Lee, Hye-min. 2015. “Talking about the Body Using the Body: Nonverbal Acts in Korean Medicine Clinics”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 23(3). 295~327. This paper attempts to explore how people communicate “using their body,” otherly put, by nonverbal acts. Through a linguistic anthropological analysis on medical encounters in Korean Medicine clinics, this paper aims to examine how participants perform nonverbal acts as communicative modalities and strategies. By extending previous scholarships that emphasized the significance of nonverbal acts, this paper argues that nonverbal acts are not mere bodily actions, but rather are meaningful acts that index communicative goals, social relationships, and participants’ identity practices. With analysis on conversational data collected through anthropological fieldwork, four salient types of nonverbal acts―eye-gaze, nodding, hand gestures, and distance adjustment― and six communicative functions―back-channel, attitude cue, frame shift, turn-taking, footing, and visual cue―are explored. Furthermore, this paper analyzes nonverbal acts as communicative strategy, which participants employ to achieve their communication goals, build a preferred social relationship, and perform positive identity practices.

1. Introduction
2. Methods and Ethnographic Settings
3. Nonverbal Acts in Medical Interaction: Types and Features
4. Nonverbal Acts in Medical Interaction: Functions
5. Nonverbal Acts in Medical Interaction: Communicative Strategies
6. Conclusion: “We talk about the body using our body!”
Transcript Symbols
References

• Lee Hye-min(Seoul National University)