Nonverbal means as regulators in communication

Tenjes, Silvi 2001. Nonverbal means as regulators in communication: sociocultural perspectives. Tartu: Tartu University Press

Nüüdseks olen läbi lugenud nii bakatöö, magistritöö ja doktoritöö. Viimase teistkordsel lugemisel sulas tekst pilgu all kiiresti, sest eelnevate tööde lugemisest tundsin paljud teemad ära. Kindlasti jäi selle tõttu ka palju kahe silma vahele, aga üldpilt kujunes seekord paremini. Esimesel korral kurdsin katsekirjelduste rohkuse üle, sel korral tajusin, et samade empiiriliste andmete kohta järeldati erinevates artiklites erinevaid asju.
Kuna enamus tekstist voolas sujuvalt mõttelt mõttele ja iga vähegi kaugeleulatuvam idee oli toetatud tsitaadiga mõnest žeste käsitlevast artiklist, jäi järele väga vähe sellist teksti, mida pean kasulikuks tsiteerida. Järgnev blockquote on kokkuvõte Efroni kategooriatest, mis tegelikult tuleks ümber tõsta Efroni raamatu kokkuvõttesse, kui ma kunagi kord peaksin Efroni raamatut ise lugema.

• Spatial-temporal. He first studies the spatial-temporal aspects of gestures. Here, a gesture is just a movement that portrays relationships in space:
  1. radius (span of movement);
  2. shape (straightforward, circular);
  3. direction (relathionship between the speaker and the listener);
  4. parts of the body (head, fingers; unilateral or bilateral movement).
• Interlocutive, i.e. involving interactive aspects of gestures:
  1. familiarity;
  2. performance of simultaneous gestures;
  3. use of space and distance;
  4. gestures towards objects.
• Linguistic. Efron investigates the referential meaning of a gesture and provides the following classification:
  1. Logic-discursive: Gestures not related to an object or idea but ot the process of expressing these ideas in action. They stress the verbal-vocal behavior or the content of the message, and are related to the presented ideas on the how - rather than on the what - level.
     1. batons, omvement sthat accent a particular word or phrase. They denote the tempo of the mental activity accompanying speech.
     2. ideographs: movements that trace the flow of an idea;
  2. Objective: gestures possessing their own, speech-independent meaning which may or may not change the meaning of the message:
     1. deictic: gestures referring to an observable object, pointing to available referents;
     2. pictographs: gestures conveying their meaning in an observable way:
        1. iconographs: gestures depicting the form of the observable object;
        2. kinetographs: movements that depict a bodily action;
     3. emblems or symbols: gestures that replace words and are encoded arbitrarily and with intent (e.g., the hand signals of a baseball catcher or a coach). They have a standard meaning in a culture that is specifically attached to the meaning. If an emblem possesses a morphological similarity to the depicted object it is considered a hybrid emblem.

(Tenjes 1996: 167-168

Midagi ligilähedast mõistetele "mitteverbaalsele märgi-repertuaar" või "ihuline ajalugu":

Iconic gestures are designed to communicate; they provide imagery and kinaesthetic profiles. Gestures receive the attention of the listener and thereby become components of conceptual understanding. Gestures are functionally adapted to the requirements of understanding in human communication. Therefore, one has to examine how these structures aid listeners in the processing of speech. It is appreciated when speakers have the ability to make themselves understood because of the unconscious intelligence of their bodies, that is, their hand's competence is surrounding speech with subtle, intricate, and "telling" spatial imagery. (Tenjes 2001b: 17)

Mõned viited:

• Tenjes, Silvi 1996. "Gestures in Dialogue". In Estonian in the Changing World. H. Õim, ed. 163-192, Tartu : University of Tartu
• Tenjes, Silvi 2001. "Gestures as pre-positions in communication". Trames, Vol 5 (55/50), No 4, pp 302-320.
• Efron, David 1972. Gesture, Race and Culture. Paris and Hague: Mouton (Originally published in 1941 as Gesture and Environment. New York: King's Crown Press)
• McNeill, D. 1992. Hand and Mind: What Gestures Reveal About Thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• Mehrabian, A. 1971. Silent Messages. Belmont: Wadsworth
• Poyatos, F. 1980. "Interactive Functions and Limitations of Verbal and Nonverbal Behaviors in Natural Conversation". Semiotica 30, 3/4, 211-244
• Scheflen, A. E. 1973. Communicational Structure. Bloomington: Indiana University press