The Search for Peace
Symbols carry a life-enhancing ability, and when one is tuned in to what these symbols have to offer, the symbol becomes “pregnant with meaning” and shapes one’s reality
~ Anthony Stevens, Ariadne’s Clue: a Guide to the Symbols of Humankind
Non-Verbal Communication
The communicative function is a powerful one. It is not a simple, one layered, linear process. Humans in addition to communicating at the literal level, have the ability to transmit signals by means other than spoken or written words. They achieve this non-verbal communication through the use of facial expressions and bodily gestures, as well as through non-literal verbal extensions with a logical component, called tropes. [1] Human beings appear to unconsciously use these non-literal methods of communication. In many instances, it appears evident that the body communicates more strongly than the mind, without the mind even being aware of the body’s innate power over reason. Human societies need this form of communication in order to represent the ways things in the world are; communication in the non-literal sense is a process of rendering the unfamiliar more familiar.
There are various forms of non-verbal communication Some forms include: paralanguage, which refers to sounds that sometimes do not have a written form (e.g. uh-huh means Yes, or I am listening); kinesics, or body language (e.g. eye contact); proxemics, which refers to how humans organize space (e.g. the intimate distance for embracing, touching or whispering); haptics, which refers to the sense of touch (e.g. in Spain, people greet each other with two kisses on the cheek); chronemics, which refers to time (e.g. when in a relationship to say, I love you); and artifacts, or communication with objects (e.g. jewelry, bumper stickers, food, etc.) (Salzmann, insert page#).
Kinesics:
To begin to understand this non-literal sense of communication it helps to first analyze the role kinesics plays in human societies. This powerful form of communication involves body language, and the way this is used to portray moods and emotions. “Ritualized gestures – the bow, the shrug, the smile, the wink, the military salute, the pointed finger, the thumbed nose, sticking out the tongue, and so on – are not really nonverbal communication, because such gestures are just a substitute for the verbal meanings that are associated with them.”[2] However, there are many spontaneous gestures and actions that are unconscious, and communicate a great deal; sometimes what a person is saying unconsciously by his actions directly contradicts what he is saying consciously with his words (Clark, 57). The best way to understand how this form of non-verbal communication works is to think about how body language is interpreted when one goes into an interview. There are various types of body movement one can conduct, which can portray a person as confident or insecure, enthusiastic or lazy. For example, something as simple as a handshake with an interviewer says a lot. A good firm hand shake is associated with an open-minded, less neurotic and shy personality in comparison to a weak handshake.[3] Words prove to not be the only way to effectively communicate; body movement has interpretative meaning as well.
Tropes:
Now, looking beyond body language, it is important to also look at the use of tropes in human societies. Tropes include: metaphor, a literary figure of speech that uses and image, story or tangible object to represent a less tangible object or some intangible quality or idea (e.g. Life as journey: some of us travel hopefully, others seem to have no direction, many lose their way); simile, a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, using the words like or as (e.g. life is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get); metonym, a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept (e.g. the white house stands for the president); synecdoche, a figure of speech in which a term denoting one thing is used to refer to a related thing (e.g. executives being referred to as suits), myth, a traditional or legendary story; and metamorphosis (abrupt change in an animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation).
Metaphor:
For the purpose of this paper, metaphor will be the main focus. While the other types of tropes play important roles in human communication, metaphors can be viewed as people’s primary mode of mental operation. This is because of the major role metaphor plays in human reason. “Reason is not disembodied, as the tradition has largely held, but arises from the nature of our brains, bodies, and bodily experience” and this reason is “not purely literal, but largely metaphorical and imaginative.”[4] In the following chapters one will learn about the important role metaphor plays in shaping our understanding of every day experiences. In order to demonstrate this importance, there will be a specific focus on conceptual metaphors. Conceptual metaphor, which refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another (e.g. understanding quantity in terms of directionality – “prices are rising”).[5] These metaphors not only shape human communication, but shape the way humans think and act. It is through these metaphors that we can talk about our every day experiences.
[1] Salzmann, Zdenek. Language, Culture, & [and] Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Boulder: Westview, 1993. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Salzmann, p.#).
[2] Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. New York: St. Martin’s, 1977. Print. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Clark, p.#).
[3] LiveScience Staff. “Firm Handshakes Help Land Jobs.” Live Science. LiveScience.com, 6 May 2008. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://www.livescience.com/7487-firm-handshakes-land-jobs.html>. Further reference to this source in parentheses (LiveScience).
[4] Lakoff and Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh. (4).
[5] “Conceptual Metaphor.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor>. Further reference to this source in parentheses (Conceptual Metaphor).
Metaphor: Making the Abstract Concrete and Visual 