Your rate or tempo of speech is a paraverbal communication, with a fast rate generally associated with a high level of stress. Communications researchers Sporer and Schwandt also found that talking at both a slower rate (such as using excessive pauses to take up time) and a more rapid rate (such as speaking quickly to avoid interruption) could indicate lying. To slow your rate during a speech or presentation, pause long enough to take several deep breaths, and try to feel the extent of your breathing down your body to your toes to help you relax.
Another form of paraverbal communication is the emphasis put on certain words or inflection in our voice as we are speaking. Emphasis can fall on single words, or even entire sentences, conveying a subtle and often hidden meaning about your message. Emphasis placement can often convey a completely different meaning to your receiver. Inflections, such as ending a statement as a question with an upward inflection, can convey a lack of confidence and can affect your credibility.
The context or situation of our communication is known as metacommunication. For example, you might be talking on the telephone to a parent, whom you overhear giving a command to a child, such as "Put that down!," but you have no context for the situation to know the entire meaning. You can also set up the intent of the communication by qualifying it as serious or hypothetical, for example, or expecting that your receiver will understand the context.
Every culture has a common array of symbols that hold meaning and that those within that culture take for granted. These symbols have a deep and significant history, as they are responsible for the first forms of communication and represented much of the objects in the universe, such as earth, sky and water. Variations on circles and even lines came to signify many different contemporary items, or became religious symbols such as crosses, chalices and stars. You can enhance your ability to communicate and comprehend communications in other cultures and religions through a deeper knowledge of their symbolism.