Bloomsbury Academic Understanding Nonverbal Communication: A Semiotic Guide

The human body is a primary source of meaning-making, with the body conveying over two-thirds of our messages. But how can we understand these physical communicative cues? How are they being expressed and exploited in new media and multimodal online and mobile interaction? Offering an in-depth guide to help you investigate and understand real and virtual nonverbal communication using semiotic theory, this book assumes little previous knowledge of semiotics or linguistics. With in-depth, comparative case studies, each chapter deals with a traditional aspect of nonverbal communication, such as facial expressions, touch, and gesture, before extending the discussion to new media and cyberspace. Explaining the issues step by step and supported by exercises, directed further reading and a glossary of key terms, Understanding Nonverbal Communication provides you with all the tools you need to understand how nonverbal communication unfolds in all kinds of contexts, and the kinds of messages that it makes possible. Review "A state-of-the-art textbook written in clear and understandable language with insightful tables and figures and abundant examples to illustrate its major points." --Frank Nuessel, Professor of Spanish, Italian, and Linguistics, University of Louisville, USA"Marcel Danesi is a truly polymathic scholar. This comprehensive book succeeds in conveying complex ideas about nonverbal communication without getting engrossed in technical style or relying solely on disciplinary jargon." --Farouk Y. Seif, Professor Emeritus of Leadership and Change, Antioch University Seattle, USA About the Author Professor Marcel Danesi is known for his work in semiotics and youth culture. He has published as well on the meanings of popular culture and how they inform social evolution. He has also written textbooks introducing linguistics and semiotics. And he has published a series of books on advertising as a sign system.