People and to Dogs, What is Paralanguage?
Understanding the "tone" of someone’s speech well is related to your ability to be empathetic.
The variance in pitch and rhythm of the voice called prosody (a subset of paralanguage) conveys emotion in the voice. Because dogs are unusually adept at reading human body language and paralanguage they understand what you prosody is saying. You may have experienced that when praising or chastising your dog. If you say, "bad boy." to a dog using a loving happy voice your dog will probably respond as if you have praised him, by coming in closer to you, wagging his tail and or licking your face. Just as saying "You are a great dog" in a loud, mean, strident, attacking voice may make cause your dog to retreat and or crouch low and bring down his head. The pitch and rhythm of the voice can affect how your dog responds to you.
Prosody is not only the way dogs understand and read emotions, human also understand the emotions communicated through prosidy.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional The Body Language Expert Web- http://www.PattiWood.netI have a new quiz on my YouTubestation. Check it out!YouTube- YouTube - bodylanguageexpert's Channel
