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The
role of non-verbal components of communication in the description of literary
characters
Communication, being one of the basic needs of
human existence, is considered to be a key method of interchanging information,
affection, knowledge, opinion, etc. The investigation of the interaction of
verbal and non-verbal components of communication constitutes a topical problem
of modern linguistics. The aim of the present article is to show that in books
of fiction the estimation of literary characters should be grounded not only on
the contents of their verbal messages but also on the concomitant non-verbal
components of the communicative act which in their turn are rendered in the
text through appropriate linguistic means.
Psychologists consider that the correct decoding
of non-verbal signals which function spontaneously is an important requirement
of effective communication. Although non-verbal communication is mostly
manifested in oral forms of the dialogical discourse, its linguistic
representation in texts of belles-lettres style helps to indicate the
characters’ attitude to each other, their mood, emotions, social class,
etc.
The
non-verbal components of communication (NVCC) and various aspects of their
functioning in speech and written texts have been studied by scholars working
in the sphere of semiotics, anthropology, psychology [Eisenstein, 2002 (1923); Hall,
1959; Barre, 1964; Ìåhrabian, 2007; Ruesch, Kees, 1970; Gasparov, 1978]. The intensive linguistic research in this direction
[Reformatsky, 1933; Hill, 1958; Nikolajeva,
Uspensky, 1966; Kolshansky,
1974; Krasilnikova, 1983; Chanysheva,
1984; Sorokin, Tarasov,
1992; Key, 1980] has brought about the development of paralinguistics
with NVCC being its subject-matter.
The analysis of the descriptions of characters
given in literary texts (“Angel Pavement” by J.B.Priestley,
“One Stair Up” by C.Nairne, Martin Eden” by Jack
London) testifies to statistically significant functional load of such NVCC as vocalics, kinesics and proxemics
which in communicative acts are usually used together with accompanying verbal
elements or, less frequently, by themselves. In the latter case the information
contained in their linguistic representation is still communicatively sufficient
for the identification of the personage’s reaction to what is being said or
done by his/her interlocutor.
The text fragments where the above-mentioned NVCC
are used show that their linguistic representation, when employed alongside
with the verbal component, may either proceed the verbal message, creating the
effect of anticipation, follow it, thus giving additional confirmation to what
has been said, or occupy the intermediate position, complementing the uttered
message.
The structural-semantic analysis of the
linguistic representation of the NVCC under study indicate the possibility of
distinguishing three semantic groups of verbs, which in the function of
predicates are used with/without nominal complements, with/without adverbs
illustrating the manner of speaking, maintaining the eye-contact, making
gestures and occupying certain position in space. These verbs can be arranged
in accordance with the degree of intensity of the action expressed.
The usage of the relevant linguistic
representation of the NVCC appears to be situationally-conditioned,
that is it indicates the social status of interlocutors (superior, subordinate,
equal), the type of relationship between them (formal, informal, neutral), the
social role the interlocutors perform and bears the impact of such extralinguistic factors as the interlocutors’ gender, the
latter being displayed in single-sex and mixed-sex dyads, their age and
emotional state.
In communicative situations which manifest the
equal status of interlocutors, the
informal type of their relationship and the absence of the necessity to
correspond to social expectations, the scope and, consequently, variability of
the linguistic representation of the
NVCC tends to be rather wide and semantically unrestricted. It is particularly
conspicuous in text fragments with the emotions of characters being foregrounded as in the examples given below.
“He did
not sit down, but stood in the middle of the room, holding his hat, glancing
quickly, nervously, at this thing and that.
“Hel-lo!” cried
“Oh!”
she cried, staring at him. “It’s you”. And her face fell, her voice dropped.
He
tried to say something. ”Do you want to see my father about something?” she
demanded” (J.B.Priestley).
“Good,
isn’t it?” he broke out, forgetful in his excitement.
She
tossed her head.
“I
don’t see anything funny in that.”
“Och, Rosa!”
His
hands dropped; all the joy died out of his face and eyes. He looked so abject
that she was sorry for him against her will” (C.Nairne).
This emotionally-marked
peculiarity of the written form of the dialogical discourse confirms the
findings of the American psychologist A.Mehrabian
based on his observations of the daily communication of people. The results of
his experiments show that when it comes to expressing feelings 55% of the
communication consists of body language, 38% is expressed through the tone of
voice and only 7% is communicated through words. If this is the case we express
93% of our feelings in a non-verbal way.
The results of the research suggest new
possibilities for investigating the cross-cultural aspects of the interaction
of verbal and non-verbal components of communication that will help to extract
their common-core elements and culture- specific features.