Summary: The concept of inner speech. human inner speech

inner speech human is a complex, completely unexplored phenomenon studied by psychology, general linguistics, and philosophy. Inner speech in psychology is a hidden verbalization that accompanies the process of thinking. This manifestation represents the ratio of mental operations, language components, communication interaction, as well as consciousness. Simply put, it is verbal mental functioning. In fact, human thoughts are able to "work" without verbal elements. However, in reality, verbal structures combine mental operation with the external environment, society, and the solution of personal issues and social problems. Mental speech is often presented as a "servicing" mechanism for external communication and all active operations of the subject. Consequently, inner speech reveals itself as a silent instrument, a hidden verbalization that arises from mental functioning. It represents a derivative form of sound speech, consciously adapted to the performance of mental functions in the mind.

Inner and outer speech

There are 3 types of forms of communicative interaction through language structures, namely external, written and internal.

How is external speech different from internal speech? The first is turned outward, to the people around. Thanks to it, thoughts are broadcast, while the inner one is silent speech, reflects what the subject thinks. Both of these types of communication are interconnected. Simply put, external speech is for the environment, and internal speech is for oneself.

The features of inner speech lie in its exclusivity, that is, it does not reflect into inner speech, does not precede it. It begins at the age of seven and comes from the egocentric, outward-looking speech of toddlers. Egocentric communication through the language component in a child is speech directed inward in terms of mental functioning and directed outward in terms of construction. With the beginning of the school period, the transformation of egocentric communication into internal occurs. In addition, there is a distinction between two speech operations: egocentric communication and the delimitation of speech for the environment and for oneself, from a single speech operation.

The characteristic of inner speech is represented by the following features: brevity, fragmentation, fragmentation. If it were possible to record an internal conversation, then it would turn out to be incomprehensible, incoherent, fragmentary, unrecognizable in comparison with the external one.

Outwardly directed communication is predominantly carried out in the form of a dialogue, which always involves visual acceptance of the interlocutor, his sign language and acoustic understanding of the intonational aspect of the conversation. Taken together, these two features of external communication allow interaction through hints, understanding understatement.

The inner speech of a person is not exclusively a conversation about oneself. Performing the function of regulation and planning, it is characterized by a reduced structure other than external communication. In terms of semantic meaning, communication “to oneself” never means an object and does not carry a purely nominative character. In a word, it does not include the "subject". It shows exactly what needs to be done, where the action should be directed. Structurally, while remaining concise and amorphous, it retains its predicative orientation, defining only a plan for a further proposal, a judgment, or a scheme for a further operation.

Features of inner speech are represented by the following characteristics: soundlessness, fragmentation, generalization, secondary (education from external communication), greater speed (in relation to external), no need for strict grammatical design.

Often, directly speech structures in the course of communication “to oneself” are replaced by auditory, visual ones. There are interdependencies and manifestations of external communication and communication “to oneself”. First, before the sound presentation of a thought, a person in an internal conversation draws up a scheme or plan for a future statement. Secondly, the written presentation is mainly preceded by the pronunciation of words, phrases mentally, during which there is a selection of the most suitable structures and the placement of pauses in the ensuing written statement. Thirdly, with the help of an electrophysiological study, the presence of hidden articulation in the process of internal communication was revealed.

Therefore, communication "to oneself" for the implementation of an external conversation performs the necessary preparatory function.

External communicative interaction can be oral or written. The first is a sounding speech, characterized by relatively free norms in relation to the requirements of exemplary language means. It covers: speaking (broadcasting acoustic speech signals that carry some information) and listening (understanding acoustic speech signals, as well as receiving them).

Oral speech is embodied in two directions: everyday (colloquial) and public. In order to differentiate them, the term “speech situation” is used, which means a lot of circumstances that affect the implementation, its structure and content. This leads to the existence of the following definitions of public communication. First of all, public communication refers to the type of oral interaction, which is characterized by such elements of speech conditions: a large audience, the formality of the event (concert, meeting, lesson, lecture, meeting, etc.).

Everyday communication is a kind of oral interaction, the speech conditions of which are formed by: a small number of listeners and everyday environment (that is, not official).

