The use of body language in inaugural addresses made by the US presidents

This study has the aim to make investigations of the body language used by the US Presidents in their inaugural addresses, which can provide the readers with the clear and specific examp

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.220.201

HANOI – 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.220.201

Supervisor: Dương Đức Minh, PhD

HANOI – 2014

I, Nguyễn Thị Dịu, declare that the thesis entitled ―The use of body language in inauguraladdresses made by the US presidents‖ reports the result of the study conducted by myself.The minor thesis is submitted to Department of Post-graduate studies, ULIS, Hanoi for theDegree of Master of Arts It has not been published anywhere

Duong Duc Minh, PhD

Date: Hanoi, April 22, 2014

I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Duong Duc Minh, PhD for hispatient guidance, and careful correction in my thesis

I am indebted to my teacher, Nguyen Thi Hang for her useful materials advices

My special thanks are to my boyfriend, Nguyen Van Tien who have encouraged and helped

me a lot during this study

Finally, my heart- felt gratitude goes to my family members, especially, my mother for their assistance and encouragement in my training course

To date, there have been a lot of researches to build the suggestion that nonverbal communication, especially the body language has the important role in the second language communicative competence of the communicators The most common sense is that the body language can convey equal, or even more meanings in the communication processes A supposition is that if the communicators can have the gist of all the body languages used in communicating situations, the processes of communicating can have the best results This study has the aim to make investigations of the body language used by the US Presidents in their inaugural addresses, which can provide the readers with the clear and specific examples of body languages used in official situations The findings of this research can also enlighten the possible applications of body languages into social communication of English language, especially for education The further applications of body languages into communication will also be included in the latter part of this research From such expectations of the findings, the author will use the methods of translating the speeches made in the inaugural addresses of the Presidents Bush and Obama for elaborated analysis, so that all dimensions of the body languages used by the two presidents will be enlightened The main findings of this study include the two significant aspects of body languages used by the Presidents in their important events: they have more tendencies to use hand gestures than smiles to build attraction of the audiences, and more importantly, they have the stable uses of dominant hands in associations with describing the good things with positive valances, and the non- dominant hands in describing the bad things with negative valances In the this study, the author made summary of the main findings of this research, as well as the emphasis of the different roles

of hands and smiles used in communication, the uses of the left and right hand gestures with positive and negative valences, and the implication of the uses of body languages in cross-cultural communication for better effectiveness Finally, the author also made suggestions for the possible further studies in the same research field of body language in communication.

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The Illustrator used in communication 7

Figure 2:Transition signals used in interpersonal communication 7

Figure 3 Emblems used in communication 8

Figure 4: Affect Display of personal emotion 8

Figure 5 Various Facial Expressions of the communicators 11

Figure 6 Four distance zones in interpersonal communication 21

Figure 7 Comparisons of the uses of left and right hands of the two Presidents 27

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Spoken clauses used by the two presidents in the analysis 25

Table 2.2 Number of right and left-hand gestures during clauses with positive and

negative emotional valence 28

Table 2.3 Test of understanding level of the respodents 29

Table 2.4 Test of rate of remembering 30

Table 2.5 Test of correlation between the uses of body movements and the understanding

of the audiences 30

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

Abstract iii

List of figures iv

List of tables v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the Study 1

2 Aims of the Study 3

3 Significance of the Study 3

4 Scope of the Study 4

5 Organization of the Study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Introduction to Body Language or Nonverbal Communication 6

1.1.1Definition of body language or nonverbal communication 6

1.1.2 Elements of nonverbal communication 6

1.1.2.1.Gestures 6

1.1.2.2.Facial Expression 8

1.1.2.3 Eye behaviors 11

1.2 Theories, Structures and Significance of Nonverbal Communication 12

1.2.1 Theories of Nonverbal Communication 12

1.2.1.1 Ray Birdwhistell's Theory on Kinesics (1970) 12

1.2.1.2 Edward Hall‘s Theory on Proxemics 12

1.2.1.3 Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen‘s Theory on Kinesics (1969) 13

1.2.2 Functions of Nonverbal Communication 14

1.2.3 Structure and Properties of Nonverbal Communication 15

1.3 Significance, Benefits and Limitations of Nonverbal Communication 17

1.3.1 Relationships between verbal and nonverbal communication 17

1.3.2 Studying fields of nonverbal communication 18

1.3.3 Significance of nonverbal communication in social activities 19

1.3.4 Applications of body gestures in nonverbal communication 19

CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICAION OF THE US PRESIDENTS 21

