Editing Paralanguage (section)

===Throat clearing===
[[Throat clearing]] is a metamessaging [[nonverbal]] form of [[communication]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nonverbal-dictionary.org/2013/01/throat-clear.html?m=1 |title=Throat-Clear |website=www.nonverbal-dictionary.org |access-date=2016-09-10 |archive-date=2016-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917141022/http://www.nonverbal-dictionary.org/2013/01/throat-clear.html?m=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> used in announcing one's presence upon entering the room or approaching a group.  It is done by individuals who perceive themselves to be of higher rank than the group they are approaching and utilize the throat-clear as a form of communicating this perception to others.<ref>Question Authority: Think for Yourself, Estren & Potter, 2012:122.</ref> It can convey nonverbalized [[disapproval]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onomatopoeiaList.com/ahem/ |title=ahem – Onomatopoeia List |date=10 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/verbal |title=the definition of verbal |website=Dictionary.com}}</ref>

In [[chimpanzee]] [[social hierarchy]], this utterance is a sign of rank, directed by [[alpha males]] and higher-ranking chimps to lower-ranking ones and signals a mild warning or a slight annoyance.<ref>Primatology, Delmar 1984:46.</ref>

As a form of [[metacommunication]], the throat-clear is acceptable only to signal that a formal business meeting is about to start.
It is not acceptable [[business etiquette]] to clear one's throat when approaching a group on an informal basis; 
the basis of one's authority has already been established and requires no further reiteration by this ancillary [[nonverbal communication]].<ref>Book of Etiquette and Manners, Chapter 3, by Nimeran Sahukar & Prem P. Bhalla.</ref>