Paralinguistics

10 Key excerpts on "Paralinguistics"

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  The Management of Procedure-Induced Anxiety in Children

  • Richard Martin(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 4 Verbal Communication Verbal communication refers to all aspects of speech including linguistic and paralinguistic elements. Linguistic communication refers to the selection and integration of words into sentences and their literal or implied meaning. Paralinguistic communication encompasses all qualitative characteristics of speech. These qualitative elements often grant context and can exert a significant if not a dominant influence in dictating a recipient’s interpretation and response. Qualitative elements include the tone, volume, tonal quality and cadence of speech. Aspects of verbal communication appraised in this section include:  Paralinguistics  Influence  Therapy  Conversational suggestion  Utilisation and two-level communication theory  Positive and negative vocabulary  Positive pre-emptive interpretation  Dynamic transition 4.1 Paralinguistics Paralinguistics refers to the qualitative or vocal communication in speech that does not come from the words or verbal content. This includes volume, rate, tone, timbre, pauses, silences and other idiosyncrasies. For those unfamiliar with the term timbre, it refers to the quality of sound that is distinct from the other elements such as tone and volume. Paralinguistics exert an exceptionally powerful if not dominant influence in communi- cation. This is perfectly illustrated in Albert Mehrabian’s statement, ‘when vocal information contradicts verbal, vocal wins out’ (45). To illustrate his point he sites sarcasm, defining it as ‘a message in which the information transmitted vocally contradicts the information transmit- ted verbally.’ The vocal content representing the intended message is invariably negative while the verbal content in isolation, would signal an equal and opposite positive message. An example would be to say, ‘Yeh! He’s really amazing.’ When this is stated sarcastically, on the face of it the verbal message or words read in isolation would communicate a positive.

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  Optimization of natural communication systems

  • Olga Akhmanova(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  Neither does syntax impose strict rules. It al-lows considerable latitude in length of sentence, construction, functional sentence perspective, etc. But the effect will depend, of course, on the optimal decision. This is where the concept of Paralinguistics comes in. The term was introduced because there appeared to be a need for a word to denote the various phenomena of sound (very imperfectly conveyed in writing), which have so far not been registered among the regular oppositions and othernesses of the feature level. The metalinguistic problem could not be solved by merely speaking of extralinguistic phenomena or linguistic behavior 19 whenever it was something not normally included in the more orthodox structural analyses and descriptions. Hence para-linguistics as the science of those aspects and peculiarities of phonation which are typical of speakers of a given language, but which do not belong to the distinctive features usually contained in inventories of phonological oppositions, for example: degree of loudness, hesitation phenomena, diapason (range) of modu-lation, etc. We can form an idea of the progress of Paralinguistics by com-paring the listings of categories in G. L. Trager (Paralanguage: first approximation. Studies in Linguistics 1958), David Crys-tal and Randolph Quirk (Systems of Prosodic and Paralinguistic Features in English, The Hague, 1964) and M. Rensky (The Systematics of Paralanguages. Travaux linguistiques de Prague, 2, 1966). The term appears to have been proposed by A. A. Hill, but it does not appear to have been noticed widely enough before the publication of Trager's paper. The importance of Hill's contri-bution lies in the inventory of what he described as vocalizations not only to be distinguished from voice qualities, but also to be recognized as part of the total speech event. The former - pitch range, resonance, tempo, etc. - together with their respective controls had long been recognized, described, and termed as intonation.

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  Listening to Spoken English

  • Gillian Brown(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  6 Paralinguistic features

  Paralinguistic features of speech are those which contribute to the expression of attitude by a speaker. They are phonetic features of speech which do not form an intrinsic part of the phonological contrasts which make up the verbal message: they can be discussed independently of the sequences of vowels and consonants, of the stress patterns of words, of the stressing of lexical rather than grammatical words, and of intonation structure which determines where the tonic syllable falls. Hitherto the features of speech which we have discussed have been features which contribute directly to the interpretation of the verbal content of the message and its organization by the speaker in terms of information structure. Now we turn to consider those aspects of speech which contribute to a meaning over and above what the verbal element of the message means. Following a well-established distinction, we shall call the meaning contributed by the verbal content the 'conceptual' meaning of the utterance, and the meaning contributed by the paralinguistic features the 'affective' meaning of the utterance, where the feelings and attitudes of the speaker are to some extent revealed to the listener. (For a fuller discussion of this distinction, see Leech, 1974.)

