Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in Children A Functional Linguistic Study

This book addresses aspects of nonverbal communication in children, aspects that have only been studied in passing and in a simple way. Therefore, it sheds light on them from a functional linguistic perspective. We address children’s communicative ability and seek to provide a linguistic explanation of children’s nonverbal communication, using the tools, concepts, and assumptions of functional grammar theory and its extensions, specifically the natural language user model. In other words, we will attempt to answer the question: How do the components of communicative ability interact in the production and interpretation of nonverbal communication in children?
This is to achieve a more precise understanding of communicative ability, to understand how its components interact, and how children use this ability to produce and interpret linguistic expressions. We will also examine the role of context in the communicative process, and to determine whether children acquire their language within the context of use or in isolation from it. The importance of this book lies in the fact that nonverbal aspects are an integral part of linguistic communication, and examining them in children gives us a more accurate understanding of how children produce and interpret linguistic expressions within context. The book’s most important conclusion is that verbal communication is linked to nonverbal communication, and that any deficiency in nonverbal communication can lead to a significant deficiency in verbal communication, affecting the entire communication process. Therefore, the book concludes with a call to raise awareness among parents and educators about the importance of nonverbal communication with their children, and the importance of studying children who suffer from deficits in one of the senses of perception to explore the best ways to compensate for this deficiency in order to enrich their linguistic and cognitive learning.