Types of speech. External and internal

External speech- a system of sound signals, written signs and symbols used by humans to transmit information, the process of materialization of thoughts.

External speech serves communication (although in some cases a person can think out loud without communicating with anyone), therefore its main feature is accessibility to the perception (hearing, vision) of other people. Depending on whether sounds or written signs are used for this purpose, a distinction is made between oral (ordinary spoken spoken speech) and written speech. Oral and written speech have their own psychological characteristics. When speaking, a person perceives listeners and their reaction to his words. Written speech is addressed to an absent reader who does not see or hear the writer and will read what is written only after some time. Often the author does not even know his reader at all and does not maintain contact with him. The lack of direct contact between the writer and the reader creates certain difficulties in constructing written speech. The writer is deprived of the opportunity to use expressive means (intonation, facial expressions, gestures) to better express his thoughts (punctuation marks do not fully replace these expressive means), as is the case in oral speech. So written language is usually less expressive than spoken language. In addition, written speech must be particularly detailed, coherent, understandable and complete, i.e. processed.

But written speech has another advantage: unlike oral speech, it allows for long and thorough work on the verbal expression of thoughts, while in oral speech delays are unacceptable, there is no time for polishing and finishing phrases. If you look, for example, at the draft manuscripts of L.N. Tolstoy or A.S. Pushkin, you will be struck by their unusually thorough and demanding work on the verbal expression of thoughts. Written speech, both in the history of society and in the life of an individual, appears later than oral speech and is formed on its basis. The importance of written speech is extremely great. It is in it that the entire historical experience of human society is consolidated. Thanks to writing, the achievements of culture, science and art are passed on from generation to generation.

So, external speech includes the following types:

Dialogical;

Monologue;

Written

Oral speech - this is communication between people through pronouncing words out loud, on the one hand, and listening to them by people, on the other.

Depending on the various conditions of communication, oral speech takes on the form of either dialogical or monologue speech.

Dialogue (from the Greek dialogos - conversation, conversation) - 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 the exchange of remarks. Replica - response, objection, remark to the words of the interlocutor - is distinguished by brevity, the presence of interrogative and incentive sentences, and syntactically undeveloped constructions. A distinctive feature of dialogue is the emotional contact of speakers, their influence on each other through facial expressions, gestures, intonation and timbre of voice. In everyday dialogue, partners do not care about the form and style of their statements and are frank. Participants in public dialogue take into account the presence of the audience and construct their speech literary. In everyday and ordinary conversation, dialogic speech is not planned. This is a supported speech. The direction of such a conversation and its results are largely determined by the statements of its participants, their remarks, comments, approval or objection. But sometimes a conversation is organized specifically to clarify a specific issue, then it is purposeful (for example, a student’s answer to a teacher’s questions).

Dialogue speech, as a rule, places fewer demands on the construction of a coherent and detailed statement than monologue or written speech; no special preparation is needed here. This is explained by the fact that the interlocutors are in the same situation, perceive the same facts and phenomena and therefore understand each other relatively easily, sometimes without a word. They do not need to express their thoughts in detailed speech form. An important requirement for interlocutors during dialogical speech is to be able to listen to the partner’s statements to the end, understand his objections and respond to them, and not to his own thoughts.

Monologue - a type of speech that has one subject and represents a complex syntactic whole, structurally not at all related to the speech of the interlocutor. Monologue speech is the speech of one person expressing his thoughts over a relatively long time or a consistent coherent presentation by one person of a system of knowledge.

Monologue speech is characterized by:

· consistency and evidence, which provide coherence of thought;

· grammatically correct formatting;

Monologue speech is more complex than dialogue in terms of content and linguistic design and always presupposes a fairly high level of speech development of the speaker. There are three main types of monologue speech: narration (story, message), description and reasoning, which, in turn, are divided into subtypes that have their own linguistic, compositional and intonation-expressive features. With speech defects, monologue speech is impaired to a greater extent than dialogic speech.

A monologue is a detailed statement (an elementary unit of text) by one person, complete in semantic terms. The psychological and pedagogical feature of monologue speech is that the reaction of the listeners is guessed, gestures and facial expressions play a smaller role than in dialogue. A monologue is most often a public speech addressed to a large number of people. The oratorical monologue is dialogical.

The speaker seems to be talking with the audience, that is, a hidden dialogue is taking place. But open dialogue is also possible, for example, answering questions from those present.

