Verbal communication is, of course, speech. Not every sound that comes out of your mouth constitutes speech, however. Speech is the faculty or act of expressing or describing thoughts, feeling, or perceptions by the articulation of words. Because language is unique to human beings, and words being associated with language, I conclude that humans are the only creatures on Earth capable of verbal communication. I am aware, of course, that dogs bark and cats meow and cows moo, and that they use these sounds to communicate. My point is simple. These sounds are not part of a language, so they are non-verbal communication.

Non-verbal communication covers every aspect of communication except speech. For the purpose of this article I will limit this to gestures, posture, and f

Toddlers communicate non-verbally a lot more and a lot better than they do verbally. This is largely due to their limited vocabulary. In an interview, one of the children’s instructors, Jenny Yerxa, said that the children use more non-verbal communication than adults. She said that most of the verbal communication that they do use is taken from cartoons and children’s shows such as Bratz and Power Rangers. “The kids are very Pop Culture.” (Yerxa, 4-2-04)

When watching the children, I was struck at once by their limited special distances with each other. When we discussed proxemics in class, we learned that in America in general, family members talk to one another within two feet of each other, while the social distance was between two and four feet. (Hertzberg 3-8-04) These children treated each other the same way as adults treat family. They would stand very close to one another while talking. In fact, they used a lot of touching, such as nudges, to communicate.

Some topics in this essay:
Culture” Yerxa, Heritage Dictionary, Development Center, John Bodley, Brodley Toddlers, Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Jenny Yerxa, verbal communication, non-verbal communication, Power Rangers, playing blocks, communicate non-verbally, remote space”, communicate remote, humans primates, “let’s go”, purpose article, communicate remote space”,