Persuasive power of prosodic features

This response to William Bedsole's paper aims to emphasize the importance of prosodic features—i.e. voice quality, tempo, rhythm, pitch, intonation etc.—in the persuasion process. Bedsole refers to voice and the role voice has but neglects to focus on the many different functions it can have. Extensive empirical research in nonverbal communication confirms that prosodic features play an important role in human interaction. However, contemporary rhetorical research has somewhat marginalized prosody. Voice and all prosodic features may contribute to the credibility speaker (ethos), can create certain disposition on audience (pathos), but can also be essential for understanding the argument (logos).