Monologue speech assumes that one person speaks, while others only listen without participating in the conversation. Monologue speech occupies a large place in the practice of human communication and is manifested in a wide variety of oral and written speeches. Monologue forms of speech include lectures, reports, and speeches at meetings. A common and characteristic feature of all forms of monologue speech is its pronounced orientation towards the listener. The purpose of this focus is to achieve the necessary impact on listeners, convey knowledge to them, and convince them of something. In this regard, monologue speech is extensive in nature and requires a coherent presentation of thoughts, and therefore, preliminary preparation and planning.

As a rule, monologue speech proceeds with a certain tension. It requires the speaker to be able to logically, consistently express his thoughts, express them in a clear and distinct form, as well as the ability to establish contact with the audience. To do this, the speaker must monitor not only the content of his speech and its external structure, but also the reaction of the listeners.

The amount of information loss during a monologue message can reach 50%, and in some cases, 80% of the volume of original information [‎7].

Written speech is a graphically designed speech organized on the basis of letter images. It is addressed to a wide range of readers, is not situational and requires in-depth skills of sound-letter analysis, the ability to logically and grammatically correctly convey one’s thoughts, analyze what is written and improve the form of expression.

Written and spoken speech usually perform different functions. Oral speech for the most part functions as colloquial speech in a conversation situation, written speech - as business, scientific, more impersonal speech, intended not for the directly present interlocutor. In this case, written speech is aimed primarily at conveying more abstract content, while oral, colloquial speech is mostly born from direct experience. Hence a number of differences in the construction of written and oral speech and in the means that each of them uses.

In oral, colloquial speech, the presence of a common situation that unites interlocutors creates the commonality of a number of directly obvious prerequisites. When the speaker reproduces them in speech, his speech seems excessively long, boring and pedantic: much is immediately clear from the situation and can be omitted in oral speech. Between two interlocutors, united by the commonality of the situation and, to some extent, experiences, understanding is possible without a word. Sometimes, between close people, one hint is enough to be understood. In this case, what we say is understood not only or sometimes even not so much from the content of the speech itself, but on the basis of the situation in which the interlocutors find themselves. In conversational speech, therefore, much is left unspoken. Conversational oral speech is situational speech. Moreover, in oral speech-conversation, the interlocutors, in addition to the subject-semantic content of the speech, have at their disposal a whole range of expressive means, with the help of which they convey what is not said in the very content of the speech.

In written speech addressed to an absent or generally impersonal, unknown reader, one cannot count on the fact that the content of the speech will be supplemented by general experiences drawn from direct contact, generated by the situation in which the writer was. Therefore, in written speech, something different is required than in oral speech - a more detailed construction of speech, a different disclosure of the content of thought. In written speech, all significant connections of thought must be revealed and reflected. Written speech requires a more systematic, logically coherent presentation. In written speech, everything should be understandable solely from its own semantic content, from its context; written speech is contextual speech.

There are different types of speech: gestural and vocal speech, written and oral speech, internal and external speech. Usually there are three types of speech: external, internal and egocentric. External speech, in turn, is divided into written and oral. Oral and written speech are divided into monologue and dialogic. Let us consider in detail the designated types of speech.

External speech is the main means of communication. This is speech addressed to another person, speech for another, which is pronounced, heard and understood by others. External speech is aimed at interaction and is characterized by relative expansion and richness.

External speech, in turn, is divided into oral And written speech. Oral speech appears in two forms - dialogical and monological. Dialogue- speech that is determined by the situation and context of the previous statement. Dialogue is a fast, involuntary process of two-way exchange of information. Dialogue is a turn-taking conversation in which each partner alternates periods of speaking and listening. Oral dialogic speech has the following distinctive characteristics: 1. Availability of feedback. Information exchange is carried out with the help of support, i.e. the interlocutors have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions, make remarks, help finish a thought and thus establish feedback with the speaker. For dialogue, the presence of feedback is one of the most important characteristics. 2. Convolution in time. In a dialogue, much is clear to the interlocutors because both are in control of the situation. For outsiders, the dialogue is difficult to understand. In childhood, dialogue is difficult, and only an adult is capable of a full dialogue. It is difficult for a child to maintain attention on the interlocutor and what he is saying; the child quickly jumps to other topics. For a child, due to his egocentrism, the main thing is to convey his information or receive information, but he is not yet able to exchange it. Often such situations are observed among healthy adults.