Inner speech according to Vygotsky

Many “gurus” of psychology have been working on the problem of the relationship between mental activity and verbal communication, and to this day many “gurus” of psychology are working.

L. Vygotsky established that words play a significant role in the formation of mental operations and mental processes of human subjects.

Thanks to the experiments conducted by L. Vygotsky, it was possible to detect in younger preschoolers the presence of a form of communication incomprehensible to the adult environment, which later became known as egocentric speech or “communication for oneself”. According to L. Vygotsky, egocentric communication is the bearer of the emerging thinking processes of babies. In this period, the mental activity of the crumbs only enters the path. He proved that egocentric communication is not just a sound accompaniment to the internal thought process that accompanies the movement of thoughts.

Egocentric thinking, according to Vygotsky, is a single form of existence (formation) of children's thoughts, and there is simply no other, parallel, mental reflection in children at this stage. Only after passing the stage of egocentric communication, mental processes in the course of internalization and subsequent restructuring will gradually transform into mental operations, transforming into internal communication. Therefore, egocentric inner speech in psychology is a communication tool necessary for regulating and controlling practical activities children. That is, it is a communication addressed to oneself.

It is possible to determine such features of inner speech, in addition to the above: reduction of phonetic aspects (the phonetic side of communication is reduced, words are guessed by the intention of the speaker to pronounce them) and the prevalence of the semantic load of words over their designation. Verbal meanings are much broader and more dynamic than their meanings. They reveal other rules of association and integration than verbal meanings. This can explain the difficulty of shaping thoughts in speech for the environment, in sound communication.

Therefore, in children outward manifestation speech is formed from a word to several, from a phrase to a combination of phrases, then to a coherent communication consisting of a series of sentences. Internal communication is formed in a different course. The kid begins to “pronounce” a whole sentence, and then proceeds to comprehend individual semantic elements, dividing the whole thought into several verbal meanings.

The problem of inner speech

The problematics of inner speech to this day belongs to rather complex and completely unexplored issues. Initially, scientists believed that internal communication is similar in structure to external communication, the difference lies solely in the absence of sound accompaniment, since this speech is silent, “to oneself”. However, modern research has proved the fallacy of the described statement.

Inner speech cannot be perceived as a silent analogue of external communication. It differs in essential features of its own structure, first of all, fragmentation and curtailment. An individual who uses internal communication to solve a problem understands what problem is set before him, which allows him to exclude everything that names the problem. In the net result, only what needs to be done remains. Simply put, a prescription for what the next action should be. This characteristic of inner speech is often referred to as predicativity. She emphasizes that it is important not to define the subject of communication, but to tell something about it.

Inner speech is often elliptical, so in it the individual skips those elements that seem understandable to him. In addition to verbal formulas, images, plans and schemes are used in internal communication. To put it simply, within itself the subject may not name the object, but present it. Often it is built in the form of a synopsis or table of contents, that is, a person outlines a topic for reflection and omits what needs to be said, due to fame.

Inner speech and the latent articulation caused by it should be considered as a tool for purposeful selection, generalization and fixation of information obtained through sensations. Hence, internal communication plays a huge role in the process of visual and verbal-conceptual mental activity. In addition, it is also involved in the development and functioning of the individual's voluntary actions.

Speech can be conditionally divided into external and internal. Under the inner speech of a person, one can understand his communication with himself. This can happen both consciously and unconsciously. The problem is that it is difficult to clearly define and designate the nature and characteristics of inner speech.

Each person has a conversation with himself. This usually happens at the level of thoughts. The lips do not move, the words are not pronounced, but the person pronounces them in his head. Inner speech is defined as a peculiar formwhen a person analyzes, thinks, argues with himself, etc.

In many ways, inner speech is similar to outer speech. Only the forms of its manifestation and functions differ. We will consider this in the article.

What is inner speech?

What is inner speech? This is a complex mental functioning that includes operations, language components, communication interaction and consciousness.

Communication takes place in the head of a person who does not use his vocal apparatus to express words. Everything happens at the level of thoughts that help a person to think, analyze, reason, make decisions, etc.

