Functions of speech in the process of communication. Types of speech activity

Speech communication is an active process of verbal communicative interaction between its participants (senders and recipients of information), which is characterized by a certain motive and is aimed at achieving a specific goal. The communicative process proceeds based on feedback in specific types of verbal activity.

Speech communication is organically included in all kinds of activities of an individual, for example, professional or social, since activity is impossible without communication. Verbal communicative interaction can be realized between several individuals or at least two. Verbal communication is reciprocal and purposeful as well as social. The form of manifestation of verbal communication is considered to be verbal behavior and responses of communication partners.

Concept of communication

Communication is a complex, multifaceted process of establishing and developing contacts between people, generated by the needs for joint activities.

Throughout life, a person is involved in the process of communication. Depending on age, gender, occupation, goals, etc. one or another type of communication plays a leading role. Any communication with any person is subject to its own complex laws of an objective and subjective nature. Knowledge of these patterns is an indispensable condition for the effectiveness of both communication itself and any human activity. In addition, there are a number of professional activities in which the communication process plays a leading role.

The problem of communication, considered as one of the main psychological categories, is an ambiguously interpreted concept. There are many definitions of communication in the scientific literature, which is due to the complexity and versatility of this phenomenon. Psychologists and philosophers are interested in various aspects of its manifestation (information exchange, psychological interaction and mutual influence, mutual understanding and relationship). Much attention is paid to the consideration of communication as an information process - the reception and transmission of information. An important direction in the implementation of the information aspect of communication is the consideration of issues of people’s understanding of each other, the perception of man by man. There are different approaches to defining the concept of “communication” (Table 1).

Table 1

Explication of the concept of communication as interpreted by various authors

In the most general form, communication can be considered as a form of life activity. It acts as one of the most important conditions for identifying and revealing the best sides of a personality, the formation of its consciousness and self-awareness, and a stimulator of its development. Communicating with other people, analyzing the attitude of other people towards themselves, reflecting, a person discovers the need for self-improvement and realizes it in the process of self-education.

Relevance of the issue

There are two main types of verbal communication - verbal, non-verbal. The first involves the use of words, the use of some national language that has formed naturally. Non-verbal format – interaction through conventional postures, facial expressions and tone of speech, arrangement of text and filling it with additional graphic materials, tables and diagrams.

Verbal and non-verbal language always go together. Regarding speech, they are divided only theoretically, since it is more convenient to describe the processes of interaction between individuals. In practice, nonverbal and verbal types of speech communication do not exist without each other. Linguists say that the norm of speech communication is a balance between verbal and nonverbal components.

Communication structure

The study of communication shows the complexity, diversity, multi-level nature of the manifestations and functions of this phenomenon, which, in turn, requires the identification of its individual components and a description of the structure.

There are several approaches to structuring communication. Let us dwell on the two most frequently encountered in the scientific literature. The first illustrates the approach of G.M. Andreeva and identifies three interrelated aspects of communication: communicative, interactive and perceptual (Fig. 1).

Sides of communication

Communicative

Interactive

Perceptual

Identification of the specifics of the information process between people as active subjects (taking into account the relationships between partners, their attitudes and intentions)

Interaction of partners in organizing and carrying out joint activities

Forming an image of another person by correlating physical characteristics with psychological properties and behavioral characteristics

Rice. 1. Parties of communication according to G.M. Andreeva

The second is based on the concept of A.N. Leontyev. Communication is considered as a communicative activity (Fig. 2).

Structure of communicative activity

Subject of communication

Another person, communication partner

Need

in communication

A person’s desire to know and evaluate other people, and through them and with their help - to self-knowledge, to self-esteem

Communication motives

What communication is for

Units of communicative activity, a holistic act addressed to another person (two main categories of communication actions - proactive and reactive)

Communication actions

The goal to achieve which in a specific communicative situation various actions performed in the process of communication are aimed

Communication tasks

Communication means

Operations by which communication actions are carried out

Product of communication

Formations of a material and spiritual nature created as a result of communication

Rice. 2. Structure of communicative activity

according to A.N. Leontiev

Of course, in reality, all three sides of communication are interconnected, appear almost simultaneously in the process of communication and are isolated for the convenience of scientific, experimental research. But this convention does not mean that the identification of these three components of communication is just speculative constructions.

