Nonverbal communication: characteristics, functions and classification

This paper attempts to provide a brief but systematic survey of nonverbal communication in terms of its characteristics, functions, and classification. Nonverbal communication involves all those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and the receiver. First, unlike verbal communication, it does not have a fixed set of signs, and formal rules and structures; it is innate and continuous. Second, it performs such functions as repeating, complementing, substituting, regulating, and contradicting. Finally, nonverbal communication may be classified into two major types: those produced by the body (including physical appearance, body movements, physical contact, facial expressions, eye contact, and paralanguage); and those associated with the setting (including space, time, and silence).