Body Language of Slow Speech or Talking Slowly
Cue: Slow Speech or Talking Slowly
Synonym(s): Talking Slowly.
Description: A speech trait where the speaker talks at a rate that is slower than ordinary.
In One Sentence: Talking slowly indicates a relaxed attitude or high stress and a loss for words.
How To Use it: Using speech in a slow and careful way demonstrates high control. We see Presidents use slow deliberate speech to place emphasis on the few words that they do utter, rather than see them try to rush through a longer speech. Keeping things simple and to the point with carefully chosen words, spoken slowly, will demonstrate confidence and a relaxed, leadership disposition. Adding pauses to speech also creates the impression of supreme confidence and lets the listeners process the information.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: a) “I’m selecting my words careful which is why I’m talking slowly. I don’t want to say anything I might regret.” b) “I’m inebriated and losing consciousness making my rate of speech slow.” c) “I’m anxious, confused, lying or in deep thought making me slow to think of the correct words.” d) “I want to be clear and concise so I’m taking my time coming up with the correct words.”
Variant: See Rapid Speech, Speech Hesitation.
Cue In Action: a) When the president was asked if he was involved in the boondoggle, he paused, then began his answer with carefully selected words. b) At the end of the party, Dave began to slur his speech, trail off and eventually stop talking mid-sentence. c) When he asked where she was two nights ago, his wife spoke slowly so as to recount the history exactly. She wasn’t lying, nor did she want to appear to be. This drove her to be careful about what she said she did, and with whom. d) He was caught red-handed, but figured he could slip out. He measured and delivered his words carefully so as not to trip up on the details.
Meaning and/or Motivation: Talking slowly can be due to comfort and relaxation, or discomfort. Slow speech can be due to trying to make an important point, anxiousness, confusion, lying, grief, fatigue, deep thought, illness or the influence of drugs or alcohol. For this reason, one must be careful when attributing slow speech definitively with any one diagnosis.
Watch for cues in the cluster and the context to decide the real meaning of slow talking.
Cue Cluster: Watch for associated cues to decide what slow speech really means. In lying watch for eye aversion or conversely strong eye contact, lack of detail, lack of emphasis and so forth. While being honest and accurate, watch for richness of details and palms flashing upwards. To decide if it means that a person is intoxicated or tired watch for head dropping, eyes closing, alcohol on the breath and slurred speech.
Body Language Category: Audible signals.
Resources:
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