J. Piaget, speaking about general trends in the development of children's language abilities, expressed the idea that first the child develops “speech for himself”, and then, under pressure from adults, the formation of specialized “speech for others” occurs. But the Russian psychologist Vygotsky believes the opposite - the development of a child’s speech occurs from thinking out loud to thinking for oneself. Thus, the diverse speech of a person has different forms.
In the development of speech function, there is a distinction between sensory speech or understanding, which appears in the child in the second half of the year, and expressive speech, i.e. ability to speak. From the point of view of signal meaning, the development of expressive speech proceeds in parallel. In the second half of life, the baby’s babble already clearly approaches the sounds of speech; before this, children of all nationalities walk in exactly the same way.
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Experts distinguish types of speech from the point of view of its genesis and other mental processes. In this regard, we can talk about a whole chain of closely interconnected stages of speech formation:
- External speech addressed to the subject when establishing communication;
- External speech that does not have a specific subject, but presupposes it. In principle, it is not addressed to anyone;
- Whispered speech turning into muttering;
- Inner speech - “pronunciation to oneself” of a complete phrase while maintaining the full verbal content and syntactic form;
- Condensed inner speech is shorter in duration and retains its meaning. Such “compressed” speech can be represented as a thinking process.
Psychologists distinguish between two types of speech: external and internal.
Types of speech. External speech
There are two types of speech: external and internal. External speech is addressed to other people.
Through it, a person transmits and perceives thoughts. Inner speech is speech “to oneself”, speech in the form of which a person thinks. Both types of speech are mutually related. External speech, in turn, is divided into two types: oral and written. Each of these types of external speech has its own psychological characteristics that need to be known in order to correctly use them in the communication process.
Speech is...
In the scientific world there is rarely a unified meaning for such voluminous concepts as speech. However, the interpretation of Nina Davidovna Arutyunova, one of the most famous linguists of our time, is recognized by the majority of linguists. It sounds like this:
Speech is specific speaking that occurs in audio (including internal pronunciation) or written form.
In Ushakov’s Explanatory Dictionary, the first meaning is given as follows:
Speech is the ability to use the language of words. Speech is one of the characteristics that distinguishes humans from animals.
Both are true. But from the point of view of the science of language (and the logic of naming), N.D. Arutyunova’s definition will be primary. In the dictionary entry, she indicates that speech should be understood :
- speech activity as the process of speaking;
- speech productions (memorized or recorded) as a result of this process.
Other meanings of the term are derivative. For example, there is an understanding of speech as a style of language (artistic, business), as a public speech (greeting), as the nature of pronunciation (unintelligible).
Oral speech
Oral speech is speech addressed directly to someone. It is expressed in sounds and is perceived by other people through hearing. Oral speech is the most ancient in origin. Children also learn oral speech first, and then written speech. Oral speech manifests itself in monologue and dialogic forms.
Dialogical speech means a conversation between two or more persons who either listen when others speak, or speak when they are listened to. The one who is speaking at the moment is an active person, and the one who listens is passive in relation to the speaker.
However, passivity in dialogue is relative, since the perception of speech is an active process, sometimes requiring far from easy mental activity from the listener. In the process of verbal communication, the interlocutors change roles and support each other in conversation, which is why dialogical speech is sometimes called supported speech. Exchange of roles allows interlocutors to better understand each other.
A characteristic feature of dialogical speech is direct communication: the interlocutors hear and most often see each other. This circumstance allows speakers to use expressive means of language: voice intonation, facial expressions, gestures.
At the same time, the speaker can observe (in conditions of mutual vision) the reactions of listeners to his speech, attention or inattention to it, the degree of understanding, agreement or disagreement, etc. These observations allow the speaker to adjust his speech, repeat some thoughts, expand or, conversely, curtail reasoning, strengthen or weaken expressive means of speech.
Thus, a teacher conducting a conversation with students in a lesson not only directs the children’s thoughts and statements with his questions, but also constantly changes the nature of his speech depending on the students’ reaction to it.
Dialogue speech
Dialogical speech occurs in specific conditions, and the subject of the conversation is familiar to the interlocutors. This allows them, in some cases, to understand each other perfectly. Therefore, in a free dialogue (in a normal conversation between two or more people), the interlocutors do not always adhere to language rules, shorten sentences, and supplement what is said with facial expressions, gestures, and unique intonations.
Monologue speech
Monologue speech is the speech of one person. He speaks and others listen. This type of speech includes various speeches by one person before an audience: a lecture, a report, a message, a deputy’s speech, an actor’s monologue, etc. A monologue is a speech that is continuous and unsupported by listeners.