Inner speech can be called mental speech. She doesn't always need words. Sometimes a person presents images, pictures, which is enough for mental activity. Quite often, a person does not even notice the very process of thinking, which takes place automatically and independently. However, mental speech helps a person in making decisions, analyzing what is happening, setting goals and solving problems. This is a kind of connection of a person with the outside world, from which he receives information.

Inner speech is usually verbal in nature, that is, a person thinks at the level of words. This makes it serving external speech and connects it with the outside world. A person first thinks, then acts or speaks. Accordingly, first there is an internal speech, and then - external or other manifestations of a person.

It is rather difficult for psychologists to distinguish where there is inner speech and where there is thinking. Therefore, some combine these concepts together. In fact, thinking and inner speech are components, but in no way replace each other.

The origin of inner speech is also ambiguous. Some argue that it arises as a result of a person's withdrawal deep into himself. He thinks, talks to himself, reflects, etc. Others say that inner speech accompanies outer speech. When a person communicates with someone, he simultaneously conducts an internal speech with himself, where he negotiates, finds evidence, seeks out the necessary facts, etc.

It is difficult enough to study what is hidden. Inner speech is always hidden part person. How can it be explored? By self-observation or various instruments that perceive signals. The methods of introspection of those processes that occur inside a person remain the most accessible.

Inner and outer speech

Communicative processes are conditionally divided into three types: external, internal and written speech. How is inner speech different from outer speech? External speech is directed to the world when a person speaks their own thoughts aloud. He uses the speech apparatus (vocal cords, tongue, lips, etc.) to pronounce words that convey information coming from him. Inner speech is directed at oneself. In this case, the voice apparatus may not be used at all.

Through inner speech, a person communicates with himself, argues, reflects, makes analyzes and conclusions, makes decisions, doubts, etc.

noted age period when a person begins to resort to inner speech. This age is 7 years old. During this period, the child moves from treatment to external world to his inner, egocentric. He begins to realize that not every word can be spoken aloud.

Characteristic are the features of inner speech, which are:

• Fragmentary.
• Fragmentary.
• Brief.

If it were possible to record inner speech, then it would turn out to be:

• Incomprehensible.
• Incoherent.
• Fragmentary.
• Unrecognizable compared to the outside.

The characteristic of external speech is its outward orientation. Here a person uses clear structures and phrases that will be clear to the interlocutor. Eye contact is established, in which people pay attention to words, body language, and intonation of voice. All this makes it possible to recognize not only the meaning spoken aloud, but also to consider what was hidden under it.

Inner speech can be different, depending on the degree of involvement of a person in it. If a person really talks to himself, then he uses that speech, which has the appearance of an external character. If the conversation is conducted unconsciously, then there may be a directive or predicative nature of speech, which is short and focused. There is no discussion here. A person simply makes short decisions and prompts to action.

Characteristics of inner speech:

1. Generalization.
2. Silence.
3. Secondary (education from external communication).
4. Fragmentation.
5. Great pronunciation speed.
6. Lack of strict grammar.

To say something out loud, a person first thinks and selects words, makes phrases and sentences. This does not happen with inner speech. Often there are no offers at all. There are short phrases, even just words.

Thus, inner speech prepares outer speech, which in turn is divided into oral and written.

• Oral speech includes the pronunciation of words and their hearing. It can be colloquial (everyday) and public.
• Written speech has strict rules for conveying thoughts using words.

Inner speech according to Vygotsky

Vygotsky and many other experts in psychology studied inner speech. According to Vygotsky, inner speech is a consequence of egocentric speech or communication for oneself. It is formed in the younger school age when the child gradually begins to use external forms speech.

Inner speech is noted in younger preschoolers, who still use formulations that are incomprehensible to adult understanding.

Egocentric speech is the main one on which inner speech develops. At first, it is understandable only to the child, then it transforms, becoming more and more like a meaningful thought process.

The formation of external and internal speech in children is different. External speech is formed from simple to complex: from words to phrases, from phrases to sentences, etc. Inner speech is formed from complex to simple: from the whole sentence to understanding each of its individual parts - a phrase or word.

