Republic of the Philippines

CAVITE STATE UNIVERSITY-CCAT

Cavite College of Arts and Trades Campus
Rosario, Cavite
(046)437-9505 /  (046)437-6659
cvsu.rosario@gmail.com
www.cvsu-rosario.edu.ph

Kenneth Bryan B. Amante

BSE 401- English

The Analysis of the Paralinguistic features

and its effect in communication.

Communication refers to a two way process of exchanging information between different

individuals. In regard to this, people mistaken that communication is only limited into speech.
Despite of their perception, communication has a wider scope that is why it can be classify into
two types. These are the verbal communication and non-verbal communication. This implies that
it is not only restricted through words but also the actions made by an individual while
communicating with other people. One of it is the paralanguage. Paralanguage plays a vital role
in human communication. It deals with the vocal nuances and the body language of a person.
The paralanguage is divided into two paralinguistic features. One of it is the vocal linguistic
feature. This includes the volume, intonation, speed of voice, pronunciation, punctuation marks,
articulation, pause and the tone of the voice so that the communication will be effective. The
second feature is physical paralinguistic. This involves the facial expression, gesture, proximity
of distance towards others, body posture and the used of echo in communication. All of these
features have an effects in communication. In other words, these non-verbal cues are helpful to
transmit the information efficiently. Aside from that, people can also use these to express their
thoughts and ideas. In regard to this, we need to know that paralanguage is connected to the
cultural background of an individual. This means that every person is different from one another.
For us, these gestures may mean good but to others it may not. It just means that we must be
careful in using paralinguistic cues so that we can able to communicate successfully towards the
others.