2.1 The uses of Hands and Smiles of the Presidents in Inaugural Addresses 21

2.2 The Uses of Left and Right Hands of the Presidents for Positive and Negative Valences 23

2.2.1 Data collection 24

2.2.2 Procedure 24

2.2.3 Results 26

2.2.4 Discussions 27

PART C: CONCLUSION 32

1 Conclusion Remarks 32

2 Implications for The Use of Nonverbal Behavior in Cross-cultural Communication 33

3 Suggestions for Further Studies 34

REFERENCES 35

APPENDIXES I

Appendix 1: President Bush‘s 2001 Inaugural Address Transcript I Appendix 2: President Obama‘s 2009 Inaugural Address Transcript V

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the Study

Throughout the history of the world, languages used to be the main tools for thecommunities to cooperate, survive and develop Such tools may vary from this type ofcreature to the others For instance, the oceanic creatures such as the dolphins and sealshave their sounds to make lingual connections with the others in their communities; formammal animals such as the lions and the dogs, they may bark or grind as the signals ofcommunicating In another example of the birds, they may sing to call for help or dating oftheir kind Each type of create has its own specific type of language, and the world mayhave thousands of languages to be recognized

However, the most significant and supreme one is the language systems of thehumans Since ancient times, the language systems of humans have associated with anumber of crucial elements, such as the movements, gestures, sounds or symbolic items Todate, there have been a lot of hypotheses of the origin, the spot of time, the methods andconditions of the appearances of languages in the world, and the first one to be used in theworld is still a great topic for debates

The origins of languages have been in efforts of scientists to figure out the firstappearing one, and the progress is still very long for the world to continue There havebeen a number of approaches that scientists have used as tools to find out the true The firstapproach is the ―Continuity theories‖ The assumption of this type of theories is that thelanguages cannot be the single form as the starting point to the ending ones used in today‘scontext Our primate ancestors should have generated a lot of pre-linguistic systems as thefoundation for the later developments of lines of languages Based on the demographic,ethnic, living and communicating conditions, each language can have their separatedevelopments from those systems in their evolutions

In another type of theories, the "Discontinuity theories", which have the

assumption that languages integrated unique characteristics, and that they should have hadtheir appearances in the long progress of human evolution

Another important approach is that the languages can be formed in thecombinations of the genetic codes and the social interactions, through appearances,experiences and modifications (U1bek, 1998) However, the common important agreement

of those theories is that language is the multifunctional tool, which can critically help thedevelopments of human communications It can serve humans with countless cultural,communal, and societal functions.

Firstly, with the cultural functions of languages, it can help the particular society topreserve and transfer the cultural elements from this generation to the others For instance,the Vietnamese people have the customs to teach the children the traditional values such aspatriotism, respect, and worshipping the ancestors; the American kids can learn thetraditional values by themselves to individualism and freedom in social activities.Secondly, by the main tools o shared identities, languages can help individuals in thesociety to build linkages to the others Each individual should have their own perception ofthe significance of contribution and donation to the values of the communities Last but notleast, as for the social functions of languages, it has been recognized as the primary toolsfor human interactions at all times

In any language, conversation should be recognized as the most important tool formankind to exchange information This element has the role as the fundamental form ofcommunications in social interactions For each ethnic group, the traits and methods ofinteractions may vary As an example, the body, signal and behavioral languages of theWestern people may have specific differences from the ones of the Vietnamese people

A comprehensive, effective and applicable investigation of all aspects of languagesuses and traits may have great contributions to the understanding of the learners of specificlanguage, such as English More particularly, the implications and findings of this studyhave been expected to help the English learners to identify and get rid of the potentialcultural shock and failures in social communications

Nonverbal communication, another main tool in making interactions of humansocial courses, has the important role in the second language communicative competence.However, there has been little attention made as efforts to identify and apply the possibletechniques for the English teachers and learners to this essential element in language uses(Gregersen, 2007) Such indispensable role of the nonverbal communication in the humancommunicative process will be identified and exampled in this study

The findings of this study will aim at all elements of nonverbal communicationprocess, such as the gestures, facial expressions, and gaze behaviors used officially used bythe US Presidents in their inaugural addresses They will have the common outcome of

constitute the interplay of body language, so that the English learners can avoid thepossible obstacles and deploy the potential conditions to facilitate their long progress toapproach the world wide uses of English language.

