Speech is a form of communication that has developed historically in the process of materially transforming human activity, mediated by language. Speech includes the processes of generating and perceiving messages for the purposes of communication or (in particular) for the purposes of regulating and controlling one's own activities (internal speech, self-centered speech). Psychology is primarily interested in the place of speech in the system of higher mental functions of a person - in its relationship with thinking, consciousness, memory, emotions, etc., with particularly important features that reflect the structure of personality and activity.
The structure of speech activity or speech action in principle coincides with the structure of any action, i.e. includes phases of orientation, planning (in the form of "internal programming"), implementation and control. Speech can be active, constructed each time anew, and reactive, representing a chain of dynamic speech stereotypes.
In the conditions of spontaneous oral speech, the conscious choice and evaluation of the language means used in it are minimized, while in written speech and prepared oral speech take a significant place. Different types and forms of speech are built according to specific laws (for example, spoken language allows significant deviations from the grammatical system of language, a special place is given to logical and even more artistic speech).
INTERNATIONAL speech - different types of language use (more precisely, language values) outside the process of real communication. There are three main types of internal speech:
(a) Internal pronunciation - "speech to itself", which preserves the structure of external speech, but is devoid of sounds, i.e., pronunciation of sounds, and is typical for solving thinking problems in difficult conditions;
b) speech itself is internal when it acts as a means of thinking, uses specific units (code of images and schemes, subject code, subject values) and has a specific structure different from the structure of external speech:
c) internal programming, i.e. formation and consolidation of the idea (mystery, program) of speech expression, the whole text and its content in specific units. DAKTILE speech - speech that reproduces words with dactile letters, i.e certain configurations of fingers and their movements. Dactile speech is used in the Soviet deaf education as an auxiliary means of speech in the teaching of deaf speech, as well as in interpersonal communication of deaf people and communication with deaf people;
LARGE speech is a way of interpersonal communication between people with hearing loss through a system of gestures characterized by peculiar lexical and grammatical laws. The laws of gesture speech are conditioned by the expressed originality of its main semantic unit - gesture, as well as its functional purpose (use in the sphere of informal communication). In the sphere of official communication (meetings, translation of lectures, etc.), calculating gesture speech is used when gestures are consistently used to reproduce words. In calculating gesture speech, elements of dactile speech are used to indicate endings, suffixes, etc. Sign language is used as an aid (along with basic speech) in the process of education and upbringing of children with hearing deficiencies;
Written speech - verbal (verbal) communication with the help of written texts. It can be delayed (e.g. letter) or direct (exchange of notes during the meeting). Written speech differs from oral speech not only in that it uses graphics, but also in grammatical (especially syntactic) and stylistic relations - syntactic structures typical for written speech and specific functional styles. It is characterized by a very complex compositional and structural organization, which needs to be specially mastered, and hence a special task of teaching written language at school. Since the text of written speech can be perceived simultaneously, or at least in large "pieces", the perception of written speech differs greatly from that of oral speech; SUSTAINABLE speech - verbal (verbal) communication with the help of hearing aids. Oral speech is characterized by the fact that the individual components of the speech message are generated and perceived consistently. The processes of generating oral speech include orientation, simultaneous planning (programming), speech implementation and control: the planning in turn takes place through two parallel channels and concerns the content and motor-articulation sides of oral speech;
Speech EGOCENTRICAL (Latin for "ego-me", "centrum" - the center of the circle) is a speech addressed to itself, regulating and controlling the practical activity of the child. Egocentric speech is genetically related to external (communicative) speech and is a product of its partial interiorization.
Speech is a means of communication necessary, first of all, to involve the subject in the social environment. It is thanks to speech that the first connections between mother and child are formed, the foundations of social behavior in the group of children are established, and, finally, it is through speech and language that cultural traditions significantly influence our way of thinking and acting. For most people, however, speech is basically a way to communicate information, to reflect on life events and inner states, or simply to enjoy a conversation.