BITS Pilani

Pilani Campus

Non-verbal Communication

7/21/2020
 Non -verbal Communication
• Non verbal communication refers to all
external stimuli other than spoken or
written words and including body
characteristics. E.g. voice and use of
space and distancing .
• Non verbal communication means all
communication that involves neither
written nor spoken words but occurs
without the use of words.

7/21/2020
 Key features of non verbal
communication
• Not a substitution for verbal communication.
• It differs from culture to culture.
• e.g. Bulgaria-yes- move their head sideway
• India- yes- move head up and down.
• It only supplements and reinforce what we say.
• Efficiency in non-verbal makes up the deficiency
in verbal .
• Speaker –giving speech properly –not paying
attention to non –verbal features –failure.

7/21/2020
 Types of non-verbal
communication
• Kinesics (body language)
• Proxemics
• Chronemics
• Paralanguage

7/21/2020
 Kinesics
• The most often studied study of body’s physical
movement . In order words it is the way the body
communicate through various parts of body.
• when we study kinesics we specifically look for inner
states of emotion as expressed through different parts of
the body and their physical movements. As Watzlawick
and his associates indicate, “you can't not communicate.
Thus you communicate just by being.”

7/21/2020
 Kinesics
• Personal appearance
• Facial expressions
• Eye contact
• Gestures
• postures

7/21/2020
 Personal appearance
• Plays very important role in non-verbal communication.
• The first impact on the audience is created by the personal
appearance.
• When the speakers utters the first word, we begin to form an opinion
about him and visualize the way he is going to talk.
• Under appearance we will study –
• Attire clothes
• Accessories
• Clothes- we are very careful about our clothes. We dress and groom
according to the occasion . If we are going to attend a marriage , our
dress will be different, funeral –it will be different.
• The way a person dress gives clues about his personality.

7/21/2020
 Accessories
• Under accessories come these thing such
as shoes, watch, jewelry etc. These
accessories either enhance the personal
appearance of the speaker or distract from
it.

7/21/2020
 Facial Expression
• Of all the body parts the face is the most
expressive that is why it is called an index
of mind.
• Research of non –verbal communication
have found that in normal encounter
people look longer at the face then at
other parts of the body. Therefore what we
read in the face is of great significance in
the communication process.

7/21/2020
• Facial expression are spontaneous reactions which a
person finds difficult to hide.
• Quick and intensive-reveal type of inner feelings which
may or may not match with what a person is saying.
• E.g. A person is lying.
• Highly flexible and changeable – we alter them to make
them relevant to a particular occasion.

7/21/2020
 Eye contact
• Eye is an extension of the brain and a window to
soul.
• In professional situation , stress is laid on
continuous eye contact between the speaker
and the listener. Everything that goes on our
mind get mirrored in our eyes.
• Eyes can convey a large varieties of message
intended as well as unintended- joy, surprise,
anger, love, state of health etc.

7/21/2020
• Means of gaining feedback, enabling the
communicator to alter, adjust or reframe his
message while transmitting it.
• Meaningful eye contact make you a good
speaker
• Eye contact makes the audience feel important .

7/21/2020
 Gestures
• Movements made by head, hands , arms and shoulders.
• Gestures are use to clarify , emphasize and accentuate
a verbal message.
• A well timed gesture can drive a point home.
• Natural and spontaneous gesture – reinforce your ideas.
• A proper gesture – add value
• Improper gesture- lose the effectiveness of verbal
communication.
• Wrong gestures- playing with a ring, twisting a key chain
or clasping one’s hand tightly can reduce the
effectiveness of speech.

7/21/2020
 Roughly we can divide gestures into five types
• Enumerative (gestures that count or specify item-1
point)
• Descriptive gesture (describe the size of an object)
• Locative – point out the specific location of an object.
• symbolic gesture- certain symbols to clarify our idea .
E.g. beauty- not specific –an abstract idea.
• Emphatic- expand the meaning attached to words.

7/21/2020
 Posture
• Everybody’s posture communicates something about
him or her.
• Important part of body language and generally refers to
the way one stand and walks.
• Posture indicates -confident, self assured, vibrant or
nervous.
• A drooping shoulder and a protruding stomach indicate
that the person is discouraged, tired and worn out.
• Speaker can gauge the success of his communication
just by observing the posture of the listeners.

7/21/2020
 Haptics (touch)
• Haptics also communicate
• people can show affection by just holding hands.
• Hug- shows intimacy of friendship.
• your teacher pats you at the back after the speech gives
a sort of encouragement.
• Touching is first non-verbal experience on life.
• with it we feel loved , cared for and emotionally
supported.

7/21/2020
 Proxemics
• Way we use space , we all operate under certain zones
in our day to day interaction with people.
• Study of how we communicate with the space around us.
• Proxemics –personal space language just as kinesics is
body language.
• Intimate zone- In this space you originate all of the body
movements . You only allow your family , close friends
and special people to enter this zone. (physical touch to
18 inches , lovers, mother-child. )

7/21/2020
 Personal zone
• Intends from 8 inches to 4 feet beyond the
first zone.
• conversation with class friends, colleagues
and the like occur.
• Spontaneous and friendly communication
takes place.

