Words used about Talking and Understanding
Key Words relating to Talking, Listening and Understanding.
Speech and language therapists, often use particular words with a specific meaning. They are explained below:
Speech
Speech and language therapists use Speech to describe children’s ability to say letter sounds clearly: b, k, sh etc.
Language
Most people understand Language to mean different languages such as English, Welsh, Polish etc. However, speech and language therapists use it to describe the ability to:
- Learn, use and understand words and what they mean
- Put words together in a meaningful way to say sentences, and tell stories etc
Communication
Communication means the ability to talk and interact appropriately with other people i.e. saying the right thing in the right way at the right time. It also includes responding appropriately to other people when they talk to you.
Form, Content and Use
Speech and Language therapists may use these three terms to describe specific aspects of Speech and Language:
Form
Form refers to the way we structure language through speech sounds, words and grammar.
Phonology is the technical term for rules about speech sounds. e.g. the difference between pin and bin or duck and dog.
Grammar can be divided into Morphology, and Syntax. Morphology refers to the way that related words need to change their spelling to clarify their meaning e.g. ‘books‘ instead of ‘book’ or ‘ran’ instead or ‘run’ Syntax is the technical term for word order. Sentences such as ‘the toy licked the baby’ clearly make no sense.
Content
Semantics is the technical term for the understanding and using the meaning of language accurately. Knowing the meaning of words and phrases helps us to understand other people and make ourselves understood when we speak or write. Some meanings are obvious: an apple is not the same as a banana. Others are harder; draw the curtains can mean close them
Phonology: We need to know the difference between pin and bin, or look and like and use the right word by making the right sound.
Morphology: We use different word endings and forms of words to make clear:
- How many things we are talking about: one apple, six apples; one child, three children
- Whether what we are talking about is happening now, or has happened in the past, or will happen in the future. Note the difference in meaning between I walk to school every day and I walked to school every day and between This year we are going to Spain and Last year we went to Spain.
Syntax: Getting the word order wrong can change the meaning of a sentence entirely. The boy gave the girl a present has a completely different meaning from the girl gave the boy a present.
Content
Semantics is the technical term for the meaning of language. Knowing the meaning of words and phrases helps us understand other people and make ourselves understood when we speak or write. Some meanings are quite obvious: an apple is not the same as a banana. Others are harder; draw the curtains can mean close them or it could also mean ‘draw them in a picture’.
Use
Pragmatics is the technical term for the way we use language to communicate effectively. For example, we might say Hi to a friend but Good morning or Hello to someone we are meeting for the first time. The phrase Can you pass the salt is a polite way of asking someone to hand us the salt, rather than a query about whether they might be physically capable of doing this. N.B. Context can be really important in getting both Content and Use right.
Some Other Terms
Receptive Language: Speech and language therapists use this term for the ability to understand words and sentences that other people say.
Expressive Language: This term is used for the ability to put thoughts into words and sentences, in a way that makes sense and is grammatically accurate.
