Paralanguage refers to which features?

• A. Grapheme
• B. Morphology
• C. Phoneme
• D. Paralanguage

Answer: (D)

Paralanguage is about how something is said, not the words themselves. It includes tone, pitch, volume, tempo, rhythm, rate of speaking, pauses, and even facial expressions or body language that accompany speech. These cues help listeners understand emotion, attitude, and intention behind the spoken words—like a rising pitch signaling a question or a louder voice showing emphasis. The other terms refer to different parts of language: grapheme are the written symbols that represent sounds; morphology studies how words are formed and structured; phoneme is the smallest sound unit that can change meaning. So, this option best captures the way speech is delivered rather than its content.