Speech interaction. Basic units of communication

Speech is the fundamental difference between a person and an animal. This is already becoming known to elementary school students.

Animals can also communicate using skills transferred to them along with genes.

Man does not inherit such an ability biologically. For people, it is a part of tradition and culture that has a social character. Only by communicating with their own kind, children receive the skills necessary for this process. To meet the individual needs of the individual in communication, there is the most complete way - speech.

What is human speech interaction

The word “communication” itself is close in sounding to the word “society”. And it's hard to imagine one without the other. To socialize, learn linguistic and cultural norms, and literally for any spiritual and material activity, communication is necessary.

The process called speech communication is complex and multifaceted. Using it, the following is achieved:

• Interaction.
• Informing.
• Influence.
• Understanding.
• Empathy.

And everyone sees a great many results of communication every day in their own practice.

The word “communication” is synonymous with the word “communication”. It is often used in a scientific style. During the implementation of a specific goal, communication participants are involved in some kind of living process in which they interact with each other based on feedback.

This is verbal communication. And those who join it strive to consciously and actively achieve a certain result.

Communication functions. Its types and forms

Verbal (verbal) interaction serves to perform the basic functions of communication.

In real life, it is difficult to clearly distinguish between these functions. They are complementary, intertwined. Communication is always an influence: strong or weak, outright or disguised, negative or positive.

Types of communication:

• contact, distant (depends on the position of those communicating in time and space);
• direct, indirect (depends on whether there is a mediation device);
• interpersonal, group, mass (depends on the number of participants in the process);
• private, official (depends on the situation in which the communication takes place and on the status of its participants);
• cooperative, conflict (depends on whether or not balance is maintained in society);
• informative, factual (depends on what kind of content is transmitted).

In form, communications are usually divided into written and oral.

Scientists studying speech interaction, the main units of communication consider:

1. Speech event.
2. Speech interaction.
3. The speech situation.

The main unit of communication is a speech event.

Here much attention is paid to discourse. This term gained popularity at the end of the 20th century. Linguists of our day call this word a text that is considered in the aspect of the event. They talk about discourse where speech is immersed in life itself (negotiations, dialogue in everyday life, conversation or interviewing, etc.).

Discourse is not just speech, but also gestures, as well as facial expressions that accompany it.

Aristotle at one time identified three elements of speech: the speaker himself, the subject of conversation and the one to whom they are addressing. Today's understanding of the structure of a speech event is largely based on this division.

Part of the elements is a “scene” of a speech event. This is the type, theme, function and setting of the event.

Other elements determine the participants in a speech event: their status and role. Rules and norms that determine the course of the process are also an element of this basic unit of communication. What about the other points?

Speech situation

Such a basic unit of communication, as a speech situation, calls the whole complex of circumstances against which communication takes place. In order for an action called speech to be performed, a number of both speech and non-speech conditions are necessary. There are situations of relations, subject, educational and real.

Oral communications are built on various speech situations. They determine the structure of communication; dictate what language facilities and speech pace will be chosen. And, of course, the very content of speech interaction is established.

Speech situations are divided into canonical and noncanonical. The former suggest that the speaker’s time is the same as the listener’s. So, they are in one place and see the same picture. The second occurs when there is no specific addressee of speech (public speaking, addressed immediately to all those present). Also, a noncanonical speech situation is, for example, a writing situation. In this case, the author of the message does not coincide with the same concepts at the addressee.

The main unit of communication is voice interaction.

The beginning of the speech process is given by two centers of the cerebral cortex - motor and acoustic. Without the first, the speech organs could not articulate, form a sound. In the second center, the words familiar to the individual are preserved. And with it, speech (its sounds) is singled out from the general surrounding sound background. This mechanism has not yet been fully explored by brain researchers, unlike linguists who have described speech in great detail.

Another basic unit of communication is speech interaction. His social character is indisputable. For communication to take place, at least two participants are needed. One of them is the subject (the one who speaks or writes). The second is called the “addressee” (he listens, answers). In the process of communication, they can change roles. They interact verbally on a subject using utterances.

A statement, which is also called a message or reference (and in a written speech is called a sentence), is the basic unit of verbal communication, the cornerstone of verbal interaction. The meaning of statements varies in different circumstances, that is, the context has a great influence on it.

When is communication effective?

Sometimes the interaction of even those people who are well educated and know, say, the definition of the basic units of speech communication, is far from the norms of communication culture. In such cases, the goals of communication, as a rule, are not achieved. What is required for communication to be successful? Here are some conditions:

• You need to be interested in communication.
• To be able to listen and penetrate the intent of the subject.
• The speaker should be able to convey by language means how he relates to the subject of speech.
• Take into account not only the mood, emotions and physical condition of the person with whom they are communicating, but also the external circumstances of the speech interaction.

Well, and of course, always and everywhere observing the etiquette (norms) of verbal communication will significantly increase the effectiveness of any communication.