2 Aims of the Study

The main aims of this study will be elaborated as to:

- The different roles of hand gestures and facial expressions in their uses in official events of the US Presidents

- The differences in the uses of dominant and non-dominant hands of the US presidents in relation with their valances to the good or bad things

The findings in this study will be exploited to test the validity of the hypotheses:

- The Presidents have the tendency to use more body movements as elements of body languages than facial expressions

- Different uses of dominant and non-dominant hands of the presidents, according

to the nature of the object in the speeches and the valences

3 Significance of the Study

In our time of globalization of the business and social environment, cross-culturalinteractions have been the important elements to be identified and deployed Culture hasbeen recognized to be very important in the international context of interactions (Hofstede,2001) However, there have been little reaches into the roles of nonverbal interactions inthe course of cross-cultural communications Culture matters, as well as the methods andtime of their effects, should be identified and discussed due to their increasingly importantrole in international communications (Leung, Bhagat, Buchan, Erez, and Gibson, 2005;Kirkman, Lowe, and Gibson, 2006)

Derived from such situations, nonverbal interaction should be placed into the higher

level of significances The findings in this study will be expected to identify and discussthe relationships between the differences in cultural applications of the nonverbalinteractions in social affairs, as well as the effects they may provide the communicators indifferent contexts With the official Western uses of nonverbal communicating elementsidentified and analyzed in this study, the roles, applications and effectiveness of those

elements can have significant enhancements for the learners and communicators of English

in international contexts

4 Scope of the Study

- This study will mainly focus on the nonverbal elements used by the U.S.Presidents in the official events in the history, so that they can constitute thepossible applications of nonverbal interactions

- Besides, the degrees of possible differences between the applications of

nonverbal interactions into social affairs in Western

- Another important expected field of the findings in this study is the portion ofcontent of the interactions to be conveyed by the uses of nonverbal elements inWestern

5 Organization of the Study

Part A – Introduction will give us the background and rationale of the study, the scope,

aims, significance and design of the study

Part B – Development will make various insights into the theoretical background and

data analysis process, with a number of subsequent chapters as below:

Chapter 1 will make initiative presentation of the uses and effectiveness ofnonverbal interactions in social affairs, the theories and traits of the nonverbalinteractions, as well as their effects to the communicators This part will provide thereaders with the possible strategies to deploy nonverbal interactions into socialaffairs, as well as the benefits and limitations of them

Chapter 2 will present the detailed data collection, analysis and discussions of therole of nonverbal interactions in social affairs with the official examples derivedfrom the gestures used as nonverbal communication of the US Presidents

Part C – Conclusions will summarize the main findings of this study, the possible

limitations and suggestions for the later researches in the same and related fields oflanguages

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Body language has the role to help us to possess another way of giving andreceiving information through the moves of our body Body languages can appear in thetwo specific ways The open body language and close body language

According to many theorists, the body language should be considered as the veryold method of transferring information, onto which we can date back to the time of ourancestors Within the gestures and movements, body languages can convey the meanings tothe receiver, even when sounds have no other roles in communication For instance, theopen language can show the receiver that the communicator has no weapons concealed;contrarily, with close body language, the receiver may understand that the communicator ishiding something, which can be threatening to them All the above subconscious behaviorswill be understood by the receiver through body langue or nonverbal communication

In this part of the study, we have a progress to examine all possible aspects ofnonverbal communication, or body languages We will even bring in many examples ofbody language used by many US Presidents in the history In the first chapter of this part,

we will make the initiative demonstration of the uses and affection of the body languages

to the communicators, as well as the communicating effects that this type of languagetransferring may bring to the communicator In the second chapter, we can have moretheoretical insights into the traits and effects of the nonverbal communication in socialaffairs

Coming next in the progress to chapter 3 of this part of the study, we will providethe readers with a number of possible strategies to deploy this method of communicationinto social and communal affairs Besides, we can also list and analyze the possiblelimitations and advantages of nonverbal communication for social communication

In chapter 4, the last chapter in this part, we will make the real approaches to thebody language used by the US Presidents through data collection and analysis, so that suchofficial uses of body language of the Presidents can help us to determine the possibleapplications of this type of communication for the English leaner and communicators

1.1 Introduction to Body Language or Nonverbal Communication

1.1.1 Definition of body language or nonverbal communication

In the simplest form, the language of body can be stated as the ―all communication other

than language‖ (Andersen, 1999, p 2) The core meaning of this statement is that the body

language contains other efforts of the communicators to convey more meanings to the receiver, through symbols or movements of the body As described by Hsiao and Rashvand (2011), body language conveys the messages that the communicators wish to send and expect to get responses.

