Nonverbal communication means in the UK parliamentary debates

Abstract

This article focuses on the proxemics, oculesics and tacesics as nonverbal communication peculiarities in the UK parliamentary debates within the scope of parliamentary discoursology as a new branch of political discourse studies. It deals with studying of metonomy-based language representations of space used to name the MPs in the UK parliamentary debates. Here the visual characteristics and behavioral patterns influencing the role and participation of MPs in the debates are highlighted. The paper determines cognitive background and extralinguistic factors influencing the usage of naming models and colour determination of MPs in the parliamentary debates. Such debates represent the events regardless the party that gains majority in the UK parliament in the post-Thatcher period. It is concluded that nonverbal have become an inseparable part of parliamentary communication, serving as a special communicative code used by the MPs. The results stipulate further modelling of the parliamentary debates to build their interactive and cognitive models for better insight into the British political life and the British national character. The received knowledge is of particular importance for teaching country studies, history of the UK, political science and theory of speech communication.