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Disorganized Speech: Signs, Causes, and How to Cope

Communication can be a window into your thoughts, making it an important clue in understanding possible mental health conditions.

Almost everyone experiences moments of confusion. You might have a word on the tip of your tongue and you just can’t get it out, or maybe you’ve forgotten where you’re going with a conversation.

Many things can impact thought clarity, but disorganized speech that prevents you from daily communication may be a sign of something more than forgetfulness.

Disorganized speech is also known as “formal thought disorder” since language is the primary way to detect changes in your thought patterns.

What is disorganized speech?

Disorganized speech is any interruption that makes communication difficult — and sometimes impossible — to understand.

Brief disorganized speech can be common and nonspecific, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) .

But if it becomes severe enough to prevent effective communication, you may be experiencing formal thought disorder.

What’s formal thought disorder?

Disorganized speech is used interchangeably with “formal thought disorder.” This is because scattered communication is one of the primary ways disorganized thinking is identified.

Simply put, if your thoughts aren’t clear, your words may not be either.

Types and examples of disorganized speech

There are many ways your speech might be considered disorganized, but symptoms often fall into categories:

• Symbolism: pairing of thoughts with the correct meaning
• Tempo: the fluidity of words and conversation
• Processing: quality of thought content
• Continuity: direction of thought and conversation

Examples of specific types of disorganized speech may include:

• Paralogism: unusual word choice
• Verbal paraphasia: incorrect word usage
• Literal paraphasia: disordered sounds or sound sequence in words
• Neologism: creation of new words
• Displacement: citing a similar idea but not the correct one
• Contamination: fusing ideas into one another
• Accelerated thinking: rapid flow and increased volume of speech
• Flight of ideas: losing track of where a thought is going
• Inhibited thinking: slow processing of ideas
• Alogia: restricted speech and/or inadequate relay of information
• Circumstantial thinking: inability to determine essential information from unessential
• Desultory thinking: random topic jumps during conversation
• Derailment: sudden drop in train of thought
• Omission: inability to recall a main thought point
• Overinclusive thinking: conversation limits are never identified
• Echolalia: repetition of words or phrases
• Palilalia: fast repetition of words or phrases with decreasing audibility
• Thought blocking: Sudden gaps in thought for no obvious reason
• Verbigeration: nonsensical repetition of words
• Incoherence: complete speech disorganization; “word salad”

Signs of disorganized speech patterns

There’s no “one size fits all” way to describe disorganized speech. At its core, it can be any language-focused symptom that impairs communication.

If you’re experiencing disorganized speech, you may notice speech patterns related to:

• unexpected pauses
• incorrect words
• unusual pronunciation
• loss of thought placement
• lack of words
• excess of words
• slow or absent word processing

Possible causes

The exact cause of disorganized speech is still being investigated.

As a symptom closely associated with mental health conditions, disorganized speech may be partially due to differences in the central nervous system.

Language and words are skills you learn. They’re stored in your memories.

Many of the mental health conditions that feature symptoms of disorganized speech involve changes in regions of the brain related to memory, speech, and language.

Some 2017 research suggests changes in neural connectivity in these areas could affect communication.

If you’re unable to form the proper connections in the part of the brain that grants access to language memories, you may not be able to organize your thoughts into words.

Other factors may also influence disorganized speech. Times of extreme stress , anxiety, or fear could cause an interruption in your natural speech patterns.

Related mental health conditions

Disorganized speech is most commonly linked to schizophrenia — particularly disorganized schizophrenia .

But experiencing disorganized speech doesn’t necessarily point to schizophrenia in all cases.

Schizophrenia is a diagnosable mental health condition in the DSM-5. Disorganized speech is a symptom but not a disorder on its own.

In addition to schizophrenia, other mental health conditions that may present with symptoms of disorganized speech include:

• dementia (neurocognitive disorder)
• schizoaffective disorder
• bipolar disorder
• delusional disorder
• traumatic brain injury
• schizotypal personality disorder
• schizophreniform disorder
• some types of depression
• psychotic disorder
• Alzheimer’s disease
• attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
• attenuated psychosis syndrome

Social anxiety

Living with disorganized speech can affect how you interact with those around you and may cause social problems for some.

Dealing with disorganized speech might generate feelings of frustration and irritation — for you and those who don’t understand that you’re experiencing something out of your control.

Over time, you may develop a tendency to isolate yourself. Worry and anxiety over when disorganized speech may happen next can keep you at home.

Treatment and management

Seeking professional treatment can be one of the best ways to learn to manage disorganized speech and see an improvement.

Treatment largely depends on addressing the underlying condition causing disorganized speech as a symptom.

Seeking treatment for a traumatic brain injury, for example, may be significantly different than treatment for bipolar disorder .

Your physician or therapist can help identify why you’re experiencing disorganized speech. If a mental health condition is contributing, successful treatment may involve:

• medications
• psychotherapy
• self-care or lifestyle changes

The medication you’re prescribed and the type of therapy recommended will depend on the condition your physician and therapist feel is at the heart of your symptoms.

Coping with disorganized speech

Aside from medications and therapy , there are many other strategies for coping with disorganized speech.

Self-care and simple lifestyle changes that can help you manage disorganized speech include:

• Social support: building a supportive network of understanding family and friends, joining support groups
• Building communication skills: participating in discussion groups around building social skills, developing alternative communication options with your therapist or counselor
• Medical self-care: staying on track with taking medications as directed, attending appointments regularly for the entire treatment protocol
• Lifestyle changes: developing stress-relief options and relaxation techniques, trying to eat a nutritious diet, focusing on sleep hygiene, exercising regularly, spending time outside

Disorganized speech can present in many different ways and may even prevent effective communication if it progresses. And while it can be a symptom of many mental health conditions, disorganized speech is not a diagnosis in itself.

Living with disorganized speech can be frustrating and may even cause social anxiety, stress, and isolation in some people.

However, disorganized speech can be managed with the proper treatment, which often involves addressing conditions causing this symptom.

Working with your doctor or physician to tailor a treatment plan to you is often the best first step. Depending on any underlying conditions, treatment plans for disorganized speech commonly involve a combination of:

• self-care and lifestyle changes

It’s not always easy to reach out for help with mental health conditions. If you’re ready to seek support but don’t know where to start, check out Psych Central’s guide to mental health help.

Last medically reviewed on February 11, 2022

10 sources collapsed

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
• Ban T. (n.d.). Glossary: Formal disorders of thought. https://inhn.org/archives/ban-collection/glossary-formal-disorders-of-thoughts.html
• Cokal D, et al. (2018). The language profile of formal thought disorder. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41537-018-0061-9
• Disorganized speech. (n.d.). https://dictionary.apa.org/disorganized-speech
• Disorganized symptoms of psychosis. (n.d.). https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Disorganized-Symptoms-of-Psychosis-Slides.pdf?daf=375ateTbd56
• Hart M, et al. (2017). Rethinking thought disorder. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5464106/
• Jeronimo J, et al. (2018). Formal thought disorders — historical roots. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00572/full
• Nordgaard J, et al. (2021). Formal thought disorder and self-disorder: An empirical study. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.640921/full
• Solomon M, et al. (2008). Formal thought disorder and the autism spectrum: relationship with symptoms, executive control, and anxiety. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5519298/
• Wensing T, et al. (2017). Neural correlates of formal thought disorder: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5685170/

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What are speech disorders?

