Paralanguage is a form of nonverbal communication that allows people to add layers of meaning to their spoken utterances through the manipulation of the manner of speech, or the way they say things. Paralanguage refers to the conveyance of meaning through non-lexical tokens (or non-words, such as "huh," "hmm," or "well") such as qualities of prosody (or the rhythm, stress, and sound of speech). Various aspects of linguistic communication are conveyed through different components of language, like words (lexemes), grammatical structure (morphosyntactics), and sound (phonology). In other words, paralanguage refers to how something is said rather than focusing on what is said. Paralanguage can also engage in intonation, pitch, rhythm, pauses, or vocal interjections. Understanding the elements of language that transcend words and grammar establishes a more complete picture of how we communicate with one another. Trager in his 1958 publication in Studies in Linguistics." He developed this research while working at the Foreign Services Institute for the US Department of State after working for many years to unravel the deeply enmeshed nuance that appears in spoken communication. Understanding and employing appropriate paralanguage communication is essential in successfully communicating with others from different backgrounds, and as a result, Trager's research in paralanguage was influenced by his employment by the Department of State. The term itself combines "para" (meaning, adjacent to or beside) and "language" to illustrate that this type of communication is tangential to speech. #RaiseAgainstAutism #PinnacleSaysItAll #PinnacleBloomsNetwork #1AutismTherapyCentresNetwork
