摘要肢体语言是人类语言的重要组成部分，在中美文化交流中扮演着重要角色。
本文运用案例法与比较法，从四个方面对两国的手势、身势、眼神交流和面部表情四类肢体语言进行了进行对比与分析，即“相同”含义的相同肢体语言比较、“不同”含义的相同肢体语言比较、“相同”含义的不同肢体语言比较、中美两国各自独特的肢体语言比较，并探讨了背后的文化根源。
研究结果表明，两国在生产、生活中存在的诸多共同特征是导致中、美肢体语言存在共性的主要原因，而两国独特的历史文化和语言表达等因素对两国肢体语言差异的形成产生了重大影响。
因此，必须深入了解两国肢体语言及其文化背景，才能提高跨文化交际能力，促进中美文化交流。
关键词：肢体语言；文化差异；跨文化交际ABSTRACTBody language is a very important part in human language and it plays a vital role in Sino-American cross-cultural communication. Divided into gestures, posture, eye contacts and facial expressions, the body language in China and America had been compared and analyzed from four aspects by case analysis and comparison method. The four aspects included (1) the same body language with the same meaning, (2) the same body language with different meanings; (3) different body language with the same meaning, (4) the special body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively. Furthermore, cultural background of body language in two countries was discussed. Results showed that the similar features in both life and production in two countries were the major reason for existence of common cognition of body language. The special historical characteristics and different ways of language expression played an important role in the differences of body language between the two countries. Therefore, in order to improve Sino-American cross-cultural communication, it is necessary to have a good knowledge of body language under different cultural backgrounds in China and America.Key words：body language; cultural differences; cross-cultural communicationContents1.Introduction (51)2. Literature review (52)2.1 Conceptions of relative words (52)2.1.1 Definition of body language (52)2.1.2 Conception of culture (53)2.2 Overseas and domestic literature review on body language (54)2.2.1 Overseas literature review on body language (54)2.2.2 Domestic literature review on body language (55)3. Comparison of body language in Chinese and American cultures (56)3.1 Same body language with the same meaning (57)3.2 Same body language with different meanings (59)3.3 Different body language with the same meaning (63)3.4 Unique body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively (65)4. How to improve the ability of intercultural communication (66)5. Conclusion (67)Acknowledgements (70)References (71)1.IntroductionSpeaking of “Body Language” in a board sense, there are in English such expressions as body movement, body gesture, body behavior, etc [1]13,[2]4. A psychologist proposed a formula: the total impact of a message = 7% verbal + 38% vocal + 55% facial expressions and behaviors [3]15.Nowadays, with the rapid development of economy as well as science and technology, the world is becoming smaller and smaller, and the communication between people from different countries with different cultural backgrounds is increasing [3]19, especially that between people from China and America. Since interpretations of body language vary tremendously from culture to culture, it is a necessity to obtain the ability to understand body language while communicating with people from different countries with different culture. Certainly, there were many previous studies made by scholars on body language. However, most of their researches lay emphasis on the differences of body language between China and western countries instead of those between China and America. Meanwhile, few focus on the history and culture roots of body language and the influence of verbal language on body language. Therefore, the thesis is intended to focus on the similarities and differences of body language including posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts under different cultural backgrounds in China and America so as to enable readers to comprehensively understand the exact meanings of body language and to know the corresponding cultural background and social-cultural characteristics of the two countries.The thesis is mainly composed of five chapters. The first Chapter serves as the brief introduction of the whole thesis; The second Chapter presents the definition of body language, culture and the literature review of body language abroad and in China; The third chapter focuses on the similarities and differences of body language under different cultural backgrounds in China and America and the corresponding reasons of history, culture and language for those similarities and differences will be analyzed at the same time. The fourth chapter introduces several tips for improving the ability of cross-culturalcommunication between the two countries. And the last part summarizes the whole content of this paper and restates the importance of body language in cross-cultural communication.2. Literature reviewThe observation of body language is important to an effective listener because it communicates what is the most important to the speaker. When a person is reluctant to put his feelings into words, or has repressed his feelings to the extent that he is not consciously aware of his feelings, then his nonverbal language usually indicates his feelings. Now, to have a better knowledge of body language, the author here will first introduce the literature review on body language as follows.2.1 Conceptions of relative wordsWhen communicating with a person from different cultures, it is extremely important to possess the ability to understand the exact meanings of the body language he uses. Otherwise, it will cause unnecessary misunderstandings and even lead to some trouble. Body language has a close