Nonverbal Communication and Body Language
Legal English and Communication Skills Notes
Dr. Barnali Saha
Sections: L, N and K
1. Your facial expressions, gestures, posture, and tone of voice are powerful communication
tools.
2. While the key to success in both personal and professional relationships lies in your ability
to communicate well, it’s not the words that you use but your nonverbal cues or “body
language” that speak the loudest.
3. Body language is the use of physical behaviour, expressions, and mannerisms to
communicate nonverbally, often done instinctively rather than consciously.
4. All of your nonverbal behaviours—the gestures you make, your posture, your tone of
voice, how much eye contact you make—send strong messages. They can put people at
ease, build trust, and draw others towards you, or they can offend, confuse, and undermine
what you’re trying to convey.
5. By improving how you understand and use nonverbal communication, you can express
what you really mean, connect better with others, and build stronger, more rewarding
relationships.
6. Your nonverbal communication cues—the way you listen, look, move, and react—tell the
person you’re communicating with whether or not you care, if you’re being truthful, and
how well you’re listening.
7. When your nonverbal signals match up with the words you’re saying, they increase trust,
clarity, and rapport. When they don’t, they can generate tension, mistrust, and confusion.
Nonverbal communication can play five roles:
Repetition: It repeats and often strengthens the message you’re making verbally
Contradiction: It can contradict the message you’re trying to convey, thus indicating to your
listener that you may not be telling the truth.
Substitution: It can substitute for a verbal message. For example, your facial expression often
conveys a far more vivid message than words ever can.
Complementing: It may add to or complement your verbal message.
Accenting: It may accent or underline a verbal message. Pounding the table, for example, can
underline the importance of your message.
Types of nonverbal communication
The many different types of nonverbal communication or body language include:
Facial expressions. The human face is extremely expressive, able to convey countless emotions
without saying a word. And unlike some forms of nonverbal communication, facial expressions
are universal. The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust are
the same across cultures.
Body movement and posture. Consider how your perceptions of people are affected by the way
they sit, walk, stand, or hold their head. The way you move and carry yourself communicates a
wealth of information to the world. This type of nonverbal communication includes your posture,
bearing, stance, and the subtle movements you make.
Gestures. Gestures are woven into the fabric of our daily lives. You may wave, point, beckon, or
use your hands when arguing or speaking animatedly, often expressing yourself with gestures
without thinking. However, the meaning of somegestures can be very different across cultures
.
Eye contact. Since the visual sense is dominant for most people, eye contact is an especially
important type of nonverbal communication. The way you look at someone can communicate
many things, including interest, affection, hostility, or attraction. Eye contact is also important in
maintaining the flow of conversation and for gauging the other person’s interest and response.
Touch. We communicate a great deal through touch. Think about the very different messages
given by a weak hand shake, a warm bear hug, a patronizing pat on the head, ora controlling grip
on the arm, for example.
Space. Have you ever felt uncomfortable during a conversation because the other person was
standing tooclose and invading your space? We all have a need for physical space, although that
need differs depending on the culture, the situation, and the closeness of the relationship. You can
use physical space to communicate many different nonverbal messages, including signals of
intimacy and affection, aggression or dominance.
Voice. It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. When you speak, other people “read” your
voice in addition to listening to your words. Things they pay attention to include your timing and
pace, how loud you speak, your tone and inflection, and sounds that convey understanding, such
as “ahh” and “uh-huh.” Think about how your tone of voice can indicate sarcasm, anger, affection,
or confidence.
