Listen and Speak

Since as far back as I can remember I've been taught the merits of good communication.  It helps solve problems, dismisses incorrect assumptions, relates communicators to each other, and the list could go on.  For my dad, who habitually simplifies everything, nearly everything that goes poorly is ultimately the result of i) selfishness or ii) bad communication.  Unsurprisingly, he is in the radio business.  Furthermore, philosophy trains its pupils to think and speak clearly, and in that discipline, I tend to dislike ambiguity, not only in philosophy, but in all of my life.  It's funny how what I study, as specific as that may be, informs the rest of my life, as unrelated as those may seem.  At this point, I'm not sure I could be more encouraged to be a "good communicator" and yet I find myself wondering if good communication might look much different than what I've always thought.  As a general rule, I've considered that which was unsaid yet to be communicated.  That is, conversation is the way to communicate.  Conversation is the exchange of messages sent by language.  I mean "language" very broadly, to include (in addition to the actual words): body language and intonation.

Two things: Is it possible to "over communicate"?  and do people communicate without conversing?

On the first, I think "yes" is appropriate, although I'm not exactly sure what consequences over communication leads to.  And for the second, I think I'm still discovering.  The simple answer is yes; a nod of the head communicates affirmation, squinting eyes communicate suspicion, none of these involve conversing.  But these are basic emotions / beliefs.  Language is designed to capture a complexity in communication that is otherwise absent.  This is really interesting because I am usually drawn to simplicity (other things being equal.) But not in communication, it seems...