Normal Speech - Normal People? Speculations on Paralinguistic Features, Arousal and Social Competence Attribution

Abstract

It is suggested that various aspects of nonverbal vocal behaviour, especially para- and extralinguistic features play an important role for social skills and interactional competence, and that some variants of these features may lead to the attribution of “abnormality”. Results from our studies with schizophrenic patients indicate that differential improvement can be predicted from paralinguistic data from an interview before therapy, i.e. patients judged as more improved after therapy show more speech “abnormalities” before therapy (e.g. long hesitation pauses, slow speech rate, high fundamental frequency)! Results are interpreted as indicating either improved social competence of the patients or reduced psychological arousal and tension after successful therapy.