Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
speech
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Uncover the science behind the transformation of sounds into speech
How does the McGurk effect trick your brain?
left hemisphere of the brain
Know Broca's lesion method in mapping brain activity in humans and how studies of brain disorders to the Broca area help evolve the scientific understanding of cognition
human vocal organs and points of articulation tongue position for vowel sounds
Learn how the right and left hemispheres of the brain differ and how speech can be affected by brain damage
For Students
speech summary
Quizzes
YOLO "You Only Live Once" written in bright colors and repeated on a purple background (acronym, slang)
Slang Through the Ages Vocabulary Quiz
A young boy dressed in retro 1980s attire, with bow tie and eyeglasses, wears a light bulb idea invention machine to help him think of the next big idea. (nerd, nerdy, thinker) SEE CONTENT NOTES.
Are You An Idiom Savant? Quiz
Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)
Word Nerd Quiz
Related Questions
Read Next
Spike Lee at the 2007 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California
Prominent HBCU Alumni
African Americans demonstrating for voting rights in front of the White House as police and others watch, March 12, 1965. One sign reads, "We demand the right to vote everywhere." Voting Rights Act, civil rights.
Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement
The Battle of New Orleans, by E. Percy Moran, c. 1910. Andrew Jackson, War of 1812.
26 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC, USA. The memorial was opened in August 2011.
Attendees of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Funeral
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Why We Celebrate MLK Day
Discover
Orange basketball on black background and with low key lighting. Homepage 2010, arts and entertainment, history and society
The 10 Greatest Basketball Players of All Time
Fish. Lionfish. Lion-fish. Turkey fish. Fire-fish. Red lionfish. Pterois volitans. Venomous fin spines. Coral reefs. Underwater. Ocean. Red lionfish swims by seaweed.
10 of the World’s Most Dangerous Fish
Ice Sledge Hockey, Hockey Canada Cup, USA (left) vs Canada, 2009. UBC Thunderbird Arena, Vancouver, BC, competition site for Olympic ice hockey and Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Vancouver Olympics
10 Best Hockey Players of All Time
Panama Canal infographic
Timeline and Map of the Panama Canal
Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and autodidact.
6 Interesting Facts about Srinivasa Ramanujan
A mug shot taken by the regional Colombia control agency in Medellin
Pablo Escobar: 8 Interesting Facts About the King of Cocaine
Facsimile of one of William Henry Ireland's forgeries, a primitive self-portrait of William Shakespeare(tinted engraving). Published for Samuel Ireland, Norfolk Street, Strand, December 1, 1795. (W.H. Ireland, forgery)
The Time a Law Clerk Successfully Forged a New Shakespeare Play to Impress His Dad

speech

language
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/topic/speech-language
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
Also known as: spoken language
Written by
Godfrey Edward Arnold
Professor and Director, Division of Otolaryngology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, 1963–79. Coauthor of Voice, Speech, Language; Clinical Communicology.
Godfrey Edward Arnold
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: • Article History
Related Topics:
speech disorder
oratory
utterance
articulation
voice

speech, human communication through spoken language. Although many animals possess voices of various types and inflectional capabilities, humans have learned to modulate their voices by articulating the laryngeal tones into audible oral speech. Human speech is served by a bellows-like respiratory activator, which furnishes the driving energy in the form of an airstream; a phonating sound generator in the larynx (low in the throat) to transform the energy; a sound-molding resonator in the pharynx (higher in the throat), where the individual voice pattern is shaped; and a speech-forming articulator in the oral cavity (mouth). Normally, but not necessarily, the four ...(100 of 8191 words)

Access the full article
Help support true facts by becoming a member.