ABSTRACT
A doubter might argue that some speakers stand completely still, rarely look up from their notes, and have an impassive expression throughout their talk. It seems reasonable to ask in what way such speakers communicate with their bodies? The answer to the common sense doubter turns out, on reflection, to be surprising. Not only is non-verbal communication real, it is inevitable. It is impossible not to communicate:
There is a property of behaviour that could hardly be more basic and is, therefore, often overlooked: behaviour has no opposite. In
other words, there is no such thing as non-behaviour or, to put it even more simply: one cannot not behave. Now, if it is accepted that all behaviour in an interactional situation has message value, i.e. is communication, it follows that no matter how one may try, one cannot not communicate. Activity or inactivity, words or silence all have message value: they influence others and these others, in turn, cannot not respond to these communications.4