The problem of inner speech

It is rather difficult to study inner speech, which only at first glance differs from outer speech by the absence of sound accompaniment, which creates a problem. In fact, inner speech is not similar to outer speech in its structure. There are already many differences here, not just the lack of spoken words.

Inner speech is convoluted and fragmentary. It is completely different in its structure from the outside. If external speech has a clear structure, where there is a subject and a predicate, additional words, then internal speech is often noted in actions. Here there is no subject that is being considered, only the action is indicated, what the subject should be, which is motivating.

Inner speech involves not only words, but also other forms that are understandable to humans. It can be diagrams, details, pictures, images. A person does not need to express in words everything that he imagines. It is enough just to recall the seen picture in order to proceed further to reflection, where images seen from life can also be used.

Features of human inner speech

The process of inner speech involves many components that are not limited to verbal structures. The peculiarity of a person’s inner speech lies in the fact that it is difficult to clearly distinguish it, since in the process of thinking an individual uses all forms known and understandable to him to provide the meaning of what he thinks about.

To build inner speech, there is no need to compose complex sentences. Why? Because people understand them. Moreover, sometimes it is easier to imagine a certain image that more fully conveys the whole meaning of what a person is thinking about than to choose words.

Inner speech is not the result of thoughts; on the contrary, it generates thoughts. Thus, a thought is formed after a person has generated it. It is the link between thoughts and external speech, which a person then uses to express his own ideas.

Despite the fact that inner speech originates in childhood and full of fantastic objects that the child imagines, it is inherent in adults. Only in adulthood a person resorts more to verbal forms of inner speech, as well as to pictures seen in real life.

Here we should consider the phenomenon as the sound of an inner voice, which is produced not by a person, but by some other being. The so-called hearing of voices belongs to this category. Scientists have conducted research and found that these phenomena are intracerebral impulses, when it seems to a person that the voice sounds from outside, although in fact it comes from within.

Outcome

All people communicate with themselves. This is a normal process that allows you to think thoughts, convince yourself of something, calm down, make decisions, analyze situations, etc. A person needs communication with himself when he comes to an internal balance, negotiates with himself, finds a compromise, which is beneficial to him. The result is the preservation of calm peace of mind.

There is not a single person who would not communicate with himself. Sometimes a person simply does not realize this process, which occurs automatically. A person does not have to be consciously in the process of communicating with himself. Sufficient is the act when thoughts are simply generated in the head, often in automatic mode.

The unconsciousness of actions and spoken words is formed on this basis. A person does not consciously participate in the process of generating ideas, he automatically forms them, obeying them. Only then does he analyze and draw conclusions about how correct they were in a given situation. If a person does not agree with something, then he begins to regret that he did not take an active part in the thinking process.

various uses of language - or rather, linguistic meanings - outside the process of real communication; hidden speech activity verbalization that accompanies the process of thinking. In ontogenesis, it is formed in the process of internalization of external speech. Its manifestations are especially obvious in conditions of increased mental stress - when solving various tasks, mental planning, reading texts "to oneself", while memorizing and recalling. On the plane of internal speech, the logical ordering of the perceived information is carried out, its inclusion in a certain system of concepts; self-instruction is carried out; analyze their actions and experiences.

According to its logical and grammatical structure, which is essentially determined by the content of thought, internal speech is a generalized semantic complexes consisting of fragments of words and phrases grouped with various visual images and conventional signs. When the subject encounters difficulties or contradictions, his inner speech becomes more developed and can turn into an inner monologue, into whispered or loud speech, which are easier to control logically and socially.

With the help of internal speech, a logical restructuring of sensory data occurs, their awareness and motivation in a certain system of concepts and judgments. It is a very complex phenomenon, where thought and language are connected into an inseparable complex, acting as a speech mechanism of thinking. Thanks to it, the processes of perception of the world, actions and experiences of the individual are verbally expressed, its attitudes and attitudes to the world are formed, and the ability to self-regulate behavior develops.

