Nonverbal communication is more ambiguous than verbal communication because it is governed by fewer rules. As you saw in Chapter 7, you learn thousands of constitutive and regulative rules regarding grammar, spelling, pronunciation, and meaning as you master your first and any additional languages. But consider how rarely you’ve been instructed in the use of nonverbal communication. To be sure, nonverbal rules do exist, but most of these rules are informal norms—for instance, “It’s not polite to stare at people.”