Full Idea
The most comprehensible part of language is not the word itself, but rather tone, force, modulation, tempo, with which a series of words is spoken.
Gist of Idea
The pragmatics of language is more comprehensible than the meaning
Source
Friedrich Nietzsche (Unpublished Notebooks 1882-84 [1883], 3[296])
Book Reference
Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'Fragments from the period of 'Zarathustra' (v 14)', ed/tr. Loeb/Tinsley [Stanford 2019], p.75
A Reaction
He exaggerates. If you watch someone talking vociferously in an unknown foreign language, the feeling of the exchange is obvious, but the content is quite unknown. I see his point that we underestimate body language etc.