Paralanguage, also known as vocalics, is a component of meta-communication that may modify meaning, give nuanced meaning, or convey emotion.

The vocal but nonverbal elements of communication by speech. Paralanguage includes not only suprasegmental features of speech, such as tone and stress, but also such factors as volume and speed of delivery, voice quality, hesitations, and nonlinguistic sounds, such as
sighs, whistles, or groans.

We speak paralanguage when we gasp, sigh, clear our throats, change our tone, whisper or shout, emphasize certain words, wave our hands, frown or smile, laugh or cry, string vocal identifiers like un-huh and ah-hah between our words, or speak faster or slower.

Paralanguage gives the hints regarding the speaker’s mental and emotional state. The use of speed, pitch and pauses convey that how much the speaker is skillful in communication. Paralanguage has a great enlightening value, as a vigilant listener can learn a lot from the efficient speaker.