relationship with culture. Thus, before we come to the study on body language under different cultural backgrounds in China and America, we should first of all have a clear idea about the definitions of relative words: body language, and culture.2.1.1 Definition of body languageBody language is a term for forms of communication using body movements or gestures instead of sounds, or other forms of oral communication [4]25. It is often called kinesics, composed not only of gestures and posture, but also facial expressions and eye contacts [5]23. Gestures refer to the movement of hands or arms to express the meaning of a verbal message which is regarded as the central part of our body language. Posture is the general way of carrying out one’s body, especially the head, shoulders and back when walking, standing, squatting, sitting or lying. Eye contact is a very important part in body language which refers to the study of messages expressed by eyes, including eye contact,eye movements, staring, gaze, blinks and pupil dilation. The face serves as the most expressive function in our body and it can give us some information about one’s character.It should be mentioned that since diverse and complex factors are involved in the study of body language, a considerable amount of academic arguments exist concerning which definition of body language is the most valid and workable. Some scholars claim that body language is the language without words; others give a similar statement that body language indicates all communicative symbols except oral speech. Besides the above mentioned definitions, Samovar and Porter (1995) have made some attempts on a more specific and vivid definition of body language like this: Body language is the socially, biologically, psychologically or culturally framed exchange of valuable messages which are not verbally spoken out but conveyed by the body movements, body gestures, symbols or relevant context and surrounding environment etc [5]10. Also, there is definition written in dictionary: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines body language as the process of communicating through conscious or unconscious gestures and poses [6]143.2.1.2 Conception of cultureIt is difficult to find even a single definition of culture on which scholars may have agreements since culture is really a very large and evasive concept which is very difficult to define. The anthropologists define it as: common knowledge, perceptions and values that constitute the foundation of social, economical and religious institutions in a society (Svanberg & Runblom, 1988) [7]8. It is said that there have been at least over 150 definitions on culture, but none of them seems to be able to tell us everything about culture [8]14.But, simply put, “culture” refers to a group or a community with which we share common experiences that shape the way we understand the world. Most professionals view culture as being the sum total of beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artefacts that characterize human beings[8]3. In other words, culture consists of socially created and learned patterns of behaviour shared by members of a given society—a unique lifestyle of a particular group of people.From above, we know that culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group or category of people from another [7]16. Since China is a developing country while America is a developed country, they havetheir unique styles in the traditions of culture and customs. They are different in many aspects of their life and production which produce a big influence on their body language. When coming to the definition of culture, we should take the cultural backgrounds of two countries’history, customs and literature into consideration; meantime, we also should take the cultural factors into consideration when we are taking part in cross-cultural communication. By acquiring the basic theoretical conceptions of body language and culture, we will go further for the study on the meanings of body gestures under different cultural backgrounds in China and America in the next part.2.2 Overseas and domestic literature review on body languageThis part concerns literature review on body language made by scholars in China and America. Body language, as a communicative method, has a long history and it can be assumed that the history of body language is longer than any other natural languages. Body language is the subject which has received the most research and the greatest amount of public attention during recent years.2.2.1 Overseas literature review on body languageBody language may date back to Aristotle, who had studied the expressions of actions. And Darwin’s Expressions of Humans and Animals published in 1872 can be regarded as the initial study of body language [9]16. It is generally accepted that the study of body language became an independent subject in the 1950s. During this period, there was a significant increase in the number of body language research’s efforts. Ray Birdwhistell’s Introduction to Kinesics in 1952 in which the term kinesics was initiated primarily constructed the conception system of Kinesics. Dr. Edward T. Hall’s The Silent Language in 1959 explored the importance of cultural factors, and revealed the profound mystery of kinesics in communication [10]26. These two books are regarded as two milestones in the decade.The 1960s witnessed a nuclear explosion of studies on body language. There were extensive studies on specific areas of body including eye behaviors, personal