Visual and Auditory Codes:
Kinesics,
Physical Appearance
and Vocalics
Nothing is more revealing than movement.
--Martha Graham
The eyes of men converse as much as
their tongues, with the advantage that
the ocular dialect needs no dictionary,
but is understood the world over.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Importance of Visual and
Auditory Codes
 Biological
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survival value
reflexes and other sign behavior
predispositions to attend to auditory and visual
social information, esp. from caregivers
 Developmental
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acquisition of speech and language
 Social & interactional
Kinesic Code Classifications
 Birdwhistell
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kinemes
kines, allokines
kinemorphic constructions
parakinesics
Kinesic Code Classifications
 Ekman and Friesen
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affect displays
adaptors (object, self, alter)
• e.g., Captain Queeg’s ball bearings
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regulators
illustrators (batons, ideographs, kinetographs,
pictographs, deictic movements, spatial movements,
rhythmic movements, emblematic movements)
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emblems (insults, greetings, departures, interpersonal
directions, replies, physical states, emotions)
Kinesic Code Classifications
 Bavelas
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conversational gestures
• topic gestures-- ones that relate to the content itself
• interactive or social gestures--ones that function to
distinguish true dyadic interaction from monologues
and that are nonredundant with the information
conveyed by words
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–
–
–
delivery
citing
seeking
turn-taking
Kinesic Code Classifications
 Chovil
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speaker comments-- Nonrepresentational facial
expressions or gestures that add in personal
sentiments to neutral statements, allude to
thoughts or memories, and interactive displays
that recruit interlocutor’s attention
listener comments-- backchannel displays,
personal reactions to what speaker is saying,
motor mimicry
 Von Cranach--gaze, mutual gaze, looks
Kinesic Code Classifications
 McNeill & Duncan
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iconics-- pictorial gestures that bear a close resemblance to a
concrete object that is being depicted
• same as pictographs and kinetigraphs
beats-- hand movements that follow the rhythmic pulsation
of speech and use same form regardless of speech content
 deictics-- pointing gestures
metaphorics-- pictorial gestures that present an abstract concept
or thought process
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– incorporates ideographs, spatial movements, rhythmic movements, and
emblematic movements
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cohesives-- repetitions of gestures, movements, and locations in
gestural space to tie together related but separated discourse
themes continuities across separated
Vocalic Code Classifications
 Trager & Poyatos linguistic approaches
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primary qualities
• timbre, resonance, loudness, pitch, intonation range,
syllabic duration, rhythm
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voice qualifiers
• e.g., breathing control, laryngeal control,
articulatory control

voice differentiators
• e.g., laughter, crying, shouting, sighing, belching

alternants (word-like constructions)
• e.g., “pooh,” “brrr”
Vocalic Code Classifications
 Rockwell acoustic versus perceptual
classification
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segmentals
nonsegmentals
suprasegmentals
 Pittam functional taxonomy
Norms and Expectations
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Illustrators
 Attractiveness
Emblems
 Clothing
Eye contact
 Hair
Regulators
 Make-Up and Adornments
Sitting & standing
postures
 Voice tempo
 Voice pitch
 Voice quality
Comparing Codes on
Communication Potential
 Empirical evidence
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invalid studies
valid studies
conclusions
Comparing Codes on
Communication Potential
 Encoding potential
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number of channels available for transmission
number and range of cues transmitted
symbolic v. sign value
simultaneity of transmission
static or dynamic presentation
manipulability
number of functions
Comparing Codes on
Communication Potential
 Decoding potential
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visual and auditory acuity
attention and arousal
multiplicity of meanings and cultural or
contextual dependency
ambiguity or clarity of meanings, discernment
of intent