To use a category system to identify realities, people have to exclude some things. Whatever is said or whatever ideas are thought about any reality, some things are not said or not thought. Words also reflect different levels of meaning or abstraction. Concepts, and thus words, vary from specific to general, and the higher the level of abstractness, the more ambiguous words become.
The more possible things a word can be applied to, the more possible misunderstandings can occur in communicating. When the term abstract is applied to words, it refers to features of a concept that cannot be seen. The word concrete refers to features that are specific and can be seen.
Words also represent different types of meanings. Denotative meanings are the actual objects or concepts referred to; connotative meanings are the values people attach to the concept—a negative or positive reaction to the symbol itself or to the thing or experience the symbol stands for.
Communicators also share the system in which symbols are used. Language is described as a symbolic system involving verbal and nonverbal, vocal and nonvocal symbols. Grammar is what makes language systematic. Grammar consists of the rules of word arrangement and inflections that make individual words useful. Knowing grammar helps people interpret word relationships and word and sentence meanings.
Each language system has differences of dialect and style. A dialect is a language variant used by a group of speakers that is different from the language of the general community. Dialects may be ethnic, geographical, or social, and they involve differences in word choices, grammar, and sound. Dialects influence communication because they activate any biases communicators have in favour of or against the group or community with which they identify the dialect. Style differences are primarily related to the degree of formality in language use. Styles vary according to situations as well as the relationships among the communicators. There are five styles of formality: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate.[9]
All the above stated is important from the viewpoint of the listener: a speaker, in order to be accepted and properly understood, needs to consider the audience and speak their language.[10]
Through verbal communication, people learn about others' thoughts, ideas, products, and services. However, often how we say things conveys more meaning than what we say. In fact, voice quality is said to convey about 38% of the meaning.[11] The accent may give away one's national or regional origin. The tone of voice will tell people whether the talker feels elated or sad, excited or bored. One's involvement — the true feelings and attitudes — is often sent by means of the vocal and physical cues, and sometimes a speaker may send conflicting messages through different channels: words, body, face, and tone.
As it is known, about 93% of communication is non-verbal.[12] Much of it is unconscious, but a great deal of a wordless message can be consciously controlled. We convey feelings, moods and attitudes through a variety of intonation parameters, such as, volume, speed or pace, stress and some others. If motivated, anyone can become steadily more conscious of others' needs, feelings, and messages by intentionally growing the communication skill of awareness. For instance, in order to make the presentation interesting, a speaker will change the delivery, however not to obviously, e.g.: speed or pitch of voice.
Some intonation patterns may be completely colourless in meaning: they give to the listener no implication of the speaker's attitude or feeling. They serve a mechanical function – they provide a matrix into which all sentences may be poured so that they achieve utterance. Such intonation patterns represent the intonational minimum of speech.[13]
The distinctive function of intonation is realized in the opposition of the same word sequences which differ in certain parameters of the intonation pattern. It is difficult to classify all the fine shades of feeling and attitude which can be conveyed by slight changes in pitch, by increasing or decreasing the loudness of the voice, by changing its quality, and in various other ways. On the other hand, it is quite possible to make a broad classification of intonation patterns which change the meaning of the utterance. Applied to intonation it can be of the greatest service in guiding speakers in the correct use of the tones and accents.[14]
Vocal pitch, the highness or lowness of the voice on a musical scale, is an extremely important variable in communication. Since variety contributes to attention, the natural variety of pitch is desirable in business communication.
Different combinations of pitch sections (pre-heads, heads and nuclei) may result in more than one hundred pitch-and-stress patterns, but they all convey the most general meaning expressed by the nucleus itself, and different pitch sections (pre-heads or heads) either add some additional attitudinal meanings to the patterns or intensify them. Broadly speaking, any sentence type can be linked with any tone group and the particular meaning of every pattern occurs only in a certain context and with reference to a particular style and type of speech.[15]
We tend to identify higher pitches with female voices and lower pitches with male voices. We also learn vocal stereotypes specific to this or that culture. We associate low-pitched voices with strength, sexiness, and maturity and high-pitched voices with helplessness, tenseness, and nervousness.[16]
The pitch of the voice is very difficult to control without practice, and this makes it a highly accurate verbal indicator of how a speaker feels about the subject he or she is presenting. In most western cultures listeners normally impute strength and confidence to the person who speaks with a low-pitched, well-modulated voice. When the speaker's voice rises to a high pitch, listeners attribute it to excitement, panic, and lack of control.[17] So, if a speaker slows down and uses the lower end of the voice range, he or she is perceived as calm, confident and competent. We can vary the pitch with which we talk by changing the tightness of the vocal folds, the pressure with which we exhale air, and, to a limited extent, the elasticity of our vocal folds.
