Page 45 - Reading Between the Sign Intercultural Communication for Sign Language Interpreters

30 Reading Between the Signs

Kinesics
What could be more natural and easily understood than a friendly
smile, a flirtatious wink, or a warm embrace? As it turns out, plenty!
Many people assume that once we leave the verbal plane, rife with
opportunities for misunderstanding, we enter the realm of univer-
sally understood gestures. Nothing could be further from the truth.
For example, the “OK” hand gesture, with thumb and forefinger
making a circle and three fingers extended, is used in much of the
world; however, the meaning behind it varies considerably. In North
America and much of Europe it signifies approval; in Japan its shape
refers to money; and in France it means “zero, worthless, no good.” †
You had better be extra careful using this gesture in Greece or Tur-
key, however, where it is used insultingly to mean “You have a large
(anal) orifice” (Morris et al. 1979, 100–18).
Besides the erroneous assumption of the universality of its
meaning, there are several factors that complicate the study of
nonverbal behavior. We have no dictionaries to consult. In your
travels, for instance, if someone responds to your greeting with a
head-tilt coupled with pursed lips, you cannot look up its transla-
tion in a book. It is also extremely difficult to ask for clarification,
because the person who performed the head-tilt/lip-pursing was
probably not even aware of having done so (Condon and Yousef
1975, 125–26).
Kinesics, then, is the study of nonverbal behavior and includes
such areas as eye gaze, facial expression, and gestures. Here are a
few more examples of the three aspects of kinesics to give you a
sense of the wide variation and the many possibilities for misin-
terpretation.
Eye Gaze. On a continuum depicting amount of eye gaze,
American culture would be situated somewhere around the mid-
point. We make eye contact when we begin speaking, then usu-
ally look away and then check back from time to time and again
at the end of our statement. When we experience more (or less)
eye contact than usual, we may react emotionally, although we
might not be aware of what is causing our discomfort at the time.
When dealing with people from cultures such as Japan or In-
donesia, where respect is shown by downcast eyes, we may feel

† It would be interesting to trace the origins of the ASL sign TRIVIAL/INSIGNIFI-
CANT, which uses this handshape, to see if it was directly adopted from LSF.

02 MINDESS PMKR 30 10/18/04, 11:22 AM