OntheTaboodifferencesinBodyLanguageinChineseandWesterncultures淺析肢體語言禁忌在中西文化中的差異

1、on the taboo differences in body language in chinese and western cultures淺析肢體語言禁忌在中西文化中的差異a thesis submitted to the foreign languages department of northwest university for nationalities for the degree of bachelor of artsby supervisormay 4th, 2013table of contents1introduction.12the significance and

2、 features of body language. 22.1 significance of body language. . .22.2 the features of body language33taboos in body language.33.1 taboos of facial expressions. 33.1.1 smiling43.1.2 smacking.43.1.3 covering the mouth.43.2 taboos of eye contact.43.3 taboos of gesture.53.3.1 waving.53.3.2 “v” gesture

3、.63.3.3 “ok” gesture.63.3.4 middle finger-up.63.3.5 thumbs-up.73.3.6 shaking hands.73.4 taboos of posture.83.4.1 sitting. .83.4.2 crouching.93.4.3 walking. .93.5 taboos of touch. .93.5.1 touching with stringers body.103.5.2 touching with bodies of the same sex.103.5.3 touching with childrens body.10

4、4 conclusion.115 references.126 acknowledgements. .13 taboo in body language between china and west【abstract】the two ways of human communications, the verbal communication and non-verbal communication are complementary to each other and become undivided entirety. body language is the most normal non

5、-verbal communication in human communication, including facial expression, eye contact, gesture, posture and touch, etc. the same act of body language can be considered as the different signal and information by the people with different cultural background. once leaving it out, one may outrage othe

6、rs. therefore, in the inter-culture communication between china and the west, only by acquiring taboos in body language of each other can people avoid culture conflict.【key words】non-verbal communication, body language, taboo, intercultural communication【摘要】人類交際有兩種形式:語言交際和非語言交際。這兩種形式相輔相成，構成人類交際不可分割的

7、整體。體態(tài)語是人類交際中最常見的一種非語言行為,它包括眼神、手勢、身姿、面部表情和體觸行為等。由于文化差異,同一動作的體態(tài)語會被不同文化背景的人理解為不同的信號和不同的信息,稍不注意就會犯忌。因此,在中西方跨文化交際中,人們應了解彼此的體態(tài)語禁忌,這樣才能避免因不當?shù)捏w態(tài)語行為而引起文化沖突?！娟P鍵詞】非言語交際 肢體語言 禁忌 跨文化交際 1. introduction human being communicates with each other by two ways. one is verbal communication, and the other is non-verbal c

8、ommunication. the successful cross-cultural communication needs to understand not only the verbal behavior but also the non-verbal. body language is the most common non-verbal communication and it is a symbol system, an information carrier of people exchanging ideas and expressing emotions which gen

9、erally accompany and give a hand in message delivery. merriam-webster's collegiate dictionary says body language is the gestures, movements, and mannerisms by which a person or an animal communicates with others. a dictionary of linguistics and phonetics thinks it is a term in semiotics for the

10、systematic use of facial expression and body gesture to communicate meaning, especially as these relate to the use of language (e. g. when a smile or a frown alters the interpretation of a sentence) (david, 2008). to summarize, body language delivers a message to make the conversation with each othe

11、r go on in term of acts of the parts of a body, including facial expression, eye contact, gesture, posture and touch, etc.body language of human beings has something similar among those who speak varied languages, live in different regions and have diverse cultures, so they can communicate effective

12、ly to some extent. moreover, body language as well as language is the vehicle of culture, and is a set of clear, definite and model sign which comes into existence from the culture of its own. meanwhile, as the language, body language also has the cultural mission interweaving with culture together.

13、 body languages of different nationalities reflect different cultural environments, life styles, thoughts or ideas, religions and services, concept of values, and habits of thinking which are rooted in the historical and cultural traditions of their own region, own nationality and own country(geng,1

14、988). they are unique for diverse cultures so that they make different appearances of body language. at the same time, due to these behaviors, it is easy for people to make a taboo in body language that can cause misunderstanding of communication or cultural conflicts even a war. therefore, the main

15、 body of the paper is divided into three parts: the importance and characters of body language, taboo behaviors between china and the west, and the conclusion about how to avoid taboos in body language to help people to reduce or avoid the misunderstanding and conflicting of body language so that pe

16、ople can have more successful communication.2. the significance and features of body language2.1 significance of body languagebody language, resorted to persons visual organ directly, is the only way to communicate with each other and plays a decisive role in the human history of communication befor

17、e language emerged. a research shows that human did not have sounds and written language in the early years of human evolution. humans had no choice but to live and work together due to irresistible power of nature and ferocious attacks of beasts. thereby body language, expressing ideas and informat