Public speech contact

Consideration of the concept and types of speech communication obliges us to pay attention to the division of all cases into public and mass. The first involves a monologue. It is in this form that university lectures or meetings are structured. The participant’s speech must have a clear structure, because the main idea of ​​the event is to achieve some pre-agreed goal, for the sake of which people gather in the chosen place. Without structure, speech is unlikely to be a significant assistant in achieving your goals. The public format is a meaningful statement with a specific purpose. For a public format, the level of responsibility is assessed as higher.

Public communication between people is possible in oral and written form. The first type is performances at stadiums and during various events, the second is publications in print media, which led to their name - mass media. In such an interaction, the addressee of the information does not have a specific person, and the speaker forms for himself a general idea of ​​who the person listening to him is.

Psychological characteristics of communication

The roles and tasks that communication performs in the process of human social existence are the functions of communication. Let us present one of the most complete classifications of communication functions, distinguished by goal criterion (Fig. 3).

Communication functions

Emotive

Information

Contact

Coordination

Incentive

Arousing the necessary emotional experiences in a partner, as well as changing one’s experiences and states with his help

Exchange of messages, opinions, plans, decisions, etc.

Establishing contact as a state of mutual readiness to receive and transmit messages and maintain relationships in the form of constant mutual orientation

Mutual orientation and coordination of actions when organizing joint activities

Stimulating the partner’s activity to direct him to perform certain actions

Understanding

Adequate perception and understanding of the meaning of the message and mutual understanding of intentions, attitudes, experiences, states

Establishing relationships

Renderings

influence

Awareness and fixation of one’s place in the system of role, status, business, interpersonal and other connections of the community in which the individual operates

Changes in the state, behavior, personal and semantic formations of the partner, including his intentions, attitudes, opinions, decisions, needs, actions, activities, etc.

Rice. 3. Communication functions

The functions of communication, as well as motives and needs, are realized in types of communication.

Types and categories

Another approach to identifying types of verbal communication is to divide it into informative and non-informative. Informative is called one in which the purpose of the contact is associated with some data. As part of the interaction, participants read, listen, or communicate something, thereby transferring new knowledge to the recipient.

Non-informative interaction is necessary to form contact with the object of communication, while the participant does not have goals and objectives related to receiving and disseminating information. This type of verbal communication situations is aimed at satisfying the desire to communicate. People say something to each other, expect understanding, and get the opportunity to share their opinions. It is these needs and desires that are the main goal of uninformative communication.

Concept of speech

Speech is the process of communication between people using language. In order to be able to speak and understand someone else’s speech, you need to know the language and be able to use it.

In psychology, it is customary to separate the concepts of “language” and “speech” (Table 2).

Language is a system of signs and symbols with the help of which combinations of sounds that have a certain meaning and meaning for people are transmitted. Language is developed by society and is a form of reflection of their social existence in the public consciousness of people. Language, being formed in the process of communication between people, is at the same time a product of socio-historical development.

table 2

The meaning of speech and language (psychological aspect)

Speech is a form of communication that has developed historically in the course of the material transformative activities of people, mediated by language. Thus, speech is the realization of language, which reveals itself only through speech. Human speech arises in response to the need to communicate with someone or communicate something.

Speech is closely connected with all aspects of human consciousness. Speech is a factor in a person’s mental development, his formation as a personality. All mental processes with the help of speech become voluntary and controllable. Speech is a mental phenomenon, it is individual and bears the imprint of a given individual’s subjective reflection and expression of objective reality and attitude towards it.

Nuances and specifics

When choosing the optimal form for a particular case, take into account that oral speech is performed once, and the speaker is often prone to improvisation. At the same time, the range of means for conveying the intended meaning is limited. In written communication, the expression of the intention is usually realized to the end.

Oral speech is formed at the moment when a person speaks. The text is not fixed in advance, you can change and supplement the original idea, which leads to a sudden conclusion at the end of the monologue: “that’s not what I was going to say at all!” In the written format of communication, there are no such problems - the text is recorded, maintained in the same style, and proofread to ensure compliance with the intended idea.

The law of redundancy explains the abundance of repetitions in the oral expression of information. In addition, this type of verbal communication in the Russian language (and not only) allows for generalizations. When formulating an idea in writing, repetitions and generalizations are avoided as much as possible, even to the point of complete exclusion.

Physiological basis of speech

The physiological basis of speech is illustrated in Fig. 5.