  The paralinguistic features of speech are not, of course, isolated from other modes which are available to the speaker by which a particular attitude can be indicated towards the person being addressed or towards what is being spoken of. They relate closely to the phenomenon often referred to as 'body talk' or 'body language'—which refers to gesture, posture, facial expression and so on, all of which may have an effect on the way the listener interprets what the speaker says. If the speaker says 'That's very interesting' leaning forward with a bright alert look, the listener is likely to think that this is really what the speaker means, whereas if the speaker utters the same words but twisting to look out of the window and stifling a yawn, the listener might reasonably conclude that the speaker is not actually very interested. The body language of the speaker forms part of the wider context of utterance in which what is said is interpreted. I shall concentrate on the paralinguistic features of speech, rather than include a general discussion of these features within the wider setting of body language in general, because these are features which we listen to, and which we can hear over the radio, telephone or tape recorder—they fall squarely within the province of a discussion of 'listening' to spoken English. In our everyday experience of language it is usually the case that the paralinguistic vocal features will reinforce the content of what the speaker says. Thus our unmarked, neutral expectation will be that someone who says 'What a lovely day' will say it enthusiastically, that someone who says 'I am sorry' will say it sincerely, and that someone who says 'And now get out of here' will say it angrily. It is relatively rare, but by no means uncommon, to encounter a mismatch between the verbal content of the utterance and the way it is said—it is on such occasions that expressions like 'It's not so much what he said as the way he said it that upset/struck/ infuriated me' are appropriately used. Where such a mismatch occurs, listeners tend to pay more attention to the way something is said than to the verbal content. Lyons (1972) writes of this phenomenon in the following terms:

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  Language and Man

  Anthropological Issues

  • William C. McCormack, Stephen A. Wurm, William C. McCormack, Stephen A. Wurm(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  As soon as alternative accounts of linguis-tic structure developed, in the mid-sixties, the status of paralanguage inevitably became unclear. Fields such as psychotherapy, anthropology, and language teaching took over and developed many of the DESCRIP-TIVE insights of the approach, and found the notations and ad hoc classifications of great value. But there was little examination of the theoretical basis of the description, and no discussion of how a notion of paralanguage could be made to fit in with the new concepts of lan-guage which were developing at this time. One thus finds the development of a situation in which a widely used descriptive framework rests on a largely implicit theoretical foundation. And in the absence of explicit analytic criteria, one naturally finds arbitrary descriptive decisions, ambiguous cases being forced into one or another of the set of choices provided by the framework, and, fol-lowing this, inconsistency in the use of terms by various scholars. It is possible to distinguish seven main viewpoints as to the range of phenomena which might be subsumed under the heading of para-language, and I list them briefly here (for a referenced discussion, see Crystal 1974): 1. including both nonhuman and human vocalization; 2. human communication only, but including nonvocal (kinesic) as well as vocal; Paralinguistic Behavior and Communication 15 3. vocal communication only, but including some segmental phonation as well as nonsegmental; 4. nonsegmental phonation only, including voice quality (voice set, in the sense of Trager [1958] — the nonlinguistic, background, person-identifying characteristic); 5. nonsegmental phonation, excluding voice quality; 6. nonsegmental phonation, excluding voice quality and the prosodic phonemes (of intonation, stress, and juncture) found in the approach of Trager and others; and 7. a small subset of (6). I propose to use a broad linguistic definition as the basis for discus-sion, as in sense (5).

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  Cultural Anthropology

  The Human Challenge

  • William Haviland, Harald Prins, Bunny McBride, Walrath, William Haviland, Harald Prins, Bunny McBride, William Haviland, Harald Prins, Bunny McBrideWalrath(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Paralanguage The second component of the gesture–call system is paralanguage—specific voice effects that accompany speech and contribute to communication. These include vocalizations such as giggling, groaning, or sighing, as well as voice qualities such as volume, intensity, pitch, and tempo. The importance of paralanguage is suggested by the comment, “It’s not so much what was said as how it was said.” Whispering or shouting can make a big difference in meaning, even though the uttered words would be the same when written down. Minor differences in pitch, tempo, and phrasing may seem less obvious, but they still impact how words are perceived. Studies show, for exam- ple, that even subliminal messages communicated below the threshold of conscious perception by seemingly minor differences in phrasing, tempo, length of answers, and the like are far more important in courtroom proceedings than even the most perceptive trial lawyer may have real- ized. Among other things, how a witness gives testimony alters the reception it gets from jurors and influences the witness’s credibility (O’Barr & Conley, 1993). Communication has changed radically with the rise of e-mail, text messaging, and Twitter. These technologies resemble the spontaneity and speed of face-to-face com- munication but lack the body signals and voice qualifiers that nuance what is being said (and hint at how it is being received). Studies show that the intended tone of e-mail messages is perceived correctly only 56 percent of the time. Misunderstood messages can quickly create problems and hostility. Because the risk of miscommunication with these technologies abounds, despite use of emoticons and emojis that represent the writer’s mood or attitude, certain sensitive exchanges are better made in person (Kruger et al., 2005).

