Abstract:
Due to the growing interest in nonverbal cues, the studies on nonverbal cues were
sliced into smaller more focused study on a specific nonverbal cue. Paralanguage is
the nonverbal cue that deals with the characteristics of the delivery of speech. This
study aims to evaluate the paralanguage employed in men’s speech, to evaluate the
paralanguage employed in women’s speech, and to compare the paralanguage in
men’s and in women’s speech in terms of the difference in intonation, in the volume
of speech, in the speed of speech, in fluency, and in occurrence of deviation from
standard articulation in men and women's language. The participants are the
members of the UP Manila Debate Circle, a heterogeneous group of almost equal
number of female and male members. All the members of the organization are
students of the University of the Philippines Manila. The members of the organization
evaluated each peer in the scale of 1 to 5 in terms of intonation, speed and volume
of speech, fluency and articulation. The findings from these procedures are as
follows: Intonation or Vocal Dynamics among men and women do not differ in the UP
Manila Debate Circle. Both male and female debaters spoke at an average speed of
speech during the debate. Volume of Speech varied. Male debaters spoke at a high
volume while women debaters at an average. Female and male members of the
organization employed flawless articulation. In general, there was no particular
pattern of paralanguage use among male and female debaters.. From the data
gathered, it appears that the differences are caused by individual differences rather
than gender. The findings show that the differences are based on personality
differences among the debaters rather than gender bases.