A speech disorder is any condition that affects a person’s ability to produce sounds that create words. Damage to muscles, nerves, and vocal structures can cause it. Examples include stuttering and ataxia.

Speech is one of the main ways in which people communicate their thoughts, feelings, and ideas with others. The act of speaking requires the precise coordination of multiple body parts, including the head, neck, chest, and abdomen.

In this article, we explore what speech disorders are and the different types. We also cover the symptoms, causes, diagnosis, and treatment of speech disorders.

What is a speech disorder?

Speech disorders affect a person’s ability to form the sounds that allow them to communicate with other people. They are not the same as language disorders.

Speech disorders prevent people from forming correct speech sounds, while language disorders affect a person’s ability to learn words or understand what others say to them.

However, both speech and language disorders can make it more difficult for a person to express their thoughts and feelings to others.

Speech disorders can affect people of all ages.

Some types of speech disorder include stuttering, apraxia, and dysarthria. We discuss each of these types below:

Stuttering refers to a speech disorder that interrupts the flow of speech. People who stutter can experience the following types of disruption:

• Repetitions occur when people involuntarily repeat sounds, vowels, or words.
• Blocks happen when people know what they want to say but have difficulty making the necessary speech sounds. Blocks may cause someone to feel as though their words are stuck.
• Prolongations refer to the stretching or drawing out of particular sounds or words.

The symptoms of stuttering can vary depending on the situation. Stress , excitement, or frustration can cause stuttering to become more severe. Some people may also find that certain words or sounds can make a stutter more pronounced.

Stuttering can cause both behavioral and physical symptoms that occur at the same time. These can include:

• tension in the face and shoulders
• rapid blinking
• lip tremors
• clenched fists
• sudden head movements

There are two main types of stuttering:

• Developmental stuttering affects young children who are still learning speech and language skills. Genetic factors significantly increase a person’s likelihood of developing this type of stutter.
• Neurogenic stuttering occurs when damage to the brain prevents proper coordination between the different regions of the brain that play a role in speech.

The brain controls every single action that people make, including speaking. Most of the brain’s involvement in speech is unconscious and automatic.

When someone decides to speak, the brain sends signals to the different structures of the body that work together to produce speech. The brain instructs these structures how and when to move to form the appropriate sounds.

For example, these speech signals open or close the vocal cords, move the tongue and shape the lips, and control the movement of air through the throat and mouth.

Apraxia is a general term referring to brain damage that impairs a person’s motor skills, and it can affect any part of the body. Apraxia of speech, or verbal apraxia, refers specifically to the impairment of motor skills that affect an individual’s ability to form the sounds of speech correctly, even when they know which words they want to say.

Dysarthria occurs when damage to the brain causes muscle weakness in a person’s face, lips, tongue, throat, or chest. Muscle weakness in these parts of the body can make speaking very difficult.

People who have dysarthria may experience the following symptoms:

• slurred speech
• speaking too slowly or too quickly
• soft or quiet speech
• difficulty moving the mouth or tongue

The symptoms of speech disorders vary widely depending on the cause and severity of the disorder. People can develop multiple speech disorders with different symptoms.

People with one or more speech disorders may experience the following symptoms:

• repeating or prolonging sounds
• distorting sounds
• adding sounds or syllables to words
• rearranging syllables
• having difficulty pronouncing words correctly
• struggling to say the correct word or sound
• speaking with a hoarse or raspy voice
• speaking very softly

Causes of speech disorders can include:

• brain damage due to a stroke or head injury
• muscle weakness
• damaged vocal cords
• a degenerative disease, such as Huntington’s disease , Parkinson’s disease , or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• cancer that affects the mouth or throat
• Down syndrome
• hearing loss

Risk factors that can increase the likelihood of a person developing a speech disorder include :

• being born prematurely
• having a low weight at birth
• having a family history of speech disorders
• experiencing problems that affect the ears, nose, or throat

A speech-language pathologist (SLP) is a healthcare professional who specializes in speech and language disorders.

An SLP will evaluate a person for groups of symptoms that indicate one type of speech disorder. To make an accurate diagnosis, SLPs need to rule out other speech and language disorders and medical conditions.

An SLP will review a person’s medical and family history. They will also examine how a person moves their lips, jaw, and tongue and may inspect the muscles of the mouth and throat.

Other methods of evaluating speech disorders include:

• Denver articulation screening examination . This test evaluates the clarity of a person’s pronunciation.
• Prosody-voice screening profile . SLPs use this test to examine multiple aspects of a person’s speech, including pitch, phrasing, speech patterns, and speaking volume.
• Dynamic evaluation of motor speech skills (DEMSS) manual . The DEMSS is a comprehensive guide for helping SLPs diagnose speech disorders.

The type of treatment will typically depend on the severity of the speech disorder and its underlying cause.

Treatment options can include:

• speech therapy exercises that focus on building familiarity with certain words or sounds
• physical exercises that focus on strengthening the muscles that produce speech sounds

We discuss some of the treatment options for speech disorders below:

Target selection

Target selection involves a person practicing specific sounds or words to familiarize themselves with particular speech patterns. Examples of therapy targets may include difficult words or sounds that trigger speech disruptions.

Contextual utilization

For this approach, SLPs teach people to recognize speech sounds in different syllable-based contexts.

Contrast therapy

Contrast therapy involves saying word pairs that contain one or more different speech sounds. An example word pair might be “beat” and “feet” or “dough” and “show.”

Oral-motor therapy

The oral-motor therapy approach focuses on improving muscle strength, motor control, and breath control. These exercises can help people develop fluency, which produces smoother speech that sounds more natural.

Ear devices are small electronic aids that fit inside the ear canal. These devices can help improve fluency in people who have a stutter.

Some ear devices replay altered versions of the wearer’s voice to make it seem as though someone else is speaking with them. Other ear devices produce a noise that helps control stuttering.

Some speech disorders can cause people to develop anxiety disorders. Stressful situations can trigger anxiety, resulting in more pronounced speech disorder symptoms. Anxiety medications may help reduce symptoms of speech disorders in some people.

Speech disorders affect a person’s ability to produce sounds that create words. They are not the same as language disorders, which make it more difficult for people to learn words or understand what others are saying to them.

Types of speech disorder include stuttering, apraxia, and dysarthria. There are many possible causes of speech disorders, including muscles weakness, brain injuries, degenerative diseases, autism, and hearing loss.

Speech disorders can affect a person’s self-esteem and their overall quality of life. However, speech therapy, breathing exercises, and, sometimes, anti-anxiety medications can help improve speech and reduce symptoms.

