SHARMAS COMMUNICATION SKILLS

ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS OF PARALANGUAGE

(1) Advantages of Paralanguage

Several advantages are:

1. Closely allied to language, no oral message can be complete without it
2. Paralanguage is a good indicator of speakers‟ status in the organizational hierarchy
3. Paralanguage tells clearly about speakers‟ educational background
4. Paralanguage speaks volume of speakers‟ national, regional background and this is very useful in dealing with them
5. Paralanguage gives clues about speakers‟ state of mind and can help receivers decide how to deal with them
6. Since people belong to different continents, countries and communities, it is difficult to achieve uniformity in how the message should be conveyed

(2) Limitations of Paralanguage

Paralanguage has also a few limitations:

1. Paralanguage in non-verbal. It is like language but it is not the language. Hence it cannot be entirely relied upon.
2. Often „what is said‟ does not blend with „how it is said‟. It requires extra care from listeners to get the exact meanings of the message.
3. When voice quality and pitch of the speaker is not up to the mark, listeners have to remain open minded and patient to get the message correctly
4. Paralanguage may sometime misguide or mislead listeners
5. Since people belong to different countries, continents and communities, it is difficult to achieve uniformity in how the message should be conveyed.

Students should not underestimate the power of their voice. Voice is the most effective weapon in the armoury of managers / leaders. It can carry them a long way in their ambitions to become successful speakers and effective communicators.

Human voice can be trained to become strong and commanding, soft and soothing, caring and caressing to suit the individual situation. Voice has been rightly described as a „celestial melody‟