speaking

Speaking is the production of spoken language through the vocal apparatus, enabling interpersonal communication, information transfer, and expression of thoughts and emotions. It relies on cognitive planning (conceptualization, lexical retrieval, syntactic structuring) and motor execution (respiration, phonation, articulation, prosody).

The physical mechanism involves breath control, the larynx and vocal folds generating sound, and the vocal tract shaping resonance. Prosody—intonation, stress, rhythm—conveys emphasis and meaning beyond words. Speech can be informal conversation, formal discourse, storytelling, instruction, or persuasive speech. It occurs through cultural and social conventions such as turn-taking, politeness, and register.

Variation arises from language, dialect, accent, and context. Children typically acquire speaking through exposure, progressing from babbling to words and sentences. Evaluation of speaking includes fluency, coherence, pronunciation, and intelligibility; common disorders include aphasia, dysarthria, apraxia of speech, and stuttering.

In science and technology, speaking interfaces include voice recording, speech recognition, and text-to-speech systems. Speaking remains central to education, leadership, journalism, and everyday social interaction.