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How we reviewed this article:

• Hearnshaw, S., et al. (2018). The speech perception skills of children with and without speech sound disorder [Abstract]. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0021992417300679
• Language and speech disorders in children. (2019). https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/language-disorders.html#problems
• Speech sound disorders — articulation and phonology. (n.d.). https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589935321&section=Treatment
• Statistics on voice, speech, and language. (2016). https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/statistics-voice-speech-and-language#2
• Stuttering. (2017). https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/stuttering

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Dysarthria (difficulty speaking)

Dysarthria is where you have difficulty speaking because the muscles you use for speech are weak. It can be caused by conditions that damage your brain or nerves and some medicines. Speech and language therapy can help.

Immediate action required: Call 999 if:

• somebody's face droops on 1 side (the mouth or eye may have drooped)
• a person cannot lift up both arms and keep them there
• a person has difficulty speaking (speech may be slurred or garbled)

These can be signs of a stroke, which is a medical emergency. The symptoms of a stroke usually come on suddenly.

Check if it's dysarthria

The main symptom of dysarthria is unclear speech. This can make it difficult for you to make yourself understood.

Your speech may only be slightly unclear, or you may not be able to speak clearly at all.

Other symptoms include:

• difficulty moving your mouth, tongue or lips
• slurred or slow speech
• difficulty controlling the volume of your voice, making you talk too loudly or quietly
• a change in your voice, making it nasal, strained or monotone
• hesitating a lot when talking, or speaking in short bursts instead of full sentences

Being stressed or tired may make your symptoms worse.

Dysarthria is not the same as dysphasia, although you can have both conditions at the same time. Dysphasia, also known as aphasia , is where you have difficulty understanding words or putting them together in a sentence.

Non-urgent advice: See a GP if:

• you've noticed gradual changes to your or your child's speech and you're worried

They'll examine you and may refer you to a specialist for further tests.

Causes of dysarthria

Dysarthria is usually caused by damage to the brain or conditions that affect the nervous system. It can happen at any age.

Common causes include:

• stroke , severe head injury and brain tumours
• Parkinson's disease , multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease
• cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome

It can also be a side effect of certain medicines, such as some medicines to treat epilepsy.

Treatment for dysarthria

If you have dysarthria, you'll usually be referred to a speech and language therapist. They'll offer therapy to help your speech and communication.

The therapy you're offered will be different depending on the cause of your dysarthria and how severe it is.

Some people may find therapy does not help their symptoms, or their speech may get worse as their condition progresses. Their therapy may focus on helping communication in other ways.

Speech and language therapy may include:

• exercises to strengthen the muscles used for speech
• strategies to make your speech easier to understand, such as slowing down when you're talking
• using communication aids, such as an alphabet board or a voice amplifier

Find out more

• Headway: communication problems after brain injury
• Stroke Association: communication tools

Page last reviewed: 17 February 2023 Next review due: 17 February 2026

• Second Opinion

Speech Sound Disorders in Children

What are speech sound disorders in children?

It’s normal for young children learning language skills to have some trouble saying words the right way. That’s part of the learning process. Their speech skills develop over time. They master certain sounds and words at each age. By age 8, most children have learned how to master all word sounds.

But some children have speech sound disorders. This means they have trouble saying certain sounds and words past the expected age. This can make it hard to understand what a child is trying to say.  

Speech sound problems include articulation disorder and phonological process disorder.

Articulation disorder is a problem with making certain sounds, such as “sh.”

Phonological process disorder is a pattern of sound mistakes. This includes not pronouncing certain letters.

What causes speech sound disorders in a child?

Often, a speech sound disorder has no known cause. But some speech sound errors may be caused by:

Injury to the brain

Thinking or development disability

Problems with hearing or hearing loss, such as past ear infections

Physical problems that affect speech, such cleft palate or cleft lip

Disorders affecting the nerves involved in speech

Which children are at risk for speech sound disorders?

The cause often is not known, but children at risk for a speech sound disorder include those with:

Developmental disorders such as autism

Genetic disorders such as Down syndrome

Hearing loss

Nervous system disorders such as cerebral palsy

Illnesses such as frequent ear infections

Physical problems such as a cleft lip or palate

Too much thumb-sucking or pacifier use

Low education level of the parent

Lack of support for learning in the home

What are the symptoms of speech sound disorders in a child?

Your child’s symptoms depend on what type of speech sound disorder your child has. He or she may have trouble forming some word sounds correctly past a certain age. This is called articulation disorder. Your child may drop, add, distort, or swap word sounds. Keep in mind that some sound changes may be part of an accent. They are not speech errors. Signs of this problem can include:

Leaving off sounds from words (example: saying “coo” instead of “school”)

Adding sounds to words (example: saying “puhlay” instead of “play”)

Distorting sounds in words (example: saying “thith” instead of “this”)

Swapping sounds in words (example: saying “wadio” instead of “radio”)

If your child often makes certain word speech mistakes, he or she may have phonological process disorder. The mistakes may be common in young children learning speech skills. But when they last past a certain age, it may be a disorder. Signs of this problem are:

Saying only 1 syllable in a word (example: “bay” instead of “baby”)

Simplifying a word by repeating 2 syllables (example: “baba” instead of “bottle”)

Leaving out a consonant sound (example: “at” or “ba” instead of “bat”)

Changing certain consonant sounds (example: “tat” instead of “cat”)

How are speech sound disorders diagnosed in a child?

First, your child’s healthcare provider will check his or her hearing. This is to make sure that your child isn’t simply hearing words and sounds incorrectly.

If your child’s healthcare provider rules out hearing loss, you may want to talk with a speech-language pathologist. This is a speech expert who evaluates and treats children who are having problems with speech-language and communication.                       

By watching and listening to your child speak, a speech-language pathologist can determine whether your child has a speech sound disorder. The pathologist will evaluate your child’s speech and language skills. He or she will keep in mind accents and dialect. He or she can also find out if a physical problem in the mouth is affecting your child’s ability to speak. Finding the problem and getting help early are important to treat speech sound disorders.

How are speech sound disorders treated in a child?

The speech-language pathologist can put together a therapy plan to help your child with his or her disorder. These healthcare providers work with children to help them:

Notice and fix sounds that they are making wrong

Learn how to correctly form their problem sound

Practice saying certain words and making certain sounds

The pathologist can also give you activities and strategies to help your child practice at home. If your child has a physical problem in the mouth, the pathologist can refer your child to an ear, nose, throat healthcare provider or orthodontist if needed.

Spotting a speech sound disorder early can help your child overcome any speech problems. He or she can learn how to speak well and comfortably.

How can I help my child live with a speech sound disorder?

You can do things to take care of your child with a speech sound disorder:

Keep all appointments with your child’s healthcare provider.

Talk with your healthcare provider about other providers who will be involved in your child’s care. Your child may get care from a team that may include experts such as speech-language pathologists and counselors. Your child’s care team will depend on your child’s needs and the severity of the speech sound disorder.

Tell others of your child’s disorder. Work with your child’s healthcare provider and schools to develop a treatment plan.

Reach out for support from local community services. Being in touch with other parents who have a child with a speech sound disorder may be helpful.

When should I call my child’s healthcare provider?

