references needed for statistics

[Scott Delancey]

On Tue, 11 Nov 1997, George Elgin, Suzette Haden Elgin wrote:

> Can anyone on this list provide me with references -- however vague -- for
> two statistics that seem to appear all over the place (my books included)
> without credits? They are: that, as an average, 65% of all communication in
> spoken English is nonverbal; and that, as an average, more than 90% of all
> *emotional* communication in spoken English is nonverbal. These figures

No source, but surely these figures must just be made up.  How would
you quantify nonverbal communication (for that matter, how would you
quantify *verbal* communication) so as to arrive at a percentage?

Scott DeLancey