2. Psycholinguistic theory of speech generation

Lecture



As noted above, the views of the psycholinguistic school go back to the works of L.S. Vygotsky and the concept of activity developed in the 1950-1970-ies. An. Leontiev and P.Ya. Halperin. Scientific research of AR was important for the development of the theory of speech generation in the national school of psycholinguistics. Luria and N.I. Zhinkina (73–79, 146–148).

For the first time a scientifically based theory of speech generation was advanced by LS Vygotsky. It was based on the concepts of the unity of the processes of thinking and speech, the relationship between the concepts of "meaning" and "meaning", the teaching of the structure and semantics of internal speech. According to the theory of L.S. Vygotsky, the process of transition from thought to word is carried out "from the motive generating any thought to the design of the thought itself, mediating it in the inner word, then in the meanings of the outer words and, finally, in the words" (45, p. 375). Speech Generation Theory, created by L.S. Vygotsky was further developed in the works of other domestic scientists (AR. Luria, N.I. Zhinkin, A.A. Leontyev, L.S. Tsvetkova, I.A. Zimnyaya, TVV. Akhutina, etc.).

Theoretical concept of AR. Luria, reflecting the processes of speech generation and perception, is described in many of his scientific works, but first of all in such “classic” Russian psychology of speech and psycholinguistics as “Language and Consciousness” (1979) and “Basic Problems of Neurolinguistics” ( 1975). Separately, mention should be made of the AR training manual. Luria's “Speech and Thinking”, written for psychology students (1975).

One of the most important provisions of the concept of AR. Luria is a distinction between the categories of “communication of events”, i.e. messages about an external fact that is accessible to a visual-figurative presentation (for example, House is on fire, the Boy has hit a dog) and “relationship communications” are messages about logical relationships between objects (Dog - animal ). This applies both to “relevant predicativeness”, which directly forms a communicative utterance, and to the structure of the initial unit for constructing a statement or sentence, namely, syntagma (combination of words).

The process of generation, or, by definition, AR. Luria, “the formulation of speech utterance” includes the following steps. At the beginning of the process is the motive. “The next moment is the emergence of the thought or the general scheme of the content, which should later be embodied in the statement” (146, p. 61). To designate this phase of speech generation, A.R. Luria also uses the term "intent." Then, “inner speech” comes into play, which is crucial for “... re-encoding (transcoding) the plan into expanded speech and for creating the generating (generative) scheme of the expanded speech utterance” (ibid., P. 62). This generalized semantic scheme (or “semantic record”) has a minimized, abbreviated character and at the same time is (in its content) predicative.

In the works of A. R. Luria, a detailed analysis of the various stages of speech generation (motive, design, “semantic record”, internal predicative utterance scheme) is presented, the role of internal speech is shown. So, they put forward the proposition that “internal speech is ... a mechanism that turns internal subjective senses into a system of external unfolded speech meanings” (146, p. 10). For a theoretical substantiation of his concept, A. R. Luria used the linguistic model of speech generation , Meaning-Text, I.A. Melchuk and A.K. Zholkovsky. [222] A.R. Luria emphasized that “every speech, which is a means of communication, is not so much a complex of lexical units (words) as a system of syntagmas (whole sentences)” (146, p. 37). Clearly opposing the paradigmatic and syntagmatic correlations of lexical meanings, AR. Luria related the “communication of relations” to the first ones, and the “communication of events” to the second. In general, the path from thought to speech, as indicated by AR. Luria, "... 1) begins with a motive and a common intention (which is known to the subject from the very beginning in the most general terms), 2) passes through a stage of inner speech, which, apparently, is based on semantic writing schemes with its potential links , 3) leads to the formation of a deep-syntactic structure (utterances - VG), and then 4) is expanded into an external speech statement, based on the surface-syntactic structure "(ibid., P. 38). As necessary operations that determine the process of generating a detailed speech utterance, A.R. Luria emphasizes control over its construction and the conscious choice of the necessary language components (146, 148, etc.).

In a number of works N.I. Zhinkin, along with other problems of psycholinguistics, also addresses the problem of speech generation (78, 79, 81, etc.). In its most complete and expanded form, the general psycholinguistic theory of speech activity and its mechanisms is presented in Speech as a Guide to Information (1982).

The main provisions of the concept N.I. Zhinkin are as follows. Internal speech uses a special (non-verbal, or rather, largely non-verbal) code system that N.I. Zhinkin called the "subject-schematic" code. (In a different way - "the code of images and schemes.") N.I. Zhinkin defined the operation of selecting structural - semantic and linguistic - elements of speech utterance as a universal operation at all levels of speech generation. Words, according to this concept, are not stored in memory in full form and are “synthesized” each time according to certain rules. When making a sentence from words, there are special semantic rules - the compatibility of words into semantic pairs, and these rules are a kind of “filter” that ensures the meaning of the statement. N.I. Zhinkin introduced into psycholinguistics the concept of "intent of the whole text" and "generating text as the deployment of its (text) intent."

The model of speech generation, fundamentally close to the model of A.A. Leontiev, was proposed by I.A. Zimnyaya (1984, 2001, etc.). Defining speech as a way to form and formulate thoughts, I.A. Winter distinguishes three main levels of the process of speech-generation: motivational-stimulating, forming (with two sublevels - meaning - forming and formulating) and realizing.