Call your child’s healthcare provider if your child has:

Symptoms that don’t get better, or get worse

New symptoms

Key points about speech sound disorders in children

A speech sound disorder means a child has trouble saying certain sounds and words past the expected age.

A child with an articulation disorder has problems making certain sounds the right way.

A child with phonological process disorder regularly makes certain word speech mistakes.

The cause of this problem is often unknown.

A speech-language pathologist can help diagnose and treat a speech sound disorder.

Tips to help you get the most from a visit to your child’s healthcare provider:

Know the reason for the visit and what you want to happen.

Before your visit, write down questions you want answered.

At the visit, write down the name of a new diagnosis, and any new medicines, treatments, or tests. Also write down any new instructions your provider gives you for your child.

Know why a new medicine or treatment is prescribed and how it will help your child. Also know what the side effects are.

Ask if your child’s condition can be treated in other ways.

Know why a test or procedure is recommended and what the results could mean.

Know what to expect if your child does not take the medicine or have the test or procedure.

If your child has a follow-up appointment, write down the date, time, and purpose for that visit.

Know how you can contact your child’s provider after office hours. This is important if your child becomes ill and you have questions or need advice.

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How to Improve Your Clarity of Speech

Last Updated: December 4, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Devin Fisher, CCC-SLP . Devin Fisher is a Speech-Language Pathologist based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Devin specializes in speech and language therapy for individuals with aphasia, swallowing, voice, articulation, phonological social-pragmatic, motor speech, and fluency disorders. Furthermore, Devin treats cognitive-communication impairment, language delay, and Parkinson's Disease. He holds a BS and MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Fontbonne University. Devin also runs a related website and blog that offers speech-language therapy resources and information for clinicians and clients. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,191,718 times.

If you mumble a lot when speaking or find that people don't understand a lot of what you are saying, you can take steps to improve your clarity of speech. Whether you have to give a speech, have a job that requires you speak publicly, or simply want to improve your overall speaking patterns, there are several methods you can employ to speak more clearly.

Improving Your Diction

• Start off slowly and gradually build up until you can say them at a normal conversational speed. When speaking them, exaggerate the words, making your tongue, jaw, and lips work hard. As you become surer of them, begin to project your voice and exaggerate the words more. This helps you gain skill and strengthens the muscles in your mouth for speech.
• You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York. (Repeat).
• Red leather, yellow leather. (Repeat).
• While we were walking, we were watching window washers wash Washington's windows with warm washing water.

• You can also record yourself talking and then play it back while taking note of where you may mumble or not speak clearly.

• This exercise can tire your jaw, which will help you learn to relax it, but you shouldn't do this for too long so you don't get sore.
• You may also want to have a napkin with you as you produce a lot of saliva with this method.

• Are you giving a speech that is supposed to excite people? They may have a harder time understanding you if you are monotone or disinterested.
• Your tone, whether you're excited, informative, or conversational will affect how people pay attention to your speech, and can improve your clarity.
• Tone is everything from your attitude when speaking to the pitch of your voice. Take note of how high or low your voice is when speaking.

• End your sentences on a strong note with authority. Speak with declarative statements and invoke confidence. [3] X Research source
• A lot of times uptalk happens when we don't feel confident in what we are saying. Maybe someone asks you what you do and you respond with “I'm a designer?” This is uptalk and it makes you sound almost apologetic. Instead, own your response and statements. “I'm a designer.”

Taking Your Time While Speaking

• Oftentimes, speaking in public can make people nervous. If you find yourself nervous and rushing, try to remember that it's ok to slow down. If you are breathing correctly this will help you stay calm and parse out your words.
• Also keep in mind that people want to hear what you have to say. Your words have value, so give them a chance to hear them.
• The human ear can pick up on a lot very quickly but by making sure that you finish each word completely before starting the next one, you'll create enough space between words so that everyone can understand you properly.

• One way to ensure that you're getting proper breaths is to put one hand on your belly and one on your chest while breathing. You want the hand on your belly to move while your chest stays in place. Breathing with your belly ensures that you get a true full breath that will allow you speak with a full voice. [4] X Trustworthy Source Harvard Business Review Online and print journal covering topics related to business management practices Go to source
• Speak at the top of your breath. Once you've inhaled properly, begin speaking and think about your words as your breath slowly and steadily leaves you. This allows your breath to support your words and will allow you to naturally take your time.

• Taking a moment to swallow will not only keep your mouth clear, but it will give you time to pause and breathe again.
• Take a moment to swallow when you finish a sentence or thought, not during the middle of a sentence. This will also give you a moment to prepare what you're going to say next.

• Clarity isn't just about forming words properly, it's also about getting your message or point of view out as precisely as possible. Oftentimes this means knowing what you want to say so you don't have to backtrack or fill in your sentences with “um”, “like”, or “uh”.

• Some actors will use this method to memorize their lines, as getting up and moving can help you remember what you need to say. Practice your speech and say one word for every step you take.
• This may seem arduous and slow, but by taking one step for every word you'll learn to slow down. You don't have to speak this slowly in your speech or normal conversations but being able to feel comfortable going at a slower pace will improve your speech clarity and allow you to further take your time.

• Words like “Squirrel”, “Brewery”, “Phenomenon”, and “February” are considered some of the hardest words to pronounce in the English language because they may be spelled unlike they sound. [5] X Research source
• To help you learn to pronounce difficult words try spelling the words out phonetically.
• Once you feel comfortable with trouble words you will be able to speak with confidence and take your time.

Exercising Your Muscles

• Make wide chewing motions while humming gently.
• Stretch every muscle in your jaw and face. Open your mouth as wide as possible (as if you were about to yawn), while moving your jaw in circles, and sideways.
• Open your mouth wide, as in the previous exercise, and shut it again. Repeat 5 times.
• Make a buzzing sound with your lips together, but don't clench your jaw.

• For best speech clarity you should stand straight with your shoulders back and your weight evenly distributed.
• Do some shoulder rolls and standing side bends to help with your posture. [7] X Trustworthy Source Cleveland Clinic Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals Go to source These simple exercises will also help you with your breathing, and you can even do your jaw strengthening techniques while you stretch.

Stephanie Jeret

Use a mirror to check mouth positioning and help articulate sounds clearly. Using a mirror during speech therapy lets you check your mouth's positioning, which can help with articulation disorders. For lisps, you can see if your tongue is in the right spot. For "b" sounds, you can check your lips are closed. Seeing yourself helps make sure you're accurately saying sounds, improving clarity.

• Even if you're not singing, you can do some scales or just hum. Try singing your tongue twisters too.
• Do some “Whooos!” going up and down. Picture your voice like a ferris wheel going round and round.
• Hum and pat your chest. This can help knock out any phlegm you may have.

• When you clench your teeth you're causing a lot of strain on yourself and it can be a sign of stress. And speaking with a clenched jaw will prevent you from opening your mouth enough to enunciate and speak clearly.
• If you find yourself clenching your jaw, practice some of the warmups, and take a moment to take a deep breath slowly exhaling by letting your breath buff your cheeks out, as if you're letting air out of a balloon.