Oral monologue speech - this is a relatively expanded form of speech; This is the speech of one person uninterrupted by the remarks of other people. It is a consistent, coherent presentation of a system of thoughts, knowledge, information by one person, without relying on the speech of the interlocutor. A monologue should ideally be full of expressive facial and gestural means, which emphasizes the significance of speech information. Being designed for a specific audience, it is, however, not always accompanied by a direct reaction from those listening (for example, when speaking in the media). A monologue is also characterized by the fact that it can be planned in advance. At the same time, a skilled speaker or lecturer always takes into account the slightest reactions of the audience and, in accordance with this, changes the course of his presentation, preserving its main content.



Written speech– speech realized in a form accessible to visual perception, in the form of written text. Written speech allows a gap in time and space between its generation and perception and gives the reader the opportunity to use any perception strategy, return to what has already been read, etc.

From the point of view of the means used, written speech differs from oral speech on three levels: 1) it uses a graphic code (writing); 2) to emphasize the meaning of what is written, not intonation, but lexical devices (combinations of words), grammar and punctuation are used; 3) there are linguistic forms that are mandatory in written speech, but optional in spoken speech.

In written speech, monologue and dialogic forms are also distinguished. Monologue written speech characterized by deployment and arbitrariness. Written language involves delay or lack of feedback. In this case, the interlocutor cannot ask us again, clarify, or draw attention to mistakes. Examples of monologue writing can be an essay, lecture notes, a letter, or a literary work. Dialogic writing characterized by the presence of feedback and, in some cases, an expressive component. Examples of written dialogic speech include notes, communication in Internet chats and ICQ. Special signs of a non-grammatical nature, for example, emoticons, act as expressive components.

The main means of influence in written speech remain the words themselves, their order and punctuation marks. By making an utterance in written form, we can consciously or unconsciously correlate this utterance with the content that we wanted to express, and in case of discrepancy, we can abandon it and start over, thereby honing the external form of the utterance. In oral speech such a search is impossible. In order to carry out the most appropriate selection of form for the intended content, a person uses inner speech. That is, before formulating a thought in writing, it must be spoken internally. The formation of written speech is a labor-intensive process, since it requires a person to have a double level of abstraction. At the first level, essential features of objects, phenomena and facts are identified, and then the corresponding word is used. At the second level, this word is endowed with a certain sign, and this sign is written independently of the word. Naturally, these two levels require well-formed thinking.

Inner speech. The concept of inner speech was first proposed by L.S. Vygotsky. He defined inner speech as “a special internal plan of speech thinking that mediates the dynamic relationship between thought and word.” Inner speech has the following properties: 1) lack of phonation; 2) predicativeness (that is, all subjects are omitted and only predicates are present); 3) abbreviation; 4) the predominance of meaning over the word; 5) discrepancy between the semantics of internal speech and the semantics of external speech. Acting as internal speech, speech, as it were, throws off the fulfillment of its primary function that gave birth to it: it ceases to be directly a means of communication in order to become, first of all, a form of internal work of thought. Inner speech is thus a means of thinking. It is devoid of phonation, that is, external audible sound design. It proceeds in the mental plane, carries out the functions of activity planning and information processing functions. Inner speech is characterized by fragmentation, abruptness and situationality. Without serving the purposes of message and communication, inner speech still has a social character. It is social, firstly, genetically, in its origin: “internal” speech is a derived form from “external” speech. Taking place under different conditions, it has a modified structure, but its modified structure also bears obvious traces of its social origin. Inner speech and verbal, discursive thinking occurring in the form of inner speech reflect the structure of speech that has developed in the process of communication. So, inner speech is social in origin. But it is also social in its content. The statement that inner speech is speech with oneself is not entirely accurate. And internal speech is mostly addressed to the interlocutor. Sometimes this is a specific individual interlocutor.

Apparently, due to the compressed nature of inner speech and the absence of an external sound form, inner speech was often intellectualized and identified with thinking. It is in connection with internal speech that the question of the relationship between speech and thinking arises with particular urgency.