Being derived from such definition, the language can be translated into symbols, sothat it can be used internationally As an example, when a man raises his arm over the head,together with stretching his muscle, this means that he is trying to relieve his muscles fromboredom However, for this type of movement in the classroom, this means that he has theintention to get answered a question, as using body language to express his intention This part

of the definition implies that not all the body behaviors can be seen as the nonverbal

communication In the second part of the meaning of body language, or called ―other than words‖, there have been the codes created by the body of the communicator, such as the facial

expression, vocal changes, touches, space, physical appearance, and the environment in whichthe communication happened This definition also limits the body language or nonverbalcommunication into the scale that it will only involve into communication between people, toindirectly limit the transferring of information of animals or intrapersonal communication

1.1.2 Elements of nonverbal communication

to point to the appropriate direction which is showed in figure 1 bellow:

Figure 1: The Illustrator used in communication (Gregersen, 2007)

Regulators: is another type of gesture as in figure 2 used in inter-personalcommunication to point out the personal turn or procedure in communication Insocial communication, turn-taking has its important role in determining theinteraction pattern of the communication, so that each participant can have his orher meaning of the meaning and intention of the speaker In most social affair, thisused to be done unconsciously and smoothly, as it can covey the intention of boththe listener and the speaker for the coming session of the communication (Duncan,

1972, 1974) Most of the time, turn-taking in conversation is conducted bytransition signals It is important that the participants should understand the use ofthe transition signal, otherwise the conversation may be interrupted and themeaning of the conversation can be limited

Figure 2:Transition signals used in interpersonal communication (Gregersen,2007)

Emblems: are the nonverbal behaviors used by the participants that can betranslated into an underlying message They can be substitute for words, and theverity can change from this culture to another one For the good understanding of

the meaning of those elements in nonverbal communication, the learners of everylanguage should learn all the possible meaning of those emblems And in figure 3 is

an example:

Figure 3 Emblems used in communication (Gregersen, 2007)

Affect Display: As can be seen in figure 4 is another type of expression of thebody that can be used by the communicators to express the personal emotion at thevery time Most of the time, this type of expressions can be communication throughthe movements of the facial expression such as smiling, laughing or crying.However, the norm of expressing emotion can change from this culture to another

Figure 4: Affect Display of personal emotion (Gregersen, 2007)

Another tool used in nonverbal communication is the facial expressions, which canfurther help the communicator with conveying more meaning of the communication.Knapp and Hall (2006, p 260) provided us with the meaning of facial expression that

―The face is rich in communicative potential It is the primary site for communication of emotional states, it reflects interpersonal attitudes; it provides nonverbal feedback on the

comments of others; and some scholars say it is the primary source of information next to human speech For these reasons, and because of the face’s visibility, we pay a great deal

of attention to the messages we receive from the faces of others.”

The face can be used as the primary tool in interaction to manage the progress ofthe communication, to complement the responses, or to replace a possible speech Theprocess of communication can be continued or closed with the facial expression Besides,the movements of the face can imply the thoughts of the communicator to qualify themessages or to complement them

Depending on the specific cultural aspects, there have been the ―display rules‖ to

be followed by the communicators to be considered socially and situational appropriate.For each specific culture, there are the norms to define the level of emotion to be express incommunication through intensification, simulation, de-intensification, neutralization, andmasking (Ruch, Hofmann and Platt, 2013)

The applications and integration of the above elements of facial expression of eachculture can vary from this one to another, so that the communicator can have the mosteffective manner in social or interpersonal communication In figure 5, we can have betterdemonstrations of the possible forms of facial expressions used in communication to implymore meanings:

Smiles temper a negative message Conspiratorial wink

Eyebrows meet to communicate confusion Happiness

Surprised Face simulates emotion

Figure 5 Various Facial Expressions of the communicators (Source: Gregersen, 2007)

1.1.2.3 Eye behaviors

The eyes used to be called ―the window to the soul‖ Thus, in interpersonalcommunication, the eyes used to be focused more than the other parts of the body This isdue to the unconscious perception of the highly expressive nature, which can very helpfully

to send and receive the communicating messages in face to face communication By thefact that the eye has higher probability of being noticed in communication, it has moreprominent interaction signal to convey meanings

Richmond and McCroskey (2000) describe the uses of the eyes to help us to controlinteractions, elicit the attention of others, and show an interest of the specific piece ofinformation being transferred There are two types of eye behaviors to be identified anddeployed into social affairs, including eye contact and eye gazing Eye contact occurs incommunication when people participating into the communication looks into the eyes ofthe others, while gazing can occur anytime a person look at another (Andersen, 1999)

According to Knapp and Hall (2006), gazing itself has five functions incommunication, such as Regulating the flow of conversation, monitoring feedback,

reflecting cognitive activity, expressing emotion, and communicating the nature ofinterpersonal relationship All the above elements of gazing have their specific roles incontextualizing the verbal message and to complement the understanding of the piece ofinformation being exchanged.