18、ion, produced while people were working (edward, 1976). moreover, body language acquires function of addition, negation, adjustment, substitution and emphasis which plays a determine role in the course of communication, passes on a message more truly and expresses emotions more accurately comparing

19、with linguistic performance. furthermore, a remarkable psychologist, birdwistle, thinks that more than 65 percent of communications depend on facial expression, eye contact, gesture, posture and touch, etc (jia, 1997). besides, some researches also show that when a person reveals emotions and attitu

20、des, only 7 percent speak, but 93 percent are in tone and facial expression (hu, 1995).however, in cross-cultural communication many a man merely focuses on accuracy, appropriateness and acceptability of verbal communication while skipping over the differences and influence of body language which ma

21、ke cultural misunderstandings and conflicts occur continually. presently, chinese have known about verbal taboos so much like age, income, belief, etc., but still little in body language. for instance, talking with foreigners too close makes them feel uncomfortable; looking directly at chinese, espe

22、cially women, makes them feel offensive when a conversation occurs between chinese and westerner. it follows that it influences on the conversation if just have an eye on taboos about speaking (pan, 2005). therefore, it is necessary to discuss taboos in body language of non-verbal communication in o

23、rder to make people recognize its importance of intercultural communication.2.2 the features of body languagejust the same as spoken language, body language is a way to deliver that accumulating during long life in human history. with diverse cultural background, pattern of manifestation and connota

24、tion of body language not only have similarity but disparity. as a result, there are two features of body language: biological and cultural features.biological features refer to the special features which human, whatever nations, all have to express some emotions because the facial expression is inn

25、ate behavior and human physiology is in common. for example, people smile when being happy, gape eyes when being angry, and frown when feeling dissatisfied, etc. the very similarity of body language makes chaplin beloved by chinese through his brilliant performance in silent film.cultural features m

26、ean some body languages get acquired and pass on from generation to generation, sharing with the members of social groups and being the part of those cultures. owning to several cultural backgrounds between china and the west, they build up respective values and behavior patterns so that they have n

27、o alikeness expressing and understanding body language.besides, many behaviors of body language are acquired and particularly accepted due to customs. for example, a shrug done by anglo-americans means having no other way or being rather baffling; saluting with the hands folded, a chinese traditiona

28、l etiquette, expresses good wish for each other during festivals. hence, in cross-cultural communication, the same action or behavior can comprehend different information by various people with unlike cultural background: a courteous conduct will deem to be impolite; an appropriate hint will be rega

29、rded as offence. the reason is that, on the one hand, one action suggests politeness; on the other hand, the other is measured with the standard of ones own country. therefore, the misunderstanding of body language in the cross-cultural communication common occurrence, especially in business communi

30、cation, can bring about failure in negotiations or immeasurable loss in economy (carley, 1997).3. taboos in body language3.1 taboos of facial expressionsthe most crucial and conspicuous facial expressions, for physiologic and biologic reasons, show a great variety of emotions on the face, such as an

31、gry, hate, fear, happy, sad and surprise. there is some mirror of facial expressions like “pull a long face” and “be all smiles”. however, the same expression may take so different meanings that it is not easy to comprehend.3.1.1 smilingsmiling is the common nature of human beings. nonetheless, in t

32、he communication, smiling has diverse meanings because of different cultures. in china, smiling refers to being happy or friendly as well as in america, but sometimes also expresses apology or embarrassment. resulting in culture unlike, it is all too often to put the boot on the wrong foot. for inst

33、ance, an american feels embarrassed when knocking over a dish while eating and then nearby, a chinese gives comfort to him by smiling which means “it doesnt matter” or “dont mention it”, etc. nevertheless, the american feels he is sneered at by others and gets angry and takes an aversion to that smi

34、ling. 3.1.2 smackingpeople smacking indicates food is tasty while they are eating in china, but quite the reverse in british, which means food is vapid. likewise, it is the symbol to over-exaggerate agony and sorrow in the mediterranean. therefore, do not smack at table to keep polite and to lessen

35、the chance of misunderstanding.3.1.3 covering the mouthboth chinese and westerners may do the action of covering their mouths. chinese covering their mouths refers to whispering with people or avoiding saliva out of mouth whereas the british and the americans consider it is to conceal a lie. therefo

36、re, people had better not do that in case they make a negative effect when communicating with others (li, 2000).3.2 taboos of eye contacteye contact is the bridge of passing on information. different eye contact reflects disparate thought, as well as psychology effect. as an important aspect of body

37、 language, eye contact has dissimilar rules in the distinct culture, westerners regard eye contact directly as honesty, howbeit chinese think it is short of respect even offence. however, long time to contact with each other can be deemed to unsuitable; even with appreciative sight can make the othe

38、r angry too. many foreigners usually feel angry or annoyed when local people looking at them with curiosity for a long time during their travel or lectures in china (guo mingchen, 2005). though there is no maliciousness, it is still impolite. in intercultural communication, once neglect the usage an

