One of the conditions for the formation of a socially active personality is the mastery of human speech - the ability to pronounce individual sounds, words, phrases. Its practical application is usually called language. What kind of speech is there? Should a person improve his speaking ability? How can speech defects be eliminated? This is not a complete list of questions that become of interest to parents as soon as their child utters the first words.
What is speech needed for?
Scientists identify several basic functions of speech that everyone should know about.
- Speech is a kind of instrument through which people exchange feelings and thoughts with each other. Language acts as a means of communication.
- Thanks to speech, the assimilation and transmission of the collective experience accumulated by humanity occurs. Through language, people understand the world in which they live.
- To achieve the results of an activity, a person must organize and plan it. This process is only possible when he has language skills.
- With the help of speech, a person is able to influence the feelings and thoughts of other people.
The listed functions fully reveal the importance of language in the life of mankind.
Communication skills
Speech always correlates with non-speech structures. These connections should be known to understand its qualities. Speech is primarily related to language. These are not analogous concepts. Speech is built from language and obeys its laws. Linguistic units are assembled into certain structures and form speech.
The communicative qualities of good speech are in its relationship with thinking. Thought is formed and expressed in speech. This gives communication logic and accuracy. Speech is related to consciousness. This helps to see what is behind the words (imagery, expressiveness, appropriateness).
Speech also relates to reality. After all, communication describes objects, phenomena and events. It also relates to the addressee. The writer of the speech usually creates it for someone. He must make the communication understandable to the listener.
Speech is related to the conditions of communication. It will be appropriate in some conditions, but not in others. This factor also plays an important role in understanding the criteria and qualities of good speech.
What kind of speech is there?
If we consider language in terms of the existence of its forms, we can distinguish oral and written. While writing or reading, written language works. What oral form does the person use? Listening and speaking are types of oral speech.
If we take into account the number of participants in the conversation, then the speech can be dialogical or monological. Translation from Greek makes it possible to understand that dialogue is a conversation between two or more persons, and monologue is a statement by one person.
From the point of view of speech pathologists, speech can be correct or incorrect. Linguists give a similar assessment of language. In their opinion, correct speech is literate speech, but it can have both positive and negative connotations. Incorrect (illiterate) contains a large number of language errors.
Right
The main quality of good colloquial, technical, legal, medical speech and its other styles is correctness. It can be accentological, semantic, formal, stylistic, etc. It is considered in the aspect of spelling and word formation.
Lexical correctness does not allow excessive pretentiousness of speech or its jargon. Morphologically correct formulation is determined by grammatical norms. Syntactic correctness concretizes concepts.
Stylistic correctness takes into account and selects those expressions, words and sounds that are characteristic of a particular communication. For example, the quality of a good legal speech will not be the same for a technical style.
Is it important to speak competently?
The debate about what a person’s speech should be like arises quite often in the scientific pedagogical environment. This problem worries both the younger and older generations. Most people are still inclined to believe that a language should be literate, that is, beautiful.
The ability to speak correctly is not born with a person. This skill needs to be learned. The process of language acquisition begins in preschool childhood and continues throughout life. Desire alone is not enough to achieve results. It will take some effort and a lot of time.
A person who has mastered the art of speaking always makes a good impression; he stands out favorably from those around him. The figures of speech used indicate the level of his culture. It is believed that a person who knows how to control the flow of words, phrases, and sounds is able to control his mind.
So, mastery of the correct beautiful language with a positive connotation is a huge human dignity.
Keeping listeners' attention
The main function of beautiful speech is the ability to attract the attention of the interlocutor. You always want to listen to an eloquent storyteller; such a person easily becomes the life of the party, he has many friends and is rarely alone.
The secret of an attractive speech is simple:
it is involvement in the storytelling process. The brighter the storyteller's eyes shine, the more he wants to intrigue and surprise his listener, the more tangible the result. You can master this art and develop eloquence by attending courses on competent speech and acting classes, and it consists of three main factors:
- Bright intonations.
