Communication Is A Multi Channel Process - 1660 Words

I See What You Say In the academic paper â€Å"Communication Group Structure and Process†, Ray L. Birdwhistell states that â€Å"communication is a multi-channel process.† This implies that the auditory channel process is only part of the deal. Indeed, the importance of the various non-verbal channels is pointed out in Birdwhistell’s belief that â€Å"probably no more than 30 to 35% of the social meaning of a conversation or an interaction is carried by words.† A few years earlier, in 1959, Edward T. Hall coined the term â€Å"the silent language† to describe nonverbal communication and direct significant attention toward the subject. The purpose of this paper is to examine the various types of nonverbal communication being displayed in the silent classic†¦show more content†¦It will be established that although arbitrary, ambiguous and abstract, nonverbal communication possesses undeniable importance and proves advantageous to those who know it (Scroggin) . Physical appearance Physical appearance – hair, make-up, and clothing – comes to create a meaningful whole (Scroggin). Large-framed, muscular Burrows dresses up in a hat, vest and pants to exaggerate his masculine prowess to an extreme and represent the aggressive macho. By contrast, gentle Cheng Huan seems in various ways feminine. His robe is elaborate and shapeless, the body underneath appears androgynous in form. Frail Lucy wears a dress to highlight her function as both housekeeper and daughter. Her hair is untidy, presumably a byproduct of her constant chores; she has no time to care for her physical looks. Proxemics Hall, in The Silent Language, uses the term proxemics to stand for the way people communicate by their use of space in relation to other people and the structuring and of their territory. Hall identifies four distances that distinguish the kinds of interactions people have and the relationships they share during them: intimate distance (up to 18 inches), personal distance (18 inches to 4 feet), social-consultative distance (4 to 12 feet) and public distance (above 12 feet). The need for physical space differs depending on the culture, situation, and intimacy of the relationship, and communicates nonverbal messages as signs of