中美身势语对比分析(2)
This paper is pided into five chapters. The first chapter makes a brief introduction to the background of the study and the framework of the paper. The second chapter introduces the definition and functions of body language. The third chapter makes a specific comparison between Chinese and American body language. The fourth chapter explores the causes of differences between Chinese and American body language. The fifth chapter is a conclusion of the whole paper.
II. Definition and Functions of Body Language
Before studying the body language between China and America, it is necessary for us to make a brief introduction to body language so that we can make clear distinctions between the two different kinds of body language more easily.
2.1 Definition of Body Language
Body language refers to a set of picture symbols issued by human body to express people’s thoughts and feelings. According to Ray L.Bird Whistell, we can define the body language as follows: Body language is a part of nonverbal communication by means of facial expressions, eyes behavior, body posture, body movement and body position (137). It can express feelings, emotions and attitudes. Body language is one of the most popular means of communication used by people. It is a complementary communication tool mainly to express one’s information of feelings, but also express certain rational information. Under many cases, it is very difficult to express one’s feelings completely, and sometimes pale speech is not able to accurately express one’s mind. At this time, the vivid explanation must be accompanied by body language, because body language can express the speaker’s attitude and feelings more easily than words can do. Thus it can enhance and complement the sound of language expression and specify the language information effectively.