There are three main types of internal speech:

1) internal pronunciation - "speech to oneself", preserving the structure of external speech, but devoid of phonation (pronunciation of sounds); typical for solving mental problems in difficult conditions;

2) internal speech itself, when it acts as a means of thinking, uses specific units (a code of images and schemes, an objective code, objective values) and has a specific structure that is different from the structure of external speech;

3) internal programming - the formation and consolidation in specific units of intent (type, program) of a speech statement, the whole text and its meaningful parts.

INTERNAL SPEECH

English implicit speech, inner speech, covert speech) - silent speech, hidden verbalization that occurs, for example, in the process of thinking. It is a derivative form of external (sound) speech, specially adapted to perform mental operations in the mind. It is presented in the most distinct form when solving various problems in the mind, attentively listening to the speech of other people, reading to oneself, mental planning, memorization and recall. By means of V. river. there is a logical processing of sensory data, their awareness and understanding in a certain system of concepts, self-instructions are given when performing arbitrary actions, self-analysis and self-assessment of one's actions and experiences is carried out. All this makes V. p. very important and universal mechanism mental activity and human consciousness. In a narrower, psycholinguistic sense, V. r. - the initial moment of generating a speech statement, its "internal programming" before implementation in oral or written speech.

Genesis V. r. insufficiently studied. According to L. S. Vygotsky (1932, 1934), it arises from egocentric speech - a child’s conversation with himself aloud during play and other activities, which gradually becomes silent and syntactically reduced, becomes more and more abbreviated, idiomatic and predicative, with the predominance of verb forms in it and, in the end, on the threshold of school age, it turns into V. r. - speech "about oneself and for oneself", and its awareness and improvement occurs under the influence of written speech, which develops already at school age. According to P. P. Blonsky (1935), V. p. arises simultaneously with external speech as a result of the child's silent repetition of the words of adults addressed to him, which is observed already at the end of the 1st year of life.

The logical and grammatical structure of the developed forms of V. r. m. b. very different depending on the content of the thought and the situation that generates it. Usually in V. r. thought is expressed very generally in the form of semantic complexes consisting of fragments of words and phrases, to which various visual images and conventional signs, turning V. r. into an individual code, different from oral and written speech. However, at the time of mental difficulties V. r. becomes more detailed, approaching internal monologues, and can turn into whispered and even loud speech, which allows you to more accurately analyze the objects of thought and control your mental activity.

Psychophysiological research V. r. very difficult due to the hidden nature of all its processes. The most studied is its speech-motor component - the rudimentary articulation of words, accompanied by micro-movements of the speech organs (tongue, lips, larynx) or an increase in the tone of their muscles (see Speech Organs). According to electromyographic studies (see Electromyography), during mental activity, 2 types of motor speech reactions are revealed: tonic (low-amplitude) and phasic (high-amplitude with short-term flashes of motor speech potentials). The first, apparently, are associated with the general activation of the speech-motor analyzer, the second - with micro-movements of the speech organs during the latent articulation of words. The intensity and duration of motor speech reactions is very unstable and depends on many factors: the difficulty and novelty of the tasks being solved, the degree of automation of mental operations, the inclusion of certain images in mental activity, individual characteristics of memory and thinking. When the same mental actions are repeated, motor speech impulses decrease or completely stop, resuming only at the moment of transition from one mental action to another. With hidden articulation of words, the maximum EEG activation of the brain is observed in the left sensorimotor region on the border between the frontal and temporal speech centers. These studies suggest that the main physiological function of covert articulation during mental activity is motor speech (proprioceptive) activation of the brain and the formation of speech motor dominants in its speech sections, integrating the impulses of other brain analyzers into a single functional system, which can be arbitrarily regulated by means of V.'s kinesthesia r. (see Speech kinesthesia) 44 and in this way to analyze the information entering the brain, its selection, fixation, generalization, and other operations of thinking. See Types of speech, Development of children's speech.

inner speech

Specificity. Hidden verbalization that accompanies the process of thinking. Its manifestations are most pronounced in the mental solution of various problems and planning, attentive listening to the speech of other people, reading texts to oneself, while memorizing and recalling. In terms of inner speech, the logical ordering of the perceived data is carried out, their inclusion in a certain system of concepts, self-instruction is carried out, and an analysis of one's actions and experiences is carried out. According to its logical and grammatical structure, which is essentially determined by the content of thought, inner speech is a generalized semantic complexes consisting of fragments of words and phrases, with which various visual images and conventional signs are grouped. When faced with difficulties or contradictions, inner speech acquires a more detailed character and can turn into an internal monologue, into whispered or loud speech, in relation to which it is easier to exercise logical and social control.