Expert Q&A

• Say "EE"-Pull the corners of your lips back and say "Eeeeee...." Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Be confident and stay relaxed while talking to anyone. That helps you to get more clarity in your speech. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• You may feel a little weird or even amused while doing some of these exercises, but the more you practice them, the easier and rewarding it will become Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• When working the jaw and mouth, don't push yourself so far that you hurt yourself. If you feel pain, relax your face a bit. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWlI4NsQYIQ
• ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/caveman-logic/201010/the-uptalk-epidemic
• ↑ https://www.scienceofpeople.com/speak-with-confidence/
• ↑ https://hbr.org/2015/06/breathing-is-the-key-to-persuasive-public-speaking
• ↑ https://grammarvocab.com/difficult-words-in-english/
• ↑ https://web.mst.edu/~toast/docs/Gestures.pdf
• ↑ https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/4485-back-health-and-posture

About This Article

To improve your clarity of speech, start by taking your time when you’re speaking. Focus on controlling your breath, and start a sentence when you have completely breathed in. If you tend to speak quickly, focus on talking slowly and deliberately so that others can hear what you have to say. If you sometimes mumble or are misheard, try swallowing your saliva before you start talking. To improve your diction, try saying tongue twisters and reading aloud to yourself. For more tips, like how to exercise your mouth muscles to improve clarity, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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.css-1qrtm5m{display:block;margin-bottom:8px;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:14px;line-height:1.5714285714285714;-webkit-letter-spacing:-0.35px;-moz-letter-spacing:-0.35px;-ms-letter-spacing:-0.35px;letter-spacing:-0.35px;font-weight:300;color:#606F7B;}@media (min-width:600px){.css-1qrtm5m{font-size:16px;line-height:1.625;-webkit-letter-spacing:-0.5px;-moz-letter-spacing:-0.5px;-ms-letter-spacing:-0.5px;letter-spacing:-0.5px;}} Best practices 6 techniques for clear and compelling speech

by Simon Lancaster • October 26, 2021

Politicians and other public figures deploy particular rhetorical devices to communicate their ideas and to convince people, and it’s time that we all learned how to use them, says speechwriter Simon Lancaster.

There is a secret language of leadership — and it’s one that anyone can learn, says UK speechwriter Simon Lancaster in a TEDxVerona talk . He has made a career out of crafting addresses, remarks and talks for top politicians and CEOs of international corporations such as Nestle and Unilever, and continues to do so . Refreshingly, rather than clinging Gollum-like to what he’s learned and knows, he believes everyone should have access to the same tools that he and his colleagues use.

By tools, he’s not talking about special software or databases — he’s referring to rhetoric. Rhetoric has its roots in ancient Greece ( think: Aristotle ) as clear, convincing speech was seen as an essential component of communication and participation in a democracy. Instruction in rhetoric remained part of the curriculum in many secondary schools in Europe and the US until the 19th century.

“The reason we all used to learn rhetoric at school was because it was seen as a basic entry point to society,” explains Lancaster, who is based in London. “How could society be fair, unless everyone had equal ability to articulate and express themselves? Without it, your legal systems, your political systems, your financial systems are not fair.”

Yes, the power to persuade is just that — power.

Lancaster states there is only one school in England that still teaches rhetoric: Eton, the alma mater of 20 Prime Ministers (including current officeholder, Boris Johnson). He adds, “It should be of intense concern to all of us that education in this has been narrowed to a very small … elite.”

While Lancaster can’t send the world to Eton, he can share the 6 rhetorical building blocks needed to speak persuasively. Here they are:

Building block #1: Breathless sentences or phrases

Barack Obama gave an acceptance speech for the ages in 2008 after he was first elected president of the US. He spoke vividly of the challenges that lay ahead for the country: “Even as we celebrate tonight, we know that the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: Two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”

Lancaster wants us to pay special attention to the last part of that sentence, the “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century” part. Yes, it’s a stressful mouthful — not just because of the content but because of how it’s delivered. Short, staccato phrases like these mimic how we speak when we’re anxious and in a hurry. This technique helps communicate urgency to an audience.

Building block #2: Speaking in 3s

What’s the other rhetorical trick underlying “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century”? The rule of 3.

Humans are accustomed to things coming in 3s: whether it’s judges on American Idol , bowls of porridge in a fairy tale , or sides in a triangle. Our minds and ears have been trained by speeches (Abraham Lincoln’s “government of the people, for the people, by the people”); slogans (reduce, reuse, recycle); and book titles ( Elizabeth Gilbert ‘s memoir Eat, Pray, Love ). “You put your argument in 3s, it makes it sound more compelling, more convincing, more credible. Just like that,” says Lancaster.

Recall British PM Winston Churchill’s stirring triplet from the speech he delivered to Parliament on June 4, 1940: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the fields and in the streets.” Besides the rule of 3, he gave the line additional rhetorical firepower by repeating the opening clause.

Lancaster explains, “When we are emotional about things, our perspective distorts, and this then manifests in our speech. So this is the authentic sound of passion.” Doing this can catch an audience in the speaker’s enthusiasm.

Building block #3: Balanced statements

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” It’s a line from president John F Kennedy’s inspiring 1961 inaugural address , and one that’s stood the test of time. Why? Its balanced construction, says Lancaster. “If the sentence sounds as if it’s balanced, we imagine that the underlying thinking is balanced and our brain is tuned to like things that are balanced.”

Grouping balanced statements in 3s further amplifies the effect:

“We’re looking to the future, not the past.

We’re working together, not against one another.

We’re thinking about what we can do, not what we can’t.”

Building block #4: Metaphor

According to Lancaster, people use a metaphor once every 16 words on average ( side question: Where do statistics like this even come from? ). He declares, “Metaphor is probably the most powerful piece of political communication.”

Metaphors are rich in imagery and awake immediate feelings in people, so it follows that politicians love them and sprinkle them like birdseed (“like birdseed” is a simile, not a metaphor , and similes are other strong rhetorical tools to have in your kit). At times, they can employ them to point us to an ideal or aspiration. For example, in his farewell address , president Ronald Reagan movingly invoked America, h/t to John Winthrop, as a “shining city upon the hill.”

Too often, however, metaphors are used to manipulate, incite and denigrate. Politicians and talking heads could have called the 2015-16 refugee encampment in Calais, France, a “refugee camp” or “refugee settlement.” Instead, they deployed this loaded word: “jungle.” Lancaster says,“It’s planting in your mind the idea that migrants are like wild animals to be afraid of, that they are dangerous, that they represent a threat to you. This is a very dangerous metaphor because this is the language of genocide; it’s the language of hate.” Unfortunately, media outlets picked up “Calais jungle” and used it as their shorthand identifier of the camp, extending the metaphor’s reach.

Building block #5: Exaggeration

In the same way that we get breathless when they’re speaking with passion, our speech distorts in another significant way. We exaggerate. So when we’re sitting down to a meal after having eaten little that day, we tell our family and friends: “I love this pizza.” But when we say things like this to each other, we also realize it’s a bit of distortion: We do not love the pizza in the same way that we love our children or parents or the planet, and everyone present knows that.

