Related topics: proceedings of the national academy of sciences
Speech
hideSpeech is the vocalization form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of lexicals and names that are drawn from very large (usually >10,000 different words) vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and consonant speech sound units. These vocabularies, the syntax which structures them, and their set of speech sound units, differ creating the existence of many thousands of different types of mutually unintelligible human languages. Human speakers are often polyglot able to communicate in two or more of them. The vocal abilities that enable humans to produce speech also provide humans with the ability to sing.
A gestural form of human communication exists for the deaf in the form of sign language. Speech in some cultures has become the basis of a written language, often one that differs in its vocabulary, syntax and phonetics from its associated spoken one, a situation called diglossia. Speech in addition to its use in communication, it is suggested by some psychologists such as Vygotsky is internally used by mental processes to enhance and organize cognition in the form of an interior monologue.
Speech is researched in terms of the speech production and speech perception of the sounds used in spoken language. Several academic disciplines study these including acoustics, psychology, speech pathology, linguistics, cognitive science, communication studies, otolaryngology and computer science. Another area of research is how the human brain in its different areas such as the Broca's area and Wernicke's area underlies speech.
It is controversial how far human speech is unique in that other animals also communicate with vocalizations. While none in the wild uses syntax nor compatibly large vocabularies, research upon the nonverbal abilities of language trained apes such as Washoe and Kanzi raises the possibility that they might have these capabilities.
The origins of speech are unknown and subject to much debate and speculation.
For more information about Speech, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with speech
Google developing a translator for smartphones
Feb 09, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Google is developing a translator for its Android smartphones that aims to almost instantly translate from one spoken language to another during phone calls.
Children with cochlear implants have quality of life equal to normal hearing peers
Feb 01, 2010 |
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Children who have cochlear implants (CI) rank their quality of life (QOL) equal to their normally hearing (NH) peers, indicates new research in the February 2010 issue of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
Monkeys keep their words short, just like us
Jan 29, 2010 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study has found that Formosan macaque monkeys prefer to keep their "words" short, using long vocalizations only occasionally.
Carnegie Mellon releases data on Haitian Creole to hasten development of translation tools
Jan 27, 2010 |
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In response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, scientists at Carnegie Mellon University's Language Technologies Institute (LTI) have publicly released spoken and textual data they've compiled on Haitian Creole so that translation ...
Ohio high court narrowly interprets anti-porn law
Jan 27, 2010 |
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(AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted a state law aimed to protecting children from online pornography and predators, delivering a blow to free-speech advocates who want it thrown out as unconstitutional.
Duke scientists map brain pathway for vocal learning
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jan 13, 2010 |
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Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have identified neurons in the songbird brain that convey the auditory feedback needed to learn a song.
Two sides of the same coin: Speech and gesture mutually interact to enhance comprehension
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jan 05, 2010 |
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Your mother may have taught you that it's rude to point, but according to new research in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, gesturing may actually help improve communication.
Nuance buys British voice-to-text company SpinVox
Dec 30, 2009 |
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US speech recognition company Nuance Communications Inc. announced on Wednesday that it has acquired British voice-to-text firm SpinVox for 102.5 million dollars in a stock and cash deal.
Christmas Carol Talk
Dec 22, 2009 |
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Even without the lyrics, the tunes of some Christmas carols -- such as "Jingle Bells" or "Deck the Halls" -- sound uplifting. But the melodies of other songs like "We Three Kings" have a different, somber sound.
On the tip of your tongue: Researchers reveal our motor system activates when we hear speech
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London have discovered our motor system activates automatically when we hear speech. These findings could, in the future, play a central role ...
Machine Translates Thoughts into Speech in Real Time
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By implanting an electrode into the brain of a person with locked-in syndrome, scientists have demonstrated how to wirelessly transmit neural signals to a speech synthesizer. The "thought-to-speech" ...
Researchers examine correlation between political speeches, voting
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Dec 08, 2009 |
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Although politicians are often criticized for making empty promises, when it comes to their voting records, their words may carry more weight than previously thought, according to findings by two Penn State information technology ...
Music and speech based on human biology (w/ Video)
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A pair of studies by Duke University neuroscientists shows powerful new evidence of a deep biological link between human music and speech.
Tactile input affects what we hear: study
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 30, 2009 |
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Humans use their whole bodies, not just their ears, to understand speech, according to University of British Columbia linguistics research.
Measured -- The time it takes us to find the words we need
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Nov 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The time it takes for our brains to search for and retrieve the word we want to say has been measured for the first time. The discovery is reported in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Ac ...
