Body Language

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BODY LANGUAGE
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen

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AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE
• Contrast sign language and finger
spelling.
• Iconic Sign Language: Male-Female,
Past-Future, Hand shape, location,
movement, palm orientation, finger
spelling

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FACE
• Frown
• Giggle
• Grimace
• Grin
• Guffaw
• Laugh
• Scowl
• Smile
• Smirk
• Snarl

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HEAD
• Flutter eyelashes
• Grit teeth
• Hold nose
• Nod head (yes)
• Raise eyebrows
• Shake head (no)
• Stick out tongue
• Wink
• Wrinkle nose
• Yawn

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SHOULDERS
• Rolling shoulder suggestively
• Shrugging shoulders in disbelief or
wonderment

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HANDS, FINGERS & THUMB
• Applauding
• Extending pinkey
• Crossing fingers (to lie)
• Giving the finger
• Holding hands
• Pointing
• Shaking hands (note gender & ethnic differences)
• Thumbing a ride
• Thumbs up
• Twiddling thumbs

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UNCLE SAM’S FINGER
• There is a very effective recruitment
poster showing Uncle Sam wagging his
index finger at the reader. It reads…
• “I want you!” (Mey 223)

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DAVE CHAPPELLE’S THUMB
• Chappelle tells about a high-jacked airplane
in which he sees another Black male and
they do a a thumbs up to each other.
• “We were just communicating that we
understood the situation. We were both
seeing the same thing. What we
understoodwas simply—terrorists don’t take
black hostages.
• (Chappelle 2003)

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ARMS
• Limp wrist
• Raise hand in class
• Sign of the cross
• Waving hand (note gender differences)
• Sports Signals (See the next slide)

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SPORTS BODY LANGUAGE
• BASEBALL: Fair Ball, Foul Ball, Hardball, Home Run, Out, Softball,
Strike
– Plus Signals from the Catcher to the Pitcher, to the Infield, and to
the Outfield
– Plus Coach Signals for the Batter, from the First-Base Coach, and
from the Third-Base Coach
• BASKETBALL: Basket Counts, Basket Doesn’t Count, Blocking Foul,
Held Ball, In Bounce, Moving Screen, Offensive Fowl, Out of Bounce,
Time Out
• FOOTBALL: Clipping, Face Mask, Illegal Celebration, Illegal
Procedure, Late Hit, Offside, Pass Interference, Roughing the Kicker,
Roughing the Passer, Safety, Touchdown, Unnecessary Roughness
– Plus Metaphors related to most of these expressions

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LEGS & FEET
• Crossing legs (note gender & ethnic
differences)
• Sitting on a park bench
• Sitting on a bus seat
• Slapping knee while laughing

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SPACE BUBBLES:
• Asian vs. Latin American
• Doorway, Subway, Elevator
• University of Texas: Texas Tower
Sniper

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TIME EXPECTATIONS
• Latin American vs. Mormon
• Cocktail Party vs. Dinner vs. Class

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UNINTENTIONAL BODY LANGUAGE
• blinking
• blushing
• cowering
• cringing
• shuddering
• trembling
• twisting hair
• weeping

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BODY METAPHORS:
• To be on your toes
• To be stuck up
• To be up in arms
• To break a leg
• To count noses
• To foot the bill
• To have your tongue in your cheek
• To keep a stiff upper lip
• To keep your chin up
• To play it by ear
• To put your foot in your mouth
• To see eye to eye
• To shake a leg
• To throw in the towel

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INTONATION
• Use only the words “John” and “Marsha” to indicate the
following:
• Anger vs. Fear
• Resignation vs. Exhuberance
• Sadness vs. Surprise
• Pretentiousness vs. Aloofness
• Hate vs. Passion

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PARALANGUAGE
• Giddyup (plus lateral click)
• Hiss
• Huh?
• Raspberry (Bronx Cheer)
• Shush
• Swearing (*&#@+&%$@~*)
• Tsk tsk
• Uchhhhh
• Uh huh (yes & no)
• Wolf whistle
• Yuchhhh

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EXPLAIN HOW THE FOLLOWING GESTURES ARE INTERPRETED
DIFFERENTLY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
• Biting your thumbnail
• Kissing someone on the cheeks
• Putting your hands on your hips
• Using arm gestures
• Using eye gestures
• Using finger gestures
• Using hand gestures
• Using lip gestures

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Peace Symbol:
Nuclear Disarmament (N & D)