1.2 Theories, Structures and Significance of Nonverbal Communication

1.2.1 Theories of Nonverbal Communication

1.2.1.1 Ray Birdwhistell's Theory on Kinesics (1970)

In this theory of Nonverbal Communication, the author highly focus on thepotential skills of the person to create meanings to the bodily movements that h mightmake in social affairs This theory will put insights and analyze the patterns and repetition

of systems body movements, so that they can be viewed as parts of the socialcommunication

This theory introduced the readers with Kinetics, which contains the ways thatpeople act, to describe the personal moods and expressions in our life Those elements ofpersonal movements may change in the courses of communication In this theory, thevisual part of communication in our life can have affections to the others With theintegration of nonverbal movements into communication, the communicator can expressmore of the meanings that he would like to convey to the receiver

1.2.1.2 Edward Hall‘s Theory on Proxemics

This theory of nonverbal communication of Hall (1966), the author focused on themultichannel affections of nonverbal communications and the effects that distance cancreate to the communicators Besides, distance can be considered as the affecting element

in conveying the meanings to the receiver Proxemics is the core of this theory Themeaning of Proxemics is that distance can make space between individuals in manyactivities

In this theory, it studied the way people behave and react to the space and distanceused in the interaction with the others This theory also embraces the possible ways forspace and distance to be used in social communication Those ways can also change incommunication, according to the culture that the communication happened In Proxemics,

there are many typos of spaces and distances that may create various effects for the

communicator:

 Types of Space

oFixed Feature Space: this includes the unmovable objects involve in thecommunication, such as the rooms and walls

o Semifixed Feature Space: embraces the movables objects in the

communication to have better results

oInformal Space: personal environment in which the communication created, which may vary in different cultures

 Types of Distance

oIntimate (0-18 inches): to be used in communications of closely related

persons, such as family, friends and love ones

oPersonal (1 ½ to 4 feet): to be used in some more formal communications,

such as the interviews or discussions

oSocial (4 to 12 feet): most commonly used in casual communication in daily communication.

oPublic (over 12 feet): mostly used in formal conferences a meeting, with

large number of people involved

In this theory of Edward Hall, distance has an important role in communication toprovide the participants with the indications to the relations with the others, the way toperceive the particular subject, the way to interact with others, and the way cultures canhave effects to the uses of distance in communication Besides, the author also provided thereaders with the factors that the participants can use to affect the others in certainconditions

1.2.1.3 Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen‘s Theory on Kinesics (1969)

In this work, their theory mainly concern with the movements of hands and theface The outcomes of this theory can help the readers with more understanding of themood, personality, mood and actions of individuals in communication The combination ofthe different movements of the face and hands can help the participants to understand more

of the meaning of the communication In their theory, there are 3 ways to analyze the meaning of the nonverbal behaviors of the communicators:

o Baton: the movements to emphasize the content of the communication

o Ideograph to describe more of the thoughts direction

o Deictic movement to point out the content of the communication

o Spatial movement to identify the space

o Rhythmic movement to describe motion

o Kinetograph to describe physical action of the communicator

o Pictograph to make a picture

o Emblematic movement to illustrate a verbal movement

 Adapters: the behaviors to facilitate the release of body intention Those

behaviors can also be used to help the individuals to adapt to the new environment

 Regulators: the behaviors to control or coordinate the interaction The participantscan base on those behaviors to take turns to act or communicate in the environment

 Affect displays: are the presentations of the feelings or emotions of thecommunicators Those behaviors can also describe the tendency of the individuals

to react in a particular environment

1.2.2 Functions of Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal itself can serve a lot of functions in the curse of communication(Harrison, 1973) Nonverbal communication can define the communications by offer thebackground for the communication to be established For instance, the context made by the

participants in the room can indicate the content of the communication to be transferred Itcan also be the behaviors or the ways people dress to join the communication Nonverbalcommunication can also regulate the verbal communication of people.

