Non-verbal communication

The basic system for communication is the human body; not only the organs of speech and hearing, but eyes and facial muscles, hands and arms, brain and in many respects the entire body. Caressing, embracing and holding hands are as much ways of communicating as human speech. Body language, as it is now familiarly called, is something we both use and observe throughout our waking hours. Every­one, for example, can interpret а smile or а threatening gesture. And the voice conveys more through its tone or volume than simply the words spoken.

Wе can distinguish at least nine ingredients in this 'undercover language' of non-verbal communication. They are:

• facial expression

• eye contact

• tone of voice

• physical touch

• appearance (cloths, hair)

• body/posture

• proximity

• physical gestures, hand and foot movements

• head position

Take eye contact, for example. Video film of conversations shows that the talker tends to look away while actually speaking, but to glance up at the end of sentences for some reaction from the listener, which usually takes the form оf a nod or murmur of assent. Не or she gives the listener а longer gaze when the talk has finished.

For the most part this undercover language is а natural or unconscious expression of our feelings, synchronized with what we are saying or doing consciously.

It follows that one can only change non-verbal behaviour by changing the inner nature which it is expressing. Courses or conferences which aim to teach you what Shakespeare called 'the craft of smiles' are to be regarded with suspicion, although help can be given to those whose synchronization has become dysfunctional.

Courses for normal people in such matters as eye contact or gesture could only induce self-consciousness, which works against natural communication. What is important, however, is the awareness that other people are receiving all our non-verbal behaviour, and perhaps finding it expressive of certain unseen inner states or attitudes which may or may not be there. One can legitimately strive to avoid sending out the wrong signs or signals through the variety of non-verbal channels. Fortunately, we now have language, which can in part rectify our mistakes. But it is the original integrated combination of words and signs which makes up the rich texture of human communication. Wе must now turn to our unique capacity for communicating through language - the prime means of human intercourse.

Тне role of тне english language

One way of solving the problem of communication among different language speakers is to resort to sign language. Symbols may convey meaning more readily than words, and mean the same to virtually every nationality.

But this expanding number of international signs is self­evidently limited as а means of communication. The world stands in need of а common language.

То meet this need English has become increasingly significant in the league tables of language. It is not the language spoken by the most people in the world - Chinese has that distinction - but it is top of the list as а second language. Over a billion people can now speak English as their first or second language.

The value of such а common language has long been perceived. In the Persian empire, Aramaic performed that function. Greek played that role in the Graeco-Roman world of antiquity, and Latin took over into the Middle Ages, not least because it remained the common language of the Catholic Church. The 'Frankish tongue' - а mixture of Italian with French, Greek, Arabic, Turkish and Spanish, onсе used in the eastern part of the Mediterranean in the seventeenth century, gave us our phrase lingua franca which now means any language serving as а medium between different nations with their own separate languages.

At first sight it may seem odd that English, the lan­guage of а relatively small group of islands off the European shore, should be rapidly becoming the lingua franca of our day. The fact of the British empire, which planted English in America, India, Africa and Australasia, had much to do with it. The adoption of English as the language for international purposes such as air traffic control is another factor. English is the language of the United Nations, of world banking, of diplomacy, of academic research, space travel, scientific discovery and global computing. Like the original lingua franca, of course, it is а mixture of Anglo-Saxon or Germanic, Norse, Greek, Latin, French and Arabic, together with other captive words from most main languages under the sun, which gives it an extraordinary richness.

Apart from its variety and flexibility, English has other inherent qualities. It has few inflections, endings or cases. Its grammar is based on simple word order. It has no clicks, tones or implosives. Its alphabet is phonetic and has 26 letters (against 74 in Khmer and 85 in Cherokee). А student of Chinese or Japanese must learn 2000 characters. English script can bе scrawled and shorthanded.