Speech is one of the main forms of communication that is available only to humans. What role does it play in psychology? What types of speech exist in psychology?
Speech is the ability to convey a large amount of information that has a huge semantic load. In this way, they convey what cannot be felt with the help of the senses. Thanks to people communicating with each other, they have the opportunity to learn new things, share personal experiences, and gain the experience of others.
Psychological speech is completely removed from linguistics and is deciphered as a system of sound signals that a person uses orally and in writing. All transmitted signals must have a certain meaning for a person.
Functions of speech
Psychology identifies speech activity as one of the highest mental functions of the human body. It has a certain structure that is identical to other activities:
- motivation;
- planning;
- implementation;
- control.
The instrument that performs the entire function is the tongue.
The types and functions of speech in psychology are a polymorphic activity; it can be used in various forms and types. The main ones include:
- External.
- Internal.
The appearance of speech in psychology is a set of sound signals and written symbols that are necessary to transmit information from one person to another, a kind of process of materialization of thoughts. Appearance may contain jargon and intonation.
Concept and properties
The psychology of speech has been studied since the birth of a person. Some people confuse this concept with language, but they are two different terms.
Psychologists distinguish several interpretations of the concept of speech:
- ability, ability of a person to speak;
- an action that a person performs with the help of sounds;
- technology for expressing thoughts through language skills.
Language is a complex, original system of signs with which information can be transmitted orally or in writing.
Properties of speech:
- Understandability is determined by the totality of information and knowledge. To understand another person, you need to understand the terminology and know the specifics of the topic of conversation.
- Content - the number of expressed feelings, thoughts, aspirations in a conversation. Speech can be meaningful or superficial. For the first option, a conversation between two specialists regarding a topic of interest to them is relevant; for the second, an ordinary conversation between two acquaintances on topics that do not arouse strong interest.
- Expressiveness is a property associated with emotional richness. Speech can be energetic, bright, rich or empty, pale, sluggish.
Another property is impact. With the help of beliefs, requests, commands, and other methods, you can motivate a person to action.
External speech
External speech types are divided into:
- conversational or dialogical;
This is a form of communication between people when the interlocutors actively maintain a conversation with each other. The communication process involves at least 2 people; their communication consists of using simple phrases and speech patterns. Psychology considers this type to be the simplest, since the conversation in most cases is relaxed, the interlocutors understand each other well. In such communication, light and small phrases are used, and verbosity is completely absent.
A remark belongs to colloquial speech. Its peculiarity is brevity, the presence of an interrogative or incentive sentence, and the syntactic structure is necessarily simple. A remark in most cases is a supportive means during which the interlocutor approves or objects to the conversation that is taking place.
- monologue;
In this type, only one person participates, who gives a large amount of information, and all present listeners act in a passive role. The monologue type is used in reports, lectures, and public speaking. Psychology has proven that monologue type of speech activity is one of the most difficult. The speaker must be able to construct his conversation in such a way as to clearly and clearly present all the arguments, while fully complying with language norms. When speaking to an audience, the speaker must select phrases in such a way that they are accessible and understandable to the listener. Such speech activity must be correctly constructed in order to begin and end concisely. Without planning and preparation, a monologue will never turn out meaningful and competent.
- active;
In psychology, there are several types of speech that differ in relation to the speaker and the listener. The generally accepted types of speech are passive and active. For an active form, special mechanisms must be activated in the left hemisphere of the brain and the frontal part. These two areas are completely responsible for speech activity, and any, even minimal damage can lead to problems. Speech therapists, as specialists in speech problems, work on the development of these areas, and disorders in them are called motor aphasia.
- passive;
Active and passive types of speech are considered inseparable, since they cannot exist without each other. Always in a conversation, one person will be active and the other will be passive. Psychology, as a science, claims that first a person learns passive speech (that is, listen carefully and remember), and then active speech (reproduce, form his own word combinations, phrases, sentences). Psychologists are still studying these types of speech and agree that both passive and active varieties are equally complex. Not all people in adulthood know how to listen carefully and remember what they say. Not everyone can speak beautifully and correctly, or logically form thoughts out loud.
- letter;
Considering that the classification of types of speech in psychology includes oral and written, the latter includes writing. The main difference between this type is the information carrier. Written language is entirely at the disposal of the reader. He has the opportunity to re-read certain parts of the text, he can take a selective reading or get acquainted with the denouement immediately, without reading the backstory. A letter is more convenient for someone who expresses their thoughts. You can re-read it, correct it, make changes or additions.
- kinetic.