39、d connotation of eye contact, people can be rude to some extent and violated a taboo.for instance, when two arabs talk together and stare at each other with warm eyes, this eye contact is not appropriate for two men by reason that long time to gaze is always considered to be a part of homosexual sub

40、cultures codes in body language from the angle of american culture. furthermore, an educated british believes that keeping his eyes on others directly when communication is gentility; while chinese may think one staring at himself all the time is up to no good or take off his coat; spanish always av

41、ert the eye contact to show “respect” and “obey” that they are by dint of fan to pass on the mute massage and since then it has come to “a speaking spanish fan” (lian, 2005).in the 19th century, after traveling spain, a france writer gautier reported frankly: “in spain, i have never seen any spanish

42、 women didnt bring her own fan to wander everywhere even go to the church. they play the fan absolutely exquisiteness, no matter open, close, or move between the fingers. how nimble they are! in front of these ladies, any a magician may suffer an eclipse.” (lian, 2005)3.3 taboos of gesturegesture is

43、 the most significant compose in body language and the necessary tool of communication. around the world, gesture is plenty that diverse from cultural background and gives different connotations. generally speaking, nations of south europe as italy, spain, and greece are the most frequent and exagge

44、rate to use gesture; nations of middle or western europe like germany, british and holland take the second; nations of far northern take third, because few gestures are used to communicate with each other (xia and zhang, 2003). thereby, using gesture should be quite careful otherwise taboo is easily

45、 made.3.3.1 wavingchinese and american all have gesture to wave people to come, but people can be misunderstood by each gesture for which suggests different connotations. when chinese wave someone to come, they often stretch out their arm, palm down, and the hand swing up and down, back and forth wh

46、ile westerners think this action seem to tell them pejoratively to go away; whereas american wave someone, their palm up, and just a little shake by the index finger or all fingers but for chinese adults it is impolite and disrespectable without dispute because they frequently use this to call the b

47、aby, cat, dog or other little animals.3.3.2 “v” gesturethere is a universal language that means “victory” by stretching the right hands forefinger and the middle finger to make a “v” gesture (xia and zhang, 2003). “v” is the first letter of the word “victory” (xia and zhang, 2003). nevertheless, rem

48、ember to make sure that the palm toward outside is the victory meaning, on account of the palm toward inside equal to a notorious gesture around most european countries. it is said that winston churchill, the prime minister of british, made a wrong “v” that took the palm toward inside due to a mista

49、ke in a grand-scale meeting which made audience with different reflections: some booed by a round of applause; some were in a daze with pop-eyed; some burst into peals of laughter. why the audience so astonished is the gesture not meaning “victory” but indecency.3.3.3 “ok” gestureundisputed, “ok” ge

50、sture represents “no problem”, “every thing is all right”, “i am fine” and so on in english, which gradually becomes a world language and often appears in america and britains daily life. but there is a region in the south of france where “ok” gesture shows “zero” and “not worth a penny”. thus a bri

51、tish use “ok” gesture to throw bouquet at a new car brought by a french friend and it can be sure that his friend must be unhappy. in middle east and some areas of north america, the gesture is the symbol of a hole or hollow, expressing homosexual evidently. if somebody takes this gesture in a pub o

52、r other public places, he/she may look for a homosexual mate and at that time you do not answer him/her by taking thumbs-up which means you say “yes” for dating with him/her. in addition, it is an insult in the south america.3.3.4 middle finger-upin america, there also have an obscene gesture of def

53、iance or derision by pointing or jabbing the middle finger upward to insult others. its called middle finger-up which is the symbol of licentious and indecent behavior of the male reproductive organs. people called middle finger “a shameless finger” and chinese accordingly must not imitate absolutel

54、y (pan, 2005). besides, some time in a live football match, it can be seen commonly a sportsman made the middle finger upward by occasion of dissatisfied with the opposing team or spectators so that he must be sending-off by a red card by the referee, definitely.in the bargain, when talking with ame

55、rican, they often point at someone or something by middle finger to emphasize a statement or explain an argument but it is a taboo to be pointed by others in middle finger when making a conversation with chinese. because they believe that pointing at others by middle finger must be an offensive beha

56、vior to others. farther, chinese will try to ask you to look before you leap or try to think again when solving the difficult problem through a middle finger to draw a circle at the temple while westerners think that if someone does the action, he/she must be crazy or weird. therefore, do not have a

57、 try to use this gesture when going out abroad.3.3.5 thumbs-upthumbs-up is also becoming a world language which is the most general acts of chinese to speak well of others and smile on others. in america and france, in order to take a free car people usually take thumbs-up at lateral direction but in hellenic republic, this gesture just like a “middle finger-up” which means an indecent act. surely you sh