Most of the verbal communication includes the nonverbal behaviors of theparticipants, which people may realize and redirect the content t of the communication Forinstance, the movements of nod or smile in the communication may indicate that thecommunicator is listening and understanding the content being transferred For thespeakers, he may slow down or lower the voice at the end of the communication Or if hewould like to continue the communication, the speaker would add the signals of pause intothe communication, which can help the listener to keep listening and focus on the progress

of the communication Those subtle signals are the back channel of the communication.They have the function at the peripheral side of the communication, and not in the mainconcentration of the communication

Nonverbal communication can also be the message itself For instance, a smile canindicate the joy of the speaker, a frown indicates happiness, and a wrinkled nose

associating with the saying ―I love you‖ may indicate deception A series of hand movements may indicate the saying ―Goodbye‖ of the communicator There are no words

needed to convey those messages Most of their meanings are culturally determined, andthey can change from this culture to another

1.2.3 Structure and Properties of Nonverbal Communication

According to the suggestions of many scholars, nonverbal communication has thesame properties to the ones of verbal communication Those properties are structured rules,intentionality, awareness, the rate of overt, control, and how to be conducted publicly.However, those properties may be slightly different from the ones of the verbalcommunication (Andersen, 1999; Burgoon, Buller, & Woodal, 1996) In order to be able toconvey meanings in communication, the nonverbal massages should be rule bound, muchlike speech All nonverbal communication has the similar properties, and the rules ofviolation can change the meanings of them

As a result, all the spoken communication are intentional, which means that we canchoose the words to be used in the conversations Similarly, nonverbal communication isalso intentional However, scientists have argued that a greater portion of the nonverbal

communication is unintentional (Ruch, Hofmann and Platt, 2013) For instance, somepeople may intend to communicate calmness and maturity with the deaths of their pets, butsadness still remains in their faces, which is unintentionally.

Similarly, people also have less airiness of the nonverbal communication than theverbal ones Most of the times, people can hear what they speak, which they address to bemore meaningful of the content of the communication Although people can aware of many

of their nonverbal communication, such as the ways they dress, the gestures used, and theexpressions they showed, not all the times they can use those movements for better effects.Despite the beliefs of the liars, they used to be unaware of they are expressing the clearsigns of fear in their face, their postures, and speeches (Hurley & Frank, 2011)

While the verbal communication is more overt, nonverbal communication is morecovert In fact, most people are formally trained for their verbal behavior in school As fornonverbal communication, it is less obvious, and people are not typically trained for thosebehaviors For example, children used not to be trained on how close to stand tocommunicate with the others, or how to express the feeling of anger on their face.According to many studies of the blind and sighted people, their spontaneous expressionsare quite similar, but the deliberately posed expressions are much easier to be told part(Matsumoto & Willingham, 2009)

Besides, nonverbal communication is also less controllable than verb alone Whilethe verbal communication is easier to be suppressed or expressed, and people can choosethe words to be used in the communication, nonverbal communication is much likely tohave different quality to the communication It can be the smile that creeps onto the face ofthe person if he or she knows that laughing is not allowed in the situation (Frank, 2003), orthe smiling person in the situation where sliming is not allowed, despite his or her efforts tocontrol (Hurley & Frank, 2011)

Finally, verbal communication is more public than nonverbal communication Forpublic speaking, the visible or audible messages should be available for large number ofpeople to hear or see, not just for the intended person to understand the meaning To beused in public context, the content of the communication used to be structured, while theverbal communication tends to be foddered for private conversation In the past, whenpolitician speak in front of a large number of people, their gestures and clothes are not theobjects to be discussed However, this trend has been changed so far

1.3 Significance, Benefits and Limitations of Nonverbal Communication

1.3.1 Relationships between verbal and nonverbal communication

Ekman & Friesen (1969) defined that there are six ways in which the verbal andnonverbal communication can relate to another Base on those means, the nonverbalcommunication can replace verbal communication in several situations: repeating,contradicting, complementing, accenting, and regulating the verbal communication

The meaning of ―replacement‖ is that the nonverbal communication can substitutefor verbal communication For instance, in case we are asked for agreement or not for aparticular subject, there are many times we just need to nod or not, instead of trying to utterthe word ―yes‖ or ―no‖ for our opinion of it

Nonverbal communication can also repeat the verbal communication forenhancements In saying ―yes‖ or ―no‖ to words, people can also shake their heads ornod simultaneously The situation is much like when nonverbal communication cansubstitute the verbal communication

