Pauses are used more commonly to emphasize what is being said, instead of changing the meaning. However, it does depend on where the pause is placed. A well known example of this is the sentence “What is this thing called love?” It could be said “What, is this thing called love?” meaning is this object/feeling called love; or “What is this thing, called love?” asking what the word love is referring to or finally; “What is this thing called, love?” which is enquiring to someone affectionately what an object is called. So it can be seen, that these pauses do make a remarkable difference to what is said.
Bodily movement, pace and silences can also affect the meaning, but in less varied ways. Body movement can make the meaning clearer, as language can sometimes be vague or obscure. It doesn’t change the meaning as such, but that does depend largely on cultural aspects. An example of this would be shaking one’s head to mean ‘no’. In western culture, this is commonly accepted, whereas in some regions this gesture would be taken to mean yes. Pace tends to affect a change in the tone more in the meaning; a faster tone would increase the urgency, or show the excitement of the speaker; while a slower pace could mean that the speaker is taking more time with their words, giving them more effects. This would change the meaning in the same way that tone would, just as silences would change meaning in the same way as pauses.
Omissions would play an important in language and communication, although it depends what is omitted. For example, a basic sentence such as “The cat jumped up onto the chair” could be changed to “The cat jumped up” and have a slightly different meaning. But a statement such as “I believe God created life” would be dramatically affected if it were changed into “God created life”. In this way language affects our knowledge, because we learn what is passed down to us, and if certain parts are excluded, things which are possible may be accepted as truths.
Therefore, physical communication such as gesticulation, or other methods such as pausing and tone of voice can have a great affect on the meaning of words and how they are interpreted.