Through intonation, emotions are conveyed to the listener; he gets the opportunity to enjoy the story not only on an informative level, but also on a sensory or empathy level. - Eventfulness.
The question from an interested listener is: “what happened next?” The answer to it is the event, that is, what the whole story was started for. There are many events in an interesting story; the narrator masterfully leads the listener from one to the next, preventing him from relaxing and getting bored. - Structure and logic.
Well-delivered speech is easier to understand. Without structure, it turns into a pile of information, which is difficult and tedious to navigate. Logic allows you to correctly place accents, highlight important points in the story and highlight secondary ones. Logic reveals thought.
What are the types of speech defects?
Malfunctions in the articulation apparatus are indicators of incorrect speech. Tongue-tiedness causes a lot of troubles that can affect both personal life and career advancement, and the attitude of others towards the person.
A child who experiences difficulties in the functioning of the speech organs will certainly have problems with learning at school. They may be related to general academic performance, the formation of handwriting, spelling literacy, and mastery of reading techniques.
What kind of speech can a person have if the relevant organs are not functioning properly?
- Fuzzy pronunciation or distorted pronunciation of individual sounds - the child burrs, lisps.
- Failure to pronounce endings in words.
- Violation of the order of sounds in a word - their interchange.
- Poor vocabulary.
- Inability to construct coherent statements.
- Violation of the rate of pronunciation of words (slow or fast), stuttering.
Reasons for violations
Having figured out what kind of speech happens when the articulatory apparatus is not working properly, it is worth paying attention to the reasons that could influence the problems that have arisen. And the sources of violations are very diverse.
One of the reasons that causes a malfunction of the speech organs is various types of injuries that the child could receive during childbirth or in the first years of life. This reason can be classified as the most severe. No less serious is the one that relates to hereditary predisposition.
In addition, speech disorders can occur due to insufficient development of phonemic hearing, which leads to the child’s inability to fully perceive spoken phrases. A child’s stay in a certain speech environment also significantly affects the level of language development.
His parents and close environment can have a great influence on the development of a child’s ability to speak, listen, read or write. For example, replacing live communication with watching TV will certainly lead to a delay. If adults do not pay attention to visible defects, believing that the problem will go away on its own, this can cause a significant delay in speech development.
Spelling and syntactic norms
There is an opinion that spelling errors in verifiable and unverifiable words should be treated with different severity. In some cases it makes more sense to change the rule.
Speech is also considered from the point of view of the gradation of the seriousness of errors in it. There are standards that allow some deviations.
Speakers of the elite type of communication practically do not make spelling and syntactic errors. Maybe only isolated minor deviations. At the same time, owners of the average literary style allow them much more, since they rarely look into the dictionary when writing texts and do not expand their knowledge of the appropriateness of punctuation marks.
People who communicate only using conversational styles may make serious mistakes in spelling and punctuation.
Where speech defects are eliminated
Before correcting deficiencies, the specialist to whom the patient turned is obliged to establish the causes of the difficulties that have arisen. The methods and techniques that will be used in the work depend on them.
If the development of speech is affected by neurological abnormalities or they are associated with an abnormal structure of the articulatory organs, then, in addition to a speech therapist, a surgeon or neurologist will be required. An integrated approach to working with people with speech development disorders gives the greatest effect.
Speech therapy classes with a child can be conducted by specialists in schools and kindergartens. Similar offices are opened at children's clinics or child development centers. The speech therapist conducts classes using numerous methods, techniques and techniques. The exercises are aimed at developing the articulatory apparatus, motor skills, and the child’s ability to observe, compare, analyze, and express his emotions.
Parents provide enormous assistance in overcoming the child’s speech difficulties by working with him at home. Doctors and teachers, having explained to adults what a child’s speech might be like during regular classes, give specific tasks. All recommendations must be followed. Only with this approach can you get a lasting positive result.