Egocentric speech - This is a unique combination of external and internal speech. According to the methods of manifestation, this speech is external, that is, it is sounding, vocalized. But in terms of function and structure, this speech is internal. These are thoughts and reasoning out loud, which are carried out in question-and-answer form and can be interpreted as a conversation with oneself as with an imaginary communication partner. Egocentric speech allows one to overcome difficulties and obstacles that arise in consciousness. This is a speech for yourself. The term "egocentric speech" was introduced by Jean Piaget and was used only to characterize children's speech. Piaget assumed that a child's speech develops from dialogue with others and with himself. Piaget considered egocentric speech as a temporary stage in speech development. It appears relatively late, its peak occurs between 3 and 5 years. The essence of egocentric speech is that, supposedly not communicating with anyone, nevertheless, the child creates a social resonance for himself. This is a conversation with an interlocutor who understands everything and agrees with everything. Such a monologue promotes the expression of emotions and at the same time performs the function of comprehension. Egocentric speech is a prerequisite for the development of the planning function of thinking. At the first stage of its development, it accompanies any child’s activity, especially if this activity causes him certain difficulties. Throughout preschool age, egocentric speech changes. It contains not just stating statements, but also planning and regulating ones. With age, egocentric speech interiorized, turns into inner speech and in this form retains its planning function. However, Vygotsky says that egocentric speech does not completely disappear in adults. You and I often talk to our dogs and cats, and also “sentence” during work and other activities, “addressing” inanimate objects. Often, egocentric speech can be observed in a teacher when, in search of an answer to a question asked, he begins a verbal search for an answer under his breath, reasoning out loud. Egocentric speech in an adult manifests itself in moments of difficulty and emotional stress. (Examples: “here I am,” “oh, you’re disgusting” - at the sight of a cockroach; “oh, you poor thing, now we’ll water you” - an appeal to a flower; “well, where are you?” - in search of the keys).

Colloquial speech - This is the spontaneous, relaxed oral speech of educated native speakers of the modern Russian language. This speech is devoid of vernacular features and is free from street genre and dialectisms. This is a special language system. RR is characterized by the following properties: 1) unpreparedness, spontaneity of the speech act; 2) ease of expression; 3) direct participation of speakers in the speech act. We can observe spoken language on a bus, in a store, during a lunch break, or during a telephone conversation. Ease is determined by the presence of informal relations between the participants in a speech act. Therefore, for example, the range of texts under consideration excludes an exchange of opinions at some official meeting where speakers use the oral form of a codified literary language. Features of colloquial speech are:

1. Syncretism. This is the condensation of many things into one, a kind of compaction. Syncretism is manifested in the use of non-union structures (“my head hurts.. turn it off..” - “I have a headache, turn off the light” or “umbrella.. you’ll get wet...” - “take an umbrella, otherwise you’ll get wet”)

2. Dismemberment. This is the reverse process of syncretism. It manifests itself in such units as ambiguous nominations such as “give me something to cut”, “have something to write”, “take something to hide with”. These expressions are divided in form, but syncretic in content, since “what to write with” is a pencil or pen. In terms of content, dismemberment is manifested in the high productivity of derived words. For example, “cleaning, grabbing, holding.”

3. The presence of a common apperception base. This term was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. within the framework of linguistic science. The general apperception base is understood as “a coherent, holistic, systemic stock of general knowledge characteristic of all native speakers; total social experience." The presence of a common apperception base presupposes that the interlocutors have the same understanding of the specific moment when communication occurs.

External and internal speech are the two main types of speech that psychologists distinguish. With the first, everything is generally clear: this is what we are accustomed to understanding by speech. For example, the words you are reading now are the external speech of the author of the text.

If you express your opinion about what you read to a friend, this will already be your external speech. Simply put, these are words spoken and heard, written and read.

Inner speech is a specific form of speech activity that is actively studied mainly in psychology and literary criticism. Just like the inner monologues of a character in a work of fiction, which help readers understand the character of the character, a person’s inner speech provides a wealth of material for psychologists.

Two sides of speech: addressed to others and addressed to oneself

Internal pronunciation is a thinking companion, adapted for performing mental operations. What kind of operations can these be? A variety of things: memorization, attentive listening to others, concentrated reading to oneself, solving problems in the mind...

Speech of this type does not require oral or written formatting: it is needed by the speaker himself, and not by the interlocutor. If we consider the term in a narrower sense, we can say that this is the planning stage of external speech, the first stage of the utterance before its implementation for the listener.

A plan or outline of a statement drawn up in the head, which is then followed by its sound design, is only one manifestation of how internal and external speech are connected. A similar process precedes the recording of a particular text: before it, we mentally go through phrases, words, sentences, determining the most suitable ones.

