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.