There is language in her eyes, her cheek, her lip My her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint and motive of her body ... --Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida Your face ... is book where men May read strange matters. --Shakespeare, Macbeth Thou shalt not sigh, nor bold thy stumps to heaven / Nor wink, nor nod, nor kneel, nor make sign But I, of these, will wrest an alphabet, And by still practice learn to know thy meaning. --Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus In Twilight of Idols, Friedrich Nietzsche expresses his views about act of and confirms, for which we find words, is something already dead in hearts; there is always kind of contempt in act of speaking. (1) Despite Nietzsche's views, the act of speaking remains fundamental communicative element among humans. Although all species communicate, human version is notable for its precision, flexibility, and versatility, consequences of uniquely human ability to use language. Still, language is neither monolithic construct--nor an obvious mechanism of communication. Viewed from scientific perspective, language is not even reality but merely representation of reality--an abstraction. Theorists such as John Condon emphasize that word is not thing in same way that a map is not territory. (2) Words, then, represent reality in same that maps are representations of territory but not territory itself. And since words cannot encompass entire meaning of what is meant to be represented, understanding of nonverbal communication is essential. Through all fluctuations of human fortune and endeavor, distinguishing characteristic of human existence is desire and ability to communicate. While purpose of any communication may be to achieve shared meaning, its symbolic nature makes this difficult to accomplish. Not only is language symbolic, but it is also process in constant flux; as such, it is an aspect of culture, common to all human societies. Colin Cherry eloquently asserts that language has been compared to the shifting surface of sea; sparkle of waves like flashes of light on points of history. (3) While child's babbling serves biological functions by exercising speech organs, that babbling cannot strictly be called language. As arbitrary symbolic function of words seeps into child's awareness and vocal sounds begin to acquire value, child's mental activity undergoes adjustment and becomes increasingly integrated into social community. Even if speech becomes our most important mode of communication, it is not our only means of expression. One estimate claims that more than 60 percent of social meaning in interpersonal interchange is transmitted nonverbally. (4) In fact, communication usually employs verbal and nonverbal language interactively, each using different lexicons and codes. The case of Helen Keller provides challenging example of child who was struck deaf and blind at eighteen months old before she had even developed speech habits or abstract concepts of an adult. After years of struggle--and largely through patience of her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who taught her to make sounds of speech--Helen was able to develop universal concept of words. In The Story of My Life, she describes thrill of this new discovery: I did nothing but explore with my hands and learn name of every object that I touched; and more I handled things and learned their names and uses, more joyous and confident grew my of with rest of world. (5) This sense of kinship with world is generally achieved through marriage of words and use of other, nonverbal cues that, in unison, form comprehensive, effective means of communication. Nonverbal communicative elements--signs, gestures, and behavioral cues--are all personal abstractions of reality. …