cross-cultural communication study, because it possesses a unique characteristic:innate from the basic movements or activities of human beings, that is to say these kinds of communication are often easily recognized by people from different cultures. Therefore, it is commonly expected that non-communication can make cross-cultural communication much more effective than verbal communication. With the further development of study, a very interesting phenomenon starts to puzzle people. On one hand, non-communication ways from various areas and ethnics may perform many similar functions and can be categorized into several common sorts. On the other hand, we are also aware that even the same symbol in non-verbal communication may have totally different meanings in different social circumstances. Actually the very thing we neglect is that non-verbal communication is not really a bare instinct in our bodies. It is, to some extent, culturally acquired like verbal communication, in different regions, races and cultures. Its connotation and function is restricted by its culture and custom. Since the process is so natural that we even don't realize it. This essay devotes to make a through comparison and contrast of non-verbal communication in different cultures. It aims to uncover the cultural universals and differences in non-communication and put forward some principles to recognize them so as to reduce the barriers of communication and achieve effective exchange of meanings among different cultures.This thesis consists of 7 chapters:Chapter one acts as an introduction to the thesis, which includes the importance of the non-verbal communication, a brief literature review on relevant studies, the difficulties we now are facing and the goal of this article.Chapter two introduces some basic concepts of topic-related terms. All topic-relevant concepts such as the definition, classification and functions of non-verbal communication were brief explained here in this chapter is definitely to better probe into the subject further. The focus of this chapter is dual features of non-verbal communication. Some linguistic measures used to define design features of language were borrowed here to analyze these characteristics of nonverbal communication. The lack of structure, continuousness and unconsciousness show that human's nonverbal movements are partially instinctive; while the duality, productivity and some other features indicate that nonverbal communication is still culturally transmitted. The importance of culturally inherited part overweighs biologically ones in communication.Chapter three to five serve as the core part of the thesis. The third chapter thoroughly analyses the relationship between non-verbal communication and culture, revealing the fact that non-verbal communication, like verbal communication, is "cultural acquired", which becomes a subpart of a certain culture, its functions are determined by culture and real performance of nonverbal behaviours are greatly influenced by cultural universals and differences among cultures. Besides, our children are not born with the knowledge of the usage of nonverbal communication, unless they "learn" it through watching, simulating and practicing from their parents and other members of the community.Chapter four investigates the cultural universals in the formation and development of non-verbal communication. An abundance of instances and statistics are raised here to illustrate the impact of cultural universality on the biological basis, social judgment and psychological process of nonverbal expressions in communication as well.Chapter five stresses cultural differences on the non-verbal communication in the cross-cultural context. It employs some new perspectives, including the cultural differences in display rules, display degree and accuracy and interpretation, to reorganize and examine those data and instances concluded by numerous researches. This, together with the latter explanation of the formation of cultural difference in nonverbal communication, thoroughly explains the cultural nature of nonverbal communication.In Chapter six, based on the above analyses of the cultural-bounded non-verbal communication, some useful techniques for nonverbal communication in cross-cultural context are presented here, which will greatly help us exactly convey our ideas and achieve our goals. Chapter seven is the conclusion part. In it a summary of the whole essay is presented here, the aim of the article is emphasized again.