Nonverbal Semiotics in Acculturation Narratives (Case of Russian American Fiction)

Abstract

The paper shows that a close study of nonverbal semiotics in immigrant fiction can reveal a narrative of
acculturation and demonstrates such analysis in the prose of contemporary Russian-American author Lara Vapnyar.
The aspects of sartorial language (semiotics of clothing style) and proxemic behaviour (use of space that includes
kinesics and sensorics) turn out to be of particular importance for such analysis. The research relies on Edward
T. Hall’s classical works as well as on the studies by contemporary scholars Kate Fox and Grigory Kreydlin. To
reveal the process of adaptation to a new culture, the paper correlates four stages of acculturation (tourist, survivor,
immigrant, and citizen) with the four phases of culture shock (honeymoon, proper, initial adaptation / recovery, and
integration / adjustment). The first phase of culture shock implies a positive ‘honeymoon’ reaction of a brief tourist
sojourn in a new culture, the second phase is a negative reaction to the necessity to survive and adjust to a foreign
reality; the third phase involves an individual with certain rights and experience (a recovering immigrant), and the
last phases introduces an integrated citizen.