(10) According to Chinese tradition, people who are sitting have right to take charge of others: Monarch sits and officer stands; father sits and son stands; leader sits and employee stands and so on. So the younger give the old a seat to show respect. But in America and Britain, people who are in charge of others have tendency to stand. They will make use of the height of space to indicate the high status. People who have high status choose to sit when they are conversing with you, which mean they want to create harmonious and equal atmosphere and lessen space. So adults will bend down when they are talking to children. “Froyd once said “ No one can really keep secret. If he does not talk and keep silent, he will talk with his fingers. In a whole, part of his body will sell him out.”[14]同[5]p36 In fact, this statement refers that people’s postures, attitude and other body language can deliver more hidden information. People may control their facial expressions successfully and appear calm. But they do not realize that his nervousness and eagerness have let out from his body language. Their feet may be stamping on the floor. Madness is the emotion that may let out from our feet and legs.
(11) When we are quarrelling with others, our feet will be nervous and trembling unconsciously. And females will make some teasing postures with their legs. And postures can also reflect people’s attitude towards their communicators. The research indicated: males communicate with the person they don’t like, whether they are relaxed or nervous determined by whether their communicators are threatening or not. In this experiment, females will express dislike with very relaxing postures. Postures will be the clue of the internal relationship of a group. For example,
(12) Guests are quarrelling because of dispute; we can make out the two quarrelling parts by their postures. People who agree with them will put their legs on the other legs. And people who are against will stretch out their legs straight. And some neutral people will hold arms. Somebody suddenly changes his/her postures, which may mean he disagrees with the person who is speaking or he/she is changing his/her mind. For example,
(13) People from English speaking countries prefer kneeling or sitting on the ground to bending down. They think it is the posture of uncultivated people when they are surrounding the fire, and they are willing to kneel or sit on the ground. But people from the countryside of Northern China get used to this posture. In Indonesia, people often bow and put the other people’s hand on their forehead to express modesty. But Americans will not do it. American’s informalness is famous. Teachers can sit on the platform or desk when they are teaching. And the students needn’t to sit straight. But in China, people are required to have a good manner. For example,
(14) In interpersonal communication, good manners show great respect to the other people. For example, having an interview for job-hunting, we should behave well. “And we can conclude something from people’s posture. When we listen to people, we believe they are more energetic, confident and competent if they stand erect. On the other hand, when we see a person slouching over a lectern or standing lazily, we make a negative interpretation. We say the person is not very interested in what they are discussing.”[15]同[10]p65
4.4 Touch
Touch refers to the way people exchange information by touching one’s body. The most common touch behavior is hands shaking and hugs. Chinese belong to low-contractual cultures.
(15) In China, people greet with each other with head nodding, smile, hand shaking and so on. Even good friends just hold hands for a short time or hammer softly on the other friend’s shoulder. As for hand shaking, people in North America shake hands when they greet with each other. As children, they have learnt to hold other people’s hands tightly. East Asian people often shake hands slightly; because they think tight hand shaking means challenge. Nowadays, hand shaking has become a custom to show hospitality and friendliness in many countries. But the way of hand shaking is a little different. For example,
(16) The French will shake hands with his host when they come into and leave the host’s house. But Germans only shake hands only with their host when they come into the house. Some Africans will make a sound by fingers after hand-shaking to show freedom. And Chinese shake hands for a short time and loose and then they stand away from each other. But Chinese shake hands tightly and keep closer to express politeness and respect.
(17) In English speaking countries, people used to hug or kiss each other in public between males and females, which is unacceptable and only exists between lovers and couples in private in China. In America, common friends and acquaintances will avoid body touch. Even in the elevator, body touch is not allowed. Touching the other people slightly or unconsciously, people will say “Sorry”, “Very Sorry”, “Excuse me” in a hurry to express apology. Or they will be abused. In western countries, people particularly mind their private space, which often represents people’s privacy and intimacy. But Chinese pay less attention to their private space. It is crowded in China because of a large population. So Chinese have got used to it and they often show their understanding and tolerance. Though Japanese also pay less attention to private space, they have strict rules in body touching. Arabians like body touching. Whether at home or in public, they like to be together and often hug together when they meet. Even they often touch each other’s nose and smell each other, which will frighten Englishmen and Americans.
(18) In English speaking countries, like America and Britain, females often hug males and kiss their faces to say goodbye. And in East Asian countries and western countries, males seldom hug but often shake hands to show welcome. Japanese often show welcome by bowing. In the countries like Arab, Russia, France, East Europe and some countries at the bank of the Mediterranean, males often hug tightly and kiss each other’s cheeks to show welcome. People living in Latin America also do the same thing. It is common to see youth of the same sex hold hands and hug in China. But in English speaking countries, it will be regarded homosexuality. “Scientists have made a survey on “touch” for the people from different countries. They spent an hour observing the people in couples in café and counting their touching times: Englishmen-0; Americans-2; French-10; Puerto Rico-18.”[16]同[6]p94 In daily life, when teachers encourage their students or leaders appreciate their employees, they will pat their shoulders to express encouragement.
4.5 Facial Expressions
“The face has been called an ‘organ of emotion’ because we constantly read facial expressions to understand what others are feeling. The face provides vital clues to our own feelings and those of the people around us. Of all the nonverbal channels, the face is the most important broadcaster of emotions.”[17]同[10]p64
(19) “There was once a dumb show called “eating chicken” at the spring festival party. The actor, Wang Jinyu, performed the whole process of eating chicken by his facial expressions and gestures without saying a single word, which gained a lot of applause.”[18]p58 If he can not convey his true feeling and exaggerated postures of eating chicken, the performance would be a failure. For example,
(20) Journalists deliver information to the pubic mainly from what he interviewed from interviewees. So the interviewees’ cooperation determines the success of the report. And the reports on killing or robbery, not all the witness are willing to narrate the real situation of the scene. So experienced journalists will use facial expressions such as smile, head nodding to show they are interested so as to make the witnesses relax and feel easy and cooperate with the journalist actively and voluntantly.
