Table Of ContentPARALANGUAGE
AMSTERDAM STUDIES IN THE THEORY AND
HISTORY OF LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
General Editor
E.F. KONRAD KOERNER
(University of Ottawa)
Series IV - CURRENT ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC THEORY
Advisory Editorial Board
Henning Andersen (Los Angeles); Raimo Anttila (Los Angeles)
Thomas V. Gamkrelidze (Tbilisi); John E. Joseph (College Park, Md.)
Hans-Heinrich Lieb (Berlin); Ernst Pulgram (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
E. Wyn Roberts (Vancouver, B.C.); Danny Steinberg (Tokyo)
Volume 92
Fernando Poyatos
Paralanguage
PARALANGUAGE
A LINGUISTIC AND INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
TO INTERACTIVE SPEECH AND SOUND
FERNANDO POYATOS
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, N.B., Canada
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY
AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA
1993
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Poyatos, Fernando.
Paralanguage : a linguistic and interdisciplinary approach to interactive speech and
sound / Fernando Poyatos.
p. cm. - (Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science.
Series IV, Current issues in linguistic theory, ISSN 0304-0763; v. 92)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Paralinguistics. 2. Nonverbal communication. I. Title. II. Series.
P95.5.P69 1993
414'.6--dc20 92-42014
ISBN 90 272 3527 9 (Eur.)/l-55619-149-9 (US) (alk. paper) CIP
© Copyright 1993 - John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or
any other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 75577 · 1070 AN Amsterdam · Netherlands
John Benjamins North America · 821 Bethlehem Pike · Philadelphia, PA 19118 · USA
To my wife, María,
with love
Contents
Preface & Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: From Movement to Sound
The Sign-Emitting Activities and Nonactivities of the Human Body
as a Communicator 13
1.1 The sign-emitting activities and nonactivities of the human body 13
1.2 The anatomical-articulatory possibilities of the human body and their
relation to communicative sound 15
1.3 An inventory of visual and visual-audible movements 16
1.4 The sounds of self-adaptors and alter-adaptors and their communica
tive quality: when we hear our touching ourselves and being touched 25
1.5 The sounds of body-adaptors: interpersonal and intrapersonal dimen
sions 29
1.6 The sounds of object-adaptors: when things talk back to us 31
1.7 The sounds of object-mediated activities: audible body extensions 32
1.8 Mechanical, artifactual and environmental sounds as possible compo
nents of interaction 35
1.9 Functions, culture, ontogeny and segmentality of bodily audible move
ments 37
1.10 Conclusion 41
Notes 42
Chapter 2: The Anatomy and Physiology of Vocal-Narial Sound Pro
duction
An Audible-Visual Approach to Language and Paralanguage 45
2.1 From external articulations and contacts to internal-external speech
activities and related signs 45
2.2 The lungs and bronchi 50
2.3 The esophagus 52
2.4 The larynx 54
viii CONTENTS
2.5 The pharynx 63
2.6 The oral cavity 67
2.6.1 The alveolar-palatal areas 67
2.6.2 The dental areas 70
2.6.3 The labial areas and the cheeks 73
2.6.4 The tongue 89
2.7 The mandible 99
2.8 The nasal cavities 103
2.9 The vowel sounds as degrees in tongue and lip position: sound and ges
ture 111
2.10 A note on secondary articulations 113
2.11 Conclusion 114
Notes 114
Appendix: Linguistic and paralinguistic transcription symbols 115
Chapter 3: Language-Paralanguage-Kinesics
The Basic Triple Structure of Communication in Face-To-Face
Interaction 121
3.1 The progressive phonetic-visual approach to speech 121
3.2 The expressive limitations of spoken and written words 123
3.3 A brief introduction to language, paralanguage and kinesics 129
3.4 The intervening silences and stills as elements of the basic triple struc
ture 135
3.5 Segmental and nonsegmental elements within the basic triple structure 137
3.6 A note on the redundancy vs. complementarity of segmental and non
segmental features of speech 139
3.7 Anthroposemiotic coherence and ontogenetic and social development
of the structure language-paralanguage-kinesics 140
3.8 Language markers and identifiers as the closest paralinguistic and
kinesic accompaniments to words 147
3.9 The ten different realizations of language, paralanguage and kinesics in
discourse 150
3.10 Intrasystem, intersystem, and environmental/cultural interrelationships 153
3.11 The total conditioning background of paralanguage 156
3.12 The basic triple structure in full interaction, reduced interaction, non
interaction and environmental interaction 159
3.13 On the concept of usage 166
3.14 The joint transcription of language-paralanguage-kinesics in their total
interactional context 167
3.15 Conclusion 171
Notes 172
CONTENTS ix
Chapter 4: Primary Qualities
The Speaker-Identifying Paralinguistic Features 175
4.1 The conditioning factors and classification of primary qualities 175
4.2 Timbre 177
4.3 Resonance 178
4.4 Loudness 179
4.5 Tempo 182
4.6 Pitch: level, range, registers and intervals 184
4.7 Intonation range 189
4.8 Syllabic duration 192
4.9 Rhythm 194
4.10 Conclusion 195
Notes 196
Appendix: Transcription symbols for paralinguistic primary qualities 196
Chapter 5: Qualifiers
The Many Voices of Interaction 199
5.1 Nature, classification and problems of voice types 199
5.2 Breathing control 202
5.3 Laryngeal control 203
5.4 Esophageal control 218
5.5 Pharyngeal control 219
5.6 Velopharyngeal control 221
5.7 Lingual control 227
5.8 Labial control 228
5.9 Mandibular control 229
5.10 Articulatory control 230
5.11 Articulatory tension control 233
5.12 Objectual control 233
5.13 Conclusion 235
Notes 242
Appendix: Transcription symbols for paralinguistic qualifiers 243
Chapter 6: Differentiators
The Eloquence of Emotional and Physiological Reactions 245
6.0 Introduction: the status of differentiators as a paralinguistic category
and as components of interaction 245
6.1 Laugther 248
6.1.1 The needed research perspectives on laughter 248
6.1.2 The morphology of laughter as a paralinguistic-kinesic compo
nent of interaction 249
