It is possible for an individual who has learned to speak to talk to himself, which is what most of us do when we are thinking. Using terms strictly, most of what is called "speaking to one's self" is more accurately designated as "thinking aloud." Normally, actual speech exists only when one person is using his visible and audible behavior to affect the behavior of at least one other person who is observing or listening, or both observing and listening. It may be argued that by insisting upon the social nature of speech we have arbitrarily excluded certain activities which should be included under the term "speech," e.g., the activity of the student who is practicing a speech. It is true of course that one can speak to an imaginary reactor. All we are striving to make clear is that speech grows up out of the social situation and should always be thought of as being primarily a social matter."1 B. Speaker's Purpose Always Objective. As we have already said, the end of speech is not expression, not even communication, unless that concept be very clearly defined, but rather stimulation, or better yet, control. The speaker is not making the futile attempt to take his own feelings and ideas, wrap them up in symbols and deposit them in the mind of some one else. He is not transferring meanings. He is stirring up meanings. V. SPEECH A GENERIC TERM Speech, as we are using the term, includes conversation, informal and formal public speaking, oral reading, and acting. In all of these forms we find one person making the visible and audible signs of speech, and at least one other person reacting to these signs. We shall later examine these different forms of speech and indicate their differentia, but at the moment it is well to recognize that they are all species of the same thing. The essential fact about each of them is that we have a speaker 11 It is, of course, possible to include tactile symbols in speech but to do so would probably be more confusing than helpful. and a reactor, the former using speech symbols to influence the behavior of the latter. VI. GOOD SPEECH A. Importance. When we have said that speech is the basic means by which life is socialized, that it is man's greatest agency for getting along with his fellow men, we have pretty well indicated the fundamental importance of good speech. It is quite obvious that only as the individual brings his speech up to a reasonably high level of efficiency can he live happily and satisfactorily with other people. We have trouble enough getting on together in this world at best, and the difficulties are multiplied for those who cannot speak well. What then are the fundamental characteristics of good speech? B. The Criteria of Good Speech. There are three fundamental tests of good speech which the student should learn to apply to his own speech and to the speech of others. 1. Purposiveness. - Good speech is always dominated by a purpose on the part of the speaker. This means that the purpose must be clear, that it must be objective (that is, it must be thought of in terms of the control which is to be exercised the over some one to whom the speaking is addressed reactor). But this is not enough; the procedure of speaking must be completely dominated and directed by this clear, objective purpose. 2. Visibility and Audibility. When the speaker is using audible symbols, he must be sure that he is easily heard; when he is using visible symbols he must take care that he is plainly seen. While there are some things at least as important as being seen and heard easily, there is nothing more fundamental. For unless the visible symbols of speech are seen and the audible symbols are heard, they produce no reaction, accomplish no social control, and therefore are not effective speech at all. The speaker should see to it first of all, that his visible and audible signs are effective. 3. Attention Values. Good speech must always secure and hold attention. When the person to whom you speak ceases to pay attention, real speech stops, no matter how long the speaker's activity may continue. The responsibility for getting and holding attention is the speaker's. He must accept it and discharge it satisfactorily if he would succeed. EXERCISES 1. Give a concise one-sentence definition of the term speech 2. What is the relation between speech and thought? 3. What is a symbol? Mention some symbols other than those of speech. 4. What is the essential difference, if any, between prelingual vocal symbols and the symbols of articulate language? 5. Explain in some detail what is meant by the statement that speech is primarily a social matter. 6. Is it possible for a speaker to fail because his purpose is not objective? How? Can a speaker's purpose be subjective? Explain. 7. Analyze the speech of some person for the purpose of evaluating it. Which of the characteristics of good speech does it manifest and which does it lack? 8. Give a talk of from three to five minutes on the topic: "Some common causes of ineffectiveness in speech. 9. Study the following from Professor G. H. Palmer's SelfCultivation in English and give a five minute talk on some point made therein. "Its leverage [that of speech] is felt within us as well as without, for expression and thought are integrally bound together. We do not first possess thoughts and then express them. The very formation of the outward product extends, sharpens, and enriches the mind which produces; so that he who gives forth little, after a time is likely enough to discover that he has little to give forth."1 1 George Herbert Palmer, Self-Cultivation in English, p. 5. CHAPTER II SPEECH IN THE RACE I. THEORIES OF ORIGIN A. The Gesture Theory B. The Interjection Theory II. SPEECH IN THE LOWER ANIMALS B. Materials of Speech as By-products of the Struggle for Ad- C. The Beginnings of Purpose in Speech D. Speech as a Solution of Difficulties E. Examples of Primitive and Rudimentary Speech Among I. THEORIES OF ORIGIN There are a number of theories as to how the human race has developed its speech. It is difficult to classify these and give each a proper designation. For purposes of our discussion here, we shall confine ourselves to the four theories which include most of the helpful suggestions made by various investigators. A. The Gesture Theory. This theory is usually ascribed to the psychologist Wilhelm Wundt. It holds that bodily movements are natural and instinctive, the outcome of emotional responses, and that since gesture precedes language in the child, since gesture is so full and pantomimic among primitive peoples, and since civilized peoples who speak different languages always fall back upon gesture as a means of communication, therefore gesture must have in it the most primitive elements of human speech. It is further pointed out that many language forms in the case of primitive races indicate a close relationship between gestures and language. These primitive languages are concrete and graphic, rather than abstract and symbolic. Let us quote Allport at this point:1 ... "In several ways graphic gesture resembles the language of the infant and of primitive man. First, it does not lend itself to abstractions. Since all the movements are descriptive of specific things none of them qualifies as a conveyer of abstract meaning. The phrase 'All men are mortal' would be difficult to render either in gesture language, or in infant or primitive speech. A word such as 'make' can be expressed only by movements suggesting the making of some particular object. Concrete familiar terms are used in lieu of class concepts for new generalizations. Thus a savage, at first sight of a slate pencil, called it a 'stone scratch something.' So particularistic are primitive languages that some of them have no general pronouns indicating the person in all his relations. Separate words must be used to denote 'he sitting,' 'he running,' 'he absent,' and the like. The descriptive semblance to graphic gesture is thus clearly shown. . . . The elemental languages thus resemble gestures in lying closer to the level of immediate sensory experience than do the abstract expressions of civilized adults. . To summarize: we have seen that gesture exists in both the infant and the aboriginal adult as an elementary means of communication, and that genetically in both child and race vocal language is peculiarly gestural in its structure. Wundt's theory is further supported by the fact that many primitive tribes combine grimace and gesticulation as an integral part of spoken discourse. It is said that in some cases tribesmen can hardly converse with one another in the dark. Although the gesture theory is thus supported by ethnological and genetic observations, it must, however, be remembered that gestures are visual stimuli, while words are auditory. The similarities between gesture and early language bespeak the primitive state of the sign-making function underlying both; but they do not explain the transition from manual signification to vocal." 1 F. H. Allport, Social Psychology, p. 191. Houghton Mifflin Company. |