(21) And in many cultures, smiles are signs of happiness or friendliness, like America and China. We will find out others will return a smile to the person who is smiling at them but will turn away or stop talking with the person who are pulling a long face. “When we are speaking English, it is generally good to smile at your listener from time to time, especially when he has made an interesting comment. Also nodding your head up and down to show you are really interested in it. From time to time, you can add a sound of agreement, such as “Uh huh” or even just “mmmm”, to show you are listening.”[19]同[11]p44 For example,
(22) When we have guests at home, we will smile to show welcome. But American Indians will cry to express welcome. Smiles will not only represent happiness and friendliness but also indicate apology and understanding. For instance, we stamped other’s feet on the bus because of a sudden brake; we will smile to the person. It means to say “Sorry”, “Very Sorry”. When colliding with a stranger, we will smile to show we have no hostility. The smile on the face of waiters or waitress means they welcome us. But sometimes, western people will feel disgusted about Chinese’s smile. For example,
(23) A foreigner broke a dish in a restaurant and felt embarrassed. But Chinese who were on the spot smiled at him, which made him angrier. In fact, this smile means “Never mind”. Another facial expression is stretching out one’s tongue. When Chinese realize that their behavior is unsuitable and feel embarrassed, they often stretch out their tongues and shrink their necks at the same time, especially girls and children. But Americans never do it. They think it is rude.
5. The Similarities of Body Language and Their Causes
5.1 The Similarities of Body Language
We have discussed different cultural meanings of body language and its cause. Though different cultures result in different body languages, they also have common features. For example, master of comedy, Chapling was very popular with people all over the world because of his humorous behavior in the silent films during 1920s and 1930s. Now, let’s go on the similarities of body language.
“Charles Darwin mentioned in his book ‘Emotional Expression of Human and Animals’. This book discussed whether the same expressions and postures suggested the same meaning both for human and animals.”[21]p51 And he asked people all around the world and collected their possible replies. Surprisingly, the answers were almost same, especially on facial expressions. Heading nodding often means agreement or greeting in most countries. And shaking one’s head often means disagreement or “No”. Applauding means appreciation or agreement and so on.
(24) If a person is hurt, he/she will cry to express painfulness. And we smile when are happy. Waving one’s hand means goodbye. Even some Chinese and English expressions and their meanings are totally same. For example, patting on the back means encouragement and appreciation. Pulling a long face indicates unhappiness and anger. Being all smile means happiness, standing with folded arms means indifference and so on.
5.2 The Causes Resulting in the Similarities of Body Language
“We can analyze the reason why different cultures have the same meaning on body language from psychology, linguistics, anthropology, culturology, semilogy, philosophy and so on. From anthropology, body language is the symbols and a tool of human communication. Human beings have the same ancestor, which determines the similarities of body language.”[22]p119 Nowadays, with the development of the world, people from different cultures communicate more and more often. We have more chance to exchange culture and economy. The expert, Mcluhan compare the world to “global village” to describe the world, which means the world becoming smaller and smaller because of more and more communication. On the one hand, people from east world have accepted the body language from west world, such as thumbing a ride, shrugging, “OK” gesture, “V” gesture and so on. On the other hand, with rapid development of East Asia and Southeast Asia, the body language from east world has a great influence on that of the west world. In the communication of east and west people, many westerners have learned Chinese customs and etiquettes.
6. The Principles of Reducing Barriers in Communication
As idiom goes “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” It is the main principle in communication. This principle refers that communicators should respect and understand the culture of the other nations and eliminate the interference of their own cultures. According to this principle, we should know the differences of their customs, believes and their connotations of body language. For example,
(25) In China, people will give chrysanthemum to the patient. But French people never do this. Because they think chrysanthemum is used in funerals.
But we should pay attention to two points, when we apply this principle. On the one hand, we should not worship and imitate the whole body language blindly. On the other hand, we should not be trapped in the fixed mode of cultures. For example,
(26) People think Americans behave informally in any situation and Englishmen are always conservative. In fact, all communicative modes change with the differences of time, situation and contents.
The other principle indicates that we should conclude the rules by comparison and contrasts of different cultures and exclude the interferences of cultures to avoid cultural confliction. In the application of this principle, we should keep a tolerant attitude towards the differences of cultures, believes, customs and so on to avoid prejudice and superiority.
So in the communication, we can make full use of these principles, exclude fixed mode of culture and keep open and understanding attitude towards cultural differences.
7. Conclusion
We have discussed the differences and similarities on body language and principles of reducing barriers in communication above. Being a branch of the means of nonverbal communication, body language can help us solve a lot of problems we meet. The study of body language makes us understand others very well and behave in proper ways without making too many mistakes. It is difficult to master body language because of its complexity, but we can improve our communicative abilities if we try to the utmost of our efforts to learn what we should know and follow the principles mentioned above. What we should do is to remember how people from different cultures act and to keep an understanding and tolerant attitude towards the differences. Only when we make a clear understanding on body language, can we use body language of English speaking countries to make an efficient communication and avoid misunderstanding.
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政治委婉语及其修辞应用
浅谈英语委婉语的分类、构成方式及社会功能