Differences between verbal and non verbal communication

This essay will attempt to distinguish verbal from non verbal communication and will use appropriate examples to show how non verbal communication is used in traditional society and then will give a conclusion. Firstly it will define the key concepts such as communication and society.

The concept society is defined as an organized group of people with common ties, operating through its interacting system of institutions established to ensure nurture, defense and survival for its members (Ezewu, 1983). In other words society refers to a congregation were human beings interact with one another in order to maintain a continued existence. This means that society embraces a group of people who live together and work together and also share similar interests and able to support each other.

The concept communication can be defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding (Anderson, 2007).It is important to understand that communication is derived from the Latin word "Communis", meaning to share. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender and feedback is critical for effective communication between parties. It requires a sender, message and an intended recipient for it to be complete. It can occur across vast distances in time and space. It requires that the communicating parties share an area of communicative commonality. In other words it is the process of exchanging information, beliefs and feelings among people and it may be oral, written, or nonverbal. Information may travel up, down, or horizontally (Knapp and Hall, 2007).

It is important to understand that communication occurs in different ways such as the verbal and non verbal communication. These are important to convey meaning or interact between the sender and the receiver. It enables them to be able to communicate effectively various meanings using symbols and signs that are common to both the sender and the recipient. However, verbal communication differs from non verbal communication in several ways. For example, Verbal communication includes rate, volume, pitch as well as articulation and pronunciation but non verbal communication includes those important but unspoken signals that individuals exhibit, specifically such as carriage or posture, appearance (Bull, 1987).This means that verbal communication differs from non verbal in the sense that it is concerned with producing sounds or speaking in order to communicate or convey messages. Non verbal is mostly concerned with the use of signs or unspoken words in order to communicate effectively.

 Argyle (1988:16) explained that “verbal communication is different from non verbal communication in the sense that it is mainly talking while non verbal communication can be gestures like shrugging shoulders, nodding head, raising eyebrows, pointing fingers”. This means that non verbal communication is mainly concerned with the use of the body to communicate things and with verbal communication there is the use of voice to communicate things to other people.  In other words the other one is verbal and the other one is not.

It is important to understand that verbal communication as speech also contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well prosodic features such as rhythm, intonation, and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page.

 Hanna (1987:6) adds that “nonverbal communication is usually understood as the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless but mostly visual messages between people”. This means that it enables messages to be communicated through gestures and touch, by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact. The messages can also be communicated through material exponential such meaning, objects or artifacts. For example clothing, hairstyles, architecture or color (Hargie and Dickson, 2004). However, much of the study of nonverbal communication focuses on the face-to-face interaction, where it can be classified into three principal areas environmental conditions where communication takes place, physical characteristics of the communicators, and behaviors of communicators during interaction. Unlike verbal communication which is mostly concerned with the communication done using the mouth and non verbal requires the use of the eyes in order to convey messages or to get messages.

It is also important to note that verbal communication differs from nonverbal communication in the sense that the latter involves those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source speaker and his or her use of the environment and that have potential message value for the recipient (Remland, 2009).Basically it is sending and receiving messages in a variety of ways without the use of verbal codes such as words. In other words non verbal communication is both intentional and unintentional. 

The verbal communication also differs from the non verbal communication in that it is not multi function as the latter. This means it does not have several functions as compared to non verbal communication. For example it can be used to repeat the verbal message such as the sender pointing in a direction while stating directions. This means that one can communicate verbally and strengthen the meaning through non verbal actions to enable the recipient understand the point in cases where he or she has not understood the verbal message.

Gudykunst (1988:7) explains that “non verbal can also be used to accent a verbal message in the sense that verbal tones enable the indication of the actual meaning of the specific words produced to the receiver”. This means that the tone of the voice is non verbal code which has the ability to determine the real meaning of a particular verbal message. For example people who talk with the loud voice or shouting when talking their message may not be taken serious by the recipient unlike one who is talking with the low tone. The other function of non verbal communication is that it able to complement the verbal message but may also contradict it. For example a nod may reinforce a positive message and a wink may contradict a stated positive message (Brehove, 2011).The other function of the non verbal communication is that it is able to substitute the verbal messages especially in cases where it is blocked by environmental noise or any other interruptions such as the gestures finger to lips to indicate need for quiet and facial expressions such as a nod instead of a verbal yes. These functions prove that non verbal communication differs from the verbal communication because it is multifunction or purpose.

