# Emotion in Nonverbal Communication: Comparing Animal and Human Vocalizations and Human Text Messages

## TL;DR

The paper explores how emotions are communicated through vocalizations in animals and humans, including text messages, and argues for a unified view of emotional communication across species and communication types.

## Contribution

The paper proposes integrating the concept of emotion across animal vocalizations, human nonverbal communication, and computer-mediated communication.

## Key findings

- Emotion is a unifying dimension across animal and human vocal communication.
- Emotional signals in humans can be both intentional and meaningful, unlike commonly assumed in animal communication.
- The paper suggests that emotional communication can influence debates on the evolution of communication.

## Abstract

Humans and other animals communicate a large quantity of information vocally through nonverbal means. Here, we review the domains of animal vocalizations, human nonverbal vocal communication and computer-mediated communication (CMC), under the common thread of emotion, which, we suggest, connects them as a dimension of all these types of communication. After reviewing the use of emotions across domains, we focus on two concepts that have often been opposed to emotion in the animal versus human communication literature: control and meaning. Non-human vocal communication is commonly described as emotional, preventing either control or meaning; in contrast, the emotional dimension of human nonverbal signals does not prevent them from being perceived as both intentionally produced and meaningful. Amongst others, we disagree with this position, highlighting here that emotions should be integrated across species and modalities such as the written modality. We conclude by delineating ways in which each of these domains can meaningfully influence each other, and debates in their respective fields, and more generally the debate on the evolution of communication.