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Interpretation, naturally, remains the role of the therapist, but orientation -- not only the patient's vocal giveaways of geographical and socio-economic background, but also vocal but non-verbal giveaways of danger spots in his relationship to people -- can be considerably beefed up by the linguist.

His esoteric chartings of the voice alert the therapist to areas where deeper probing may bring to light underlying psychological difficulties, making them apparent first to the therapist and eventually to the patient.

In one now-historic first interview, for example, the transcript ( reproduced from the book, The First Five Minutes ) goes like this: The therapist's level tone is bland and neutral -- he has, for example, avoided stressing `` you '', which would imply disapproval ; ;

or surprise, which would set the patient apart from other people.

The patient, on the other hand, is far from neutral ; ;

aside from her specifically regional accent, she reveals by the use of the triad, `` irritable, tense, depressed '', a certain pedantic itemization that indicates she has some familiarity with literary or scientific language ( i.e., she must have had at least a high-school education ), and she is telling a story she has mentally rehearsed some time before.

Then she catapults into `` everything and everybody '', putting particular violence on `` everybody '', indicating to the linguist that this is a spot to flag -- that is, it is not congruent to the patient's general style of speech up to this point.

Consequently, it is referred to the therapist for attention.

He may then very well conclude that `` everybody '' is probably not the true target of her resentment.

Immediately thereafter, the patient fractures her rehearsed story, veering into an oversoft, breathy, sloppily articulated, `` I don't feel like talking right now ''.