In addition, for example, as a result of psychophysiological studies, it was proven that internal speaking, like external speaking, is accompanied by articulation (movements of the lips and tongue), only hidden. By the way, experiments with articulation have shown that the mechanism of inner speech is, in fact, largely tied to it. There is a mutual dependence.

For example, the thought that you need to pronounce a certain sound triggers micro-movements of the tongue and lips, at the same time their vibrations are perceived by the brain, as a result of which the thought flows in the right direction.

One form of speech activity can transform into another. When the external becomes internal, they talk about the process of interiorization (from interior, which in Latin means “internal”), and when vice versa, the process is called exteriorization (from the Latin exterior - “external”, “external”).

Interiorization is always associated with a reduction in the speech structure; exteriorization, on the contrary, forces one to make statements more detailed and construct them in accordance with the rules of grammar. Failure to comply with strict speech norms is one of the main characteristic features of inner speech. In general, its features can be briefly presented in the form of the following list.

  • Fragmentation, fragmentation.
  • Generality.
  • Situational (the meaning of the statement is determined by the situation and changes depending on it).
  • Secondary (built on the basis of external speech).
  • High speed (if compared with external speech).
  • Formal elements of dialogue (for example, interrogative sentences), which, however, should not be misleading: inner speech is a monologue in nature.

All these features are due to the fact that we are speaking in this case for ourselves, which means that we do not require any language norms, or means of expression, or additional explanations - everything that makes the message understandable not only to the speaker, but also to the listener.

Communication between children: first for others, then for themselves

How does inner speech form? This question has occupied more than one generation of researchers. It was considered, for example, by psychologist and linguist Aleksey Alekseevich Leontyev, linguist Solomon Davidovich Katsnelson, psychologist.

Vygotsky figuratively said that internal speech is the transformation of a word into a thought, while external speech is the exact opposite process. The scientist believed that there is a connection between such phenomena as inner speech and egocentric speech.

Let us recall that the latter term was introduced by the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget to characterize the special thinking inherent in children up to about 10-11 years of age. What kind of thinking is this? One that centers around one single person - the child himself. Accordingly, there is also one point of view on everything that happens, which belongs to him.

Children do not even admit that other judgments, perhaps contradictory to their own, are possible. A child could not imagine this even if he wanted to. This personality trait is most clearly visible in speech. The child speaks for others the same way as for himself, does not try to make his thought clearer or transform it for the interlocutor. It doesn't even occur to him that this might be necessary.

And really, why? After all, others, the little man thinks, understand him without effort, just as he understands himself. In the period, according to Piaget, egocentric thinking is overcome and gives way to a more adult worldview.

According to Vygotsky, the egocentric way of expressing one’s thoughts does not die out: inner speech is formed precisely from the egocentric one. And egocentric, thus, becomes a transitional stage from external to internal speech.

Indeed, with age, a child interacts more and more with others, learns to look at the world from other points of view, and they give him fewer discounts and expect him to convey his thoughts and desires in such a way that the interlocutor understands him easily, and does not solve riddles . And egocentric speech turns from the outside in: as a means of communication it is now ineffective, but can be successfully used as a tool for managing behavior and planning statements.

By the way, let’s remember about microarticulation during internal speech. Alexander Nikolaevich Sokolov, another prominent Russian psychologist, suggested that the child develops a connection between the sound and the muscle movement that he feels when he pronounces it.

Until about three years of age, a child cannot hold back these movements, and therefore is not able to whisper, much less speak “to himself.” It is interesting to note here that both children and even adults, when the operations performed in the mind become more complex, as a rule, move from internal pronunciation to external pronunciation - first quiet, and then increasingly louder. Author: Evgenia Bessonova

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Types and functions of speech.

Speech performs certain Features:

Rice. 3. Functions of speech

Impact function lies in a person’s ability, through speech, to encourage people to take certain actions or refuse them.

Message function consists of the exchange of information (thoughts) between people through words and phrases.

Expression function is that, on the one hand, thanks to speech, a person can more fully convey his feelings, experiences, relationships, and, on the other hand, the expressiveness of speech, its emotionality significantly expands the possibilities of communication.

Designation function consists in the ability of a person, through speech, to give objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality names that are unique to them.

According to its many functions (see Fig. 3), speech is a polymorphic activity, i.e. in its various functional purposes, it is presented in different forms (Fig. 4) and types (Fig. 5): external, internal, monologue, dialogue, written, oral, etc.

