The state and perspectives of the research into the interplay of verbal and non-verbal means in charismatic communication

Abstract

The paper covers a theoretical analysis of the existing scientific research findings which can serve as the basis for further interdisciplinary investigation of the interplay of verbal and non-verbal means in charismatic communication. The author presents a short diachronic review of how the notion of charisma has evolved and been functioning in the scientific domain from ancient times to modern humanitarian studies, in particular psychological, sociological, managerial ones, etc. The review focuses on linguistic research into mass communication, communicative strategies and tactics which can be employed in different types of mass communication, as well as the interplay of verbal, non-verbal and paralingual means in charismatic communication, whose results serve as a basis for further investigation of charismatic communication within the framework of Alla Kalyta’s speech energetic theory, as the theory allows us to consider a complex qualitative and quantitative picture of the self-development of any cognitive phenomenon in general and the specificity of the interplay of verbal and non-verbal means in charismatic communication in particular. The works reviewed in the paper provide the list of universal characteristics of charismatic communication which can be summarised as follows: the effect of a speaker’s charisma is achieved not through separate elements of one’s speech but with the complex interaction of charismatic prosody and speaker’s voice, loudness, tempo of speech, word stress, body language, mimics, gestures, speaker’s age, gender and physical attractiveness, etc. The author comes to the conclusion that the results of this retrospective analysis provide grounds for an interdisciplinary research of charismatic communication within the cognitive approach framework which accounts for all verbal, non-verbal and paralingual means (physiological, psychological, social, etc.) whose interplay allows the audience to perceive a speaker as a charismatic one.