Literature. Vygotsky L.S. Thinking and speech // Collected works. In 6 vols. T. 2, M.: Pedagogy, 1982

Inner speech

Speech activity involved in the processes of thinking and memory, but not intended for direct communication with other people. Outwardly, it is only sometimes manifested by micro-movements of the speech-motor and mimic apparatus.

inner speech

a special, unconscious, automatic form of speech that a person uses when thinking about solving various verbal and logical problems. Inner speech is a derivative of outer speech and is a thought that is not expressed in a spoken or written word.

Inner speech

speech used in thought processes, “speech minus sound” (Rubinshtein, 1946), which usually does not have a complete, verbally completed structure, as is characteristic of external speech. It is assumed that inner speech is most closely connected with the processes of thinking. In verbal hallucinations, it is probably this form of speech that is represented.

Inner speech

a concept related to hidden processes associated with the listening person with the perception and understanding of sounding speech, and with the speaker - with the preparation of a future statement and “int. speaking" without uttering words outwardly. Among experts there is a cardinal difference in understanding of the term R. of century. Some of them focus on the local phenomenon of “ext. speaking”, others refer to a wider context, referring to R. v. range of processes associated with the preparation of a future statement, the perception of audible speech, ext. processing, structuring and storage speech information. R. v. as int. speaking was studied by L. S. Vygotsky, he derived its characteristics from the features of the phenomenon observed in children - egocentric speech. To R.'s features of century. fragmentation, fragmentation, abbreviation, incomprehensibility outside the situation, predicativity (the predominance of predicates), and semantic richness were among them, which gave reason to bring R. v. with thought processes. This position gave impetus to the experimental development of the theme of communication R. century. with thinking. Micromovements of the speech organs (tongue, lips, larynx) were recorded during the performance by a person different types mental operations: solving problems of varying degrees of complexity, reading to oneself, etc. Research has suggested that the main. the function of latent articulation in the thought process is to activate the brain and form motor speech dominants that contribute to the implementation of the act of thinking. Dr. a look at the concept of R. in. developed by B. G. Ananiev, considering it a special state preceding speaking. It is built, the scientist believed, on the basis of sensory-motor mechanisms, including listening and perceiving speech, speaking, visual impressions, and goes through 3 phases: installation on the name; naming process using predicative and substantive structures; demonstrative definitions of the place of the designated thought in judgment and inference. The concepts of internal speech and internal speaking, according to Ananiev, are not identical to each other. R. v. received the characteristics of a subjective language-intermediary, with the help of which the intention is translated into external. speech, by N. I. Zhinkin. It functions as a compressed piece of dough, the clot to-rogo is stored in long-term memory. In R.'s processes of century. elements of the universal subject code (UPC) are used, linking thinking, speech and reality. Within the framework of the psycholinguistic direction of R. century. considered in the context of developing a psycholinguistic model of speech production. According to A. A. Leontiev, the process of generation includes a subject, a predicate and an object. Composed of semantic "milestones", the program contains the semantic correlates of components that are especially important for the utterance to the extent that their relationship is essential for understanding. The concept of R. in. is also being developed in the context of a generalized model of the speech-language mechanism. In a data model empirical research described basic. blocks of the internal speech mechanism in nervous system human: structures of long-term storage of traces of impressions that arise in connection with each word (“logogenes”); "verbal network", realizing the unity of words into a single system; morphological block (morphemic and phonetic elements); grammatical and textual stereotypes; blocks of functioning of articulation and auditory perception, as well as dynamic processes occurring with the inclusion of these structures. Approaches have been developed to characterize the connection between the internal speech process and brain structures. This aspect of R.'s research of century. lies in the current cognitively oriented psycholinguistic developments. Lit .: Vygotsky L. S. Thinking and speech. Favorites psychological research. M., 1956; Zhinkin N. I. Speech as a conductor of information. M., 1982; Leontiev A. A. Fundamentals of psycholinguistics. M., 1999; Sokolov A. N. Inner speech and thinking. M., 1968; Ushakova T. N. Speech: origins and principles of development. M., 2004. T. N. Ushakova

In linguistics and psycholinguistics, the phenomena of external and internal speech are distinguished.

