6. Hp and the Goblet of Fire (by j.K. Rowling, Chapter 14: Felix Felicis, p. 213)

There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence. Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her, but said with an odd mixture of bravado and awkwardness, «Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd got to!» Hermione slid off the desk. The little flock of golden birds continued to twitter in circles around her head so that she looked like a strange, feathery model of the solar system. «You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside,» she said quietly. «She'll wonder where you've gone.» She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door. Harry glanced at Ron, who was looking relieved that nothing worse had happened. «Oppugno!» came a shriek from the doorway. Harry spun around to see Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild: the little flock of birds was speeding like a hail of fat golden bullets toward Ron, who yelped and covered his face with his hands, but the birds attacked, pecking and clawing at every bit of flesh they could reach. «Gerremoffme!» he yelled, but with one last look of vindictive fury, Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it. Harry thought he heard a sob before it slammed.

Analysis: Non-verbal cues are presented in the author's framing. The conflict is horizontal, emotional, intraindividual, closed then open. Participants are Ron and Hermione. Motivation: Ron kissed another girl, when obviously Hermione has some fillings for him.

The clash of the conflict is clash of points of view.

The beginning of the conflict: 1) There was a horrible, swelling, billowing silence – prosodic code along with the body code 2) Hermione was staring at Ron, who refused to look at her – this is a classic example of multiple code (prosodic plus proxemics) which can be interpreted as the beginning of the conflict and shame from one participant opposed to anger from another.

Development of the conflict: 1) Hermione slid off the desk, she said quietly, She walked very slowly and erectly toward the door – again the example of multiply codes. Conflict seems to go to it’s end. The distance is getting larger, the pitches of voices are getting lower.

Climax of the conflict: 1) «Oppugno!» came a shriek from the doorway… 2) Hermione pointing her wand at Ron, her expression wild – the raised tones and the furious expression indicate the peak of the conflict – anger and hostility. Also such codes as: he yelled, look of vindictive fury.

The conflict ends at proxemics code of disappearing of one of the participants. 1) Hermione wrenched open the door and disappeared through it – as one of the participants is no longer in the contact with another the immediate conflict falls to its end.

10. The girl with the dragon Tattoo (by Stieg Larsson, chapter 2, page 41)

 It was clear that Frode had no idea how to act towards Salander. He resorted to directing the question to Armansky, as if she had not been in the room. Salander blew a big bubble with her gum.

Before Armansky could answer, she said, Could you ask the client whether he would prefer the long or the short version?  There was a brief, embarrassed silence before Frode finally turned to Salander and tried to repair the damage by assuming a friendly, avuncular tone.   I would be grateful if the young lady would give me a verbal summary of the results.   For a moment her expression was so surprisingly hostile that it sent a cold shiver down Frodes spine. Then just as quickly her expression softened and Frode wondered whether he had imagined that look. When she began to speak she sounded like a civil servant. 

Analysis: Non-verbal cues are presented in the author's framing. The conflict is social, unemotional. Vertical, intrerpersonal, closed. Participants are lawer Frode and girl Elizabeth Salander. Motivation: Elizabeth looks like a representative of some subculture like punk or Goth, and that is the reason Frode is doubting her professional skills.

The beginning of the conflict: 1) He resorted to directing the question to Armansky, as if she had not been in the room – surprisingly but I’ve diceded that this is an example of proxemics code, not directly but indirectly we can tell about the posture of Frode. Probably not looking on Elizabeth, and sitting with his body turned to the mediator. 2) Salander blew a big bubble with her gum – a gesture of a protest, though it is socially inappropriate to do so on the official meeting Elizabeth is protesting to the behavior of Frode, ignoring her.

Peak/end of the conflict:  1) There was a brief, embarrassed silence before Frode finally turned to Salander and tried to repair the damage by assuming a friendly, avuncular tone. – proxemics code indicates that Frode is ashamed, he trise to make a contact with Elizabth by turning to her and speaking in soft tones. Classic multiple code of proxemics and prosodic nature.

Mostly non-verbal cues weren’t analyzed separately but in interaction with other types of non-verbal and verbal communication.

As it is seen from the analysis there are three ways of interaction between non-verbal and verbal communication:

1) Non-verbal information opposing verbal information

2) Non-verbal information supporting verbal information

3) Non-verbal information completing verbal information

The interaction of verbal and non-verbal information differs according to the type of conflict. In vertical conflicts about 90% of non-verbal cues are opposing verbal information. Especially in the case of closed social inter-individual conflict.

In horizontal conflicts only 10 % of opposition and 60% to 30% of supporting and opposing of the verbal information. That happens because horizontal conflicts are usually very emotional, aggressive, and the participants in the climax of the conflict tend to engage into physical contact.

When talking about interaction between different types of non-verbal codes we can summarize the results of analysis in the following table:

Most frequently used multiple codes	Usual stages of the conflict	Examples
1.Verbal information+ prosodic code	beginning/ development of conflict	Utterance – shortening/widening of distance
2.Verbal information+ prosodic code+ proxemic code	development/ climax of the conflict	Utterance – rising/lowering of the pitch of voice, /stressing out words – shortening/ widening of distance
3.Verbal information+ kinesic code	beginning of conflict	Utterance – gesture/engaging in physical contact/ eye contact
4.Proxemic code+Prosodic code	peak/end of conflict	shortening/widening of distance - rising/lowering of the pitch of voice/ stressing out words
5.Kinesic code+Proxemic code+Prosodic code	Peak of conflict	gesture/engaging in physical contact/ eye contact+ shortening/widening of distance+ rising/lowering of the pitch of voice/stressing out words
6.Verbal information+ kinesic code+ proxemic code	Beginning/ development of the conflict	Utterance - gesture/engaging in physical contact/ eye contact - shortening/widening of distance
7. Proxemic code+ kinesic code	Peak/end of conflict	shortening/widening of distance - gesture/engaging in physical contact/ eye contact

It is also important to notice that since we are talking about the semiotics - the problem of non-verbal communication is seen from the perspective of different sign systems. In this case, the investigation concentrates on the problem of the reciprocal action of these non-verbal and verbal sign systems in interaction. In this interaction multicode communication is considered, during which  units of different codes are used . It is not just about non-verbal signs, but also about language as a sign system. In the written text non-verbal codes transfer into the semantics of language signs. As the result appears the situation of «sign in the sign» (non-verbal in verbal) in a special meta-language.