ABSTRACT
Kinesics is the technical term for what is normally known as body language, that is, the systematic use of facial expressions, gestures, and posture as components in speech situations. Although this visual system is important in so far as a large amount of information is often communicated by means of it, it is not usually held to fall within the scope of linguistics proper, which deals with specifically linguistic meaning, but rather to be part of the broader discipline of semiotics, which deals with signification in general (see SEMIOTICS). Nevertheless, it can be argued that it is not possible to provide adequate theories of naturally occurring conversation without paying attention to kinesics (Birdwhistell, 1970), and the felt need to video record, rather than simply sound record, conversations for study provides some support for this contention (see Gosling, 1981b).