External speech - ego speech, materially designed in sounds or graphically, addressed to the interlocutor or audience.

Therefore, it is often characterized as speech "for others". It has a distinct linguistic structure, being carried out in the form of words and sentences, although in different situations communication, the degree of its syntactic formalization ™ can be different. So, in a lively dialogue (in spontaneous speech), disconnections, incompleteness and incompleteness of sentences, logical "jumps" are possible.

Inner speech is a special, not materially expressed form of verbal and mental activity, speech “for oneself” and “to oneself”.

It is constantly present in our minds when we just think, or listen to someone, or read. The transition from inner to outer speech (i.e. from thought to speech on the same topic) is often felt as a difficulty in the speech formulation of a seemingly clear thought. This alone suggests that there are serious differences between external and internal speech.

Let's ask ourselves two questions first:

• 1. Do we think with language?
• 2. Do we think with words?

The answer to the first question will undoubtedly be positive. The linguistic form of thinking is quite obvious, if only because a person who speaks two or more languages ​​can usually say in which language he always thinks or in a certain situation. Case in point: Speaking at the Oscars, Polish director Andrzej Wajda began his speech in English, and then apologized and switched to Polish. The apology was: “I will speak Polish because I want to express exactly what I think and feel. And I always think in Polish.” This is also indicated by the need for an “internal translation” into native language when reading to yourself a text in a foreign language that you are not fluent enough in, and the well-known evaluative formula: “O / / knows English (German, etc.) so well that he even thinks in English (German, etc.).”

However, the second question (do we think with words?) can raise legitimate doubts and thus give rise to new question: what do we think? Since inner speech does not have a tangible material form, flowing in our minds in the psychophysical mechanisms of neurons, hidden from direct perception, it is much more difficult to study than external speech. Even if it were nevertheless possible to record it, as we record a sounding speech on a tape recorder, it would remain absolutely incomprehensible to us.

One way to study inner speech is self-observation, or introspection(from lat. introspecto- I look inside), but this does not give the necessary results, since only the last phase of thinking can be observed on oneself - the expanded phase of internal pronunciation, which really differs from external speech only in the absence of voicing (phonation) - i.e. it is "speech minus sound". Try to check what has been said: you will definitely begin to reason about yourself. However, it is clear that more often than not we think differently. By how?

It can be argued that when we start thinking about how we think, we start thinking differently (not exactly the same) as we normally think. Therefore, to study inner speech, special experimental methods are needed, which modern psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics have at their disposal and which really made it possible to learn a lot about the place of language in our thinking. In particular, the study of the formation of a child's speech skills, as well as various speech disorders associated with damage to the cerebral cortex (a subject of neurophysiology and neuropsychology), gives a lot. As a result, it was possible to experimentally confirm and clarify those qualities of inner speech, which, long before the advent of modern psycholinguistic methods, were written in the book Thinking and Speech (1934) by the famous Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky, who drew his conclusions based on observations of the early stage of the speech of the child - the so-called egocentric children's speech (speech "for oneself").

The main features of inner speech are:

• a) phase;
• b) reduction;
• c) predictability.

The phase nature of inner speech as a thought process is manifested in its heterogeneity at different stages of the work of consciousness. There are usually two phases: reduced and expanded (internal pronunciation). The phase of internal pronunciation, which, as already mentioned, differs from external speech only in the absence of sound and is accessible to self-observation, can immediately precede external speech (for example, pre-thinking the answer to an exam or thinking through some serious conversation). The reduced phase is more typical of the thinking process and at the same time more complex. Further we will talk about this phase.

