Paralinguistic communication

ParalinguisticcommunicationPARALINGUISTICCOMMUNICATIONCommunicationviathespokenwordyieldsavastamountofinformationinadditiontotheactualmeaningofthewordsused.Thisisparalinguisticcommunication.Eventhemeaningofspokenwordsisopentointerpretation;sarcasm,forinstance,reliesheavilyonsayingonethingandmeaninganother.Itisimpossibletoproducespokenlanguagewithoutusingsomeformofcommunicationbeyondtheliteralmeaningofthewordschosen.Ourskillincommunicatingwhatwewishtosayisdeterminednotonlybyourchoiceofwords,butalsobytheaccentweuse,thevolumeofourspeech,thespeedatwhichwespeak,andourtoneofvoice,tonamebutafewparalinguisticfeatures.Furthermore,wesometimesmis-communicatebecausetheabilitytointerpretcorrectlywhatisbeingsaidtousvariesgreatlywitheachindividual.Clearly,certainpeoplearebetteratcommunicatingthanothers,yetitisimportanttorealizethatthepossessionofawidevocabularydoesnotnecessarilymeanonehastheabilitytoeffectivelycommunicateanidea.Eachoneofusspeakswithanaccent.Itisnotpossibletodootherwise.Ouraccentquicklytellsthelistenerwherewecomefrom,forunlesswemakeaconsciousefforttouseanotheraccent,wespeakwiththeaccentofthosewithwhomwegrewuporpresentlyliveamongst.Accents,then,informusfirstaboutthecountryapersonisfrom.Theymayalsotelluswhichpartofacountrythepersonlivesinorhaslivedin,ortheymightrevealtheperceived'class'ofthatperson.InEngland,therearemanyregionalaccents-themostobviousdifferencesbeingbetweenpeoplewholiveorcomefromthenorthandthosehailingfromthesouth.Itisusuallythevowelsoundswhichvarythemost.Accentsgiveusdirectinformationaboutthespeaker,buttheinformationwedecipheris,unfortunately,notalwaysaccurate.Accentstendtoreflectexistingprejudicestowardspeoplewehearusingthem.Allofustendtojudgeeachotherinthisway,whetheritisastereotypicalresponse-positive,negativeorneutral-totheplaceweassumeapersonisfrom,oravalueweholdbasedonourperceptionofthatperson'sstatusinsociety(Wilkinson,1965).Anotherinstantlycommunicablefacetofaperson'sconversationisthedegreeofloudnessemployed.Weassume,perhapscorrectlyinthemajorityofinstances,thatextrovertsspeaklouderthanintroverts,thoughthisisnotalwaysthecase.Also,mentendtousemorevolumethanwomen.Apersonspeakingsoftlymightbedoingsoforanynumberofreasons-secrecy,tenderness,embarrassment,orevenanger.Peoplewhoaredeaftendtoshoutbecausetheyovercompensateforthelackofauralfeedbacktheyreceive.Andforeignersoftencomplainofbeingshoutedatbynativespeakers.Oddly,thelattermustsupposethatspeakingloudlywillsomehowmakeupforthelistener'sapparentlackofcomprehension.Thespeedatwhichanindividualspeaksvariesfrompersontoperson.Thespeechratetellsthelisteneragreatdealaboutthespeaker-hisorhermoodorpersonality,forinstanceinadditiontoprovidingcluesaboutthespeaker'srelationshiptothelistener,andtheinteresttakeninthetopicofconversation.Nonetheless,variationsintalkingspeedarelessamatterofcontextthanofthespeaker'sbasicpersonality(Goldman-Eisler,1968).Therearethreemorenon-verbalfeaturesofthevoicetoconsider,eachofwhichsendsparalinguisticmessagestothelistener:voicequality,thetoneofvoiceused,andcontinuityofspeech,thatis,thedeliberateornon-deliberateuseofpauses,hesitations,repetitionsetc.Voicequalitytellsusaboutthephysicalattributesorhealthofthespeaker;voicetoneinformsusofthespeaker'sfeelingstowardseitherthetopicofconversationorthelistener;andcontinuityofspeechisparticularlyrevealingofthespeaker'snervousstateofmind,aswellasindicatingfamiliaritywiththelistenerandthelanguagespoken.Allparalinguisticmessagesprovidemuchusefulinformationaboutthespeaker;informationwhichiseitherconsciouslyorsubconsciouslyreceived.Inmostcasespeopleappeartointerpretthemessagesappropriately,exceptwherethereisinterferencebecauseofprejudice.Itisrelativelyeasytojudgeaperson'sage,sexandfeelingsfromtheparalinguisticcluestheyleavebehindintheirspeech,butpeoplearelessabletocorrectlydeterminesuchdetailedcharacteristicsas,say,intelligence.Questions1-5Referto"ParalinguisticCommunication",andlookatthestatementsbelow.WriteTifthestatementisTrue,FifthestatementisFalse,andNG(forNotGiven)ifthereisnoinformationaboutthestatementinthepassage.Q1.Thevolumeatwhichwespeakisaparalinguisticfeatureofourspeech.Q2.Aspeaker'saccentalwaysindicatesthecountryorplaceheorshecomesfrom.Q3.PeoplefromthesouthofEnglandaresometimesprejudicedagainsttheaccentsofpeoplefromthenorth.Q4.Personalityisagreaterdeterminantoftalkingspeedthanotherfactorsinaperson'sspeech.Q5.Thestudyofparalinguisticsincludes'readingbetweenthelines'inwrittencommunication.Questions6-8WhataretheTHREEspecificareasofresearchundertakenbythelinguistswhosenamesaregiveninbracketsinthereadingpassage?Selectfromthelistbelow.NotethatyoucanGIVEYOURANSWERSINANYORDER.AthemoodorpersonalityofaspeakerBtheaccuracyofinterpretationofvariousparalinguisticmessagesCthecausesofvariationsintherateofspeechDwhatmakesaconversationinterestingEwhichaccentsaremosthighlyratedbylistenersFhowtodeterminetheintelligenceofalistenerGthevoweldifferencesbetweenaccentsQuestions9-14Referto"ParalinguisticCommunication",andcompletethesixsentencebeginningsbelowwiththeappropriatesentenceendingsfromthelistgiveninthebox.Selectfromchoices(i)-(ix).Thefirstonehasbeendoneforyouasanexample.Example:Ifsomeoneisbeingsarcastic,itmeansthattheyare___v___.SentenceBeginnings:Itisnotpossibleto(9)_________________________________________________________.Somepeoplearebetteratcommunicatingthanothersbecausetheyare(10)________________.SpeakersfromtheNorthofEngland(11)___________________________________________.Theresponsetoaparticularaccentheard(12)_______________________________________.Speakerswithhearingdisabilities(13)______________________________________________.Paralinguisticinformationissometimes(14)__________________________________________.SentenceEndings:(i)...registeredbelowthelevelofconsciousness.(ii)...maybeoneofthreekinds.(iii)...communicateonlythemeaningofspokenwords.(iv)...usearegionalaccent.(v)...sayingtheoppositeofwhattheymeanonpurpose.(vi)...awareofthepowerofparalinguisticmessages.(vii)...cannotbedistinguishedfromthosewhocomefromtheSouth.(viii)...haveawidervocabulary.(ix)...oftenspeaklouderthanusual.