Prosody and Non Verbal Communication Prosody Sometimes we

Prosody and Non- Verbal Communication

Prosody �Sometimes we put some spoken utterances in double quotation marks to distinguish them from the sentences. �In speech, the way we use to say something is very important to make the message clear. �It is possible to have the same spoken utterances but they are pronounced differently.

For example: �Has the Winston street bus come yet? Sorry, I did not understand. What did you say? �I am afraid Fred did not like the remark I made. Oh, What did you say? �Some of my partners said they would not accept these terms. And you? What did you say? �You are misquoting me. I did not say anything like that. Oh, what did you say?

Here the most prominent syllable is indicated with capital letters. �WHAT did you say? SAY? �What did YOU say? �What DID you say? �What did you

Prosody “It is an important carrier of meaning in spoken utterances and consists of two parts: accent and intonation”. �So, prosody is very helpful in recognizing the word � The stressed syllable is given more attention or focus �Ex. I am HUNgry, what A NICE Car?

Intonation �Danial Jones (1956) defined intonation as: “ the pitch of the voice with which a voiced sound is pronounced”. �Amer stated that we make intonation by producing rising or falling pitch or a combination of falling and rising. By making one syllable in a sense-group especially loud and long usually when the change of pitch occur, we endow that word with a special prominence called “accent”

Examples on Intonations �Statement Vs. Question She got a dog (fall), She got a dog? (rise) �Information Vs. Repetition When (rise), Where (rise) – repetition When (fall), Where (fall)- asking for information has not been given.

Accent �Accent in English is mobile and it enables us to communicate different meanings. �We can put the emphasis in different places. �The last accent is the most prominent of all because the pitch changes on that syllable. �Ex. I am HUNgry, what A NICE

What does your brother do? �My brother is A Teacher �Ahmed is A Teacher. �He is A Teacher Here My brother or Ahmed is a given information while A Teacher is a new information so it is accented �My BRTHER AHMED is a teacher.

Non-verbal communication �“Messages expressed by non linguistic means” �“Messages transmitted by vocal means that do not involve language”. �“Oral and non oral messages expressed by other than linguistic means”. �“ 60 % of all communication is non verbal” (Burgoon, Buller, and Woodal, 1989)

Types of Non-verbal communication � Audible signs (Voice/ Paralanguage): � we can use the voice as a part of spoken utterances. �Ex. Crying, laughing, giggling, whisper… etc �It consists of vocal tone speed, pitch, volume number, and length of pauses.

Continue…. �Those utterances that we make when we are speaking , when we make noise are not words (um, ah). �We raise and low voices, we pause and stress some words. �So, accent and intonation are very important aspects of paralanguage as they determine the way we sound to other people.

Gestures �They are visible signs. �We use Gestures to communicate without words so they are not verbal and they are shared meaning as the audible signs. �Ex. When someone is talking on the telephone , he uses gesture to tell another person to come and sit down. �Nodding the head in response to an utterance.

Facial Expressions �Ex. Smiling �Smiling is an important facial gesture that indicate that we pleased to see other people.

Clothing, hair styles, jewelry, cosmetics �Ex. In funeral, people wear black or dark colored clothes as a symbol of mourning. �The clothes we wear make a statement about ourselves interpretations by other people.

To conclude… �Face to face communication contains: �Linguistics elements: vocal and verbal words put together to form utterances. Vocal and non verbal prosody. �Non-linguistic elements: vocalparalanguage “the tone of voice” non-vocal distances maintained appearance, gestures, silence