Part 1
I found part one to be infinitely easier to execute than part two. I found that although it was difficult to resist the urge to answer a question in language form my body language would suffice for simple yes or no questions. Because of this, My partner completely changed the way she spoke to me and resolved to only ask me yes or no questions that could be easily answered with a nod or a shrug. This proved to be to very time consuming as she would have to ask about ten questions to get the answer one simple question that needed an explanation.
I believe that if my partner and I represented two different cultures, my partner would definitely be able to communicate her ideas and thoughts by actually speaking. She might get the impression that I lacked intelligence since I would not be able to articulate my thoughts into spoken words. The speaking culture would be able to explain complex ideas while the non speaking culture would be limited to ideas that could be explained physically.
I believe that in our culture the deaf and the mute experience the most adversity communicating with people that can speak. Although they have learned sign language the truth is, most people who can speak and hear never learn sign language and are forced to communicate with them like my partner had, by asking simple yes or no questions and relying on hand gestures. I imagine this experience to be most frustrating because the person may not suffer from any other disability, and is fully aware of how a person who can speak and hear is interacting with them.
Part 2
I found that speaking with no physical embellishments was almost impossible as I only lasted a few minutes before I got frustrated. My frustration was caused primarily by the fact that I constantly found myself changing my tone or including a physical gesture partly because it is second nature to me.
I felt that my partners were confused by what I was saying, since I monotone they could not understand if I was being serious or funny. I felt that I had no means to display emotion other than the words that I used, and even that did not suffice.
This experiment revealed that humans are indeed very dependment on the use of signs when speaking. By using non speech language we are able to communicate things that cannot be explained by words alone. For example, someone might not know that I feel uncomfortable talking about a certain subject if I was unable to show an expression on my face.
I definitely do believe that people who have difficulty reading body language suffer greatly in terms of communication. As a culture we depend on our use of signs and body language to communicate when words fall short of the intended interpretation. I believe that reading body language may always be beneficial to the observer but can reveal more about the person being observed than they intended. For example, someone on an interview may not want the employer to know how nervous he or she is, but if the employer can read body language they will quickly pick up on how the interviewer is feeling. Overall I feel that our cultures use of signs and body language is useful, otherwise I don’t think we would have adapted to be so dependent on it.