However, substitution has the other meaning that in conducting nonverbal form,people do not need to speak out the word while people can still understand theconversation Contrarily, ―repeating‖ means that the speaker needs to say the words outlout and nonverbal communication can enhance the meaning or implications of the ideas.Sometimes, verbal and nonverbal communication can contradict each other For instance,there are also many social situations that people say the positive opinion of the objects,while the facial expression conveys the contradict meaning of his opinion This may due tothe suppression or hesitation in social communication that we may have encountered

Nonverbal communication can also complement the verbal communication insocial situations For example, people may say that they have had a tough day, while themovements and facial expressions proved that they have had to work very hard underpressure Although the movements of the shoulders and the facial expressions can convey alot of meaning in communication, the association with the words spoken out loud can helpthe participants to constitute the meaning of the speaker on their own

Additionally, there are times that nonverbal communication would simply accentthe specific part of the spoken verbal communication For instance, in describing aprogress being implemented, the speaker may use the nonverbal communication

movements to describe the particular step as punctuating or stopping, so that the listenercan clearly know where they are going on Such movements can also emphasize theimportance of the words being spoken out.

Finally, nonverbal communication can also regulate the verbal communication Inassociation with the backchannel communication, there are a lot of rules that nonverbalcommunication can help the communicators to take turns and choose the suitable role inverbal communication In those situations, nonverbal communication can help thecommunicators to organize and control the effectiveness of the conversation

1.3.2 Studying fields of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication can be recognized as the study that can be integratedinto many fields such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, communication, computerscience, event art, and even in criminal cases In each of them, the particular aspect orapplication of nonverbal communication will be examined For instance, psychology willspecifically focus on the nonverbal expressions of personal emotions; anthropology willparticularly focus on the applications of interpersonal spaces in various social situations;computer science will concentrate on the appearance and movements of the avatars insoftware or application; and communication may have focuses on the content of themassages being transmitted However, the boundaries among them are quite vague, andthere used to be more overlaps among them than divergence in real applications(Matsumoto, Frank and Hwang, 2013)

In the history, evidences proved that all cultures have their centuries of written ororal appearances of the significance of nonverbal communication in the basic forms ofhuman communication (Matsumoto, Frank and Hwang, 2013) For example, for manythousand years, the Chinese culture has had sets of rules to define and judge the personalityand characters of a specific person base on the size, shape, or the positions of parts of thebody

Although there have not been many evidences for the relationships of facialexpressions and personality, the modern people still believe on this validity Similarly, inthe Greek, Indian and African cultures, the situations are the same for many efforts of thehumans to define the possible relationships between nonverbal communication andpersonality or internal perception (Matsumoto, Frank and Hwang, 2013)

1.3.3 Significance of nonverbal communication in social activities

Although to date, there have been a lot of information available for the significance

of nonverbal communication in conducting social activities, scientific comparisons ofverbal and nonverbal communication indicated that the vast majority of conversationalmessages communicated are nonverbal (Friedman, 1978) According to the informationgiven in this study, the estimated amount of information to be communicated in nonverbalforms accounts for the range of 65% to 95% of the total number of messages conveyed.This fact can be ironic, as we compare with the perception that people will mostlyconsciously deploy and appreciate verbal communication in interacting and judging theothers (Ekman, et al 1985)

Nonverbal communication should be recognized as the essential part, the ―hiddendimension‖ of communication as the second, silent language to be used in social activities(Hall, 1973) Generally, if one is to miss attentions to the nonverbal behaviors incommunication, there are a lot of chances that he or she would much of the content of thecommunication and the real information to be conveyed This proved that activeobservation in social communication is essential for effectiveness of communication

However, so far, there have been no schools or classes for nonverbal behaviors.Despite the fact that this type of communication can contribute much to the effectiveness

of communication in our social activities, most aspects of nonverbal communicationacquired and deployed in our communication are done in real living experience We canhave the chances to manage or analyze the nonverbal meanings conveyed from our parents,families, friends of partners, things regarding to nonverbal communication used to beconducted informally and implicitly (Hall,1973; Matsumoto, Frank and Hwang, 2013)

1.3.4 Applications of body gestures in nonverbal communication

The gestures used in nonverbal communication can be categorized as the handmovements (can be associated with the movements of the face and the body as well) Theyused to be used for the two main purposes: to make illustrations of the content of thespeech and to convey more of the verbal meaning Most of the times, gestures are veryinteresting, since they can be recognized as forms of embodied cognition, or they are the

movements that can express some kind of thought or the process of thinking of the speaker(Kinsbourne, 2006).

