ABSTRACT
Nonverbal communication is a basic dimension of human communication. The earliest form of human communication is nonverbal while verbal communication emerges in the latter part of the infant’s first year. This chapter provides an approach to nonverbal communication consistent with a functionalist perspective. Nonverbal communication performs several functions: It regulates behavior and social interaction, provides mechanisms for internal (self) regulation, and expresses emotions. Nonverbal communication occurs on many different channels. The major channels of nonverbal communication include facial expressions, kinesics, paralinguistics, proxemics, olfactics, eye gaze, gestures, and artifacts. Perception refers to our awareness of events immediately outside ourselves, relying on sensations produced by sensory systems like the skin, auditory and visual systems. Adults adjust their speech in many ways to make it easier for infants to recognize and to interpret speech. Prosodic characteristics of adult language addressed to children consist of higher-pitched voices, wider pitch variation,.