The hardest time to control the pitch of the voice is at the beginning of the speech. Most presenters – whether novices or experts – begin their speeches at a higher that normal pitch because the stress they are experiencing tenses and tightens their vocal cords so that they vibrate at a higher frequency. With relaxation, the vocal cords relax and assume their normal tension.[18]
However, if a speaker is excited or passionate about his subject, he or she will likely have difficulty masking the emotions – and the pitch of the voice will be raised. A high pitch indicates emotional engagement. If you're also speaking quickly, the combination usually indicates your stress level is elevated. Although you may worry that you sound nervous or anxious, the audience will interpret the intonation shifts as vocal prompts.
As tension usually tightens the vocal folds, raising the pitch and causing problems for presenters, women speakers particularly need to be cautious about pitch, since tension can increase their pitch to unpleasant levels, thus reducing their effectiveness as speakers.
In business communication one must also remember that a person whose pitch is too high, too low, or monotonous (on the same level) may not only transmit a negative impression when communicating, but risk losing customers completely. Some individuals, however, overuse one tone to the exclusion of all others. They have monotonous or monotone voices, which are characterized by having too little variety in pitch. Other individuals speak toward the upper end of their pitch scale, producing very fragile, unsupported tones.[19] Nervousness can give the sentences a rising intonation, with each one sounding like a question in a forced, unsynchronized over-inflection that results in a bewildering melody.[20]
Another problem for some speakers is a habitual and repeated pitch pattern. A regular rising and falling pitch pattern is often described as speaking in a "sing-song" manner. Not only is this pattern unnatural, it quickly becomes boring.[21]
As Ann Thompson summarizes, "There is an important observation about voice pitch. Voices that are normally pitched in a low or middle range have much better carrying power than high-pitched voices. Besides, the higher the pitch, the more effort the speaker must exert to be heard. As a matter of general practice, a speaker should try to keep voice pitch to a middle range, except for a change of pitch to emphasize meaning. The relaxation of tension for speaker and audience is immediate. An audience finds a high-pitched voice irritating and, more often than not, turns the sound off".[22]
The range between high and low pitch varies from individual to individual, and from one linguistic population to another. International speakers should be aware of the fact that the English generally have a greater range than Americans do.
Depending on the situation or context, in a sentence or an intonation group some of the words are of greater importance than the others. Words which provide most of the information are brought out in speech by means of sentence-stress: a special prominence given to one or more words according to their relative importance in a sentence.[23]
The main function of sentence stress is to single out the communicative centre of the sentence which introduces new information.[24] The prominence is realized by variations of pitch, force, length and quality. The syllables of the words marked by sentence-stress are pronounced with possible changes in pitch, greater force, greater length of vowels and their full quality, that is the stressed words are pronounced more distinctly. The most prominent part of a sentence is the last stressed word which takes the nuclear tone. The second in weight is the first stressed word which often has the highest pitch and is fairly loud.
The distribution of stresses in a sentence depends on the semantic value of words and is closely connected with the lexical and grammatical structure of the sentence. The ability to move smoothly and steadily from one stress to the next and to fit in the unstressed syllables between them forms the basis of a natural English accent.
Stress shift plays a crucial role in the delivery conveying subtle shades of meaning. The same sentence can demonstrate various degrees of curiosity, impatience, or sarcasm.