7/21/2020
 Social zone
• Social zone- which begins at 4 feet and
continue for more feet . You use this
space formally .Relationship in it are more
official. It is conducted with less emotion
and more planning.
• Public zone- range from 12 feet

7/21/2020
 Chronemics
• Refers to the meaning we give to time i.e. how we
communicate to others. The way a person uses his own
or another time speak volumes of his attitudes.
• Within each person, there appears to be a time language
. Just as there is a body language and space language.
• As a professional you should be careful about time.
• Time language differs from culture to culture. In America
being on time is a virtue-some day –quick action.

7/21/2020
 Paralanguage
• Those hints and signals in a persons voice
that give us meaning.
• Paralanguage is the ‘how’ of the language
. How people say things is often as
important as the words they use. Can you
remember a quarrel between a
shopkeeper and a customer.
• The scream or hurt in their voice is
paralanguage.
7/21/2020
 Paralinguistic features
• They are non-verbal vocal cues that help
you to give urgency to your voice.
• Voice is your trademark, it adds human
touch to your words.
• Writing does not have that immediacy
because words are static on page.
• Helps you give extra life to your delivery.
• It is essential to understand the nuances
of voice.
7/21/2020
 Para lingual characteristics
• Voice quality
• Pace/rate
• Pitch
• Volume
• Voice modulation
• Pronunciation
• Articulation
• Pauses
7/21/2020
 Quality
characteristic that distinguishes one voice
from another . It is not possible to change
the quality but it can be trained for the
optimum impact .It may be rich and
alluring, thin and nasal, hoarse and husky.

7/21/2020
 Pace/ Rate
• Pace/ Rate – is the speed of words per minute. It varies
from person to person .(80 to 250 words per minute).
• Normal rate is from 120 to 150 words.
• Depends upon the content.
• Sad or solemn-slow rate
• Excited, exuberant- fast rate

7/21/2020
 Pitch
• Pitch refers to number of vibrations in our voice.
• You can yourself find out the difference when you utter it
just for the sake of it or when you sincerely want to thank
somebody.
• Lowness of pitch indicates sadness, shock, dullness,
guilt etc.
• Whereas if you are excited ,joyous, ecstatic, triumphant
and very angry then the pitch automatically becomes
high.
• A well balanced and well suited pitch results in a clear
and effective tone.
• Help you avoid being monotonous.

7/21/2020
 volume
• Volume-high, low of your voice.
• In front of the audience , adjust the volume of your voice
according to the number of audience and acoustics' of
the room.
• Small room + no. of audience small-low volume.
• No. of audience are not more –optimum volume.
• No of audience very large –high volume .
• Too loudly- arrogant, boorish, angry
• Too softly-monotonous. Low spirits, low confidence

7/21/2020
 Voice modulation
• Voice modulation- where you can adjust , regulate or vary the tone,
pitch and volume of your sound. E.g. politician
• It brings flexibility and vitality to your voice and you can express
emotions, sentiments like impatience, careful, planning, dependency
, suspicious etc. in a best possible way.
• If you are not careful about modulation your voice becomes flat and
you emerge as a languid speaker with no command over your voice.
• By using modulations you can convey the variety of emotions.
sadness, happiness, fear)
• If you are angry you can modulate your voice accordingly.
• Don’t fall in repetitious pitch patterns.

7/21/2020
 Pauses
• Pauses- gaps in between words or sentences.
• Major challenge for beginning speakers, you should
know how to pause.
• Helpful to both listeners and speakers. The speaker get
the time to recollect his ideas and can think what he has
to speak next. And listeners get the time to comprehend
that part of the speech which has already been said.
• Beautifies your speech if properly timed.
• Exhibits confidence.
• Don’t prolong your pauses, otherwise instead of an aid ,
it will become an hindrance.

7/21/2020
 Vocalized pauses
• Vocalized pauses like um, uhh, u know,
like, ok etc. should be avoided.
• Makes your speech evasive , untruthful.
• If not used properly, pauses are annoying.
They not only create negative perception
about a speaker’s intelligence but they
often make a speaker appear deceptive

7/21/2020
 Articulation
• To speak the sounds distinctly and crisply.
• Don’t chop, slur, mumble words.
• Keep the audience in mind.
• Avoid sloppy articulation (means failure to form speech sounds
crisply and distinctly.).
• One of the several causes of mispronunciation.
• Errors in articulation most often is caused by laziness.
• Among college students poor articulation is more common.
• Going to- gonna
• Ought to-otta
• Want to –wanna
• Will you –will ya

7/21/2020
 Pronunciation
• To speak the sounds according to accepted norms.
• One should be careful enough to produce individual
sounds along with word stress according to the set
norms.
• Don’t be taken in by the fancy that you know the correct
pronunciation of all the words , whenever there is
confusion always consult a good dictionary and try to
produce it correctly.
• Poor articulation can be one cause for mispronunciation
but not all mispronunciation stem from poor articulation.

7/21/2020
7/21/2020