space, body movements and body gestures. Dr. Edward T. Hall, professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, went into thecross-cultural perspective of proteomics. Paul Kerman and Wallace Friesen have developed a specific system of classifying nonverbal languages in terms of function in the book The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior[11]20, which provided insights on the origin, usage, and coding of nonverbal behavior.The 1970s made deep exploration on the aspect of body language from different perspectives, among which was Julius Fast’s Body Language in 1973 in which he explained by presenting interesting instances the meaning of such nonverbal behaviors as gestures, facial expressions, postures, and distance between interlocutors[12]14. In 1970, Ray Birdwhistell coined the term “kinesics”—the systematic study of how human beings communicate through body movements and gestures—in his masterpiece Kinesics and Context: Essay on Body Motion Communication.2.2.2 Domestic literature review on body languageChinese researchers have made a great contribution to the study on body language. The study on body language in China originated in the 1970s and prospered in the 1980s [14]6. In the late 1980s, there were two famous monographs, one is An Introduction to Body Language in 1988 by Ge Erling and the other is Motion Linguistics in 1988 by Zhou Jiyu [13]18. And the research in this field reached its research height at the beginning of 1990s. During these years, the number of literary works on this aspect had reached over one hundred [3]26. Since then, an increasing number of anthropologists, linguists, sociolinguists and language teachers are doing researches on intercultural nonverbal communication. The linguist and educator Chen Wangdao pointed out that language is a way to send and receive information, and he was the first one who made a clear distinction of body language between some other means of message transferring in China[8]18. Besides, other famous scholars in our country, for example, Hu Wenzhong, Bi Jiwan and Liu Wenrong had issued several articles on cross-cultural communication and translated many literature works of body language [14]5.From above literature review on body language, we can clearly get that scholars have made various studies on body language. However, most of the researches laid emphasis on the differences of body language while the similarities were ignored. Furthermore, most of the studies focus on the phenomena of the differences instead of the real reasons of those similaritiesand differences, such as the differences between history, culture, traditions, customs and expressions of verbal language, etc.Therefore, the author will focus on the comparison of similarities and differences of body language, including posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts, between China and America and analyze the reasons of the differences with case analysis and comparison method as well. And in the process of this study, in order to thoroughly compare the similarities and differences of body language between the two countries, the author will analyze the above mentioned four categories of body language one by one from the following aspects: (1) the same body language with the same meaning; (2) the same body language with different meanings; (3) different body language with the same meaning; (4) the special body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively.3. Comparison of body language in Chinese andAmerican culturesBody language can serve for communication which can make people communicate very well and smoothly. It is much related to culture. Particular body language and the meaning of body language are largely depended on cultural variations[13]13. Each culture in the world is unique and has its own system of expressing body language in communication. It is the uniqueness of different cultures that cause misunderstandings or even conflicts in intercultural communication[15]17. Two individuals come from different cultures can understand the meanings of some certain different body gestures while the majority of body gestures varying others and the meanings they conveyed seem to be decided by culture in a large sense [13]9. From this we can see that it is important to study body language under the different cultural backgrounds. Besides, we should also have a clear understanding of the deep cultural reasons which cause these differences in body gestures.In this part, the author elaborates the similarities and differences of body language, including posture, gestures, eye contacts, and facial expressions withcase analysis and comparison method from the following four aspects so as to find out the culture root and social-cultural characteristics.3.1 Same body language with the same meaningHuman beings have thousands of thousands of body gestures. Although different people live in different places, speak different languages, wear different clothes, people share many similarities in daily life as well, for example, happiness, anger, sadness. So it is not difficult to understand that people share a lot of similar body language which expresses the same meaning. In this part, the author discusses posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts that convey the same meaning in Chinese and American culture and analyzes the reasons as well.Posture refers to the general way people carry out their body, and it can be divided into three categories: standing, bent-knee positions and lying [15]36. The same posture can be seen in the same situation in different countries. No matter in America or in China, it is easy to observe from TV and movies that individuals of higher status usually use a relaxed postural style, while those who are in a lower status are always in a upright and tense postural style since the “lower status” must show his respect to the senior.Generally speaking, Gestures refer to specific body movements that carry meanings. Gestures are closely related to speech, illustrating or supplementing it. Gestures carry a great deal of meanings, some of which mean the same in China and America. When they are interpreted by Chinese and Americans respectively, there will not be any problem in understanding each other when communicating. For instance, both Chinese and Americans nod head up and down to mean “yes”, and they shake head from side to side to mean “no”; move hands from side to side to convey the meaning of saying goodbye to somebody; applaud to show approval of a performance. What is more, touch is one of the most fundamental forms of body gestures, like our oral speech, carries messages about what we are thinking and feeling. Touch is the earliest means we have to make contacts with others. Touch can indicate many things, including affection, aggression, sympathy and even the status or relationship which exists between people [15]25.Face is the most expressive part of our body. The sayings “one’s face is themirror of one’s soul,” and “The face tells the secret” tell us the importance of facial expressions. During interpersonal communication, we depend heavily on facial cues when making important judgements. Facial movements can express emotion. Research shows that seven basic emotions have been expressed the same. They are happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and interest. In China and America, people almost express the above basic emotions with same facial expressions. So we can easily guess the meaning of a person from his or her face although we don’t understand each other’s language.Eye contact plays an important role in human interactions. People can use eye contact to regulate communication, convey emotions, and indicate degrees of attentiveness, interest, and arousal. It was estimated that we spend approximately 45 percent of our time looking at others’eyes [16]5. As to eye contacts, Chinese and Americans share some similarities too. For example, when we are in different emotions, such as happy, angry or sad, the expression in people’s eyes will change in accordance with the emotions we are in. Sometimes we control our facial expressions to hide our feelings and we can successfully do that while the expression in our eyes will reveal the secrets since it is too difficult to be controlled. In our daily life, we can not only guess a person’s happiness, anger and sadness from his or her eyes, but we can feel whether he is confident or shy, he is pessimistic or optimistic, he is kind or cruel, and so on. So Eyes are called the windows of man’s heart for they can reveal the implication at a deeper level that spoken language cannot express.Why do body gestures have the same meaning even in China and America which have their own unique cultural origins and historical characteristics? The reason is easy to understand. It is the mutual knowledge and cognition in people’s life and production during the development of human’s society which offers the answer. What is more, both Chinese and Americans face life and death, love and hate, hope and fear in life. All people’s basic needs and philosophies are similar, even when their expressions is clouded and confused by racial, cultural or political trappings [15]19. And it is these cultural common characteristics upon which we can build understanding, respect and communication. To some extent, we human beings sometimes may have something in common in nonverbal expressions with gorillas, let alone people from different cultures. There are many differences between China and America,such as culture, history, religion, race, color of skin, etc, but just like many idioms we share in life, for example, “love me, love my dog”, “strike while the iron is hot”, “look before you leap” and so on, we share many body gestures in life too.3.2 Same body language with different meaningsEven body language has a cultural accent, and because of the cultural differences in China and America, the same body gesture differs from each other in its meanings in some circumstances. Just like the say ing goes “do as the Romans do”, it is necessary to pay attention to such differences in the same body gesture to avoid misunderstandings. Here the author studies the differences of posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts in Chinese and American cultures respectively and ultimately to cultivate their inside resources and reasons.1. PostureThere are cultural differences as far as gait is concerned in China and America. For example, Chinese people may regard Americans’ big strides when they walk as being arrogant, and Americans may consider Chinese people’s gait shy and timid. This reason of this difference is simply that Americans need more space than Chinese do since American culture emphasizes individualism while Chinese culture stresses modesty. Also, Standing with arms akimbo is common in America with neutral meaning. Women may do this posture to show their impatience. However, this posture in China means a signal to protect oneself from being approached.Sitting posture is a constant