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Part of
Discourse Studies in Public Communication
Edited by Eliecer Crespo-Fernández
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 92] 2021
► pp. 245–272

Chapter 11
Paralinguistic resources in persuasive business communication in English and Spanish

ORCID logo | Universidad de Alcalá , Spain
ORCID logo | Universidad de Alcalá , Spain

This study presents the results of research carried out to unveil how nonverbal paralinguistic signs are used in persuasive business communication in two parallel Spanish/British English corpora of TV entrepreneurial pitches. A specific analytic method has been developed to identify discrete nonverbal signs together with their function in the communicative acts studied, to ascertain frequency of sign use and the influence L1 and gender may exert on the quantity, type, and function of such devices. Results show that of all devices (i.e., volume, tone, speed, sound-lengthening, emotional reactions, quasi-lexical elements, and pauses), pauses are the most profusely used (65% of the cases), although both variables (L1 and gender) have a bearing on the socio-communicative variations of paralinguistic devices among different subjects.

Keywords: nonverbal communication, paralanguage, persuasion, variation, socio-communicative patterns, business communication
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical framework: Persuasive communication
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Results for paralinguistic resources
    • 4.1Phonetic qualities
    • 4.2Audible physiological or emotional reactions
    • 4.3Quasi-lexical elements
    • 4.4Pauses
    • 4.5The effect of language and gender in the use of paralinguistic devices
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.92.11ces
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