In psychology, it is customary to talk about gestures as one of the varieties of speech. This variety appeared much earlier than oral and written, and has not yet lost its relevance. Even today we can understand our interlocutor by gestures. Speakers very often accompany their conversation with kinetic speech, thereby setting the audience in a certain emotional mood.
Kinetic speech is actively used by people who have problems with hearing or speech apparatus. They all communicate with each other using sign language. Such communication is more developed and convenient than that of ancient man.
Construction and playback stages
There are several stages of speech construction:
- Formation of thoughts and statements.
- Construction of inner speech. At this stage, the individual thinks about how to convey the idea to the interlocutor.
- Selecting individual or related phrases, assumptions, forming beliefs.
- Selecting individual words, morphemes, composing complete sentences.
The last stage is reproduction of the generated text. For this, different sound signals are used. Speech is supplemented by facial expressions, gestures, changes in tempo, timbre and tone of voice, and emphasis on individual words.
Study methods
To study abilities, psychologists and linguists use different methods:
- Observation. The total time spent on conversations with others and monologues, gestures, facial expressions, changes in tone, tempo, and expressiveness is taken into account. When observing, natural thinking is maintained, which is a huge advantage.
- Conversation. An effective method for studying ability. With its help, you can find out the interlocutor’s attitude to the assigned task, evaluate mental capabilities, and learn language skills. During the conversation, direct or indirect questions may be asked.
- Experiment. Researchers create conditions for the subject and change them to obtain information. Additionally, data on brain function can be read using specialized equipment.
- Questioning. Used to study thinking. Questionnaires are prepared in advance, questions are selected on one or more topics of interest. A detailed result is given by open-ended questionnaires that force the subject to activate his thinking.
- Testing. Allows you to measure the level of intellectual development and find out the features of thinking.
Researchers analyze the data obtained and draw conclusions.
History of the study and researchers
It is believed that the first articulate speech appeared about two million years ago. Then the first people developed a speech apparatus.
Psycholinguistics is a branch of psychological science that was formed under the influence of linguistics. Its goal is to study the relationships between consciousness, thinking, and language.
The term “speech” was proposed by the famous American psychologist J.R. Cantor. It became widely used among other researchers after Kantor’s student N. G. Pronko used it in the article “Language and Psycholinguistics.”
One of the main hypotheses that played a huge role in the formation and development of psycholinguistics is the hypothesis of linguistic relativity. After its publication, the scientific world began to actively raise the question of the relationship between thinking and language.
The next scientist who made a huge contribution to the study of speech was N. Chomsky. In his works, he described the work of language when constructing phrases and sentences.
The domestic psychologist who made a great contribution to the development of this direction of psychological science is L. S. Vygotsky. He formed a sequence of actions before reproducing the words. It consists of several elements:
- motivation;
- formation of thoughts;
- internal construction of the sentence;
- choice of words;
- implementation.
Physiological basis
Why is a person able to speak clearly and conceptually, but animals are not?
In humans, in comparison with animals, in the process of evolution, more mobile lips and tongue (as an organ) became the prerequisites for the formation of speech.
The oral cavity increased, which made it possible to pronounce many sounds with a unique tonality, the difference in which is perceptible by ear.
Humans also have a well-developed auditory zone, which allows them to understand spoken words.
The ear zone is larger in itself (in comparison with the animals closest to humans - monkeys), plus speech centers are concentrated in it. They are responsible for clear and acute perception of sounds.
Theories
During the entire period of formation and development of the ability, various theories have been put forward regarding this communicative tool. Modern scientists supported constructivist, relativist, preformist theory.
Preformist
Preformist theory was proposed by N. Chomsky in 1968. The scientist argued that different languages of the world have a similar structure. The opinion of preformationists agree that the human brain contains an initial structure that is determined by heredity.
Therefore, a person can change the meaning of phrases, understand their meaning, and construct meaningful statements, the number of which is unlimited.
At the same time, preformists do not deny that the development potential of a child depends on his environment, interactions with loved ones, the use of upbringing and teaching methods (parents, kindergarten, school, various educational institutions).
Constructivist
Constructivist theory is popular among researchers. According to it, the formation and development of the ability depends on the child’s inherent ability to process and perceive information from birth. A confirming example of this theory is spontaneous word creation in children at an early age. It is believed that children's first words are related to facts that they already understand. In addition, they can speak out about what interests them. Motivation has a huge impact on the formation of ability.
Relativistic
Another popular theory is relativistic. According to it, different languages can be considered from the perspective of the culture of the people, the nation. Each culture has different ways of constructing language. Many scientists are confident that the general picture of worldview depends on the language a person speaks, but when studying the linguistic characteristics of different nationalities of the world, this statement was refuted.