source of cultural misunderstandings. In America where being casual and friendly is valued, consciously or unconsciously people often fall into chairs or slouch. However, in China, a slouching posture is a signal of bad manners on many occasions, for Chinese value proper stance and sitting position.When combined with cultural backgrounds in China and America, it is not difficult to understand the reasons for all these differences. People may note the values, norms, and beliefs or subjective culture of a particular group reflected in the nonverbal codes of the two nations. Americans emphasize informality andseem to have a loose and easy stance, but Chinese ancient philosophy values a rigid, erect and quiet stance. As an old saying: Stand as straight as a pine and sit as upright as a bell.2. GesturesGestures are mainly connected with moving of hands or arms to convey some certain verbal information and emotion. People from China and America may have their own particular gestures, and even the same gesture may have its separate significance for Chinese and Americans in certain contexts because of their different cultures.In America, snapping fingers is to cause someone’s attention, whereas in China it is considered very rude and ill-mannered. In the United States, using one’s thumb and index finger to make a circle while extending the others has the meaning of “ok or excellent”; while in China, it stands “zero”. Chinese may shake the hand with the palm turning downward to ask somebody to come, while Americans interpret this gesture as saying goodbye or asking somebody to go away [14]15. In American culture, stamping one’s foot means impatience, but in China it conveys anger, frustration and remorse. Moreover, in Chinese culture, using the index finger up to tip one’s own nose means that “I did this or it is me”, while for Americans they will think this to be ridiculous or funny.Touch is more acceptable on Chinese campus than American campus, although both China and America are classified as non-contact culture [18]15. Chinese teachers often pat children on the heads or on the shoulders to show their intimacy, warmth, affection and encouragement. However, American teachers are less likely to do that since that they consider this behaviour to be rude, intrusive and offensive. Moreover, in China, one can touch the cloth or the hair of a newly known person to show affection and praise; while in America, this touching is avoided except that the two persons are close friends. Again, tapping the head with a finger means that one need to consider carefully or one is thinking in Chinese culture; while in American culture, it conveys the meaning that one is so stupid. Using hand to cover mouth is to indicate that one has something secret to say in Chinese culture; but in American culture this behaviour means that one is telling a lie. Also, Chinese may clap for themselves after a speech, but Americans may see this as immodest [19]20.There are still many other gestures varying culturally in this part. Forinstance, almost everyone has the experience of pointing a way for others. From childhood, Chinese are taught that it is impolite to use forefinger to point at things. This conception is reflected in the Chinese idiom “指桑骂槐” and “指手画脚”which convey the negative meaning [7]16. Since we have known the different meanings of the same body gesture in China and America, now, let’s come to the reasons for these differences. We all know that in China, culture is mainly connected with Han culture. Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism under the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism while American culture advocates individualism and independence which is clearly reflected in the different meanings of touch. That is to say, a country’s religion, economy and literature, to some extent, have a deep effect on the meaning of body language. Therefore, we should not only learn the meaning of body language, but also learn the cultural backgrounds that hind behind it.3. Facial expressionsFacial expressions are connected with culture. There are differences between Chinese and Americans in facial expressions. Facial movements can express one’s emotions. Research shows that seven basic emotions have been expressed the same by facial expressions [20]11. However, the meaning of facial expressions differs in the values of culture and differs in the context of interpersonal communication.Many examples can be found in daily life. In America, children often make facial expressions when they are disapproving of or questioning actions of their parents, while in China, children who do this are thought to disrespect their parents. As for the relationship between children and parents in a family, being obedient is what Chinese parents hope their children to do, while American parents seem partial to respect their children’s own choices, which is well reflected in the expressions of body language. So it is difficult for Americans and Chinese to understand each other’s ways of education. The main reason is that the difference in family education lies in the differences in their cultures.In American culture, people are willing to express attitude and emotions. The American teachers like to open a friendly environment in his class to make his class more relaxing and interesting. They are more willingly to use body language frequently, such as making face and rising eyebrow, while the teachers in China tend to control their feelings or cover their emotions and attitude. The。
