Speech

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Speech 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


Music and speech based on human biology (w/ Video)

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (10) | comments 0

(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

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Humans use their whole bodies, not just their ears, to understand speech, according to University of British Columbia linguistics research.





Search results for speech


South Africa to treat all HIV-positive babies (AP)

South Africa to treat all HIV-positive babies

Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS

created Dec 01, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- South Africa announced ambitious new plans Tuesday for earlier and expanded treatment for HIV-positive babies and pregnant women, a change that could save hundreds of thousands of lives in the nation ...


Embodied Cognition: Using Movement to Understand the Mind

Embodied Cognition: Using Movement to Understand the Mind

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Psychology professors look at movement to study communication and cognition.


Study: Believers' inferences about God's beliefs are uniquely egocentric

Study: Believers' inferences about God's beliefs are uniquely egocentric

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (45) | comments 111

Religious people tend to use their own beliefs as a guide in thinking about what God believes, but are less constrained when reasoning about other people's beliefs, according to new study published in the ...


New algorithms for computerized, large-scale surveillance

New algorithms for computerized, large-scale surveillance

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

A recent AFOSR-funded technology should enable the Air Force to achieve advances in object and target detection technology by using sophisticated algebraic theories called groups, rings and fields.


Venezuela turns to cloud-seeding to battle drought (AP)

Venezuela turns to cloud-seeding to battle drought

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Nov 29, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(AP) -- Hugo Chavez says he is starting to "bombard" clouds now that Cuba has provided Venezuela with cloud-seeding help in an effort to produce rain and alleviate the effects of a severe drought.


New rules for court reporting puts the privacy of children ?at risk?

New rules for court reporting puts the privacy of children 'at risk'

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New legislation to relax the restrictions on media reporting of family court cases could put the privacy of vulnerable children at risk, according to a paper published by the Department of ...


Tahoe faces new development battle: green vs. green

Space & Earth / Environment

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

As snow begins to blanket Lake Tahoe, the region finds itself facing a new kind of development battle: green vs. green.


Google said it will let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free

Google to let publishers limit free website access (Update)

Technology / Internet

created Dec 02, 2009 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (6) | comments 3

Google, under fire from Rupert Murdoch and some other newspaper owners, said it will let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free through its search engine.



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