I thought the concept of paralanguage was
interesting. The authors write, “Paralanguage is the meaning we perceive, along
with the actual words used to deliver the message. It is how we say something.”
Putting the concept of paralanguage into a group
setting helps explain it. I am on the board of a professional group. Although
we show respect to each other by giving each other a chance to talk, I do
notice that the end result varies. For example, when one member speaks who is
difficult to understand because of his accent but tends to go on and on
talking; even if he has a valid point, people wait for him to finish, say a
dismissive “thank you” then continue on with whatever was going on before he
began talking. Another woman who has a pleasing and modulated voice gets
everyone’s attention quickly and they tend to agree with whatever she says.
Another member can say the same thing that the first woman said, but
hesitantly, which seems to irritate the other members, who end up not paying
attention to what he has to say. One member can get quite emotional, so her
comments are often not taken seriously. As I wrote, the concept of paralanguage
is quite interesting.
That is very observant of you to notice such a small difference in the responces to an organized setting. If you notices, then you know that the people who are talking are noticing too. We have the same thing happen in my group at work. Sometimes there is just a better way to say something that gets attention and gains respect in agreement. When we have a person present an idea, but they can't find a great way to say it, the idea loses credit among the group. On the other hand, a well planned approach to the same plan, you are going to get people who agree and are willing to support you because of how you said and the confidence it represents.
ReplyDeleteHi Lee, I enjoyed reading your post. Paralanguage is communication complemented with nonverbal cues such as voice tones, gestures, glances, facial expressions and so on. We use paralanguage in our communication to emphasize our say and make its impact more prominent. So we make hand gestures like thumbs up when we like someone’s idea in small group discussion. If the group ignores someone’s opinion without saying a word the message goes to that person that his opinion is not appreciated. We also find people like the woman in your group who always gets people to like her say because of the way she puts it in the group. These are the smart people who emphasize on paralanguage to make their point. I think I should learn from these people, because emotions always carry me away and I fail to convey what I actually want to say.
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