In psychology, there are two forms of speech: external and internal.

Rice. 4. Forms of speech

External speech- a system of sound signals, written signs and symbols used by humans to transmit information, the process of materialization of thoughts.

External speech may have slang and intonation. Jargon- stylistic features (lexical, phraseological) of the language of a narrow social or professional group of people. Intonation - a set of speech elements (melody, rhythm, tempo, intensity, accent structure, timbre, etc.) that phonetically organize speech and are a means of expressing various meanings and their emotional coloring.

External speech includes the following types (see Fig. 5):

* oral (dialogue and monologue) And

* written.

Rice. 5. Types of speech

Oral speech- this is communication between people through pronouncing words out loud, on the one hand, and listening to them by people, on the other.

Dialogue(from Greek dialogos - conversation, conversation) - 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.

Replica- response, objection, remark to the words of the interlocutor - is distinguished by brevity, the presence of interrogative and incentive sentences, and syntactically undeveloped constructions.

A distinctive feature of dialogue is the emotional contact of speakers, their influence on each other through facial expressions, gestures, intonation and timbre of voice.

The dialogue is supported by the interlocutors with the help of clarifying questions, changing the situation and the intentions of the speakers. Purposeful dialogue related to one topic is called a conversation. Conversation participants discuss or clarify a specific problem using specially selected questions.

Monologue- a type of speech that has one subject and represents a complex syntactic whole, structurally not at all related to the speech of the interlocutor. Monologue speech - This is the speech of one person expressing his thoughts over a relatively long time, or a consistent, coherent presentation by one person of a system of knowledge.

Monologue speech is characterized by:

Consistency and evidence, which provide coherence of thought;

Grammatically correct formatting;

Monologue speech is more complex than dialogue in terms of content and linguistic design and always presupposes a fairly high level of speech development of the speaker.

Stand out three main types of monologue speech: narration (story, message), description and reasoning, which, in turn, are divided into subtypes that have their own linguistic, compositional and intonation-expressive features. With speech defects, monologue speech is impaired to a greater extent than dialogic speech.

Written speech is a graphically designed speech organized on the basis of letter images. It is addressed to a wide range of readers, is not situational and requires in-depth skills of sound-letter analysis, the ability to logically and grammatically correctly convey one’s thoughts, analyze what is written and improve the form of expression.

The full assimilation of writing and written speech is closely related to the level of development of oral speech. During the period of mastering oral speech, a preschool child unconsciously processes language material, accumulates sound and morphological generalizations, which create readiness to master writing at school age. When speech is underdeveloped, writing impairments of varying severity usually occur.

Inner speech(speech “to oneself”) is speech that is devoid of sound design and proceeds using linguistic meanings, but outside the communicative function; inner speaking. Inner speech is speech that does not perform the function of communication, but only serves the thinking process of a particular person. It is distinguished by its structure by its convolution, the absence of minor members of the sentence.

Inner speech is formed in a child on the basis of external speech and is one of the main mechanisms of thinking. The transfer of external speech into internal speech is observed in a child at the age of about 3 years, when he begins to reason out loud and plan his actions in speech. Gradually, such pronunciation is reduced and begins to take place in inner speech.

With the help of internal speech, the process of transforming thoughts into speech and preparing a speech utterance is carried out. Preparation goes through several stages. The starting point for the preparation of each speech utterance is a motive or intention, which is known to the speaker only in the most general terms. Then, in the process of transforming a thought into a statement, the stage of internal speech begins, which is characterized by the presence of semantic representations that reflect its most essential content. Next, from a larger number of potential semantic connections, the most necessary ones are identified and the appropriate syntactic structures are selected.

Inner speech can be characterized by predicativeness. Predicativity- a characteristic of internal speech, expressed in the absence in it of words representing the subject (subject), and the presence only of words related to the predicate (predicate).

Although all these forms and types of speech are interconnected, their vital purpose is not the same. External speech, for example, plays the main role as a means of communication, internal speech - as a means of thinking. Written speech most often acts as a way of remembering and preserving information, oral speech as a means of transmitting information. Monologue serves the process of one-way, and dialogue serves the process of two-way exchange of information.

Speech has its own properties:

Speech intelligibility- this is the syntactically correct construction of sentences, as well as the use of pauses in appropriate places or highlighting words using logical stress.