Peripheral speech support systems include:

1. the energetic system of the respiratory organs necessary for the production of sound - the lungs and the main respiratory muscle - the diaphragm;

1. generator system - sound vibrators (vocal cords of the larynx), the vibration of which produces sound waves;
2. resonator system - nasopharynx, skull, larynx and chest.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic mechanisms of speech

Mechanisms

speech perception

Mechanisms for organizing speech response

Peripheral speech support systems: energy, generator, resonator

Second signaling system

Brain speech centers

Speech

Speech functions of the left hemisphere of the brain

Rice. 5. Physiological foundations of speech

According to the teachings of I.P. Pavlov, in humans there are two signaling systems of stimuli: the first signaling system is the direct impact of the internal and external environment on various receptors (this is also present in animals) and the second signaling system (speech). Moreover, only a small part of these words denotes sensory effects on humans. The work of the second signaling system consists primarily in the analysis and synthesis of generalized speech signals.

Special studies have established that a person’s ability to analyze and synthesize speech is associated with the left hemisphere of the brain. There are four brain speech centers: Brocca's center (located in the superior frontal gyrus), responsible for the volume of speech pronunciation; Wernicke's center (located in the temporal gyrus) - associated with understanding the meaning; visual center (located in the occipital lobe) – associated with the reading process; writing center (located in the middle frontal gyrus) – associated with written speech.

In addition, speech is ensured by the functioning of certain physiological mechanisms.

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic mechanisms of speech. Syntagmatic mechanisms reflect the dynamic organization of a speech utterance and its physiological characteristics during the functioning of the cerebral cortex. Paradigmatic are responsible for connecting the posterior parts of the left hemisphere with speech codes (phonemic, articulatory, semantic, etc.).

Mechanisms of speech perception. The transition to understanding the speech message is possible only after the speech signal has been converted. It is analyzed on the basis of detector coding, the phonemic interpretation of the information received by the brain. This means that neurons are sensitive to different sound signals and act on the basis of building a certain model of word recognition.

Mechanisms for organizing speech response. In an adult who speaks language, perception and pronunciation are mediated by internal physiological codes that provide phonological articulatory, visual and semantic analysis of words. Moreover, all of the above codes and the operations carried out on their basis have their own cerebral localization.

The complex process of verbal communication is based on the sequential activation of the mechanisms that provide it.

The first stage in the formation of speech structures is speech programming - building the backbone of a speech utterance. For this purpose, important information is selected and unnecessary information is eliminated.

The second stage is the construction of the syntactic structure of the sentence. The general structure of the phrase and its grammatical form are predicted, mechanisms are activated to ensure the search for the desired word, and the selection of sounds that most accurately reproduce it. Finally, pronunciation, the actual sound of speech, takes place. Thus, the process of “speaking” unfolds, during which the communicator encodes the information to be transmitted.

During the listening process, the interlocutor decodes the information received, which in turn is a step-by-step translation of the sounds of audible speech into the meaning of words, and this ensures an understanding of what the communicator wanted to say.

Is it worth talking about?

Types and forms of verbal communication also include written and oral interaction. Each situation has its own characteristics that allow it to be classified as a certain group, as well as the forms of speech used by the interlocutors. Oral communication is practiced (usually) when it is possible to establish personal contact. In most cases, this is an opportunity to both hear and see the interlocutor.

They are chosen taking into account the etiquette of verbal communication, the type and form of interaction. Much depends on the amount of information that must be conveyed to the addressee, on the level of importance of the information. Thus, oral interaction is a one-time utterance, but in written form a person can re-read the information received many times. Consequently, it is better to convey complex, voluminous data in writing, since their perception will be more adequate. But easy-to-understand information can be sent to the addressee orally; this is sufficient in most cases.

When choosing the optimal type and style of verbal communication for a particular case, it is necessary to analyze who is the addressee of the information, what should be the conditions for the best perception.

Psychological characteristics of speech

One of the features of speech is its versatility (Fig. 6).

Functions of speech

Impacts

Messages

Expressions

Consists of a person’s ability through speech to encourage people to take certain actions or refuse them

Consists of the exchange of information (thoughts) between people through words, phrases

The point is that, on the one hand, thanks to speech a person can more fully convey his feelings, experiences, relationships and, on the other hand, the expressiveness of speech and its emotionality significantly expand the possibilities of communication

Designations

Consists in a person’s ability, through words, to give objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality names that are unique to them.

Rice. 6. Functions of speech

According to its many functions, speech is a polymorphic activity, i.e. for its various functional purposes is presented in different forms and types (Fig. 7, 8).35

Internal

External

Forms of speech

Rice. 7. Forms of speech

External speech is a system of sound signals, written signs and symbols used by a person to transmit information, the process of materialization of thought. It can be oral and written.

