ABSTRACT
In order to understand human communication it is necessary to understand the functional role of the separate channels which go to make up the stream of behaviour and how they interact. This chapter considers some distinctions commonly made in the analysis of face to face communication some ways of grouping various communicative channels. it presents some primary systems of communication beginning with the verbal system – speech itself – through to the standing features of the interaction. The chapter then describes the main components of each system: verbal, prosodic, paralinguistic and kinesic. The principal standing features of interaction are interpersonal distance, orientation and appearance. Appearance is generally more static than the other two – after all, interpersonal distance and orientation do often change during the course of an interaction. They are usually referred to as standing features, however, because they are much less dynamic than the main kinesic systems which often seem to be in a constant state of flux.
