Adeola Abdulateef Elega

Paralanguage: This category of nonverbal cue is the mouthed part of nonverbal 
communication. They are categorized under 3 units. 
Vocal qualifiers: This unit of paralanguage deals with the strength of the voice and 
when to use them which also varies across cultures. Some cultures prefer to hear you 
talk in a soft voice when you are demanding something and some believe your voice 
should be firm to show of how much you need what you demand for. 
Vocal character: This unit deals with mouthed cues like crying, laughing, screaming 
etc. 
Vocal segregates: This unit mostly results from exclamation and emphasis. 
Examples are “uhn”, “um” “uh uh” which are universally used consciously or 
unconsciously. 
When an America talks, an average Thai man thinks he is angry because Americans 
talk loud. Among the Thais people, they believe that a well-mannered, educated 
fellow should talk softly. It is acceptable to call a waiter in Spain with a whistle like 
“psst” but in India it is violative to do so. Accent is another part of paralanguage. 
English has so many accents, the way West Africans sound is quite different from the 
way East Africans sound. 

---

33 
Silence: This remains an important part of communication; silence can depict anger, 
agreement, overwhelming state, loyalty, fear, knowledge, indecision, remorse etc. In 
some part of the world, silence is less recognized as a serious way of communication. 
In the United States silence means not concentrating, to be part of the situation you 
have to communicate verbally or nonverbally. On the other hand, silence equals 
consent in China. Jones (2008) categorized four dimensions of silence in Japan; 
truthfulness, social discretion, embarrassment and defiance, the Japanese people are 
believed to talk a lot but the use of silence is very important to them and it always 
surface during their interaction. The aforementioned are the basic ways silence is 
used among the Japanese (Jones, 2008 p.17). 
Haptics: This is the study of touch for communication. It is
from a Greek word 
called “haptesthai” which means to touch. We touch people when we engage in 
conversations, some people do it when they laugh hard to support themselves and for 
so many reasons tied to communication we touch. They variegate across cultures. In 
the West when adults of same sex hold hands they are assumed to be homosexuals. 
Among the Yoruba’s in Nigeria you don’t give something with your left hand to 
people. The left hand is seen as impure (Famdliflc, 2008 p. 25).