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.
Today, learning English from scratch online is in great demand. 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.
Speech is no less closely related to other mental processes. Thus, perception under the influence of speech becomes more accurate and acquires a selective and systematic character. Thanks to speech, perception is meaningful and categorical (Vygotsky, 1956, p. 256). Thanks to speech, logical memory and abstract thinking arise; in the motor sphere, objective actions are formed on the basis of elementary movements and actions. Speech also plays a significant role in the formation of personality, voluntary forms of regulation and control of behavior. It was these properties that gave reason to the greatest Soviet physiologist I. P. Pavlov to call speech the highest regulator of human behavior, and to L. S. Vygotsky to consider it as the main means of personality development.
Thus, speech occupies a certain place in the human mental sphere. Speech is, first of all, a means and form of communication (which is its first function), an instrument of thinking and cognitive activity, a means of organizing and regulating mental processes and the main means of their mediation.
Communication activities are carried out on the basis of a number of functions that are realized by speech. The central function of speech is communicative, which is realized through expression, communication and influence on oneself and on other people. Impact is the genetically primary form of the communicative function of speech. A person speaks primarily in order to influence the behavior, thoughts, feelings and consciousness of other people through speech. What is the social meaning of speech? The fact is that it ensures any other human activity, planning, regulating, controlling it, etc. (Fundamentals of Theory... 1974).
From the first, communicative, function of speech flow such qualities as social conditioning, activity, intentionality, and intentionality. Indeed, speech could arise only with the active focus of a person’s speech behavior in a group on expressing his intentions and desires. A statement is always used to achieve some result. Speech is a social product, and when a person speaks, his use of speech is always used as a means to achieve some goal. A statement cannot be made without intentions, without activity, without intentions. All these are different hierarchical levels of preparation for the implementation of the speech process as a communicative act. Intention is not identical to either the semantic side of a speech utterance or a thought—it precedes them. This is a “feeling of a task”, a “vague desire”, according to L. S. Vygotsky, an object of thought, according to S. L. Rubinstein.
Thus, speech initially appears in its social function of communication, which is realized in two forms - messages, influence on oneself and on others. On this basis, speech acquires a second function - the function of regulating one’s own behavior, organizing and linking other mental processes. The third function of speech is the function of generalization. L. S. Vygotsky’s studies of speech showed that just as communication is impossible without a sign, it is also impossible without meaning: “... communication necessarily presupposes the circulation and development of verbal meaning” (Vygotsky, 1956, p. 51). The word is the unity of sound and meaning; a sound divorced from thought, from meaning, ceases to be the sound of human speech. A sound or a word becomes speech when it begins to mean something. “Communication,” wrote L. S. Vygotsky, “based on rational understanding and the intentional transmission of thoughts and experiences, certainly requires a certain system of means... Such a means is generalization. The highest forms of psychological communication are possible only due to the fact that a person, with the help of thinking, generally reflects reality” (Vygotsky, 1956, pp. 50-51).
Generalization is only possible if there is meaning. The meaning of a word is one of the components of the semantics of a word. Modern psychology considers the meaning of a word as a generalized and stable reflection of the subject content included in the social and practical activity of a person. The meaning of the word belongs to the objective historical world of phenomena. A. N. Leontiev writes that the meaning of a word “is what is revealed objectively in a phenomenon - in a system of objective connections, relationships, interactions. The meaning is reflected, fixed in language and thanks to this acquires stability” (Leontyev, 1972, p. 387).
The external apparatus of the meaning of a word is its external structure with its roots, suffixes, inflections, thanks to which the categoricality of objects denoted by the word is created. Thus, the meaning of a word has two sides, two properties - the selection (abstraction) of essential features and their generalization, as well as the assignment of an object to a certain category based on the generalization of features.
Each word, even a specific one, always denotes not a single object, but an entire category of objects and can arouse in people who use this word any individual images, but only images related to this category.
speech pathology – previous | next – psychology of speech (continued)
Content. Neuropsychological rehabilitation of patients. Speech and intellectual activity.
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.
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.
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.