Expressiveness of speech- this is its emotional richness, the richness of linguistic means, their diversity. In terms of its expressiveness, it can be bright, energetic and, conversely, sluggish and poor.

Effectiveness of speech- this is the property of speech, which consists in its influence on the thoughts, feelings and will of other people, on their beliefs and behavior.


Rice. 6. Properties of speech

Human speech can be shortened and expanded, both from conceptual and linguistic points of view. IN expanded type of speech the speaker uses all the possibilities of symbolic expression of meanings, meanings and their shades provided by language. This type of speech is characterized by a large vocabulary and a wealth of grammatical forms, the frequent use of prepositions to express logical, temporal and spatial relations, the use of impersonal and indefinite personal pronouns, the use of suitable concepts, clarifying adjectives and adverbs to denote one or another specific state of affairs, more pronounced syntactic and grammatical structuring of utterances, numerous subordinating connections of sentence components, indicating anticipatory planning of speech.

Abbreviated speech the statement is sufficient for understanding among well-known people and in familiar surroundings. However, it makes it difficult to express and perceive more complex, abstract thoughts associated with subtle distinctions and differential analysis of hidden relationships. In the case of theoretical thinking, a person more often uses detailed speech.

Speech can be roughly divided into external and internal. A person’s inner speech can be understood as his communication with himself. This can happen both consciously and unconsciously. The problem is that it is difficult to clearly define and define the nature and characteristics of inner speech.

Every person has a conversation with himself. This usually happens at the level of thoughts. The lips do not move, the words are not spoken, but the person pronounces them in his head. Inner speech is defined as a peculiar form when a person analyzes, thinks, argues with himself, etc.

In many ways, internal speech is similar to external speech. Only the forms of its manifestation and functions differ. We'll look at this in the article.

What is inner speech?

What is inner speech? It is complex mental functioning that includes operations, language components, communication interaction, and consciousness.

Communication takes place in the head of a person who does not use his vocal apparatus to express words. Everything happens at the level of thoughts, which help a person think, analyze, reason, make decisions, etc.

Inner speech can be called mental speech. It doesn't always require words. Sometimes a person imagines images, pictures, which is enough for mental activity. Quite often a person does not even notice the thinking process itself, which occurs automatically and independently. However, mental speech helps a person in making decisions, analyzing what is happening, setting tasks and solving problems. This is a kind of connection between a person and the world around him, from which he receives information.

Inner speech is usually verbal in nature, that is, a person thinks at the level of words. This makes it servicing external speech and connects it with the outside world. A person thinks first, then acts or speaks. Accordingly, internal speech appears first, and then external or other manifestations of a person.

It is quite difficult for psychologists to separate where there is inner speech and where there is thinking. Therefore, some combine these concepts together. In fact, thinking and inner speech are components, but in no way replace each other.

The origin of inner speech is also ambiguous. Some argue that it arises as a result of a person withdrawing deep into himself. He thinks, has a conversation with himself, reflects, etc. Others argue that internal speech accompanies external speech. When a person communicates with someone, he simultaneously conducts internal speech with himself, where he comes to an agreement, finds evidence, looks for the necessary facts, etc.

It is quite difficult to study something that is hidden. Inner speech is always a hidden part of a person. How can it be researched? Through introspection or various instruments that perceive signals. The most accessible methods remain for self-analysis of the processes that occur inside a person.

Internal and external speech

Communication processes are conventionally divided into three types: external, internal and written speech. How does internal speech differ from external speech? External speech is aimed at the outside world when a person speaks his own thoughts out loud. He uses the vocal apparatus (vocal cords, tongue, lips, etc.) to pronounce words that will convey the information coming from him. Inner speech is directed at oneself. In this case, the voice apparatus may not be used at all.

Through internal speech, a person communicates with himself, reasons, reflects, makes analyzes and conclusions, makes decisions, doubts, etc.

There is an age period when a person begins to resort to inner speech. This age is 7 years. During this period, the child moves from turning to the external world to his internal, egocentric one. He begins to realize that not every word can be spoken out loud.

The characteristic features of inner speech are:

  • Sketchy.
  • Fragmentary.
  • Brief.

If it were possible to record inner speech, it would turn out to be:

  • Incomprehensible.
  • Incoherent.
  • Sketchy.
  • Unrecognizable compared to the outside.

A characteristic of external speech is its outward orientation. Here a person uses clear structures and phrases that will be understandable to the interlocutor. Eye contact is established in which people pay attention to words, body language and voice intonation. All this allows you to recognize not only the meaning spoken out loud, but also to consider what was hidden underneath it.

