ORAL LANGUAGE

Language that is spoken and heard rather than written and read.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL LANGUAGE:

1. MEANING:

Data we observe in the world around us has no meaning of its own except that which we assign to it.

Word symbols we use to talk about or describe the data have no meanings other than those we give them.

We communicate with others based on the

meanings we assign to things around us and

the symbols we use to communicate those

meanings.

  1. VOCABULARY:

All the word symbols that make up a particular code or language.

  1. STRUCTURE:

The way the different parts of a language are arranged.

FORM

FORMAL

INFORMAL

ALFORMIN

The way to build words and sentences in a language is regulated by the particular code or structure of that language.

  1. GRAMMAR:

The basic understandings and rules that

regulate the use of a language.

  1. SOUND

The way you sound affects the messages you send to others.

The way you sound determines the extent to which you are a competent

communicator.

DICTION:

The degree of clarity and distinctness in a person’s speech.

Diction is determined by the choices one makes in :

1. PRONUNCIATION:

The correct way to say a word.

  1. Found in the dictionary
  2. Preferred or most often used pronunciations are listed first

OFTEN

Preferred: ah fun

ahf tun

Some words have only one correct pronunciation.

ATHLETE

ath leet

a thuh leet (incorrect)

Mispronouncing words regularly while speaking can confuse the meaning of a message and reflect poorly on a speaker’s credibility or image.

2. ARTICULATION

The act of clearly and distinctly uttering

the consonant sounds of a word.

There are four kinds of articulation problems

that can interfere with speech.

  1. Omission

omitting or leaving out certain consonant

sounds

Examples: hep (help)

dolla (dollar)

libary (library)

secetary (secretary)

  1. Addition

adding extra consonant sound to a word

Examples: warsh (wash)

  1. Substitution

substituting one consonant sound for another.

Examples: idn’t (isn’t)

liddle (little)

Substitution is sometimes called “lazy speech”

because instead of using the correct sound, the speaker uses a consonant sound which requires less effort.

  1. Slurring

This occurs when a speaker slides over a group of sounds, pronouncing some but failing to give proper emphasis to others.

Examples: “Jeet?”

“Novyu?”

“Nopdyuwanna?”

“Surfyurgonna.”

Try saying: Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

She sells seashells down by the seashore.

  1. ENUNCIATION

The act of clearly and distinctly uttering

the vowel sounds of a word.

Examples: git (get)

pin (pen)

tin (ten)

jist (just)

inyone (anyone)

By paying attention to the vowel sounds of a word, one can learn to enunciate clearly .