There would be no doubt in the reader's mind that a comprehensive book on paralanguage has been long overdue. Different areas in nonverbal communication studies have been proliferating in the last thirty years, offering a great number of research and pedagogical avenues, man y practical applications in very diverse aspects of life, and a general awareness of how people and their environment communicate beyond words. But it seems that paralanguage has proven too great a challenge to be dealt with because of the difficulties involved and its inherent elusiveness.