Facial Expressions and Language

[pic 1]

Facial expressions and language

Lecturer : Elizaveta Tarasova

TRAN, Minh Thien (Ethan)

S2136206

Language is one of the biggest scientific study topics in the world. There are not only humans who have different languages; animals also have their own languages to communicate with others. However, human language is known as symbolic communication system and it also has the properties of displacement and productivity (O’Neil, 2006). Besides that, human language also has the ability to use complex systems of communication. It can be divided into 2 different kinds of communication, which are verbal and non-verbal communication (Denny, 2006). To be more specific, non-verbal communication includes many different classifications such as facial language and body language. These are also one of the most important parts of the communication process, as there are more than 749,000 signals from the face alone (Denny, 2006). In addition, facial expressions are very important in the process of communicating in different languages. Therefore, people are not only identifying their gender or ages in order to evaluate people’s personalities, they also form impressions of people, which are derived from their facial expressions when they are communicating (Moriya, Tanno & Sugiura, 2013). To be more specific, the face is the best indicator of people’s emotions when they communicating, which includes facial expression, eye contact and mouth movements (Moriya, Tanno & Sugiura, 2013). For example, a person’s expression can be expressed in 7 different ways via facial expressions in communicating, which are happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, confusion and excitement (Marcus, 2005). In other words, facial expressions are a large part in the communication process, which are central to human communication. This does not only include personality traits, mental conditions and feelings, it is also a way of expressing behaviour and the cognitive progress (Davis, 2008). As result of that, analysing facial expressions of other people and understanding their eye contact while communicating can help people predict and react to other’s thinking and behaviour (Sawada, Sato, Kochiyama, Yoshimura & Toichi, 2016). Overall, facial expression is still one of the important roles in the communication process and people need to spend time to study and understand them to gain success in work and in daily lives. They are also the largest and most fascinating topic for linguists to analyse all over the world.

References

Davis, J. I. (2008). The connection between facial expression and emotional experience (Order No. 3305213). Available from ProQuest Central. (304642866). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/304642866?accountid=45519

Denny, R. (2006). Part 1: Communication skills - chapter 06: Body language (2nd ed. ed.). London: Kogan Page Ltd. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/287996040?accountid=45519

Marcus, D. J. (2005). Processing of facial expression information in children and adults: A behavioral and psychophysiological study (Order No. 3172824). Available from ProQuest Central. (305436886). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/305436886?accountid=45519