In this sense, it is more difficult than dialogue. Before speaking, the speaker must think through the content of the speech, the plan for presenting thoughts, the form of presentation, taking into account the audience, its preparation, experience and knowledge. He assumes in advance that it may turn out to be complex and unclear, what questions the listeners may have, and how they will react to his speech.
All this gives the author a feeling of high responsibility for the content, form and composition of the speech. Monologue speech requires compliance with the laws of logic and the rules of grammar. The power of its influence is achieved by the persuasiveness of evidence (scientific and business speech), imagery and expressiveness, and influence on the feelings of listeners (speech of a speaker, artist).
The teacher's speech should contain all these means. Monologue speech requires not only mandatory preliminary preparation, but also continuous attention to one’s own speech (its content, persuasiveness, linguistic perfection, etc.) and to the reactions of listeners. In other words, monologue speech requires the speaker to have a high culture of thinking, speech and psychological observation.
A monologue is difficult not only for the speaker, but also for the listeners, whose attention must be stable and focused for a long time. The perception of monologue speech is especially difficult for children, and the younger they are, the more so. The reason for this is not only the lack of stability of children’s attention, but also the uniqueness of the object of attention: attention to words, to the content of speech, and even more so to the sequence of the speaker’s reasoning is always more difficult than attention to real things and phenomena.
Monologue speech in its structure is closer to written speech than dialogical speech.
Written speech
Written speech is expressed by graphic signs and is perceived by sight. It is a type of speech with which communication between people separated by long distances and time is possible. Psychological analysis of written speech shows that it is more difficult than oral speech, both for those who convey thoughts through it, and for those who perceive these thoughts.
The writer conveys the content of speech without using such auxiliary means of language as intonation, facial expressions, and gestures, which facilitate the understanding of thoughts. The writer cannot always take into account the reaction of readers to his speech, because he does not see, does not hear, and often does not know them.
The circle of readers of books, newspapers, and magazines is very wide and diverse. Readers are also deprived of the opportunity to directly express their opinion about the content and form of what is written. To become accessible to a wide range of readers, written speech must be structured as detailed, fully consistent with the rules of logic and grammar.
Written speech places great demands on the person who uses it. Written speech can be dialogical and monological.
Inner speech is speech “to oneself”, with the help of which logical processing of sensory data occurs, their awareness and understanding in a certain system of concepts and judgments. A person does not directly address other people with it, but through it a thought is formed and exists.
Inner speech is difficult to study, so psychologists have understood and understand its essence in different ways. I. Muller called it “speech minus sound,” and behaviorists called it a hidden speech skill. L. S. Vygotsky considered inner speech to be the central link in the path of the transition of thought into word and words into thought, a special internal plane of verbal thinking. A. N. Sokolov defines it as a speech mechanism of mental activity (types of human activity).
The Soviet psychologist B.F. Baev, in his study of the nature of inner speech, points out its essential feature - dependence on the needs that it serves. Inner speech not only forms thought, it is an essential component in all human cognitive processes.
Sensation and perception are mediated by speech: sensing the properties of objects around us (colors, sounds, smells), we call them “to ourselves”; speech helps us comprehend and clarify everything we perceive. Without it, observation, meaningful memorization and recollection, voluntary attention, imagination, etc. are impossible.
The role of inner speech in thinking is especially great: it organically participates in all thought processes, both complex and simple.
Inner speech is a means of emotional-volitional regulation and a condition for self-education. In the educational activities of schoolchildren, internal speech appears primarily in a receptive form (listening to the teacher’s explanations, understanding them) and in a productive form, preparing students’ external speech.
With the help of this type of speech, complex speech forms are formed. “Being a “laboratory of thought,” inner speech is at the same time a “laboratory of language” (B.F. Baev). It is not only a product of speech development, but also its most important means.
Psychological differences in the nature of written and spoken language
The differences and commonalities of written and oral speech really manifest themselves in its development. As already mentioned, at first oral speech dominated; it is this that determines the written speech of a child who both speaks and writes. The forms of oral speech initially determine the structure of his written speech. Written speech cannot reflect the expressive moments of oral speech, therefore it turns out to be poorer than oral speech.
The development of coherent speech is the main element of written speech, because in speech it is important to display all the essential connections of the subject content so that its meaning forms a context understandable to other people. The development of contextual speech depends on the development of written speech.
Building a coherent context requires special techniques, means, and special work to master these means. Written and oral speech with good culture and in connection with mental development becomes richer and more multifaceted, becomes literary.
