Speech is defined as the use of audible words and/or sounds to communicate. But doesn’t it involve much more? This is where what I call pre-speech thoughts comes into play. In any normal person, much thought goes into what they say or do, since very rarely do people talk just to communicate. People talk with a given motive in mind, be it to obtain, impress, or to pass time. However, when people speak, they prepare themselves ahead of time within their mind. They prepare their phrases, predict what the other person would say or how they would respond, and prepare answers or phrases in a way fitting each of the predicted responses the other person could have, all before the speaking even begins.
Take the following example into mind:
A boy sees a girl who is attractive to him and of course would like to speak to, and perhaps, court her. Through his head run many phrases that he has perhaps heard elsewhere or formulated on his own. Before even approaching her he plans his actions: will he say “hi”, “hello”, “what’s up”, or a similar greeting. He then decides whether or not he will continue the action and follow up with a way to connect with the girl in some way with a phrase such as “My name is [ ] what’s your name?” or “Do you come here often?” The boy predicts her answers and formulates responses accordingly. If she says, “Yes, I come here all the time,” he will say “Really, me too, but I haven’t seen you here before.” But if she says “No, not really,” he will say “Oh, are you from around here?” or a similar response. He will then plan to try to find a connection, and given her response, he will try to expand on it. For example, is she says “yes”, he might ask, “Do you live close?” and try to expand on that phrase in engage in conversation. All this occurs before he even approaches the girl, although some people might plan to different levels, all people do indeed plan.
If he knew the girl came to the same place every weekend, he might plan for days without knowing it. I don’t mean in an obsessive way, but in a nonchalant way, just a few days before the weekend. He might even subconsciously prepare physically for the meeting by “dressing up” or putting on his favorite cologne in order to be more presentable or simply to impress.
Many people believe verbal communication to be a very powerful way of expressing oneself. Words gain there power when the volume is raised and lowered alternatively to make a point. Additionally, the influence of speech can manifest itself in a number of ways. It can be used to humiliate, to intimidate, to flirt and to threaten, all of which are integral and pragmatic strategies to win a power struggle.
Emmers-Sommer, T. M., Farrell, J., Gentry, A., Stevens, S., Eckstein, J., Battocletti, J., & Gardener, C. (2010). First date sexual expectations: the effects of who asked, who paid, date location, and gender. Communication Studies, 61(3), 339-355. doi:10.1080/1051097100375267
I would like to open with a quote from Charles Swindoll. It reads, “life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it.” I am a firm believer of this statement because there will always be things out of your control, but your reaction will always be up to you. As for the positive experiences, those are the ones you cherish most, but the negatives are what teach you the most. After listening to my speech, I want you to understand how both the positive and negative experiences in my life have benefitted me. I was able to develop significant skills and relationships through the major events in my life.
Piaget (1926) looked at the private speech phenomenon and referred to it as ¡§egocentric speech¡¨, as he believed it was the result of children being cognitively immature. He observed many children between the ages of four and six, and concluded that their private speech was egocentric as they were unable to communicate the views of others. Piaget also concluded that their speech was solely for themselves, and served ¡§no developmental or social purpose¡¨ (Allyn & Bacon). It was also suggested that as children grow older and their social skills develop, and they are able to adopt the perspectives of people, the amount of private speech they use decreases. This can easily be illustrated in Figure 1.
Then suddenly one random day a beautiful woman walks into work/school/a party that no one has seen before and your thoughts begin to start racing around your head and your heart rate increases a little bit. All you can think of is "Wow, I have got to talk to her." Sometimes we(men) over think like it states in the story, "Stokesie's married, with two babies chalked up in his head alread...
How is the generative nature of language, talking about talking, and talking about the future dealt with from the perspective of verbal behavior?
In her article, How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think, Lera Boroditsky (2009) explains how the results of her experiments support the idea that the structure of language shapes the way we think. In one of her experiments, she found that English speakers would place cards showing temporal progression in temporal order from left to right, Hebrew speakers would place them right to left, and that the Kuuk Thaayorre would place them from east to west. This shows that the written language affects how time is represented to them. In another one of her experiments, she asked German and Spanish speakers to describe some items and found that the masculinity or femininity of the noun in their respective languages affects how it is ultimately described. This can also be seen in how artists represent the human form of abstract entities like death. Boroditsky concludes that “Language is central to our experience of being human, and the languages we speak profoundly shape the way we think, the way we see the world, the way we live our lives.” (Core reader p. 49) I would like to add that language is also the foundation of a person’s culture, pride, and self by exploring articles written by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua.
The mental processes which enable speech production to occurs can convey how TOT experiences are triggered. Speech is quite a complex yet partially unconscious process which occurs at a rate of about 2-4 words per second and errors are only made every 1 000th word (Abrams, 2008). It requires the speakers construct a message then encode what they intend to say through two processes. Firstly the target word's semantic properties (word meaning) is determined. Afterwards the brain retrieves information about it's phonology ( word sounds) and this information is sent to speech articulators to form meaningful speech sounds (Field, 2004). According to Interactive activation theories the selection of semantics and the encoding of phonology are processes which operate together. On the other hand Discrete theories believe that speech production requires the selection and retrieval of target semantics occur before phonology is encoded. However, both theories agree TOT states occur when the brain is able to carry out lexical selection of ...
When we communicate, we can say a lot without speaking. Our body, our posture, tone of voice and the expression on our face all display a message. If our feelings don’t fit with our words, it is often the body language that gets heard and believed. Nonverbal communication is a rapidly flowing interactive process. Self-awareness and an understanding of the cues you may be sending are paired with the cues others send and pick up from you. To do this effectively, it is necessary to clear your mind of all distractions. Try planning, creating, talking to yourself, thinking about the other person or what to say, then you won't be paying attention to the moment-to-moment experience, have the presence of mind to pick up on nonverbal cues, or fully understand what's really going on in the conversation.
Social speech: which is external communication used to talk to others (typical from the age of two).
Specific purpose: to increase my audience's understanding of how memory functions and how it affects them.
In the last few decades, the notion of language and brain has been highlighted in different scientific fields such as: neurology, cognitive science, linguistics biology, technology and finally education.
Self-awareness is not about reading a book or attending a course. Self-awareness is a journey, and it takes practice. It’s like a muscle that becomes more effective with time and effort. It gives us mental strength as opposed to physical strength. We are constantly changing and adapting to the multiple external forces around us and to our individual experiences. The more we learn to be aware of, and understand, our reactions, thoughts, and emotions, while also keeping in mind our values, the more we can become the best we can be and the more successful we can become.
Speech is vitally important for a variety of reasons. I believe that our words can increase or decrease our level of happiness or even have a positive or negative effect towards our future. Speech helps us as a society to resolve issues in a respectful manner; it helps us get important points across and convey messages, it also helps us structure our ways of communicating. The importance of speech is giving us the ability to make situations more...
Speaking is a natural ability given to most reluctant individuals. Since the beginning of time, it has been assumed that we have a right to speak and use words, thus we naturally begin our development of language during the early stages of live. After years of grasping and perfecting our vocabulary and language, it seems unnecessary to study the purpose of our development. Why, then, should we study “oral communication?” There are many purposes, benefits, and institutions that branch from oral communication. Of course, communication is the basis of interaction with other individuals through the use of expressions and words; however, through studying oral communication, one can take the words and expressions being used and apply them to his or her own life. After all, the most effective and useful knowledge is applied knowledge.