* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LINGUIST List logo Eastern Michigan University Wayne State University *
* People & Organizations * Jobs * Calls & Conferences * Publications * Language Resources * Text & Computer Tools * Teaching & Learning * Mailing Lists * Search *
* *
 

Ask-A-Linguist - Message details
Subject: Individual speech and its qualities
Question:
I'm interested in how to go about answering the following. I just need the pointers to start with, as my query is about how to start.

I'm curious as to how any individual's speech becomes unique. One can recognize a particular person's voice sometimes quite easily from very small parts, and during a long association, one can become intimately familiar with it.

So starting from, say, me, I can see an expanding circle of "linguistic consideration"':

My individual voice (the actual tonality)
cadence
mannerisms
nuances
meanings and implications (semantics?)
accent
dialect
the language I am speaking

I am completely naive about the entire field and do intend to read a freshman text on linguistics. However, I would like to know the process (ie as many of the things - jargon/formal terms etc) that might be involved in going from say English as the language spoken and understood by many, to my own individual speech.

I used the term ''linguistic considerations'' because I can guess that at some point it becomes ''speech'' and a different department at the university! and because I am new to the field and would like to know the boundaries.

One way of answering my question might be to list, as I have done above, an expanding set of notions that move from an individual's speech & voice to the language at large. And of course it need not be a simple linear progression.

Appreciate any help,
Anil
College Park, MD

Reply:
Let me expand on one issue you've raised which my colleagues may have not
responded to directly.

Yes, please do read one of the introductory linguistic textbooks to get the overview
of how modern academic linguistics frames the problem that you're about to delve
into. And keep in mind, that some of the characteristics of language and speech
you've mentioned are not well understood or investigated, so having this list ahead
of time will allow you to continue to ask good questions.

Some of the mannerisms, cadences and nuances may be interactions between
(e.g.) intonation (changes in pitch, rhythm, and other physical - audible -
characteristics of the vocal stream) and syntax (word order or other mechanisms for
signaling structure and relationships between words, such as gender markings or
agreement forms). These interactions have consequences for meaning, and at the
same time are less well-described and understood in formal ways, though we all use
them to interact with each other. And we notice when something's gone wrong,
when we deal with English-language learners who don't necessarily control them in
the ways we expect. (Likewise for English speakers trying to speak in other
languages....)

Hope this helps.

Reply From: Nancy J. Frishberg    click here to access email
Date: Oct-15-2009
Other Replies:
  1. Re: Individual speech and its qualities Joseph F Foster    (Oct-15-2009)
  2. Re: Individual speech and its qualities John M. Lawler    (Oct-15-2009)
Back to Most Recent Questions
Page Updated: 26-Nov-2009

Please report any bad links or misclassified data

LINGUIST Homepage | Read LINGUIST | Contact us

NSF Logo

While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed
on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.