Similarly, politicians and leaders might say things like “I’ve waited my whole life to say these words” or “I will work to achieve this with all my heart and soul.” These utterances are indeed over the top, but because they’re acceptable and even welcome since they echo how we speak.

Building block #6: Rhyming

Starting from childhood, many of us are taught concepts through rhymes — such as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” or “i before e except after c.” With their musicality, they’re a pleasing informational snack that sticks in memories like a musical earworm .

Rhymes can seem corny, but sprinkled in at the right time, they can be incredibly potent. We all remember the pithy “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” from defense attorney Johnnie Cochran during O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial.

Rhyming’s appeal comes “down to what linguists talk about as the processing fluency of language — how easy is language to swallow?” says Lancaster. “If you speak using long words and long sentences, it’s like giving someone a steak and asking them to swallow it. Whereas if you give them something pithy, like a rhyme, it’s like asking them to just sip on some Prosecco.”

These six tricks can help us speak directly to people’s instinctive, emotional and logical brains, and they are extremely effective , says Lancaster. There’s no need for us to be in the public eye to use them in order to sway others or make our words stay in people’s minds. Even if we never employ them in our own lives, it’s equally important for us to recognize them. Politicians, con artists and advertisers utilize them to win votes, spread opinions, or sell products people don’t need. By being alert to these rhetorical devices, we can be better citizens and consumers.

This post was originally published on TED Ideas . It’s part of the “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

© 2024 TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. Please note that the TED Talks Usage policy does not apply to this content and is not subject to our creative commons license.

8 Articulation Exercises for Sounding Clearer and Smarter

Hrideep barot.

• Public Speaking

In the realm of effective communication, the power of clear and articulate speech cannot be underestimated. Whether you’re aiming to excel in professional presentations, impress in social interactions, or simply enhance your overall communication skills, mastering the art of articulation exercises is the key to success. So, prepare to dive into the world of Articulation Exercises – a pathway to sounding not only clearer but undeniably smarter!

What Is Articulation?

What are the six manners of articulation, what are the 4 types of articulation errors, articulate speaking exercises:, how can i improve my articulation to sound smarter, how can i improve my articulation at home, how do actors speak so clearly.

Articulation refers to the clarity and precision with which speech sounds are produced by an individual. It involves the way we pronounce and enunciate words, making them distinct and easily understood. Effective articulation encompasses the proper formation of consonant and vowel sounds, the rhythm and flow of speech, and the ability to avoid slurring, mumbling, or other speech impediments.

Accurate articulation is crucial in effective communication, as it ensures that your message is conveyed clearly and comprehensively. Poor articulation can lead to misunderstandings, miscommunication, and reduced confidence in your speech. Articulation exercises are a valuable tool for improving this aspect of speech and can significantly enhance your ability to convey your thoughts and ideas with precision and clarity.

Clear articulation and effective communication are vital skills for professional success as well. Studies have shown that employees who can express their ideas clearly tend to advance more quickly in their careers.

Let’s dive deeper into the six manners of articulation, which are crucial for understanding the production of speech sounds in human language.

1. Plosives (Stops):

Plosives , also known as stops, are sounds produced by a complete blockage of the airflow in the vocal tract, followed by a sudden release. This results in an explosive sound. The main plosive sounds in English are /p/ (as in “pat”), /b/ (as in “bat”), /t/ (as in “tag”), /d/ (as in “dog”), /k/ (as in “cat”), and /g/ (as in “go”).

2. Fricatives:

  Fricatives are created by narrowing the airflow in the vocal tract, causing friction as the air passes through this narrow opening. This friction produces a continuous, hissing or buzzing sound. Common English fricatives include /f/ (as in “fan”), /v/ (as in “van”), /s/ (as in “sit”), /z/ (as in “zip”), /sh/ (as in “shoe”), and /h/ (as in “hat”).

3. Affricates:

  Affricates are a combination of plosive and fricative elements. They begin with a complete closure in the vocal tract and are released into a fricative sound. The English affricates are /ch/ (as in “chat”) and /j/ (as in “judge”).

Nasal sounds occur when the airflow is directed through the nasal passages while the mouth remains closed. This results in a distinctive nasal quality to the sound. English nasals include /m/ (as in “man”), /n/ (as in “no”), and /ng/ (as in “sing”).

5. Liquids:

  Liquids are produced with a partial closure in the vocal tract that allows the airflow to move smoothly. The two main liquid sounds in English are /l/ (as in “love”), which is produced by touching the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue, and /r/ (as in “red”), which involves a more complex tongue movement.

6. Glides (Semivowels):

Glides, also known as semivowels, are sounds produced with a minimal constriction of the vocal tract. They are often characterized by a smooth transition from one sound to another. In English, common glide sounds are /w/ (as in “we”) and /y/ (as in “yes”).

Understanding these manners of articulation is essential for phonetics, phonology, and language learning, as it enables individuals to recognize and produce the full range of speech sounds found in different languages. It’s a fundamental aspect of linguistics and contributes to effective pronunciation and communication.

Ineffective communication can lead to misunderstandings, costing companies an estimated $37 billion annually, according to a survey by the Holmes Report.

Articulation errors which are one of the main reasons behind ineffective communication refer to the mispronunciation or incorrect production of speech sounds, and they can be classified into four main types:

1. Substitution Errors:

    Substitution errors occur when a speech sound is replaced by another sound. For example, substituting the /th/ sound with /f/ or /v, as in saying “fing” instead of “thing,” is a common substitution error. Substitutions can also involve replacing one sound with a completely different sound, such as using /t/ instead of /k/, as in saying “tup” instead of “cup.”

2. Omission Errors:

   Omission errors involve leaving out a speech sound from a word. This can result in words being pronounced incompletely or unclearly. For instance, omitting the final sound in “cat” to say “ca” or omitting the middle sound in “button” to say “buton” are examples of omission errors.

3. Distortion Errors:

    Distortion errors occur when a speech sound is produced but is not articulated correctly. This often results in a distorted or altered sound. For instance, the /s/ sound may be produced with a lisp, making it sound more like /th/. Distortion errors can make speech sound unclear or different from the intended pronunciation.

4. Addition Errors:

Addition errors involve inserting extra speech sounds into words. This can lead to speech that sounds cluttered or less intelligible. For example, adding an extra vowel sound, “puh-lay” instead of “play” is an addition error.

Articulation errors can be common in children as they develop their speech and language skills, and they may persist into adulthood if not addressed. 

Articulation difficulties, if left unaddressed, can lead to a lack of self-confidence, social isolation, and challenges in educational and professional settings, particularly for individuals with speech disorders.

Speech therapy and targeted articulation exercises are often used to correct these errors and improve speech clarity. We will take a look at these in the next section.

Let’s delve deeper into each articulation exercise along with their examples for better application:

1. Sibilant Sounds Exercise

This exercise is designed to improve the clear pronunciation of sibilant sounds, such as /s/ and /z/.

How to Do It- Practice tongue placement and airflow by repeating words and phrases containing sibilant sounds. Examples include: “She sells seashells by the seashore,” “Zoe’s zeppelin zigzagged through the sky,” or “Sam sees seven silly snakes.”

