Kehakeele

Kehakeele, the Estonian term for body language, refers to the part of nonverbal communication that uses the body to convey information without spoken words. It encompasses signals such as posture and orientation, hand and arm gestures, facial expressions, eye gaze, touch, proxemics (use of space), and paralinguistic cues such as tone, pace, and volume. Together these signals interact with spoken language to reveal attitudes, emotions, and social meaning in a communication setting.

Kehakeele signals can support or contradict spoken messages, regulate the flow of interaction, and indicate social relationships such as dominance or empathy. Interpretation depends on context and culture: gestures and norms for eye contact or personal space vary across communities, and display rules govern how much expression is appropriate in different situations. Some facial expressions are widely recognized across cultures, but their interpretation and intensity are culturally learned.

Researchers study kehakeele through observational coding, experiments, and systems that analyze facial movements, such as the Facial Action Coding System. Findings inform practices in education, negotiation training, therapy, customer service, and user design for human-computer interaction. Limitations include ambiguity and the potential for misinterpretation when cultural context is ignored.