Bouissac (2006) also defined that the gestures can be combined with the physicalanatomy and cognitive and language capabilities of the communication The application ofthe gestures can help the communication process to be more effective and quickly, sincethe meanings can be conveyed beyond words uttered of the language used (Capirci &Voltera, 2008) Gestures can also help to increase the cognitive load of the particularperson when he is thinking of what to be said next (Goldin – Meadow, Nusbaum, Kelly &Wagner, 2001) For instance, when being asked to count, with counting, ones can countmore quickly and accurately with the number of objects required (Carlson, Avraamides,Cary & Strasberg, 2007)

Besides, the gestures can also help to smooth the interpersonal communication(Chartrand & Bargh, 1999) and increase the remembering abilities of the communicators(Butterworth & Beatie, 1978) Thus, gestures can be recognized to be able to increase themental and efficient abilities of the speakers in social communication

From the above defined significances of gestures in the communication process,they have the critical role in the communication process As a result, this study will aimmainly at the gestures used by the two US Presidents in the important events The officialuses of gestures of the Presidents can be will be analyzed in relations with the culturalcontexts, so that the applications and meanings of them will be proposed in the findings ofthis study In the next chapter of this study, the gestures of hands and faces of the USPresidents will be enlightened and analyzed, so that the background meaning conveyedwill be constituted

CHAPTER 2: DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICAION OF THE US PRESIDENTS

2.1 The uses of Hands and Smiles of the Presidents in Inaugural Addresses

According to Hall (1966), in social communication, there are four zones in figure 6that the communicators keep to interact with the others They are the public, social,personal, and intimate As described by Hall, if the specific distance chosen in thecommunication changes, there will be changes to appear in the effects and progresses ofboth verbal and nonverbal communication In adjustment in the progress of interpersonalcommunication can pose the associating losses of the recognition of the communicatorswith the changes in facial expressions and the modifications of hand gestures

Figure 6 Four distance zones in interpersonal communication

As we have elaborated in the above sections of this study, the hand and gestureshave been the most important elements used in nonverbal communication In the limitedscale of this research, we will present and analyze the uses of hands and gestures as the

body languages of the US Presidents in the inaugural addresses The official and scientificexamples of those uses of body languages in the US presidents can help us to build moresignificance of the elements of nonverbal communication in social affairs.

According to many researchers, the nonverbal behaviors can serve and number offunctions in social interactions (Ekman & Friesen, 1969) and to be affected by the self-presentational emotion (Riess & Rosenfeld, 1980) Thus, we can predict that there will bemany smiles used by the Presidents in their inaugural address in engagements (Whitehead

& Smith, 1999) Godfrey, Jones, & Lord, (1986) defined that people will smile more in their progresses of ingratiating and when seeking for approval (Rosenfeld, 1966)

Based on the above facts that in social affairs, as the distance increases, handgestures will be more important than facial ones, we can also predict that the US Presidentswould use more hand gestures than the changes in their faces in inaugural addresses Thiswas due to the fact that the hand gestures have been attributed with power (Spiegel &Machotka, 1974) and dominance in current social position (Dovidio, Brown, Heltman,Ellyson, & Keating, 1988; Dovidio & Ellyson, 1982; Dovidio, Ellyson, Keating, Heltman,

& Brown, 1988)

Besides, Hall (1966) also stated that a change in public distance will generate andchange in the speaking style of the speakers, especially the Presidents in their speakingpositions In important social affairs, people must exaggerate the voices, gestures, and bodystance to get all the information conveyed to all the audiences Scientifically, in eachinaugural address, there should be many changes in forms of nonverbal communication, sothat there can be a lot of effective channels to convey the information to the audiences

From such proposition, researchers have collected and made analysis of thefrequency and effects of the hands and gestures in inaugural addresses of the Presidents:Dwight D Eisenhower, John F Kennedy, Richard M Nixon, George H W Bush, andWilliam J Clinton Although there have been availability of the presidents Harry S.Truman, Ronald W Reagan, and Jimmy Carter, the video tapes of their presentations couldnot allow such analysis, thus their performances in those inaugural addresses cannot beincluded in our research field in this study

In the implementation of the analysis, the researcher made efforts to rate theeffectiveness of the nonverbal communication in their inaugural addresses by turning offthe sound to remove the affections of the sounds to the meanings conveyed, to enlighten