Comunicarea nonverbalã: genunchii în "sistemul posturã-gest"
Nonverbal communication: knees in the "posture-gesture system"

Summary/Abstract: Based on the assumption that various arts of the human body have unequal capacities of transmitting signals, I analyzed the role of the knees in the communication through gestures and general posture. This analysis is in strong disagreement with Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen's hypothesis (1969) that legs represent the worst signal transmitter in the non-verbal communication. Knees have a substantial capacity to signal the mood of a person, to express interpersonal relations and to indicate cultural patterns. The implication is that the initial assumption could be refined if we pay closer attention to the knees. I suggest that gesture and posture may be correctly analyzed in an integrated system only if they are integrated with the verbal system and paying close attention to the social and cultural context. In such a perspective, knees are allowed to "speak".

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