The verbal communication also can be distinguished from non verbal communication in the sense that non-verbal cues can occur whether person is speaking or not speak but verbal cannot take place if the person is quiet or silent for it is dependent on the words that are produced by the sender ( Floyd and Guerrero,2006).

It is also important to note that non verbal communication differs from verbal communication in the sense that three quarters of communication that takes place is non verbal communication. This means that most of the messages that conveyed from the person are derived from the actions or non verbal communication cues. As the proverb says “Actions speak louder than words.”  In essence, this underscores the importance of non-verbal communication.  Non-verbal communication is especially significant in intercultural situations.

Therefore, non verbal communication is vital and it used in the traditional society in order to deliver information between two or more persons. For example non verbal communication enables the young ones to be able to understand or learn the right ways of behaving by observing the actions of the elders. This means that they are able to communicate through actions and which in turn allows them to imitate or practice

The general appearance and dress cord in traditional society is vital in the sense that diversity of cultures are concerned on how they look and make judgments based on looks and dress. For example it helps to understand a particular a person belongs.  Note that the way a person is dressed or appear determines the status of an individual (Anderson, 2007).

The body movements or kinesics such as gestures are important to communicate certain messages in the traditional set up or society. It is important to understand that the amount of gesturing varies from one culture to another. This means that the one acceptable in one culture may be offensive in another culture. This is used to communicate emotions or feelings or interest between two or persons (Remland,2009).For example some cultures consider pointing using fingers to be rude but some cultures have no problem with the use of fingers to communicate things. The facial expressions are also used in traditional society in order to communicate meanings with respect to smiling, crying or showing anger, sorrow or disgust. For example, in traditional society crying is mostly used during funeral to express someone’s loss or death of the person.

However, the intensity varies from culture to culture. Eye contact is another non verbal cue that is used in traditional society in the sense that it communicates or indicates attention or interest, influence attitude change or persuasion, regulates interaction, communicates emotion, defines power and status, and has a central role in managing impressions of other (Bull, 1987).                           For example, some cultures use eye contact as sign of truthfulness in a person and some cultures regard eye contact as a sign of lack of respect. This is common in some families or tribes in Zambia where the Son in law greeting the Mother in law without looking straight in the eye. In some villages the subjects are not allowed to talk to the chief using eye contact as a sign of respect.

In traditional society non verbal communication is also used to understand relationship that exists between groups of people or between two people. For example the gap or space or distance that exists between people communicates volumes to the type relationship among people. The space or distance between the uncle and a niece when talking may be different from the distance that exists between spouses (Floyd and Guerrero, 2006).The space of non verbal communication can also be used to determine the area or surrounding or land that is owned by a particular person. For example in some places land is regarded to be very important both for privacy and other important reasons. In the village setup there are certain things that are put to show the limits of a particular space that is owned by the people and no one is expected to invade the other person’s territory (Gudykunst, 1988).

The other importance of non verbal communication in the traditional society is that the fact that it enabled the people to be able to understand time. For example the people were able to know the time by looking at the movements of the Sun and Shadows as well as understanding seasons in a particular year. Through non verbal communication the elders where able to help the children learn various skills through observations and imitations.

In conclusion verbal communication is different from non verbal communication in the sense that it is mainly concerned with talking or speaking while the latter is concerned with the unspoken words but actions in order to deliver messages between parties. Non verbal is concerned with the use of gestures, eye contact, facial expressions and other observable actions to communicate. It is important in traditional society though it varies from one culture to another; it helps to convey messages such as emotions, interest and to determine relationships between two or more parties.

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