The reduction of inner speech is felt by a person already at the level of everyday consciousness. Let's think about the comparative "thought capacity" and "speech capacity" of some period of time, for example, a second. It is quite obvious that the “thought capacity” of time is many orders of magnitude higher, which is captured in the expressions “a thought flashed” (but not “speech flashed”!), “I remembered with lightning speed, imagined, etc. Experimentally, this is proved for all levels of the language structure: phonetic, lexical, syntactic.

On the phonetic level, articulation is replaced only by impulses coming from the cerebral cortex to the corresponding organs of speech. It is significant that it is easier for a child to think aloud, and he first learns to read aloud, and only then - to himself, but at the same time continues to move his lips for a long time. The presence of articulatory impulses is the more obvious, the more complex the mental task being solved. This is proved by a special experiment, during which electrokymograms of movements of the muscles of the tongue and lower lip are recorded in the process of thinking, and the length and density of the recorded wave is directly proportional to the complexity of mental work.

In an experiment conducted by A. N. Sokolov, the same subject, student K., was asked to first extract Square root of 190, and then the square root of 225. In the nervous case, the electrokymogram is three densely filled lines: the subject thought for a long time and intensely, trying to calculate the root of 190. In the second case, this is a short and almost even line: the subject quickly remembered the familiar number " 15" (see fig. 10.1).

Rice. 10.1.

On electrograms I, II and III, the potentials of the muscles of the tongue (a) and lower lip (b) were recorded at the moment of extracting the square root of 190 in the mind (with an approximation of 0.1); on the IV electrogram - when extracting the square root of 225 in the mind. Subject K., student. He calculated the square root of 190, and the square root of 225 "just remembered."

At the lexical level the degree of reduction - and the saving of time - is incomparably greater. We do not think in words in the full sense of the term "word". In inner speech there are only hints of a few generalizing words related to this topic: being semantic complexes, they can be expanded if desired. It is due to the fact that we think not in words, but in “clumps of thought”, “quanta” that suddenness and speed of thought is possible => [Chr.: p. 433, Sokolov]. At the same time, such “inner words” are absolutely devoid of grammatical form and can be realized in external speech. different parts speech.

It is extremely important that in inner speech a significant place is occupied by images, representations that replace words and make the thought very capacious. Indicative in this regard is Albert Einstein's answer to the questionnaire "How is your scientific thinking»: «Words, as they are written and pronounced, do not seem to have any role in my thinking. More or less clear signs and images of physical realities act as elements of thinking.<...>I diligently look for words and other symbols and find them at the second stage, when the described game of associations has already been established ... ".

Let us also pay attention to the phrase "game of associations". For inner speech in the phase under consideration, not so much logical as associative connections are important. That is why, when thinking, we so easily “jump” from one thought, one topic to another, not always catching this “Brownian movement” (B. M. Gasparov’s metaphor) of our thought.

At the syntactic level the reduction of inner speech is manifested in the absence of complete sentences. At the same time, the subject is omitted from the thought, which denotes the already known in the sentence, but the semantic predicate (not necessarily the verb!), Which contains the grain of thought, the new one, to which we, thinking, are moving, is preserved. The semantic predicate is otherwise called a predicate, therefore the described property of inner speech, following L. S. Vygotsky, is called predicativeness => [Chr.: p. 430, Vygotsky].

Situation example

An approximate idea of ​​​​inner speech, in particular, its associativity and predicativity, can be obtained from the texts of the "stream of consciousness" literature. Let us use as an example a fragment of the reflections of the hero of the novel "Thoughts and Heart", written by the famous cardiologist surgeon Nikolai Amosov, who also dealt a lot with the problem of the brain and consciousness:

“A note of thoughts... The colors of autumn are carmine, cinnabar. Yellow. What are yellow? I used to draw and buy paints. Forgot. Yes, ochre. End of September. [Associative transition]. And I have autumn. Sixty years later. It's probably already October. [Second - reverse - associative transition]. The leaves are yellow and even green, but already inanimate. Dry. And rare - you can see the sky through them. The lively flow of thought will be conveyed by short, including one-part and incomplete sentences, associative switches.

• Sokolov LN Inner speech and thinking. M., 1968. S. 27.