Types of speech

Oral

Written

Dialogical

Monologue

Rice. 8. Types of speech

Oral speech is verbal (verbal) communication through linguistic means perceived by ear. She has two subspecies:

1. monologue speech is the speech of one person expressing his thoughts over a relatively long time, or a consistent coherent presentation by one person of a system of knowledge. Monologue speech is characterized by consistency and evidence, which are ensured by coherence of thought, grammatically correct design and expressiveness of vocal means. During preparation, such a speech is spoken out repeatedly, the necessary words and sentences are selected, and the plan for the speech is often recorded in writing. Monologue speech has greater compositional complexity, requires completeness of thought, stricter adherence to grammatical rules, strict logic and consistency in the presentation of what the speaker of the monologue wants to say. For example, the speech of a prosecutor, a lawyer in court;
2. Dialogical speech is speech in which all its participants are equally active. This is psychologically the simplest and most natural form of speech. It occurs during direct communication between two or more interlocutors. It is characterized by remarks exchanged between speakers, repetitions of phrases and individual words after the interlocutor, questions, additions, and explanations. Both dialogic and monologue speech can be active and passive. Both of these terms are, of course, conditional and characterize the activity of the speaker or listener. The active form of speech is the speech of a speaking person, while the speech of a listening person appears in a passive form. The fact is that when a person listens, he repeats to himself the words of the speaker. Outwardly this does not manifest itself in any way, although speech activity is present.

People differ in the degree of development of active and passive speech. One person understands another person’s speech well, but does not convey his own thoughts well, another speaks well, but does not know how to listen at all.

In legal practice, this is the main type of speech used in the process of communication of an investigator, prosecutor, lawyer, judge with participants in criminal and civil proceedings, with various officials and other persons. Dialogical interaction is aimed primarily at mutual familiarization of the parties with the position taken, at clarifying attitudes towards various events, people, etc.

Written speech is speech through written signs (letter, notes, scientific treatise).

It is addressed to a wide range of readers, is not situational and requires in-depth skills of sound-letter analysis, the ability to logically and grammatically correctly convey one’s thoughts, analyze what is written and improve the form of expression. The use of written language creates the need to achieve the most correct formulations, strictly adhere to the rules of logic and grammar, and think more deeply about the content and method of expressing thoughts.

In connection with the existing clear regulation of the preparation of procedural documents in the legal literature one can find the term “protocol language”. This term means: a set of special legal terms and concepts, certain speech patterns, stylistic rules for drawing up procedural documents.

There are certain requirements for the protocol style of presentation: the use of unambiguous terms that exclude their arbitrary interpretation; the use of precise and concise formulations, certain phraseological units, definitions; a brief, understandable summary of the material.

Inner speech is speech that does not perform the function of communication, but only serves the thinking process of a particular person.

With the help of internal speech, the process of transforming thoughts into speech and preparing a speech utterance is carried out. Inner speech is a person’s conversation with himself, which expresses thinking, motives of behavior, planning and managing activities.

In speech, the following properties can be distinguished: content, understandability, expressiveness and effectiveness (Fig. 9).

Properties of speech

Expressiveness

The number of thoughts, feelings and aspirations expressed in speech, their significance and correspondence to reality

Syntactically correct construction of sentences, as well as the use of pauses in appropriate places and highlighting words using logical stress

Emotional richness, richness of linguistic means, their diversity. In its expressiveness, speech can be bright, energetic and, conversely, sluggish, poor

The property of speech, which consists in its influence on the thoughts, feelings and will of other people, on their beliefs and behavior

Content

Understandability

Effectiveness

Rice. 9. Properties of speech

A lawyer’s speech, as a rule, should convey knowledge and facilitate its transformation into beliefs. It must teach, educate, and have the goal of influencing the individual and the team, their mood, opinion, interests, behavior, feelings. To achieve an oral presentation, a legal worker needs high speech and mental culture. His speech should be scientific in content, comply with legal norms, and in form - logical, bright, figurative. A lawyer must be able to connect the content of his speech with life, take into account the states and needs of the people listening to him, and use various linguistic means of expression (grooves, intonation, stress, etc.). The success of such a performance also depends on his knowledge, professional experience, sincerity, fluency in the material, self-control, endurance, and correct external expression of his feelings.

