Paralinguistics is ... What does science study?

This article will allow the reader to determine the meaning of the term "paralinguistics", to disassemble in detail its significance in human life, to study the features and functions of this science and to familiarize themselves with a brief history.

What is paralinguistics?

Paralinguistics is a science that studies the means and ways of communicating information in a non-verbal way.

In any conversation, a person uses both verbal and non-verbal ways of communicating information to the interlocutor. Paralinguistics is a separate section in the science of linguistics. Of course, the methods of information transfer, related to paralinguistic, are not units of speech and part of the language system. Nevertheless, this way of communication is extremely important.

Paralinguistic means began to be studied not so long ago, namely, in the thirties of the twentieth century. The concept itself was introduced in the 1940s. Actually this science began to develop in the early 60-ies of the twentieth century.

Relationship with other sciences and meaning

In any case, it is worthwhile to understand that this science is part of a comprehensive way of learning the language. Paralinguistics and extralinguistics in speech communication are one of the most important ways of studying the linguistic means intended for the transmission of information. By the way, paralinguistics, along with ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics, is part of a larger science, namely extralinguistics.

Paralinguistics and extralinguistics study the language aspects related directly to the functioning of the individual in the social environment and the ways in which information is transmitted that he uses. This science pays much attention to the ethnolinguistic and other unique components of speech associated with the speaker.

Despite the fact that paralinguistics is not considered part of the language system, all speech-type messages can be considered communication only in conjunction with paralinguistic means. What are the criteria and features of science? What do scientists pay attention to? What is attributed to paralinguistics?

Types and functions of paralinguistic methods of information transfer

Paralinguistics is a science that distinguishes several types of means of communication in the sphere of its study.

Among them are:

• Phonation aids are almost everything that relates to the form of speech, in particular, the timbre of the voice, the rate of pronunciation, the speech melody, the loudness of the speaker's tone, the peculiarities of the sound articulation of the social or dialect type, as well as the ways of filling the sentences with pauses in conversation.
• Kinetic - they include features of the position of the body of the speaker in space, his movements, posture, which is observed by the interlocutor, gestures and facial expressions during the conversation.
• A group of graphic means - here include features of writing words, human handwriting, options for adding semantic information to graphic signs, letter substitutes.

Paralinguistics is a science that studies not only non-verbal means of communication. Researchers take into account the role of each component in communication.

• Sometimes non-verbal means are used to replace elements of a verbal nature in a conversation (an example is the use of gestures of denial or consent).
• During communication, there is often a combination of verbal means with non-verbal means for conveying a general sense (for example, if a person talks about something specific, he can point to this subject).
• Addition of transmitted information by making non-verbal signals (facial expressions and gestures are often used by people to strengthen the meaning of words, to show their attitude to the subject of conversation).

Conclusion

Summing up, we can say that paralinguistics is a special form of studying non-verbal and verbal methods of information transfer, which every person uses in his speech, regardless of age, gender and nationality.

This science pays attention to the ethnolinguistic and universal components of the language, as well as affects the idiolect (a set of features of communication of an individual). The study of non-verbal communication allows you to learn more about the person himself, determine his nationality, age, temperament, character and a host of other important facts.