The words already at the child’s disposal acquire a generalized, abstract meaning, new special terms are included in speech - technical scientific speech develops. The speech of a teenager is brighter than the speech of a younger schoolchild; it contains emotionally expressive and lyrical moments. Metaphorical expressions are used more often, sensitivity to form and to the literary presentation of what is said and written is growing.
The structure of speech, especially written, becomes more complex, the number of complex structures increases, and other people's speech is transmitted in the form of indirect speech. Working with a book leads to skills in using quotes, as a result, speech becomes brighter and more colorful.
Classification
Autonomous speech (from the Greek autonomos - “self-determining”), analyzed in the studies of L.S. Vygotsky and A.R. Luria, is one of the early stages of a child’s speech development. It is characterized by the fact that words or syllables reproduced by children based on the speech pattern of adults are greatly distorted, for example, due to repetition. Autonomous speech is situational, vague and polysemantic, since the child does not yet have the content of the concept. Generalizations in it are based on combining features of unrelated objects in a word. Formally, it has no signs of syntactic relations. Depending on the diversity and quality of the child’s language environment, it can persist for quite a long time and serve as a brake on mental development.
Egocentric speech (from the Latin ego - “I” and centrum - “center”) is a form of infantile speech, that is, speech without putting oneself in the point of view of the interlocutor, which is typical for a child. According to J. Piaget, a child initially lacks such intellectual operations that allow him to recognize the difference between his own and someone else’s point of view. When a child develops communicatively in the everyday environment, the proportion of his egocentric speech is quite high, but in a situation where children work together, it sharply decreases and practically disappears after 7 years.
Inner speech is hidden verbalization that accompanies the thinking process. Its manifestations are most obvious when mentally solving various problems and planning, carefully listening to the speech of other people, reading texts aloud, memorizing and recalling. From the point of view of internal speech, there is a logical ordering of perceived data, their classification into a certain system of concepts, self-instruction, and analysis of one’s actions and experiences. According to its logical and grammatical structure, which is mainly determined by the content of thought, inner speech is a generalized semantic complex, consisting of fragments of words and sentences, with which various visual images and conventional signs are grouped. When faced with difficulties or contradictions, inner speech becomes expanded and can become an internal monologue, whispering or loud speech, in which it is easier to exercise logical and social control.
Dialogue (from the Greek dialogos - conversation, conversation) is a type of speech consisting in the alternating exchange of sign information (including pauses, silence, gestures) of two or more subjects. Dialogical speech is a conversation in which at least two interlocutors participate. Dialogical speech, the psychologically simplest and most natural form of speech, occurs during direct communication between two or more interlocutors and consists mainly of exchanges of remarks. A response - an answer, an objection, a comment on the words of the interlocutor - is characterized by brevity, the presence of interrogative and irritative sentences, and syntactically uncommon constructions.
A characteristic feature of the dialogue is the emotional contact of the speakers, their mutual influence through facial expressions, gestures, intonation and timbre of the voice. In everyday dialogue, partners do not care about the form and style of expression and are open. Participants in public dialogue take into account the presence of the audience and construct their speech in a literary manner. In everyday and ordinary conversation, dialogical speech is not planned. It is supported by speech. The direction of the conversation and its results are largely determined by what the participants say, their remarks, comments, agreement or disagreement. But sometimes the conversation is specifically organized to address a specific issue, in which case it is goal-directed (for example, a student's response to a teacher's questions).
Dialogue speech usually places fewer demands on the construction of a coherent and detailed statement than monologue or written speech; no special training required. This is explained by the fact that the interlocutors are in the same situation, perceive the same facts and events, and therefore understand each other relatively easily, sometimes without half a word. They do not need to express their thoughts in detailed verbal form. An important requirement for participants in dialogical speech is the ability to listen to the partner’s statements to the end and understand his objections
Functions of speech
There are 4 main functions of speech:
- Communicative . Associated with communication between people and the transfer of information. It has internal divisions shown below.
- Cognitive. It is the main mechanism for accumulating human knowledge and transferring it to new generations.
- Psychodiagnostic . By observing the speaking process, the interlocutor understands the state of the speaker and can create a portrait of his personality.
- Psychotherapeutic. Involves the ability to verbally support another person.
The communicative function has 4 aspects (what is it?):
- Organizational . Conversation is used to agree on common actions.
- Expressive. An antisocial state and reaction are expressed and emphasis is placed.
- Incentive . Implies a request, order, persuasion.
- Marking . A person’s characterization of everything that surrounds him, for orientation in space, for the transfer of experience or his assessment to others.
