Basic characteristics of speech

Physical properties of speech

Speech is a kind of physical movement, so it has physical properties. The physical properties of speech refers to the physical properties of speech, also known as the natural properties of speech.

From the perspective of production, speech is generated by the vibration of the articulatory body and transmitted through the medium, and the most important medium for the transmission of sound is air.

Speech is divided into noise and music, where vowels are music and consonants are noise. Speech is a unity of pitch, intensity, duration and timbre. Any actual phonetic unit is a unity of these four elements.

Physiological properties of speech

The physiological attribute of speech refers to the fact that speech is produced by human vocal organs, and the difference of speech units is caused by the difference of vocal organs. Different sounds have different meanings, and the human vocal apparatus can be divided into three parts according to its role in speech formation:

• The lungs and bronchi that provide the driving force for vocalization.
• The throat and vocal cords that act as vocal organs.
• Oral, nasal, and pharyngeal cavities as resonators.

Social properties of speech

The social attribute of speech refers to the social nature of speech. Speech has a certain meaning and plays a communicative role as the carrier of meaning, which determines that speech has social attributes. This is also the most fundamental property that distinguishes speech from other sounds in nature, so the social attribute is the essential attribute of speech. The social attributes of speech are manifested in many aspects, such as the connection between sound and meaning, national and local characteristics, and the systematization of speech.

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