Nonverbal Strategies of Communicative Mitigation: Paralinguistic Euphemisms in Cuban Discourse

This article explores the paralinguistic means of euphemism in Cuban speech practices and examines non-verbal communication softening strategies as a vital element of interpersonal interaction. The relevance of the study is determined by a significant gap in the research of the euphemistic potential of gestures and facial expressions within communicative semiotics, despite their crucial role in circumventing speech taboos, reducing the categorical nature of statements, and minimizing the risk of communicative conflicts. The aim of the research is to identify the features of how paralinguistic euphemisms function and to define their sign properties within the Cuban socio-cultural context. The research material included data from a field survey of informants, as well as a comparative analysis of gesture descriptions from the "Diccionario de gestos" and their actual usage. The methodological framework comprises semiotic, functional-pragmatic, and comparative analysis. The study found that kinemes possess developed polysemy, synonymy, and homonymy, demonstrating variability and a high dependence on the communicative situation. Discrepancies between dictionary entries and empirical data were recorded. The scientific novelty lies in the first systematic description of paralinguistic euphemisms based on material from Cuban culture, revealing their semiotic similarity to verbal units. The practical significance of the work is that its results can be applied in courses on intercultural communication and pragmatics, as well as in the development of specialized dictionaries of non-verbal means.