There are certain requirements for a lawyer’s speech, ignoring which negatively affects his professional authority. Therefore, a lawyer’s speech should be distinguished:

1. literacy, understandability, accessibility of the meaning of statements for any category of citizens;
2. consistency, logical order of presentation, persuasiveness, legal argumentation with references to various facts, evidence, legal norms;
3. purity of speech - the absence of non-literary, slang, and vulgar words in speech;
4. compliance with moral and ethical rules and standards of behavior;
5. expressiveness, a wide range of emotional means of influence: from emphatically neutral speech forms to emotionally expressive statements, accompanied by verbal means of influence;
6. variability of statements: from an invitation to participate in communication to the use of phrases filled with categorical requirements depending on various communicative situations[6].

A lawyer, in the course of his professional activity, needs to constantly improve his speech skills and improve the culture of communication.

The appropriateness of statements, taking into account the context and subtext of the statement, the absence of difficulties in written speech, variability in the interpretation of information, good orientation in the field of evaluative stereotypes and templates, the plurality of meanings of the concepts used, the metaphorical nature of speech indicate a person’s verbal competence.

Knowledge, abilities and skills related to speech activity are important components of communicative competence and communicative culture, which is often called speech culture.

How many of us are there?

There is a division into types of oral communication related to the number of participants. It is customary to talk about monologues and dialogues. At the same time, the roles of the participants in the interaction and their ability to change places are assessed. An option is possible when one speaks, the second listens, as well as a way of communication in which the participants change these roles.

Dialogue is a word formed in Greek and denotes the expression of an opinion by two or more participants. In a monologue, one person speaks and the others listen. In this format of interaction, there is no exchange of remarks, and therefore opinions.

As a rule, a monologue can be defined by the continuity of speech, while the utterance is super-phrase, three-dimensional. The speech is logical and consistent, makes sense, is complete, is aimed at communication, and reveals one topic. As a rule, a monologue is quite complex syntactically.

Officiality and place for it

The main types of verbal communication are official and private. The first is also called official. It is assumed that there is a business environment, adherence to rigor, strict adherence to the rules, and compliance with all formalities.

Private dialogue is a relationship in which there is no clear structure and restrictions, or division into roles. In a private conversation, communication is usually based on some common interest or membership in a social group, and the dialogue itself is subject to the relationships between the participants. At the same time, communication is relatively free, it is subject to general laws, but etiquette is not as important as for a business format.

It is important to know

When analyzing types of communication and types of speech activity, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the result of activity is some text or a complete thought, while behavior is aimed at forming relationships between participants in society - these can be constructive, destructive, positive and unfriendly. In addition, behavior is aimed at the formation of an emotional component, explained by how the participants in the dialogue behave.

It is especially important to pay attention to verbal communication as part of the formation of a child’s personality, development of his social life skills and activity. At the same time, adults must teach both activity and behavior. When working, for example, with schoolchildren, we are talking about creating communicative competence. It is necessary to pass on the language system, speech, materials, as well as norms of communication and behavior to the younger generation.

How about more details?

The first, basic level is communication. It allows you to exchange information using language, traditions, and other features that unite interlocutors and allow them to understand each other.

Interactive – second, higher level. It presupposes the existence of relationships. In this case, the personal characteristics of the person have an important influence.

The perceptual level is a dialogue between cultures. They talk about it when representatives of different linguistic and cultural communities mutually try to understand each other. The study of this particular level attracts many scientists, linguists, sociologists, and psychologists. Communicative behavior and the perceptual level of interaction are interconnected, since it is this level that is intended to convey to the interlocutor the intentions and goals that the speaker has.

Everything is interconnected

To characterize communication, it is necessary to analyze the process of forming contact, which is explained by certain needs. As part of a joint activity, participants exchange information, which allows us to talk about verbal communication. Partners interact by perceiving each other and making efforts to understand the interlocutor. Speech behavior reflects an individual's erudition and intellectual characteristics, motivation and emotional and mental state. All this can usually be revealed by analyzing the features of the use of vocabulary and the style of statements.

Today, the problem of tolerance and its absence is becoming more and more relevant. It is not possible to form an accurate and generally accepted understanding of the boundaries of a tolerant attitude. The idea of ​​tolerance within the framework of verbal communication is the exclusion of aggression, that is, such an impact when one of the participants in the dialogue begins a confrontation, sets the conditions for conflict, since it does not share the opinion of the interlocutor. To express his position, a person resorts to negative methods and means of interaction. For communication to be effective and efficient, it is necessary to mutually take into account the interests of all parties and be tolerant of others, accepting someone else’s point of view without conflict. Verbal communication ideally presupposes leniency towards the shortcomings of others and equality in dialogue.