kinesics (n.)

A term in SEMIOTICS for the systematic use of facial expression and body gesture to communicate MEANING, especially as this relates to the use of LANGUAGE (e.g. when a smile or a frown alters the interpretation of a SENTENCE). In language ACQUISITION studies, the notion is present, under the heading of ‘developmental’ kinesics. Some analysts have applied the full EMIC terminology to this area, distinguishing kinemes, kines and allokines; but the extent to which one can handle ‘body language’ in these terms is controversial, as analytic criteria are less clear than in PHONOLOGY, and kinesic TRANSCRIPTIONS raise several problems of interpretation