Chapter 6 Vocal Behavior

Question 1

Vocalics

Answer 1

The study of the communicative value of vocal behavior or PARALANGUAGE

Question 2

Paralanguage

Answer 2

Includes all oral cues in the stream of spoken utterances except words themselves

Question 3

Sarcasm

Answer 3

Saying one thing but communicating something else

It is learned

Children don’t understand sarcasm

We don’t appreciate sarcasm of people from other cultures

Question 4

Vocal behaviors and cues can transmit other messages:

Answer 4

Status, background, gender, age, socioeconomic status, where we grew up, etc.

Question 5

Trager’s categories of vocal behavior

Answer 5

Voice set

Factors

Question 6

Trager’s categories of vocal behavior: Voice set

Answer 6

Setting of an act of speech

The vocal environment or contextual background is to some measure a result of the speaker’s voice

Closely related to who the speaker is
Ex. Say “I love it “ (business person, girlfriend, truck driver, teacher)

Question 7

Trager’s categories of vocal behavior: factors

Answer 7

Age, gender, present condition of health, state of enthusiasm, fatigue, sadness, and/or other emotions

Question 8

Voice qualities

Answer 8

Tempo, resonance, rhythm control, articulation control, pitch control, glottis control, vocal lip control, and pitch range

Question 9

Vocalizations

Answer 9

Audible vocal cues that do not have the structure of language and may not be accompanied by words

Question 10

3 types of vocalizations

Answer 10

Vocal characterizer

Vocal qualifier

Vocal segregates

Question 11

Vocal characterizer

Answer 11

Crying, laughing, whimpering, sobbing, snickering, sighing, moaning, yawning, growling, muttering

Question 12

Vocal qualifier

Answer 12

Intensity, pitch height, context

Vocal cues that serve the function of accenting are served by vocal qualifiers

Ex., put that down… (pause) NOW

Question 13

Vocal segregates

Answer 13

Audible but not linguistic

Voice printing (used for identification similarity like DNA)

Vocalizations that include “Shhh” “uh huh” “ahh” “er”

Question 14

Voice printing

Answer 14

Similar to fingerprinting in how it is used to identify us - especially in court cases

However there is dispute over how accurate it really is.

50-90% accurate so more is needed for conviction and exoneration

Question 15

Silences and pauses

Answer 15

Silence generally discussed in terms of pauses during streams of speech

Question 16

Unfilled and filled pauses

Answer 16

Unfilled pauses are periods when vocal activity stops DURING spoken utterances

Filled are interruptions of the stream of utterances with “ah” and “uh”

3 classifications:
Hesitation silence
Psycholinguistic silence
Interactive silence

Question 17

Hesitation silence

Answer 17

Caused by anxiety and uncertainty about what to say next

Question 18

Psycholinguistic silence

Answer 18

Related to encoding and decoding of speech

Question 19

Interactive silence

Answer 19

A product of interaction denoting relational status

Ex. Silence lovers share, cold silence, silence respecting elders

Question 20

Grammatical or ungrammatical pauses

Answer 20

Goldman-eisler 1968- grammatical pauses occur as a rule of language punctuation:

At end of sentences (periods) or before conjunctions (commas) etc.

Question 21

Response latency

Answer 21

The time between your silence and when your partner begins talking

Question 22

Interruptions

Answer 22

Tannen’s (1990) work to indicate that women talk more in private settings and men more in public settings

Question 23

Accent and dialect

Answer 23

Accent refers to the different ways words are said. It is a paralinguistic concern

Dialect refers to the use of different words to reference similar meanings. It is a linguistic concern

Question 24

Mulac (1976) says we judge accents with three primary dimensions:

Answer 24

Sociointellectual status (status, occupation, income, literacy)

Aesthetic quality (how pleasing or displeasing the accent is)

Dynamism (how aggressive, assertive, strong, loud, or active the voice is)

Question 25

SCADFISH

Answer 25

Sadness-slow tempo, low pitch, flat Contempt- Anger-fast tempo, high pitch, loud, harsh Disgust-slow tempo, flat, hard sound, little intonation Fear-fast tempos, pitch contour up, piercing Interest- moderate tempo, even pitch, lively Surprise-fast tempo, high pitch, startled Happiness-fast tempo, higher pitch variation

Question 26

Vocal behavior and personality

Answer 26

Breathiness, thinness, flatness, nasality, tenseness, throatiness, orotundity, increased rate, increased variety in pitch BTFNTTOII

Question 27

Vocal Breathiness

Answer 27

Marilyn Monroe or Jessica rabbit Women see as sexier, more high strung and shallow Men seen as gay or younger or artistic Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, mike Tyson

Question 28

Vocal Thinness

Answer 28

Women seen as socially and physically, emotionally and mentally immature However no personality judgements are made towards men with thin voices Some voice types are positive for males and not females and vice versa

Question 29

Vocal flatness

Answer 29

Monotone, dull and boring Same for males and females: not positive, dull, and boring Professor from Ferris bueller’s day off Sylvester Stallone Squidward

Question 30

Vocal nasality

Answer 30

The worst voice to have Someone who speaks through their nose, people from Wisconsin and certain NY Burroughs Urkel the nerd from family matters

Question 31

Vocal tenseness

Answer 31

Tending throat muscles and gritting teeth to talk Clint Eastwood and Dirty Harry

Question 32

Vocal throatiness

Answer 32

Easy to recognize A raspy voice/smoker’s voice Raspy and throaty not the same tho Marge and her twin sisters

Question 33

Vocal Orotundity

Answer 33

Voice comes from diaphragm Intense deep voices, seen as more credible, gregarious and lively although women can be seen as humorless James earl jones, John Goodman, Oprah Winfrey, and Morgan freeman

Question 34

Increased vocal rate and vocal variety

Answer 34

Ellen degeneres and spongebob Interesting, speaker seen as lively and intelligent However too much seems forced

Question 35

Vocal behavior and learning

Answer 35

Monotone voice is worst enemy of teacher: thwarts attention and interest Rely on vocal clarity, variety and naturalness to contribute to comprehension

Question 36

Vocal behavior and persuasion

Answer 36

Faster rates associated with competence, expertise and intelligence Disfluencies such as tongue slips, stuttering, repetitions, and vocal buffers harm perceptions of competence, dynamism

Question 37

Vocal characteristics of good delivery

Answer 37

Volume control Faster rate of speech Use of pitch to clarify Good articulation Fluent speech Effective pauses