At all times, people differed from each other in appearance, aspirations, deeds, thoughts and desires. However, if necessary, people can always "negotiate". So how does it happen? What kind of mystical action allows two completely different people to understand each other? Speech is the process of speaking, the way an individual conveys information to someone.
Speech in psychology
In the theory of the Russian language, speech is usually divided into oral and written. Psychology considers three types of speech:
- mental;
- oral;
- written.
The connection between a person's thinking and his speech is obvious, but, nevertheless, could not be studied for a long time. Speech is a tool of thinking, it is one of the ways of self-expression of a person. But speaking and thinking are not the same thing. Thinking can be without speech, just as speech can be non-intellectual (there are cases when animals and birds "speak" are widely known).
In the applied field, psycholinguistics allows you to make a psychological portrait, determine gender, age, level of education and sociala person's class just from a written passage of his speech.
Speech as a way of self-expression
People try to express themselves through visual arts, dancing and singing, all of their actions are aimed at communicating with the outside world. The word and speech are not as spectacular as the performances of dancers, but with skillful use, in terms of the power of emotional impact and brilliance, speech will not yield to any other way of self-expression.
Very indicative in this regard is the phrase written on the trash can (photo below): "Think before you speak. Read before you think."
Speech is a tool not only for self-expression, but also for human self-development. Each person should carefully use speech, because first of all it is an obvious indicator of his literacy and individuality.
History of speech development
It is not known for certain when and at what stage of development a person spoke. Scientists believe that primitive people could communicate using gestures and imitative sounds, but it is impossible to call such communication speech.
One thing is clear: at a certain turning point in certain groups of people, the first "words" common to all members of the group began to appear. Then people began to combine them in a certain way, understandable to all fellow tribesmen, and form meaningful sentences. This moment can be called the time of the appearance of oral speech.
For a long time the oral form of speech was the only one. The people who inhabited the land were either nomads or farmers. They didn't have free time to think about anything other than their daily routine.
Only with the development of the class system of society, with the advent of the rudiments of statehood and the need to transfer the accumulated knowledge, a written form of speech appeared. It is believed that this happened about 4 thousand years ago, this is the age of the first found pictograms. A pictogram is a representation of the recognizable features of an object in a graphic sign.
Russian speech or Russian language?
Very often "speech" and "language" are perceived as synonyms. Although both concepts form a common sign system, they are not the same thing.
Speech is the expression of thought through a language code. Language is a historically established and socially significant sign system used for the purpose of communication. In other words, there are a lot of languages in the world, and speech is a process of communication: oral or written.
Language can only be realized in speech and has a pronounced social meaning, speech is individual for everyone. The expression "Russian speech" most likely reflects the speaker's belonging to the Russian ethnic group. The phrase "Russian language" refers to one of the many existing languages on the planet.
Varieties of oral and written forms of speech
In addition to the division into oral and written speech, speech is divided into productive and receptive.
Oral and written forms of speech have not only different norms for the use of the language, but also different areas of application. Spoken language is more commonly used indaily, domestic communication. Written speech is used in the education system, for business correspondence, scientific activities and all sorts of formal communication.
Productive forms of speech are aimed at creativity, the creation of oral or written texts that carry either a distinctive meaning or a vivid and memorable form of presentation. But most often the masters of the word combine the uniqueness of the form and the semantic load of the text.
The "speech writer" profession is gaining more and more popularity. A speechwriter is a specialist with deep knowledge in the field of language and psycholinguistics. The work of a speechwriter is a prime example of a productive form of speech.
His responsibilities include writing not only beautiful and interesting speeches for public figures and celebrities, but also creating their speech image. A good speechwriter will write a speech that will be in harmony with the appearance, education and character of the client. If necessary, the speech can be composed in such a way that the speaker will seem better than he really is.
Receptive forms of speech are associated with the perception of a ready-made text - oral or written, its deep analytical processing and analysis. An example of this perception is the work of historians on ancient manuscripts, the activities of editors of various publishing houses and translators.
