Verbal_and_Non_Verbal

Verbal communication is primarily based on vocabulary - both the use of it and the understanding of it. The goal of verbal communication is to ensure that the person conveying the message and the audience receiving the message are both interpreting the information in the same manner. This can be accomplished through non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is best defined as "communication without words." Only when non-verbal communication comes into play, does the meaning of the vocabulary being used take on completely different meanings. For instance, the words "I love you" mean just that - I love you. Without any non-verbal influences, there really is not any misinterpretation. However, when emphasis is put on different words, the meaning of those three words can take on a whole new twist. Think about this, and how you interpret the different meanings. I love you. i LOVE you. i love YOU. In the first example, it could imply that only "I" love you, and no one else does. In the second example, it could emphasizing the fact that I love you, not just have an interest in you, or like you. In the last example, it could be conveying the fact that I do not love anyone else but you, or that I could not love anyone else any more than you. Verbal communication uses a singular channel, whereas non-verbal communication uses multiple channels. It can take the form of codes that you can see and hear (visual/auditory). This includes kinesics, facial expression, paralanguage, and physical appearance. It can come in the form of contact, such as haptics (touch) and space (personal and territory). Codes also include place and time such as physical environment and chronemics (time). Kinesics is the most obvious form of non-verbal communication and involves body position and movement. Body orientation is characterized by the degree to which we face toward or away from someone. Posture is important in conveying the way one feels. If you want to convey that you feel good about yourself, you obviously wouldn't want to slouch or look down at the ground. Gestures are motions of the body, usually hands or arms, that have a communicative value. They are referred to as illustrators, emblems, and adaptors. Illustrators are movements that accompany speech and have no meaning when they stand alone. Emblems are deliberate nonverbal behaviors that stand alone and have a very precise meaning, such as the OK sign. Adaptors are usually unconscious and include self touching behaviors that often times indicate nervousness or self-consciousness. Physical appearance is the perceived physical attractiveness that affects interaction between people. Body artifacts can be included in this. For instance, clothing, jewelry, metals, adornments, etc. can affect how people react and/or associate with one another. A prime example of this is in the school setting. Many times when you see groups of students congregated together , they usually dress in similar fashions (i.e. "goths" or "preps"). Facial communication is the one of the most tell-tale indicators of the meaning of what one is saying. Eye contact, though it can differ between cultures, is usually indicative of whether a person is actively engaged in a conversation, is tellling the truth, or is seeking to understand what is being said. Smiling, frowning, crying, and all other facial communication is also imparative to successful transmission of meaning. The voice is an important part of the communication link. Paralanguage is a term given to nonverbal vocal messages that have communicative value. Paralanguage includes: emphasis (as mentioned earlier in the "I love you" example), rate (how fast a person talks), pitch (musical quality of voice - how high or low in a range a person talks), volume (how loud or soft a person talks), tone (emotion and attitude), and disfluencies. Speech disfluencies are any of various breaks, irregularities, or utterances that are often not consistent with any specific grammatical construction and occur within the flow of otherwise fluent speech. These include, for example, words and sentences that are cut off mid-utterance, phrases that are restarted or repeated, repeated syllables, grunts or unrecognizable utterances occurring as 'fillers', and 'repaired' utterances ("uh,", "um," "er," "eh," etc.). There are many other comparisons that can be made between verbal and nonverbal communication. First, verbal communication is intermittent, while nonverbal communication is continuous. Second, verbal communication is clear (denotation), whereas nonverbal can be ambiguous (connotation). Third, there is a difference between the impact verbal and nonverbal communication has on the person trying to interpret the information they are being given. Verbal communication, or simply the words being spoken, can have a very different impact based on the nonverbal communication being used along with it. Last, on most occassions, verbal communication is deliberate, and at least to some degree thought-out. In contrast, nonverbal communication is often times unconscious and is an extension of our internal beliefs, emotions, feelings, and attitudes. There are so many different audiences that we can be attempting to communicate with, that the variables are endless.