Understanding Speech: Production, Social Impact, and Language

Posted on Jan 12, 2025 in English Studies

Speaking involves combining sounds systematically, according to the rules of language, with the aim of creating meaning.

What Elements Are Involved in Speech?

Speech involves other elements apart from sounds. The same sequence of sounds can be pronounced in very different ways, expressing different meanings.

  • Body language: Refers to gestures, facial expressions, and postures. It is conveyed through the whole body and perceived through vision.
  • Paralanguage: Refers to non-lexical components of speech, such as pitch, tone, intonation, and volume. It is conveyed through the mouth and perceived through hearing.

We do not speak the same way in every situation. We adapt our way of speaking to better suit the communicative situation and our communicative purposes (acceptability).

What Parts of the Body Are Involved in Speaking?

Speaking as a Physical Activity: Speaking involves using different parts of your body.

  • Articulators: Parts of the vocal tract that modify the air that passes through our throat and mouth.
  • Lungs: Expelling air.
  • Vocal folds: Producing sound.

Foreign Language Learning

Learning a foreign language is more difficult if your target language has very different sounds from your native language.

Speaking as a Mental Activity

Speaking requires mental effort. It is not always easy to put your ideas into words and achieve the desired communicative effect. Understanding what another person says is not an easy task either.

How Do We Manage to Understand Each Other?

The linguist Paul Grice attempted to answer this question with his Cooperative Principle. This principle states that when we speak, we abide by certain rules that make communication possible.

Cooperative Principle

  • The Maxim of Quality: Do not say something that is or can be false.
  • The Maxim of Quantity: Give the appropriate amount of information for the communicative situation.
  • The Maxim of Relation: Be relevant; do not say things unrelated to the topic.
  • The Maxim of Manner: Be brief, orderly, and unambiguous.

Speaking as a Social Activity

Speech is always present in our social life. It helps us establish and maintain social relationships.

What Is “Small Talk”?

A polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters, just to fill up the silence. It plays a socializing role (nod and smile or plot your escape).

Speaking as a Social Activity

Brown & Yule (1983) distinguished between:

  • Transactional: Language used to obtain goods and services.
  • Interactional: Language used to relate to each other.

There are rules that regulate oral communication, but we are not as conscious of them as we are with writing.

Politeness Principle

(Lakoff, 1973): Speakers must adhere to the following rules for smooth communication and social interaction:

  • Don’t impose.
  • Give options.
  • Make your receiver feel good.

These rules explain why orders or negative criticisms are inherently impolite and need to be handled carefully to avoid damaging social relationships.

Speaking as a Social Activity

Since language is a social instrument that is part of cultures, we must consider cultural aspects as well.

Problem: Different cultures have different rules that regulate social interaction.

How Is the Language We Use When We Speak?

Factors that influence speech:

  • Speech takes place in real-time: It is unrehearsed, not always accurate, and includes pauses, fillers, repetitions, and false starts. Due to the lack of preparation, we tend to simplify grammar and vocabulary.
  • We can obtain immediate feedback and adapt to our interlocutor as we go. This happens because most of the time, we speak face-to-face.
  • Oral language is in many cases interactive, as we usually take turns to speak.

Speaking vs. Writing

Cornbleet & Carter (2001) suggest the following aspects that may influence whether we choose to speak or write in a particular situation:

  • Speed/Urgency and need for immediate feedback: Speaking tends to be more immediate than writing.
  • Permanency: Some situations require keeping a permanent record; this tends to be easier in writing.
  • Clarity: Spoken language is more likely to be misunderstood.
  • Competence/Ability: Most people feel more comfortable in one mode.
  • Formality: Writing is associated with more formal contexts.
  • Degree of Planning Required: Most people prefer writing in situations that require planning and speaking in spontaneous situations.

Speaking and Writing Characteristics

  • Writing: Permanent, formal, one-way, informative.
  • Speaking: Transient, informal, interactive, social.