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DOI: 10.18413/2313-8912-2017-3-3-53-62

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION ACROSS CULTURES: A CASE STUDY OF CHINESE, POLISH, TURKISH AND (YEMENI) ARABIC CULTURES

Purpose: To establish for a further study examining the degree of similarity and dissimilarity across cultures through four selected cultures (Chinese, Polish, Turkish and Yemeni) in fifteen identified paralanguage features.

Methods: A non-experimental study was conducted where four participants from the four different countries took part in the study. Each was either interviewed or engaged in a guided discussion towards collecting the required data. Both reliability and validity within the qualitative research framework – credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability have meet the basic requirements.

Results: The collected data were analysed in terms of three criteria: identical paralanguage items (I), different ones (D) or similar ones (S). Most of the items among the four cultures were reported as (S) – indicating the practise of the behaviour in each culture – with being different in the performance/attitude/reaction towards each. For instance, there were major similarities in laughing, yawning, spitting, nodding, whispering, knocking the door and eye contact as opposed to major differences in crying, shouting, sneezing, clapping, appointing, waving goodbye, handshaking and greetings.

Conclusions: Cultures are different yet alike! Paralanguage features among cultures are inextricably linked. And the similarities and dissimilarities among cultures in paralanguage features are inexorably relative.

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