Human speech is not only external, but also internal. Under the internal conversation understand the communication of the individual with himself, which can occur both consciously and unconsciously. It is quite difficult to fully answer the question of what internal speech is, as well as to understand its nature. Nevertheless, psychologists were able to formulate the main aspects of this phenomenon.
Each individual communicates with himself. This happens, as a rule, at the level of thoughts. Therefore, if a person’s lips do not move and make sounds, this does not mean that he does not formulate words and sentences. Inner speech is considered a peculiar form of thinking in which a person thinks, analyzes, argues with himself and so on. It differs from external only in the form of manifestation and functions. From this article, you will learn the answer to the question: “Inner speech - what kind of speech?” In addition, you will get acquainted with its role in human life.
Definition
Inner speech is a complex mental functioning that consists of operations, language components, communication interaction and consciousness. Communication takes place in the thoughts of a person who does not use his voice apparatus to express words. Thoughts help the individual to think, realize, reason, weigh and make decisions.
Mental speech
Internal speech can be called mental, since words are not always needed for it. Sometimes, for mental activity, it is enough for a person to imagine images and pictures. However, he may not notice how the process of thinking begins or ends. It passes independently, automatically. Mental speech is a kind of connecting thread between a person and the world around him, from which he draws information. In addition, the internal conversation can act as preparation for the external, because a person first thinks, and then speaks or acts.
Connection with thinking
It is difficult for psychologists to distinguish between internal speech and thinking, so these two concepts are often combined together. Nevertheless, most experts are inclined to believe that thinking and inner speech are components that I cannot replace each other.
Origin
As for the origin of internal speech, the opinions of psychologists differ. Some suggest that it appears when a person goes into himself. At this moment, he begins to think, reflect, talk to himself and so on. Others believe that internal speech always accompanies external. That is, in the process of communication, a person communicates in parallel with himself and the interlocutor. Before he says something out loud, he selects evidence of his words or weighs the words of the enemy.
Study
One way or another, inner speech is a hidden part of our thinking, so it is rather difficult to study. It is investigated with the help of self-observation and all kinds of instruments that perceive signals. The most accessible are methods of introspection of processes occurring within the human consciousness.
Types of speech: internal and external
Let's see how speech is classified. So, there are such types of speech: oral, written and internal. The first two types are combined into such a concept as external speech. Now more about each of them.
A person uses external oral speech when he needs to reproduce his own thoughts out loud, that is, the information formulated in his head. Such speech is carried out using the vocal cords, tongue, lips and other organs of the vocal apparatus. She is always directed to the outside world.
When a person uses internal speech, he always turns to himself. The voice unit is not used. Through this communicative process, the individual communicates with himself, reasoning, analyzing and making decisions. Psychologists have found that people start resorting to internal speech on average from the age of seven. Prior to this, all appeals of the child are directed purely to the outside world. In addition, at the age of seven, he begins to understand that not every word should be reproduced aloud.
Inner speech is distinguished by its brevity, fragmentation, soundlessness, secondary (formed from external communication) and fragmentation. If a person could record it on a dictaphone, then the record would be incoherent, fragmentary and simply incomprehensible. Such a speech is delivered very quickly and does not have a strict grammar.
In external speech, a person uses those structures and phrases that are understandable to his interlocutor. Eye contact, sign language and a change in intonation come to the rescue. All this helps to make the promise as accurate as possible.
Depending on the degree of involvement of the person, the internal conversation is different. If the individual really conducts a conversation with himself, then he uses the speech that has an external character. When a conversation is conducted unknowingly, then it has a predicative or prescriptive character. Such a speech is usually short and unfocused. In this case, there is no reasoning - the person simply makes a decision and prompts himself to action.
Before you say something out loud, a person ponders and selects expressions, makes sentences and phrases. With internal speech, this does not happen - instead of clear sentences, short phrases or just words are used. The lack of words in a conversation with oneself can be offset by the imagery presented.
Answering the question “What is internal speech?”, It is worth noting that it is not only a way of making decisions or understanding past events, but also a preparation for external speech, which is divided into oral and written.
Usually, speaking of external speech, it is precisely its oral type that is meant. It includes pronunciation and listening to words. Oral speech is common (colloquial) and public.
