Understanding Nonverbal and Nonvocal Communication: Examples and Insights
Communication is a multifaceted process that extends far beyond spoken words. While verbal communication relies on language, nonverbal communication encompasses a wide range of cues and signals that convey meaning without the use of words. This includes body language, facial expressions, gestures, and even the tone of voice. Nonverbal communication can be taken in by all five of our senses. Since most of our communication relies on visual and auditory channels, those will be the focus of this chapter. But we can also receive messages and generate meaning through touch, taste, and smell.
To further define nonverbal communication, we need to distinguish between vocal and verbal aspects of communication. Verbal and nonverbal communication include both vocal and nonvocal elements.
| Verbal | Nonverbal | |
|---|---|---|
| Vocal | Spoken words (e.g., "Come back here.") | Paralanguage (e.g., speaking rate, volume, pitch) |
| Nonvocal | Writing, American Sign Language (ASL) | Body language (e.g., gestures, facial expressions, eye contact) |
A vocal element of verbal communication is spoken words-for example, “Come back here.” A vocal element of nonverbal communication is paralanguage, which is the vocalized but not verbal part of a spoken message, such as speaking rate, volume, and pitch. Nonvocal elements of verbal communication include the use of unspoken symbols to convey meaning. Writing and American Sign Language (ASL) are nonvocal examples of verbal communication and are not considered nonverbal communication. Nonvocal elements of nonverbal communication include body language such as gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact.
A primary function of nonverbal communication is to convey meaning by reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is also used to influence others and regulate conversational flow. As we’ve already learned, verbal and nonverbal communication are two parts of the same system that often work side by side, helping us generate meaning.
Last, nonverbal communication can convey meaning by contradicting verbal communication. As we learned earlier, we often perceive nonverbal communication to be more credible than verbal communication. This is especially true when we receive mixed messages, or messages in which verbal and nonverbal signals contradict each other. For example, a person may say, “You can’t do anything right!” in a mean tone but follow that up with a wink, which could indicate the person is teasing or joking. Mixed messages lead to uncertainty and confusion on the part of receivers, which leads us to look for more information to try to determine which message is more credible.
Nonverbal communication is a process of generating meaning using behavior other than words. Although verbal communication and nonverbal communication work side by side as part of a larger language system, there are some important differences between the two.
The Shift from 'Nonverbal' to 'Nonspeaking'
The language we use to describe ourselves and others has lasting implications. Language preferences are personal, especially as terminology evolves within the disability movement to accurately reflect individuals’ unique strengths and challenges. Recently, some have shifted away from the term ‘nonverbal’ in favor of ‘nonspeaking’ to describe individuals who use modalities other than speech to communicate.
The term nonverbal has been around for a long time as a clinical way to describe a person who didn’t or doesn’t speak. Nonspeaking is a newer term that slowly gained some traction in the last ten years, to a point where I see many clinicians and advocates using it. People will sometimes use the terms non-oral, non-vocal, or minimally-speaking - there’s a spectrum of language.
The advocacy community feels that the term nonverbal is stigmatized because the general population equates nonverbal to not having or receptively understanding language. Many advocates want to change the narrative on that. Semantically speaking, the word nonverbal means without words, and there’s pushback to say that nonspeaking individuals have words, but they cannot speak them.
The rise of social media and personal blogs has also given a big push to this movement. These platforms have provided folks a space to debate and get issues that matter to them to the forefront. There’s been additional advocacy to move away from all generalized, low/high-functioning labels and instead describe the strengths and weaknesses of each person without assigning any value judgments.
The bigger umbrella piece to this conversation is embracing neurodivergence and not seeing it as a disability necessarily but as a difference. I think education is always a big step towards change-making. Once you start understanding something more, then you’ll see change.
Alternative Methods of Communication
The advocacy community has been pushing for language that accurately reflects the range of ways nonspeaking individuals can communicate.
Sign language is a form of non-verbal communication, and many people use some sign or adaptive sign. Then there’s low technology Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), which includes things like picture symbols. There are also higher-tech forms of AAC, like speech-generating devices or AAC apps used on an iPad. It’s been fascinating to witness the growth in the area of technology. For example, it wasn’t uncommon to see a 6-year-old holding a 10+ pound AAC device when I first started. Now such devices can be as small as a mobile phone.
AAC devices, like portable tablets individually programmed with words, phrases and expressions that individuals can use to create messages in order to communicate.
I think a lot of people are intimidated by the devices, but if you’ve got the level of computer skills that most people have, then you’ll be able to figure them out. They are designed to be simple usage devices.
