Vocal Cues | Speakers | Stereotypes |
Breathiness | Males | Young; artistic |
Females | Feminine; pretty; effervescent; high strung; shallow | |
Thinness | Males | Did not alter listener's image of the speaker |
Females | Social, physical, emotional, and mental immaturity; sense of humor and sensitivity | |
Flatness | Males | Masculine; sluggish; cold; withdrawn |
Females | Masculine; sluggish; cold; withdrawn | |
Nasality | Males | A wide array of socially undesirable characteristics |
Females | A wide array of socially undesirable characteristics | |
Tenseness | Males | Old; unyielding; cantankerous |
Females | Young; emotional; feminine; high strung; less intelligent | |
Throatiness | Males | Old; realistic; mature; sophisticated; well adjusted |
Females | Less intelligent; masculine; lazy; boorish; unemotional; ugly; sickly; careless; inartistic; humble; uninteresting; neurotic; apathetic | |
Orotundity | Males | Energetic; healthy; artistic; sophisticated; proud; |
(fullness/ | interesting; enthusiastic | |
richness) | Females | Lively; gregarious; aesthetic sensitivity; proud |
Speakers should be aware that their vocal quality suggests certain things about them. Whether receivers are interested in identifying the speaker's age, occupation, or status, they are likely to make assumptions based on what his or her voice says to them. Although the picture or stereotype they form may be far from accurate, it could still influence their assessment of the speaker as an individual and affect the way they react to the spoken message.
It follows from the above mentioned that in business communication delivery often plays a much more important role than the message itself. When using the described paralinguistic means of the language, one should be very careful. Such qualities as volume and pace can work in unison to achieve powerful effects, especially when selling and persuading from the public platform. Adaptation of the pace to the message can be shown by telling some points more rapidly, or by slowly drawing out the words, or by long pauses to let the points sink in. The way we emphasize words can also change the meaning of the sentences. Using stress helps the listeners to understand the sense of the words and to show which words are more important.
business communication linguistic cultural
On the basis of the above analysis it is possible to draw the following conclusions.
Socio-cultural sensitivity is as important as any other issue of business communication. Hence, when dealing with international partners or customers, business people should consider the communication peculiarities, styles and traditions of the target cultures. Moreover, specific features of both formal and informal interaction should be acknowledged in view of the fact that the main purpose of out-of-office events is to develop mutual trust and sociability among business people. In addition, participants of business interaction should be aware of possible communication mistakes in order to avoid communication blocks, frustration, and misunderstanding. Following accepted and approved communication patterns makes it possible to develop effective business communication.
Analysis of linguistic features of business communication shows that it also requires much attention on the levels of content, structure and delivery. Thus, in business communication it is important to pay attention to both verbal and nonverbal interaction. This means that, in order to be effective, partners of business interaction should pay attention not only to the peculiarities of business setting, but also build their speech according to the general principles of public speaking, as well as use feedback, eye contact, personal space, body action, and voice to give the best impression. A proper balance between confidence and respectfulness will help to achieve the goals.
For the future, business communication should continue to improve while it strives to produce a larger quantity of deep research.
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