【正文】 aplin beloved by Chinese through his brilliant performance in silent film. Cultural features mean some body languages get acquired and pass on from generation to generation, sharing with the members of social groups and being the part of those cultures. Owning to several cultural backgrounds between china and the west, they build up respective values and behavior patterns so that they have no alikeness expressing and understanding body language. Besides, many behaviors of body language are acquired and particularly accepted due to customs. For example, a shrug done by AngloAmericans means having no other way or being rather baffling。由于文化差異 ,同一動(dòng)作的體態(tài)語會(huì)被不同文化背景的人理解為不同的信號(hào)和不同的信息 ,稍不注意就會(huì)犯忌。 i 研究方向：文化 作者姓名： 所學(xué)專業(yè)：英語 論文題目： On the Taboo differences in Body Language in Chinese and Western cultures 淺析肢體語言禁忌在中西文化中的差異 論文字?jǐn)?shù)： 4,200 指導(dǎo)老師： 提交日期： 2 ii A thesis submitted to the Foreign Languages Department of Northwest University for Nationalities for the degree of Bachelor of Arts Table of Contents 1 I n t r o d u c t i o n ………………………………………… ...… . . . . .1 2 The S i g n i f i c a n c e and F e a t u r e s of Body L a n g u a g e … … … . 2 2. 1 Significance of Body Language………………………………………… . . . 2 2 . 2 T he Fe at ur e s of B od y Language…………………………………………… 3 3 Tab o o s in B o d y L a n g u a g e … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . 3 3. 1 Taboos of Facial Expressions……………………………………………… . 3 3 . 1 . 1 Sm il in g… … … … … …… …… …… …… …… …… …… …… …… …… … 4 3 . 1 . 2 Sm ac k in g… …… ……… …… ……… …… ……… ……… …… ……… …. 4 3 . 1 . 3 Covering the Mouth………………………………………………………. 4 3 . 2 Taboos of Eye Contact…………………… …………………………………. 4 3 . 3 Ta b oo s o f G esture……………………………………………………………. 5 3 . 3 . 1 Wa v in g… …… …… …… …… ……… …… …… …… ……… …… …… …. 5 3 . 3 . 2 “V” Gesture……………………………………………………………….. 6 3 . 3 . 3 “OK” Gesture……………………………………………………………... 6 3 . 3 . 4 M id d le F in ge r up………………………………………………………….. 6 3 . 3 . 5 T h u m b s up……………………………………………………………….... 7 3 . 3 . 6 S h a k in g H ands…………………………………………………………….. 7 3 . 4 Ta b oo s o f Posture…………………………………………………………….. 8 3 . 4 . 1 S it t in g…………………………………………………………………….. . 8 3 . 4 . 2 Cr ouch in g………………………………………………………………….. 9 3 . 4 . 3 Wa lk in g………………………………………… ……………………….. . 9 3 . 5 Tab o os o f Tou ch …………………………………………………………… .. . 9 iii 3. 5. 1 Touching with Stringers’ Body………………………………………….. 1 0 3. 5. 2 Touching with Bodies of the Same Sex…………………………………. 10 3. 5. 3 Touching with Children’s Body…………………………………………. 10 4 C o n c l u s i o n ………………………………………… ...…… ..11 5 R e f e r e n c e s … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...…… . … 12 6 Ac k n o w le d ge m e n t s … … … … … … … … … … … … … …… … … … … . . . . 1 3 iv Taboo in Body Language between China and West 【 Abstract】 The two ways of human munications, the verbal munication and nonverbal munication are plementary to each other and bee undivided entirety. Body language is the most normal nonverbal munication in human munication, including facial expression, eye contact, gesture, posture and touch, etc. The same act of body language can be considered as the different signal and information by the people with different cultural background. Once leaving it out, one may outrage others. Therefore, in the interculture munication between China and the West, only by acquiring taboos in body language of each other can people avoid culture conflict. 【 Key words】 Nonverbal munication, body language, taboo, intercultural munication 【摘要】 人類交際有兩種形式 :語言交際和非語言交際。因此 ,在中西方跨文化交際中 ,人們應(yīng)了解彼此的體態(tài)語 禁忌 ,這樣才能避免因不當(dāng)?shù)捏w態(tài)語行為而引起文化沖突。 saluting with the hands folded, a Chinese traditional etiquette, expresses good wish for each other during festivals. Hence, in crosscultural munication, the same action or behavior can prehend different information by various people with unlike cultural background: a courteous conduct will deem to be impolite。 while Chinese may think one staring at himself all the time is up to no good or take off his coat。 whereas American wave someone, their palm up, and just a little shake by the index finger or all fingers but for Chinese adults it is impolite and disrespectable without dispute because they frequently use this to call the baby, cat, 6 dog or other little animals. “V” Gesture There is a universal language that means “victory” by stretching the right hand’s forefinger and the middle finger to make a “V” gesture (Xia and Zhang, 2021). “V” is the first letter of the word “victory” (Xia and Zhang, 2021). Nevertheless, remember to make sure that the palm toward outside is the victory meaning, on account of the palm toward inside equal to a notorious gesture around most European countries. It is said that Winston Churchill, the prime minister of British, made a wrong “V” that took the palm toward inside due to a mistake in a grandscale meeting which made audience with different reflections: some booed by a round of applause。 learn about customs and habits of the country one goes to。 [7] 耿二嶺，《體態(tài)語概說》 [M]，北京：北京語言學(xué)院出版社， 1988 年。 [11] 廉美瑾，《會(huì)說話的西班牙扇子》 [J]，《世界文化》， 2021 年第 02 期。 [9] 胡文仲 ．《跨文化交際學(xué)概論》 [M]，北京：外語教學(xué)與研究出版社 ， 1999 年： 109112。 布羅斯納安 .《中國和英語國家非語言交際對(duì)比》 [M]，北京：北京語言學(xué)院出版社，1991 年。 some burst into peals of laughter. Why the audience so astonished is the gesture not meaning “victory” but indecency. “OK” Gesture Undisputed, “OK” gesture represents “no problem”, “every thing is all right”, “I am fine” and so on in English, which gradually bees a world language and often appears in America and Britain’s daily life. But there is a region in the south of France where “OK” gesture shows “zero” and “not worth a penny”. Thus a British use “OK” gesture to throw bouquet at a new car brought by a French friend and it can be sure that his friend must