There is a lot of communication that we all do that isn’t necessarily our words. If you’re working with individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, you need to be presuming competence regardless of whether or not they’re speaking to you. It’s also vital to provide non-speakers enough time to get their thoughts across. We need to honor all speech as a valid form of communication, whether it’s with an app, sign, or gesture.
From an accessibility standpoint, the acceptance of neurodivergent people is essential.
Functions of Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication conveys meaning by reinforcing, substituting for, or contradicting verbal communication. In terms of reinforcing verbal communication, gestures can help describe a space or shape that another person is unfamiliar with in ways that words alone cannot. Gestures also reinforce basic meaning-for example, pointing to the door when you tell someone to leave. Facial expressions reinforce the emotional states we convey through verbal communication. Vocal variation can help us emphasize a particular part of a message, which helps reinforce a word or sentence’s meaning.
Nonverbal communication can substitute for verbal communication in a variety of ways. Nonverbal communication can convey much meaning when verbal communication isn’t effective because of language barriers. Language barriers are present when a person hasn’t yet learned to speak or loses the ability to speak. People who have developed language skills but can’t use them because they have temporarily or permanently lost them or because they are using incompatible language codes, like in some cross-cultural encounters, can still communicate nonverbally. Nonverbal communication is also useful in a quiet situation where verbal communication would be disturbing; for example, you may use a gesture to signal to a friend that you’re ready to leave the library. Crowded or loud places can also impede verbal communication and lead people to rely more on nonverbal messages. Finally, there are just times when we know it’s better not to say something aloud.
Nonverbal communication can be used to influence people in a variety of ways, but the most common way is through deception. Deception is typically thought of as the intentional act of altering information to influence another person, which means that it extends beyond lying to include concealing, omitting, or exaggerating information. While verbal communication is to blame for the content of the deception, nonverbal communication partners with the language through deceptive acts to be more convincing. Since most of us intuitively believe that nonverbal communication is more credible than verbal communication, we often intentionally try to control our nonverbal communication when we are engaging in deception. Likewise, we try to evaluate other people’s nonverbal communication to determine the veracity of their messages.
Aside from deception, we can use nonverbal communication to “take the edge off” a critical or unpleasant message in an attempt to influence the reaction of the other person. We can also use eye contact and proximity to get someone to move or leave an area. Nonverbal cues such as length of conversational turn, volume, posture, touch, eye contact, and choices of clothing and accessories can become part of a player’s social game strategy.
Conversational interaction has been likened to a dance, where each person has to make moves and take turns without stepping on the other’s toes. Nonverbal communication helps us regulate our conversations so we don’t end up constantly interrupting each other or waiting in awkward silences between speaker turns. Pitch, which is a part of vocalics, helps us cue others into our conversational intentions. A rising pitch typically indicates a question and a falling pitch indicates the end of a thought or the end of a conversational turn. We also signal our turn is coming to an end by stopping hand gestures and shifting our eye contact to the person who we think will speak next.
To successfully relate to other people, we must possess some skill at encoding and decoding nonverbal communication. The nonverbal messages we send and receive influence our relationships in positive and negative ways and can work to bring people together or push them apart. Tie signs are nonverbal cues that communicate intimacy and signal the connection between two people. These relational indicators can be objects such as wedding rings or tattoos that are symbolic of another person or the relationship, actions such as sharing the same drinking glass, or touch behaviors such as hand-holding. Touch behaviors are the most frequently studied tie signs and can communicate much about a relationship based on the area being touched, the length of time, and the intensity of the touch. Immediacy behaviors are verbal and nonverbal behaviors that lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators and include things like smiling, nodding, making eye contact, and occasionally engaging in social, polite, or professional touch. Skilled nonverbal communicators are more likely to be able to create rapport with others due to attention-getting expressiveness, warm initial greetings, and an ability to get “in tune” with others, which conveys empathy.
While verbal communication is our primary tool for solving problems and providing detailed instructions, nonverbal communication is our primary tool for communicating emotions. Immediacy behaviors are verbal and nonverbal behaviors that lessen real or perceived physical and psychological distance between communicators.
Nonverbal communication expresses who we are. Our identities (the groups to which we belong, our cultures, our hobbies and interests, etc.) are conveyed nonverbally through the way we set up our living and working spaces, the clothes we wear, the way we carry ourselves, and the accents and tones of our voices. Our physical bodies give others impressions about who we are, and some of these features are more under our control than others. Aside from our physical body, artifacts, which are the objects and possessions that surround us, also communicate our identities.
In all the previous examples, implicit norms or explicit rules can affect how we nonverbally present ourselves. We can also use nonverbal communication to express identity characteristics that do not match up with who we actually think we are.