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  Organization of Behavior in Face-to-Face Interaction

  • Adam Kendon, Richard M. Harris, Mary R. Key, Adam Kendon, Richard M. Harris, Mary R. Key(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  Everyone in command of the voice system of his language has this intuitive skill. Part of our knowledge of our paralanguage involves knowing what selective voice style variants may be appropriately used WITH WHOM, IN WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES, TO WHAT PURPOSE, WITH WHAT EFFECT, and WITH WHAT VERBAL AND KiNESic STRUCTURES . Presumably, in knowing ones paralanguage, one also knows certain deeply ingrained para-linguistic universals, as well as the particular learned modulatory voice practices and associated semantic conventions of his culture. This critical ability to gauge others' feelings, evaluate their intentions, and enter into emotional rapport via vocal signals strongly suggests con-ceptualization and cognitive capacity. In natural language, vocal relations, too, are relations between symbols. Together with other assimilative processes, paralanguage thus qualifies as one of Bruner's (1966:56) amplifiers of human ratiocinative capaci-ties which involve symbol systems governed by rules that, for effective use, must be shared. As characteristic of human coding systems, generally, as Neisser (1962:61) has noted, Information is taken in, reorganized, filtered, preserved, and perhaps distorted before it is used. The paralinguistic message, mapped by a speaker-hearer for trans-mission in terms of a conventionalized auditory symbolism, is perceived * Failing this, at any stage of his communicative development, the individual may display marked deficiencies in psychosocial adaptation, appearing socially gauche in comparison with others of his age-group. The important implications of arrested development or underdeveloped competence of this kind have not yet been explored. 270 RICHARD Μ. HARRIS, DAVID RUBINSTEIN by another, similarly calibrated human being and decoded to compre-hension.

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  InterGrammar

  Toward an Integrative Model of Verbal, Prosodic and Kinesic Choices in Speech

  • Horst Arndt, Richard W. Janney(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  The objects of study in this field are sound effects continuing over longer utterance stretches (minimally, a syllable) or requiring reference to several verbal seg-ments in different parts of an utterance (cf. Crystal 1979: 33). The term prosody generally refers to phenomena of the former type: vocal modulations of the articulatory line caused by shifts in pitch contour, loudness, rhythm, pause patterns, stress, accent, phrasing and so on (cf. Crystal & Davy 1969: 104 ff.; Gumperz 1982: 100). Sapir (1927a) referred to these phenomena collectively as voice dynamics', Trager (1958) called them vocal qualifiers. The term paralanguage is often used in connection with phenomena of the latter type: sounds or aspects of sounds which cannot be related in any direct or obvious way with specific verbal features of the articulatory line (cf. Trager 6.1 Prosody 227 1958; Birdwhistell 1961; Abercrombie 1968). For Sapir (1927a) these phenomena determined voice quality, ; Trager (1958) referred to them as vocal characterizers. Paralanguage, heralded at its inception (cf. Trager 1958) as a revolutionary new concept, has probably done more to confuse communication theory and hinder systematic integrative research on verbal, vocal, and kinesic patterning in speech than any other modern notion. In everyday practice, it is a sort of rag-bag category, in its implications not unlike the notion of performance in transformational-generative linguistics (cf. Halliday 1978: 38), into which all vocal and kinesic behavior which cannot be related explicitly to linguistic phenomena is put for lack of a more adequate term. For mainstream linguists, the study of paralanguage has the same dubious connotations as the study of parapsychology has for mainstream psychologists. As a distinction in nonsegmental phonology, the pros-ody-paralanguage dichotomy is purely conceptual, and should be recognized as such.

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  Speech Recognition

  • France Mihelic, Janez Zibert, France Mihelic, Janez Zibert(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • IntechOpen

    (Publisher)

  21 Recognition of Paralinguistic Information using Prosodic Features Related to Intonation and Voice Quality Carlos T. Ishi ATR Japan 1. Introduction Besides the linguistic (verbal) information conveyed by speech, the paralinguistic (non-verbal) information, such as intenning the classification of paralinguistic information. Among the several paralinguistic items extions, attitudes and emotions expressed by the speaker, also convey important meanings in communication. Therefore, to realize a smooth communication between humans and spoken dialogue systems (such as robots), it becomes important to consider both linguistic and paralinguistic information. There is a lot of past research concerpressing intentions, attitudes and emotions, most previous research has focused on the classification of the basic emotions, such as anger, happiness and sadness (e.g., Fernandez et al., 2005; Schuller et al., 2005; Nwe et al., 2003; Neiberg et al., 2006). Other works deal with the identification of attitudes and intentions of the speaker. For example, Fujie et al. (2003) report about the identification of positive/negative attitudes of the speaker, while Maekawa (2000) reports about the classification of paralinguistic items like admiration, suspicion, disappointment and indifference. In Hayashi (1999), paralinguistic items like affirmation, asking again, doubt and hesitation were also considered. In the present work, aiming at smooth communication in dialogue between humans and spoken dialogue systems, we consider a variety of paralinguistic information, including intentions, attitudes and emotions, rather than limiting our focus to the basic emotions. The understanding of paralinguistic information becomes as important as linguistic information in spoken dialogue systems, especially in interjections such as “eh”, “ah”, and “un”.

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  Approaches to semiotics

  Cultural anthropology, education, linguistics, psychiatry, psychology ; transactions of the Indiana University Conference on Paralinguistics and Kinesics

  • Thomas Albert Sebeok, Soomington, Ind.> Conference on Paralinguistics and Kinesics Conference on Paralinguistics and Kinesics Conference on Paralinguistics and Kinesics <1962(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  The paralinguistic framework preserves the phonemic analysis and the presentation becomes a good example of the effect of systems in contact. The same framework can be used to sharpen the awareness of writers of dialogues for language teaching. It can provide at least some answers to the questions posed by Pittenger et al. (62, p. 210) as a point of departure for determining just what happens in the psychiatric interview, and thus, by extension, for determining what is supposed to happen by way of personal interaction in the chosen situational context. These questions are: What does each participant say? Why does he say it? How does he say it? What impact does it have on the other participant(s)? When and how is new material brought into the picture, and by whom? What is being communicated out of awareness? How does the orientation of each participant change as the transaction continues? And why? And how do we know? And does the other participant know? And if he does, by virtue of what evidence? The questions themselves can also serve writers by bringing to their own conscious awareness the need for explicit descriptions of interactional signal material hitherto neglected. Detailed application of Trager's framework must, of course, await suitable paralinguistic descriptions of the native and target languages in question, and subsequent contrastive paralinguistic analyses, but beginnings can be made. In this connection it must be stressed that the categories of paralanguage are based on work with English; both continued work in English and paralinguistic analyses of other languages may well necessitate revisions. KINESICS SO FAR Weston LaBarre, in his paper Paralinguistics, kinesics, and cultural anthropology (pp. 191-220), has given us a good overview of the pertinent literature on gesture and body motion, and raised many stimulating questions.

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  Socialization and Communication in Primary Groups

  • Thomas R. Williams(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  The segmental phonemes were the least important compo-nents of the study. 2. Suprasegmental Phonemes The suprasegmental phonemes are com-monly referred to as intonation. They include the phenomena of stress, pitch, and juncture. The Trager/Smith scheme for transcribing supraseg-mental phonemes was used, with minor modifications identical to those described in previous studies by this writer (Duncan and Rosenthal 1968; Duncan, Rosenberg, and Finkelstein 1969). PARALANGUAGE Paralanguage refers to the wide variety of vocal behav-iors which occur in speech but which are not part of the sound system of language, as traditionally conceived. Comprehensive catalogs of paralin-guistic behaviors have been compiled by Trager (1958), Crystal and Quirk (1964), and Crystal (1969). Any one speaker will probably use only a small fraction of the total behaviors available. The following list, which uses Trager's (1958) terminology, includes only those behaviors which play a part in the turn system: (a) intensity (overloud — oversoft); (b) pitch height (overhigh — overlow); and (c) extent (drawl — clipping of individual syllables). The terms in parentheses define the anchor point for each behavioral continuum. A wide variety of paralinguistic behav-iors was actually encountered in the two dyads and included in the trans-criptions. BODY MOTION In contrast to paralanguage, there was for body motion no 2 8 8 STARKEY D. DUNCAN, JR. available transcription system which could be readily applied to our videotapes. This situation led to a transcribing method based on the behaviors actually found in each interview. The transcription system for the first interview was created by first making an inventory of the move-ments used by the two participants, and then assigning either arbitrary or descriptive labels to these movements. This system was then applied to the second interview, after expanding it to include new movements observed in the second interview.

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