The motivating level, driven “inwardly” by the reality to which the action is directed, is “the launch of the entire process of generating speech”. Here the need (in the statement) finds "its certainty" in the subject of activity. The objectified motive becomes a thought that serves as an internal motive of speaking or writing (95).

In his conception of speech activity, I.A. Winter demarcates motive and communicative intent. “Communicative intent is what explains the nature and purpose of this speech action. At this level, the speaker knows only about what, and not what to say, that is, he knows the general subject or topic of the statement, as well as the form of interaction with the listener (whether you need to ask him about something or give out any information). What is said is realized later ”(92, p. 73).

The second stage, the process of forming and articulating a thought, has two functionally different and at the same time interrelated phases. Sense- forming phase forms and expands the speaker's overall intention - this sub-level of I.A. Winter correlates with “internal programming” according to the concept of А.А. Leontiev. According to I.A. Winter, the process of sequential formation and formulation of the idea by means of language is directed simultaneously to the nomination (designation) and predication, i.e. the establishment of connections of the type “new - given”. At this level, a simultaneous embodiment of the idea takes place both in the spatial-conceptual scheme actualizing the “nomination field” and in the time base schema actualizing the predication field. The spatial-conceptual scheme is a “grid” of relations of concepts, caused internally by the objective relations of reality, which, in turn, is determined by the motive. The time base reflects the connection and sequence of concepts, and accordingly - the sequence of elements of the semantic program, i.e., a kind of “grammar of thought” (92, 95).

According to the concept of A. I. Zimny, the actualization of the conceptual field also actualizes his verbal (verbal) expression immediately both in the acoustic (auditory) and in the motor image. Simultaneously with the process of choosing words, their placement operations are performed, that is, the grammatical-syntactic formulation of the utterance. Thus, the forming level of speech production, carried out by the phases of sense formation and formulation, simultaneously updates the word selection mechanism, the time base mechanism and the articulation program; the latter directly implements (“objectifies”) the intention in the process of forming and articulating a thought through language (92, p. 78).

T.V. Akhutina distinguishes three levels of speech programming: internal (semantic) programming, grammatical structuring, and motor kinetic organization of the utterance. They correspond to three operations of selecting the elements of a statement: the choice of semantic units (units of meaning), the choice of lexical units that are combined in accordance with the rules of grammatical structuring, and the choice of sounds. The author highlights the programming of both the detailed statement and individual sentences (12, 13, 190, etc.). In this case, T.V. Akhutina suggests the following characteristic of successive stages (“levels”) of speech generation. At the level of the internal or semantic program of the utterance, “semantic syntax” and the choice of “meanings” are made in internal speech. At the level of the semantic structure of a sentence, semantic syntax and choice of linguistic meanings of words occur . The level of the lexical and grammatical structure of the sentence corresponds to grammatical structuring and choice of words (lexemes). Finally, motor (kinetic) programming and articulum selection correspond to the level of the motor program of the syntagma.

The next deep level is the level of positioning, highlighting a figure and an object, the stage of translating “individual meanings” into generally valid concepts, the beginning of the simplest structuring of a future utterance. And finally - the deep-syntactic level, which forms concrete linguistic syntactic structures (250, p. 42).

Thus, in the national school of psycholinguistics, the generation of a speech statement is considered as a complex multi-level process. It begins with a motive that is objectified in design, the design is formed with the help of inner speech. Here is formed the psychological “semantic” program of the utterance, which “reveals the“ intention ”in its original incarnation. It combines the answers to the questions: what to say? in what sequence and how to say? ”(11, 92). This program is then implemented in external speech based on the laws of grammar and syntax of the language.

In the works of representatives of the national school of psycholinguistics, in addition to studying the laws of the process of generating separate statements, various links of the mechanism of generating text considered as a product of speech activity (a function of internal speech, creating a program of "speech whole" in the form of successive "semantic milestones," a hierarchically organized system of predicative text links, etc.). The role of long-term and operational memory in the process of generating a speech statement is emphasized (N.I. Zhinkin, A.A. Leontyev, I.A. Zimnyaya, etc.).

Psycholinguistic analysis of the mechanism of generating speech statements is directly related to the theory and methodology of “speech” (in particular, speech therapy) work; knowledge of these patterns, as well as basic operations that implement the process of speech generation, is, in our opinion, the necessary “theoretical base”, based on which, the correctional teacher can effectively solve the problems of forming the speech of children. First of all, they include the formation of skills for compiling coherent speech statements. So, for analyzing the state of coherent speech of children and developing a system for its purposeful formation, it is especially important to take into account such links of its generation mechanism as internal design, a general semantic scheme of a utterance, a targeted choice of words, their placement in a linear scheme, selection of word forms in accordance with the design and selected syntax, control over the implementation of the semantic program and the use of language tools.

Correctional teachers need to take into account in their work the data of psycholinguistic studies, which, from the standpoint of psychology and psycholinguistics, highlight the issues of formation of speech activity in children. They consider, in particular, the peculiarities of children mastering the skills of grammatical structuring of speech statements, operations with syntactic means of constructing statements (I.N. Gorelov, V.N. Ovchinnikov, AM Shakhnarovich, D.Slobin, etc.), planning and programming speech statements (V.N. Ovchinnikov, N.A. Kraevskaya and others). For example, the obtained N.A. Kraevskoy data that the speech of normally developing children of 4–5 years of age no longer differs in principle from that of adults in the presence of internal programming in it (109).


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Psycholinguistics

Terms: Psycholinguistics