Inner speech can be different, depending on the degree of involvement of a person in it. If a person really talks to himself, then he uses speech that has the appearance of an external character. If the conversation is conducted unconsciously, then a directive or predicative nature of speech may be observed, which is short and focused. There is no reasoning here. A person simply makes short decisions and prompts to action.

Characteristics of inner speech:

  1. Generality.
  2. Silence.
  3. Secondary (education from external communication).
  4. Fragmentation.
  5. High speed of pronunciation.
  6. Lack of strict grammatical format.

To say something out loud, a person first thinks and selects words, composes phrases and sentences. This does not happen with internal speech. Often there are no offers at all. There are short phrases, even just words.

Thus, internal speech prepares external speech, which in turn is divided into oral and written.

  • Oral language involves speaking words and listening to them. It can be colloquial (everyday) and public.
  • Written speech has strict rules for conveying thoughts through words.

Inner speech according to Vygotsky

Vygotsky and many other psychology experts studied inner speech. According to Vygotsky, inner speech is a consequence of egocentric speech or communication for oneself. It is formed at primary school age, when the child gradually begins to use external forms of speech.

Inner speech is noted in younger preschoolers, who still use formulations that are incomprehensible to adults.

Egocentric speech is the main one on which inner speech develops. At first it is understandable only to a child, then it transforms, becoming more and more like a meaningful thought process.

The formation of external and internal speech in children is different. External speech is formed from simple to complex: from words to phrases, from phrases to sentences, etc. Internal speech is formed from complex to simple: from a whole sentence to the comprehension of each of its individual parts - a phrase or word.

Inner speech problem

It is quite difficult to study internal speech, which only at first glance differs from external speech in the absence of sound, which creates a problem. In fact, internal speech is not similar to external speech in its structure. There are already many differences here, not just the lack of spoken words.

Inner speech is condensed and fragmentary. Its structure is completely different from the external one. If external speech has a clear structure, where there is a subject and predicate, additional words, then internal speech is often noted in actions. Here there is no subject that is being considered, only the action is indicated, what the subject should be, which is motivating in nature.

Inner speech involves not only words, but also other forms that are understandable to humans. These can be diagrams, details, pictures, images. A person does not need to express in words everything he imagines. It is enough just to remember the picture you saw in order to begin further reflection, where images seen from life can also be used.

Features of human inner speech

The process of inner speech involves many components that are not limited to verbal structures. The peculiarity of a person’s internal speech is that it is difficult to clearly distinguish it, since in the process of thinking the individual uses all forms known and understandable to him to provide the meaning of what he is thinking about.

To build inner speech, there is no need to compose complex sentences. Why? Because people already understand them. Moreover, sometimes it is easier to imagine a certain image that more fully conveys the whole meaning of what a person is thinking about than to select words.

Inner speech is not a consequence of thoughts; on the contrary, it gives rise to thoughts. Thus, a thought is formed after a person has generated it. It is the link between thoughts and external speech, which a person then uses to express his own ideas.

Despite the fact that inner speech originates in childhood and is full of fantastic objects that the child imagines, it is inherent in adults. Only in adulthood does a person resort more to verbal forms of inner speech, as well as to pictures seen in real life.

Here we should consider the phenomenon as the sound of an inner voice, which is produced not by a person, but by some other creature. So-called hearing of voices falls into this category. Scientists have conducted research and found that these phenomena are intracerebral impulses, when a person thinks that the voice is coming from outside, although in fact it is coming from within.

Bottom line

All people communicate with themselves. This is a normal process that allows you to think through thoughts, convince yourself of something, calm yourself down, make decisions, analyze situations, etc. A person needs to communicate with himself when he comes to an internal balance, negotiates with himself, finds a compromise, which is beneficial to him. The result is maintaining a calm mental balance.

There is not a single person who does not communicate with himself. Sometimes a person simply does not realize this process, which occurs automatically. A person does not have to consciously be in the process of communicating with himself. An act when thoughts are simply generated in the head, often automatically, is sufficient.

The unconsciousness of actions and spoken words is formed on this basis. A person does not consciously participate in the process of generating ideas, he automatically forms them, obeying them. Only then does he analyze and draw conclusions about how correct they were in a given situation. If a person does not agree with something, then he begins to regret that he did not take an active part in the thinking process.