ABSTRACT
Language has traditionally been seen as the characteristic that sets humans and animals apart—a view that also has been strongly reflected in the social sciences. Different aspects of language have been intensely studied within a variety of academic fields, and have given rise to quite a few scholarly debates. Although research on human language has a long tradition, nonverbal communication—the study of communication through other channels than the spoken language—is a relatively new field, with researchers in many different disciplines, partly overlapping those of language research. Thus, it is not surprising that many of the same academic controversies that appeared in relation to language have also emerged with regard to nonverbal communication.
