Paralanguage
Nonverbal Communication
Research Video
9/1/2013
Prior to the first few days of class my knowledge of nonverbal communication was lacking to say the least. One thing that I did know was that throughout the world there a vast number of different languages, some are similar to one another, and some are completely different. Sometimes words and gestures have different meanings when translated across languages or depending where you are in the world. For my video research project, I was assigned to look at something that I knew nothing about and this topic came in the form of, paralanguage. Sometimes the words you choose aren’t as important as one may think; sometimes the most important thing is how you choose to say those words. The proper definition of paralanguage is as follows, the nonlexical component of communication by speech, for example intonation, pitch and speed of speaking, hesitation noises, gesture, and facial expression. An example of this would be if someone asked “How’re you doing today?” and you replied with “Fine.” The answer given is very short and gives the impression that you are not fine and maybe even very upset. This then causes confusion with the first party because they aren’t sure if they should believe what you have verbally communicated. In the video that I watched woman that was discussion the topic of paralanguage spoke briefly about how paralanguage can be more of a hindrance than an effective communication tool. She stated that people tend to rely more on paralanguage to commutate how they feel rather than saying the actual words.
Research Video
9/1/2013
Prior to the first few days of class my knowledge of nonverbal communication was lacking to say the least. One thing that I did know was that throughout the world there a vast number of different languages, some are similar to one another, and some are completely different. Sometimes words and gestures have different meanings when translated across languages or depending where you are in the world. For my video research project, I was assigned to look at something that I knew nothing about and this topic came in the form of, paralanguage. Sometimes the words you choose aren’t as important as one may think; sometimes the most important thing is how you choose to say those words. The proper definition of paralanguage is as follows, the nonlexical component of communication by speech, for example intonation, pitch and speed of speaking, hesitation noises, gesture, and facial expression. An example of this would be if someone asked “How’re you doing today?” and you replied with “Fine.” The answer given is very short and gives the impression that you are not fine and maybe even very upset. This then causes confusion with the first party because they aren’t sure if they should believe what you have verbally communicated. In the video that I watched woman that was discussion the topic of paralanguage spoke briefly about how paralanguage can be more of a hindrance than an effective communication tool. She stated that people tend to rely more on paralanguage to commutate how they feel rather than saying the actual words.