The Linguistic Functions of Some Nonverbal Communication Features Operating as the Sub-plane of Language Use

Abstract

This paper highlights the linguistic concerns of the rhetorical “polylogic” approach to the exploration of the stylistic aspects of language, which include paralinguistic communication devices, such as waving of hands, blinking of eyes, etc. These paralinguistic elements (proxemics for example) usually  occur together with language in situational discourse in order to create  linguistic style and meaning. This therefore describes “human social life and language behaviour as system and structure on all levels of analysis, both  linguistic and semiotic” (Ventola, 1988). They are the external features of a discourse which affect the linguistic choices of what the language user makes. These are influenced or determined by nature of the audience, the medium  and purposes of communication.