20 Examples of Paralinguistic Sign

Paralinguistic sign

A paralinguistic sign It is a type of non-verbal sign that occurs with body movements or sounds and that complements the verbal transmission of information. For instance: the laughter, the throat clearing.

Paralinguistic signs accompany linguistic communication and can modify the meaning of a verbal message. For example, if a person winks when she is saying something, she can imply that she does not believe what she says.

Some of the paralinguistic signs occur voluntarily, but others occur involuntarily. These signs can convey information about the speaker's physical state, mood, and attitude toward the message.

Examples of paralinguistic sign

1. Crying. It can convey information about the speaker's mood, as it can show that she is sad.
2. The sigh. It can convey information about the speaker's state of mind, as it can designate a feeling of relief, bad mood or grief, but it can also give information about the physical state of the speaker, as it can designate tiredness.
3. Cough. It can be voluntary or involuntary and can convey information about the mood or health of the speaker.
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4. Yawning. It can convey many meanings, for example that a person is bored.
5. The smile. It can convey that the speaker is happy with what she has in her message.
6. Thumb elevation. It is often used to communicate approval or that everything is fine.
7. The volume and tone of voice. They can express information regarding the physical and emotional state of a person. For example, if a person is sure of what they are saying, this is reflected in the volume and tone of the voice.
8. The silences. They are used for various communicative purposes, for example, to emphasize an element of the sentence, a brief silence is usually made before naming it.
9. The applause. Clapping is generally used to communicate approval.
10. The screams. Shouting is used to communicate information about the speaker's mood, for example, a person may scream because she is angry or because she is happy.
11. Chattering teeth. This sound usually communicates that a person is nervous or tense.
12. Whistle. This sound can be used to attract someone's attention, as a gesture of disapproval, among other things.
13. Mimicry. They are the gestures and movements of the body that are made to communicate something.
14. The rhythm of speech. It is the speed with which a person emits a verbal message and can modify the meaning of the message.
15. Pause in speech. It can give information about the mental or physical state of the speaker and can modify the information of the message, for example, can convey that the speaker is reflecting on what is saying.
16. The timbre of the voice. Generally, it provides information about the physical characteristics of the speaker.
17. Noises made with the mouth or vocal cords. These elements can have a more or less fixed meaning, for example, interjections and onomatopoeia.
18. Scratch the head. This movement can indicate that a person is thinking, doubting, among other things.
19. Punctuation marks. They are used in texts and represent intonations, pauses, emphasis, among other things, to modify the meaning of the verbal content.
20. Point. This gesture is often used to indicate an object, a place, or a person that is referred to in a message.

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