Written call graphically designed external speech, built on the basis of letter and other images. Despite its written form, it has most of the characteristics of verbal expression of thoughts, in terms of structure and vocabulary. However, written language has stricter rules for conveying thoughts through words than oral. The complexity of correspondence, compared with a live conversation, lies in the fact that it cannot be embellished with gestures and facial expressions. Thus, internal speech and external (written or oral) are completely different concepts.
Vygotsky's look
Psychologists from around the world paid quite a lot of attention to the question “What is inner speech?” Significant successes in this direction were achieved by the Soviet scientist Lev Nikolaevich Vygodsky. In his opinion, a person’s internal speech is the result of “communication for himself” or egocentric speech, which is formed in childhood, when the child begins to master external forms of speech. Preschool children use formulations that are not always understood by an adult. Self-centered speech serves as the foundation for the development of inner speech. Initially, only a child understands it, but over time, after a series of transformations, it acquires the signs of an increasingly meaningful thought process.
The formation in children of external and internal speech is different. The formation of external speech occurs on the principle of "from simple to complex." A phrase appears from words, and a sentence from phrases. With internal speech, the opposite is true: the whole sentence is sorted into phrases and words, the interpretation of which occurs separately.
Problem
It is quite difficult to study internal speech, because it only at first glance differs from external only in the absence of sound accompaniment. In fact, a person’s conversation with himself is not at all like a conversation with another person.
The inner speech of man is always fragmentary and curtailed. A conversation with an interlocutor always has a more or less clear structure. Proposals are built logically and clearly. Inner speech can be noted in actions. It does not necessarily indicate the subject in question. It is enough to consider its properties that have a stimulating character.
The language of internal speech consists not only of words, but also of other forms that are understandable to humans: these are pictures, diagrams, images, details, and so on. A person does not need verbal expression of everything that he represents in his head. To start thinking, just remember the picture you saw or just your impressions of it.
Feature
The peculiarity of inner speech is that it is difficult to differentiate, since in the process of thinking an individual can use all forms of representation of what he reflects that are known and understandable to him personally. There is no need for complex sentences in a conversation with oneself, since one can understand oneself even without words. It is much more convenient to imagine a certain image that most fully conveys the meaning of reflection than to select words to describe it.
Inner speech gives rise to thoughts, and is not a consequence of them. Often, it serves to generate thoughts and is a connecting element between thought and external speech, used to convey your ideas to other people.
Inner speech originates in childhood, so it is full of bizarre and fantastic images imagined by a child. As a person grows up, he, in a conversation with himself, increasingly resortes to verbal forms of expression of thought and uses not invented pictures, but seen in real life.
Inner voice
Considering the question of what is internal speech, it is worthwhile to focus on such a phenomenon as the inner voice. Inner voice is called a kind of hidden power, which in a difficult situation helps a person make the right decision. Sometimes it is also called intuition. The inner dialogue, from the point of view of psychology, is the result of the interaction of three human ego states: “child”, “adult” and “parent”. Despite the age of the individual, in his thinking there are always these states, and in a difficult situation they come into conflict. As a result, an inner voice can give advice, criticize us, appeal to common sense, and so on. Studies have shown that inner speech and inner voice are intracerebral impulses, and when a person thinks that voices are heard from outside, they actually come from within.
Finally
Today we learned what inner speech is. In Russian, this concept is closely intertwined with thinking and is used to describe a dialogue with oneself. Everyone is inclined to such a dialogue. This is a healthy process that allows you to calm down, analyze your life, think about a particular situation and plan further actions. In communication with himself, a person comes to an internal balance, agrees with himself in the present and finds the necessary compromises. Thus, the main result of dialogue with oneself is a sense of peace of mind.
There is not a single person on planet Earth who would not conduct an internal dialogue. Often people are not aware of this process, as it happens automatically. And this is normal, because consciously participating in the internal dialogue is not necessary at all. Thoughts are generated in the head in a free mode, often not even dependent on a person. From this follows the unconsciousness of spoken words or deeds. There are times when a person does not take part in the generation of ideas, but forms them automatically. Only after a while does the individual begin to analyze how correct his behavior in a given situation was. If a person does not agree with something, he feels regret that he did not take an active part in the process of thinking.