2. Minimal Pairs Practice

  Minimal pairs exercises help you distinguish between similar sounds, improving articulation and speech clarity.

 How to Do It-  Work on word pairs that differ by one sound, like “ship/sheep,” “thick/sick,” “pat/bat,” “hat/hot,” or “pen/pan.” Pronounce each word pair distinctly, focusing on the unique sound difference.

3. Vowel Articulation Exercise

This exercise concentrates on vowel sounds to enhance overall speech clarity.

How to Do It-  Practice articulating vowel sounds with precision. Stretch your lips and tongue to pronounce “ee” as in “see,” and exaggerate the articulation of “ah” as in “father.” Try similar exercises for all vowel sounds.

4. Articulation Bingo

  Articulation bingo is an engaging game to reinforce speech sound articulation.

How to Do It- Create bingo cards filled with words that contain the target speech sound. For example, if you’re working on the /r/ sound, include words like “rabbit,” “red,” “rain,” and “run.” Call out the words, and players mark the corresponding words on their bingo cards.

5. Consonant Cluster Exercise: 

This exercise aids in pronouncing challenging consonant clusters with clarity.

How to Do It-  Practice words with consonant clusters, such as “splendid,” “crisp,” “strength,” “twelve,” or “sprint.” Pay close attention to articulating each consonant sound distinctly in the cluster.

6. Voice Recording and Analysis

Recording and analyzing your speech helps identify and correct articulation errors.

How to Do It-  Record yourself reading passages, tongue twisters, or practicing specific speech sounds. Listen to the recordings and analyze your articulation. Focus on areas where you may slur or mispronounce sounds, and work on improving them.

7. Singing and Vocal Warm-Ups

Singing and vocal warm-ups can improve overall speech clarity, resonance, and breath control.

How to Do It- Engage in vocal warm-ups and singing exercises used by professional singers. For example, practice scales, vocal exercises like lip trills, and sing songs with clear and precise articulation. This helps improve control and precision in your speech.

Consistency is key when working on articulation. Regularly practicing these exercises will help you achieve greater clarity and precision in your speech, making it easier for others to understand you. Additionally, if you have specific articulation challenges, a speech therapist can provide tailored exercises and guidance to address your unique needs.

8. Blowing Excercise From Speech Therapy

The Blowing Exercise is a useful exercise to enhance breath control, vocal strength, and articulation. It is particularly beneficial for individuals with speech disorders, as well as those who wish to improve their overall speech quality. This exercise focuses on controlled exhalation and can help develop strong breath support for clear and sustained speech. Here’s how to perform the Blowing Exercise:

How to Do It- 

1. Take a Deep Breath

Begin by taking a deep breath through your nose, filling your lungs as completely as possible. Focus on diaphragmatic breathing, allowing your diaphragm to expand as you inhale.

2. Choose Your Sound

Select a sound to produce during exhalation. Common choices include the “sh” sound, as in “shh,” or the “f” sound, as in “fff.”

3. Exhale Slowly

Exhale the air slowly and steadily while producing the chosen sound. It’s important to make this a prolonged and controlled exhalation.

4. Use a Straw (Optional)

For an added challenge and more precise control, you can use a straw. Exhale through the straw while making the chosen sound.

Perform the exercise multiple times, focusing on maintaining steady airflow and control during exhalation. Ensure that you don’t run out of breath before you complete the sound.

6. Increase Difficulty

As you become more comfortable with this exercise, you can increase the difficulty by extending the duration of your exhalation and maintaining a clear, steady sound.

Variations- 

Pitch Variation

 You can vary the pitch of the sound during exhalation. Start with a low pitch and gradually increase to a higher pitch, then return to a lower pitch. This variation helps with vocal control and range.

Loudness Variation

Experiment with the loudness of the sound. Begin with a soft sound and gradually increase the volume while maintaining clarity. This variation enhances control over vocal intensity.

This exercise strengthens the respiratory and speech muscles, helping you maintain better breath support during speaking. It enhances vocal control, making it easier to sustain speech over longer sentences and phrases. The exercise helps improve overall speech quality by promoting controlled and clear exhalation.

Consistency is key to reaping the full benefits of the Blowing Exercise. Incorporate it into your daily practice routine, and you’ll find that your breath control, vocal strength, and articulation improve, contributing to clearer and more effective communication.

Improving your articulation to sound smarter is not just about using big words or sounding pretentious; it’s about conveying your thoughts clearly and effectively. 

1. Improving your Vocabulary 

Surface Lexicon : This includes the everyday words and expressions that you use for casual conversation. A robust surface lexicon allows you to communicate effectively in various situations, making your speech clear and accessible.

Deeper Lexicon : Your deeper lexicon consists of more specialized, nuanced vocabulary. It includes words that are particularly apt for expressing complex ideas, emotions, or specific concepts. Expanding your deeper lexicon adds depth and precision to your speech, making you sound more intelligent.

For example, while you might use simple words like “happy” or “sad” from your surface lexicon, your deeper lexicon could include words like “ecstatic,” “melancholic,” or “elated,” which convey a richer range of emotions.

2. Take More Time Before You Speak

Taking a brief pause before responding has multiple benefits. It allows you to gather your thoughts, organize your ideas, and choose your words more carefully.

This thoughtful approach to speech shows that you value the conversation and the person you are communicating with. It also indicates that you’re confident in your ability to express yourself clearly.

3. Pruning the Filler Words

Eliminating filler words is an important step in improving articulation. Filler words often creep into our speech unconsciously and can detract from our message.

By consciously working to reduce or eliminate fillers, you train yourself to express your thoughts with greater clarity and confidence. This, in turn, enhances the impression of intelligence in your speech.

4. Your Input Creates Your Output – Intake Quality Language So You Can Speak Better:

 High-quality input, such as reading well-written books, and articles, and listening to articulate speakers, helps you absorb the rhythm and nuances of effective communication.

Exposure to well-articulated language enriches your vocabulary and allows you to model your own speech after excellent examples.

5. Your Words Have a Melody to Them – Your Voice Is Supposed to Be Modeled to Sound Articulate:

Beyond the words themselves, the way you deliver your speech matters. The tone, pitch, and intonation of your voice contribute to the overall impression you make.

Pay attention to your voice’s melody. Avoid monotone speech by adding variation in pitch to emphasize important points and maintain listener engagement.

Remember, improving articulation and sounding smarter is a gradual process. It requires mindfulness and consistent practice. By honing your vocabulary, adopting thoughtful pauses, eliminating filler words, exposing yourself to high-quality language, and refining your vocal delivery, you can enhance your articulation and leave a lasting impression of intelligence and eloquence in your interactions.

Certainly, let’s elaborate on each of these important and effective ways to improve your articulation at home:

1. Practice Pronunciation

When practicing pronunciation , focus on articulating each sound in a word distinctly. Pay attention to how your tongue, lips, and vocal cords should be positioned for each sound.

Start by pronouncing common words and phrases clearly and slowly. Gradually increase the complexity of the words as you become more proficient.