An application of the general sense of this term in Phonetics and Phonologyisto refer to speed of speaking; alternatively known as tempo.[25] Languagesand people vary in their overall rate of articulation(measured in such terms as syllablesper second, wordsper minute, incidence of pauses). Within a given norm, however, it is possible to vary one's rate for particular semanticor social effects, e.g. the 'meditative' sense of we-e-ll, produced very slowly.
The rate of speech can be normal, slow and fast. The parts of the utterance which are particularly important sound slower. Unimportant parts are commonly pronounced at a greater speed than normal.
The rate or speed at which a speech is delivered can indicate to the audience how the speaker feels about his material. A deliberate, plodding delivery often indicates solemnity or seriousness; a quickened pace suggests urgency or enthusiasm. Of course, speed of delivery varies from speaker to speaker, but most North Americans speak at a rate of around 160 words per minute.[26]
Varying the delivery speed of different parts of a speech help to highlight the main ideas and influence listeners' subconscious interpretation of the message. A modulated delivery is less predictable, and can hold the listeners' interest by requiring them to actively vary their responses.
For listeners, an average speaking rate of from 140 to 170 words a minute allows them time to digest the words of a speech. There can, however, be no fixed rate of delivery that applies to every speaker. Nor should the rate of delivery be uniform throughout a speech. Emotional moments in a speech seem more spontaneous if the words rush out. Deliberative moments, when a new idea is being considered or a conclusion stated, should be presented more slowly. Highly charged moments, as for instance memorable words at the end of a speech, should be delivered slowly and impressively.[27]
If a speaker wants to elicit a serious response, he or she delivers the speech at a slower than average tempo. This gives the audience more time to consider the impact of each word. But keeping the delivery plodding for too long is less challenging for the audience and it increases the likelihood that the listeners will become distracted.
Increasing the tempo suggests excitement or informality. But although a fast delivery will initially stimulate an audience, a speaker should not maintain that excitement indefinitely. Keeping the audience on its toes can be reached by once again modulating the delivery speed.
Generally, an effective speaker will most often speak in a clear, concise manner at a slightly slower pace using short, simple sentences (subject-verb-object) and high-frequency words. The listeners will not understand him if he speaks too fast or runs his words together.[28]
An effective speaker does not rush, or talk deliberately slowly. Being natural – although not conversational – is the main key of success.
Being an important component of intonation, the tempo of speech, alongside with the rate of the utterance, also implies pausation discussed further.
Obviously, it is impossible to not communicate with people. We all decode meanings from silences and absences as much as we do from talking and other non-verbal actions.
Often, if a speaker feels tense before going into a meeting, he or she takes a deep breath to relax. Furthermore, "lots of folks believe that any gaps in the flow of a conversation are negative, contributing to overwhelming feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty. To avoid this discomfort, many keep up a constant stream of chatter, whether or not they have something relevant to contribute," suggests Nancy Gerber.[29]
On the other hand, we can think about pauses in a speech like about rests in music. They can add dramatic effect and variety as well as giving the presenter a chance to breathe.[30] Some scholars believe that conversation breaks can help to facilitate reflection on the topic.[31] The pause phase of communication represents a short "time out" that allows both the speaker and listener to improve communication. A speaker pauses when he or she wants to gather the thoughts, or to find out how the listeners feel about what has been said, or before answering a question.[32]Psychoacoustic investigations prove that the pause gives the listener more time for better comprehension.[33]
Fran Briggs asserts that "silence can provide a gateway for both the listener and speaker to foresee and adapt with appropriate forethought." She states that silence can make more than just a point; it can make "an exclamation point... and without a single word preceding it. <…> Why is that? Because it can be used to shed light or convey darkness. Utilizing the sound of silence is truly the "master's" art of communication".[34]
For the analysis expediency it is efficient to distinguish the following three kinds of pauses:
1. Short pauses which may be used to separate intonation groups within a phrase.
2. Longer pauses which normally manifest the end of the phrase.
3. Very long pauses, which are approximately twice as long as the first type, are used to separate semantic groups.
Carefully calculated pauses, even a fraction of a second of meaningful silence, can lend emphasis to the group of words that precede it, give time for their meaning to sink in, and rouse suspense about what is to come. Some common occasions for an intentional pause follow: