Paralanguage
This next form of nonverbal communication is predicated on the belief that the
sounds we generate, apart from the meaning contained in the words, often communi-
cate more than the words themselves. Most of you have seen a foreign film with
English subtitles moving across the screen. During those intervals when the subtitles
were not on the screen, you heard the actors uttering an unfamiliar language but
could essentially understand what was happening on the screen just from the sound
of the voices. Perhaps you inferred that the performers were expressing anger, sorrow,
joy, or any number of other emotions. From the sound of the voices, you could even
tell who the hero was and who was cast in the role of the villain. The rise and fall of
voices also may have told you when one person was asking a question and another
was making a statement or issuing a command. Whatever the case, certain vocal
cues provided you with information with which to make judgments about the charac-
ters’personalities, emotional states, ethnic background, and rhetorical activity. To be
sure, you could only guess at the exact meaning of the words being spoken, but sound
variations still told you a great deal about what was happening. Shakespeare suggested
this with great style when he wrote,“I understand the fury in your words, but not the
words.”What we have just been considering is often referred to as paralanguage,
which“includes all oral cues in the stream of spoken utterances except the words
themselves.”^113 Research reveals that those utterances can influence perceptions
related to the individual’s emotional state, social class and status, personality traits,
ethnicity, educational level, credibility, comprehension, and personality.^114 Most clas-
sifications divide paralanguage into three categories: (1)vocal qualities, (2)vocal char-
acterizers, and (3)vocal segregates.Vocal Qualities. As just indicated, a great many inferences about content and charac-
ter can be made from the paralinguistic sounds that people produce. Let us now look
at some paralanguage behaviors that have message value in particular cultures.
Although vocal qualities have numerous components, cultural differences are most
apparent in the use of volume. Arabs speak with high levels of volume. It might
even appear to be theatrical to“outsiders.”For Arabs, loudness connotes strength
and sincerity. A softer voice suggests weakness and even deceitfulness. Nydell
explains the Arab use of volume in more detail:“Loudness of speech is mainly for
dramatic effect and in most cases should not be taken as an indication of aggression
or insistence on the part of the speaker.”^115 Germans conduct their business with a
“commanding tone that projects authority and self-confidence.”^116 At the other end
of the continuum, there are cultures that have a very different view toward loud
voices. For example, people from the Philippines speak softly, as they maintain
that this is a sign of good upbringing and education. Speaking in soft tones is also
valued in Thailand. A visitor from Thailand once asked one of the authors if the
loud voices she was hearing in the UnitedStates meant that U.S. Americans were
upset or mad at a specific person or event. Her question made a great deal of cul-
tural sense. In Thailand, people speak in quiet voices and believe it is an indication
of anger when a person elevates his or her volume. These strident tones contradict
what Buddhist teaching calls“disciplined in quietness.”In Japan, raising one’s voice
often implies a lack of self-control. For the Japanese, a gentle and soft voice reflects
good manners and helps maintain social harmony—two important values in
Japanese culture.Body Movement 321Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).