Nonverbal Language

For writers nonverbal communication allows them to reveal a character’s thoughts and emotions without lengthy descriptions. Such also means drawing the reader into the story, top feel as the character does. But I wondered just where these originate. Are they learned or evolutionary?

Chemical communications may be associated with animals, but humans still pick up such olfactory messages. Scientists disagree as to the extent which humans can detect messages, and some maintain these abilities to detect pheromones fade and even vanish as an individual matures, which explains the high divorce rate.

Gestures may possibly predate verbal communication. Certainly apes do get a message across in this manner.

Universal expressions come next. The sort of things which communicate emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, happiness, surprise, and sadness – all of which are seemingly involuntary and thus suggesting these are evolutionary. Eyebrows are particularly helpful.

Facial expressions are possibly also evolutionary, but there is the idea that some of these – puzzlement, for example – are as much learned as involuntary.

There are also learned cues, the nod being the most obvious. I tried nodding for ‘no’ and shaking me head for ‘yes’ and found it more difficult than writing with my non-dominant hand. So isn’t it evolutionary? It can’t be – for while nodded affirmatives are well-nigh universal, there are several parts of the world where the reverse is the case. Bulgaria and Albania are two examples, while Greece and Turkey employs a quick backward jerk of the head to indicate ‘no’.

Body language – posture, stance, eye contact (or lack of it) – are all learned from out cultural and social experiences.

Vocalisations might seem to fit in the non-verbal group – but we all make sounds which convey a message, but are not words and are understood across verbal language barriers. “Ah”, “hmm”, “huh” for example.

And finally there are proxemics – which if you don’t know (and I didn’t) refers to how we have learned to communicate through the use of personal space. (Sociable and welcoming into that space; or the reverse like me.)

As a writer I have never considered I could communicate the miserable misanthrope through the use of body language in a passage. But the idea is intriguing and well worth investigating.