Tone as a Paralinguistic Element in I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

Abstract

In an effective communication, both verbal and non-verbal aspects are important to convey the meaning as intended. While in spoken communication, there are many cues such as gestures, postures, facial expression, tone and the like to grasp the meaning. In written English, however, this is missing. It is one of the reasons why written English is not easily understood by many. The absence of paralanguage in written English poses great challenge to learners. The article zeroes in on written English and the paralinguistic element tone. This article is written with reference to I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who    Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban, an autobiography by Malala Yousafzai, the girl who stood up for education for women and girl children. In her writing, Malala is very assertive to convey her message to the world. The tone she has used in her book ascertains the essentiality of education for girl children.