Conversational type
The conversational type of communication as a separate subtype began to develop in the 90s of the last century. It is divided into literary-colloquial and familiar-colloquial types.
A person with this style of communication adheres to a conversational manner of communication in any setting, even an official one. They are characterized by decreased speech to a greater or lesser extent.
In the literary-conversational type, communication on a first-name basis predominates, and in the familiar-conversational type, rude statements are added.
Speakers of this manner of communication have no idea what qualities good speech should have. They are used to talking at the same level as everyone around them. Finding themselves in a new environment, such people simply cannot change the way they express their thoughts. After all, they simply have no other model of behavior.
Most often, such styles are spread by television, inviting people who prefer a conversational style of communication to their talk shows.
Where they teach correct beautiful speech
If a person has a desire to improve the style of the language, its expressiveness, and expand their vocabulary, then special speech courses are perfect for this.
Many people believe that such classes are needed only for mastering foreign languages, but this is not so. Native speech is also studied with them. What can she become after training? This is demonstrated with pleasure by people who have completed the course.
To develop beautiful, literate speech, schoolchildren are given special elective classes provided for in the curriculum.
Orthoepic norms
The qualities of good speech in the field of orthoepy are found among speakers of an elite type of communication.
If they use stress in words not in accordance with the codified norm, it is only because the usual rules of pronunciation for a particular word are generally accepted. Over time, such norms become official.
More serious errors are found in the speech of representatives of the average literary type of communication. Such people can violate both orthoepic and formative norms. And subsequently such distorted expressions are transmitted by people to each other in communication.
Sometimes native speakers of conversational speech have even fewer such errors than the previous group of people.
What are the goals of speech exercises?
Tasks aimed at language development can be completed together with a teacher, independently or in a group. The exercises suggested below also give an understanding of correct speech.
So what should it be like? Good speech is distinguished by conciseness and a rich vocabulary. The use of expressive means only embellishes the language.
Relativity
Defining the main characteristics and qualities of good speech is not so easy. The concept of speech culture and its qualities change even for one nation over time. Therefore, it cannot be perceived correctly, being out of date.
The standard of good speech changes geographically and socially. Each generation has its own standards, the basic qualities of good speech.
It is also impossible to single out the same qualities that good oral, written, monologue and dialogic stylistics should have.
Assessment of the quality of good speech, even in a specific Russian language, is made from the standpoint of form, style and functionality, and the conditions for its implementation.
Examples of speech exercises
- Remember the title of a movie you recently watched or a book you read. State the content in four sentences that can be written down or retained in memory. Think about which of these sentences is not so important, eliminate it. Do the same with the rest of the offers, leaving only one. Say it a few times, edit it if you think it doesn't sound right. This exercise, performed regularly, will teach you to express your thoughts concisely.
- Many people love tongue twisters - they are fun and useful. But not everyone knows what slow talkers are. The exercise helps get rid of confused, slurred speech. The task is to pronounce the phrase slowly, clearly, with pauses. But unjustified stops and prolongation of sounds should be excluded. Try to enjoy the sound of the speech. You can choose phrases for the exercise yourself or use the recommended ones.
“Adjust” the volume.
A speaker speaking from the podium speaks loudly and boomingly. In everyday communication, the sound is different - more even, calmer. If you reverse the situations, you get absurdity. No one will hear the quiet rhetorician. A listener who suddenly begins to sharply raise his tone will most likely not understand such a change and will be offended.
The optimal voice volume varies across different situations.
In a normal conversation with friends, colleagues, and loved ones, a softer tone is used, without exaggerating emotions. The story from the stage, on the contrary, sounds a little theatrical, loud. How to train your speaking voice:
- read prose or drama out loud, trying to present the climactic moments as vividly and sonorously as possible;
- start speaking a long phrase almost in a whisper, and end with almost a scream and vice versa;
- try to display the volume of heard sounds;
- experiment with timbre, parody the voices of famous people.
Correct breathing, described in the first tip, also helps a lot in setting the volume of the sound.
