The Optimal Form: Inadequacies and Excessiveness Within the Asiallinen [Matter of Fact] Nonverbal Style in Public and Civic Settings in Finland

Abstract

As persons participate in any given setting, they may designate some communicative behaviors as either inadequate or excessive for the task at hand. This standardizing process is discussed as an optimal form of communication. This article explores the asiallinen [matter of fact] nonverbal style of communication occurring in public and civic contexts in the Häme Province in Finland through the optimal form. Key optimal strategies are identified with (a) moderating behaviors that keskeyttää [interrupt], (b) maintaining a keskittynyt [concentrated] attitude, and (c) restraining movements in the face realizing an appropriate peruslukema [straight state]. Optimizing these nonverbal strategies yields the best possible context for disseminating information on the matter at hand. The article discusses the optimal form as an interpretive tool for formulating claims about cultural communication.As one participates in a variety of public and institutionalized scenes of the Häme Province in Finland, many say there is the expectation that one is asiallinen in a nonverbal way. "Vedetään lippa silmille ja naama peruslukemille, kun liikutaan kaduilla" [Pull your cap over your eyes and keep a straight face when you move about the streets] says one angry reader of a local newspaper in reaction to the suggestion that persons ought to smile at one another in the street; it is not appropriate to smile asiatta [without reason; without a matter]. One interviewee remarked that the face of Paavo Lipponen, a former Finnish prime minister, "has no 384 Finnish interviewee, Paavo Väyrynen "betrayed his sense of asiallisuus [manner proper to the matter-at-hand] and allowed his feelings to show in his face, he couldn't hide them and he can therefore be easily read."Conduct in the asiallinen nonverbal style is not only valued in public and political scenes, but institutional scenes as well. In adult education contexts, for example, teachers report that an asiallinen nonverbal stance "can be seen on their [students'] faces." Once I had determined what constituted an asiallinen nonverbal style, I began witnessing it as I attended meetings and local political events, as I took a bus ride every day into town, and as I conducted my personal business with bank clerks, tax officers, and customs officers.This article explores the term asiallinen (äz'e'älinen) as it is used to characterize persons and their nonverbal behaviors. The term describes a matter-of-fact attitude when used to characterize persons. When characterizing their nonverbal conduct, the term is most often used in situations in which persons are listening to public speeches full of facts and densely packed with information. Terms for communication, terms for talk, folk-linguistic terms, and metapragmatic terms have long been units of analysis for ethnographers of communication (Carbaugh, 1989). Few studies, however, have examined indigenous terms that identify nonverbal and nonlinguistic communication. Studies on linguistic appropriations from the natural surroundings and the occasions ...

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