Non-verbal Communication - Indispensable Complement of Oral and Written Communication

Animals communicate, but only humans communicate through language. The distinctive feature of language is that words carry meanings, which we learn initially through socialization and education. Communication through language depends upon these meanings being sheared. We also communicate in many non-verbal ways, through, for example, body-language, but the same processes of attaching and learning meaning apply. Thus, we learn that the “thumbs up” sign means that “things are OK”. We communicate through images, too. A holiday snap can communicate our well-being on holiday and inform people that we have visited a fashionable resort. The term “image” has been extended to mean not just a representation of something, but also the impression of ourselves that we communicate to other people. We create an image through the style we adopt, and the clothes that we wear communicate a great deal about us. These non-verbal ways of communication carry learned and sheared meanings and may also be considered languages of a kind. Languages are much more than a means of communication, for they also express and shape the way that we see the world and the way that we see ourselves.