You can also use pronunciation guides, dictionaries, or online resources to learn the correct pronunciation of words you find challenging.

2. Slow Down

Speaking at a moderate pace allows you to be more deliberate in your articulation. Rushing through speech can lead to unclear pronunciation.

Take your time to ensure that you are pronouncing each sound accurately. Slower speech also allows you to think ahead and plan your articulation.

3. Articulation Exercises

Tongue twisters are a fantastic tool for improving articulation. Repeat them slowly and accurately to challenge your speech muscles and refine your pronunciation.

Articulation drills involve repeating specific sounds or words to target problem areas. For example, if you have trouble with the “th” sound, practice words like “this” and “that.” You can use all the articulation exercises provided above as well.

4. Read Aloud

Reading aloud regularly helps you practice articulating words and sentences clearly. Choose a variety of materials, such as books, articles, or poems.

While reading, focus on articulating the beginning, middle, and ending sounds of words. This exercise builds your awareness of sound placement.

5. Visualize

Visualization is a technique where you mentally picture the proper tongue and lip positions needed to pronounce sounds accurately.

This can be particularly helpful for challenging sounds. By visualizing the correct tongue and lip placement, you can reinforce proper articulation.

6. Practice Regularly

Consistency is key to improving articulation. Set aside a specific time each day for your articulation practice.

Over time, regular practice will strengthen your speech muscles and improve your ability to articulate clearly.

It was very well said in this quote “ Communication works for those who work at it.” – John Powell

Remember, the key to success in improving articulation is practice and repetition. As you practice these techniques, you’ll become more conscious of your speech patterns and gradually develop greater clarity in your pronunciation. If you encounter persistent difficulties or have specific speech concerns, seeking guidance from a speech therapist may also be beneficial.

Actors are known for their exceptional ability to speak clearly, projecting their voices and enunciating words with precision. Achieving this level of clarity in speech involves a combination of training, techniques, and practice. Here’s how actors speak so clearly:

1. Voice Training

   Actors often undergo voice training to develop their vocal range, resonance, and control. Voice coaches help actors understand the mechanics of their vocal apparatus and how to use it effectively. This training includes exercises to strengthen vocal cords and control pitch, volume, and tone.

2. Breath Control

   Proper breath control is essential for clear and sustained speech. Actors learn diaphragmatic breathing, which allows them to take deep breaths and control the flow of air as they speak. This ensures that they have enough breath to sustain long lines and project their voices.

   Actors engage in a variety of articulation exercises to improve their diction and pronunciation. These exercises include tongue twisters, vocal warm-ups, and drills that target specific speech sounds. The goal is to develop precise articulation and the ability to pronounce words.

4. Enunciation and Clarity

   Enunciation is the clear and distinct pronunciation of words. Actors practice articulating each sound in a word to ensure it is easily understood by the audience. They also focus on clarity in vowel and consonant sounds, as well as proper stress and intonation patterns.

5. Phonetic Transcription

   Some actors use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to understand and learn the correct pronunciation of words. This system provides a standardized way to represent speech sounds, helping actors accurately reproduce the sounds of various languages or dialects.

6. Vocal Warm-Ups

   Before performances, actors engage in vocal warm-up routines to prepare their voices for the demands of speaking and singing. These exercises can include humming, sirening, and lip trills to relax and energize the vocal apparatus.

7. Text Analysis

   Actors analyze the scripts they are working with to understand the context, meaning, and emotions associated with their lines. This deep understanding of the material helps them convey it with clarity and authenticity.

8. Projection

   Projection involves the ability to make your voice carry throughout a performance space. Actors are trained to project their voices to reach every corner of a theater, even without microphones. This requires breath support, vocal resonance, and controlled volume.

9. Acting Techniques

   Beyond vocal techniques, actors use acting methods to enhance their clarity. Techniques like the Meisner technique or Stanislavski system help actors connect emotionally to their characters, which can lead to a more authentic and clear delivery of lines.

10. Rehearsal and Repetition

    Actors spend countless hours rehearsing their lines and performances. The more they practice, the more comfortable they become with the text and the better they can articulate it clearly.

In summary, actors speak clearly through a combination of vocal training, articulation exercises, breath control, and the use of acting techniques. Their ability to convey their characters and the story effectively while maintaining clarity is a testament to their dedication and rigorous training.

In conclusion, articulation exercises play a vital role in improving speech clarity and precision. The exercises we discussed, such as the Sibilant Sounds Exercise and the Blowing Exercise from Speech Therapy, offer valuable tools for honing articulation skills. Whether you aim to master specific sounds, enhance overall speech quality, or address speech disorders, consistent practice is the key to success.

By dedicating time to these exercises, you can develop stronger breath control, improve muscle coordination, and articulate sounds with greater clarity. As you progress, you’ll find that your communication becomes more effective and intelligible, opening doors to better professional and social interactions.

Remember that working on your articulation is a continuous journey, and the effort you invest will yield significant improvements in your ability to convey your thoughts and ideas with clarity and precision. So, practice regularly, stay patient, and enjoy the benefits of articulate and confident speech.

To know more about communication tips and strategies you can reach out to us here .

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Synonyms of unclear

• as in vague
• as in faint
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Thesaurus Definition of unclear

Synonyms & Similar Words

• enigmatical
• unintelligible
• undetermined
• indeterminate
• inexplicable
• inscrutable
• indistinguishable
• confounding
• unfathomable
• undefinable
• bewildering
• obfuscatory

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• understandable
• straightforward
• unambiguous
• unequivocal
• comprehensible
• intelligible
• plainspoken
• unmistakable
• openhearted
• well - defined
• incomprehensible
• indiscernible
• inappreciable
• indecipherable
• hieroglyphic
• hieroglyphical

Thesaurus Entries Near unclear

uncleanness

Cite this Entry

“Unclear.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unclear. Accessed 14 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on unclear

Nglish: Translation of unclear for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of unclear for Arabic Speakers

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Improving Pronunciation: Exercises and Tools for Clear Speech

The pronunciation of words has changed over time, but English spelling has not. For language learners, pronunciation presents a significant obstacle. However, accurate pronunciation goes beyond just “how words and letters sound.” There are other equally significant aspects to take into account as well, such as intonation (how the voice tone changes during a sentence, going up or down), stress (which words and syllables carry more of the weight when we speak), and connected speech (how words can sound different when they are joined together in natural speech). Good pronunciation is aided by all of these characteristics, but don’t mistake them for accent.

There are a huge variety of accents in the UK, the USA, and other English-speaking nations, yet all of these accents are deemed to have correct pronunciation. You don’t have to sound British or American when learning English. Being understood is more important than sounding like you were born in New York or London. Actually, a lot of natural English speakers enjoy listening to English with a Spanish, Italian, or French accent! How can you therefore improve your pronunciation so that you can maintain your regional accent while yet being understood by others around the world? Here are the top six suggestions to help you practise and improve your pronunciation.

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The most obvious technique to enhance your own pronunciation is to listen to cases of real speech. There are several methods to achieve this, like seeing a movie in its original language, listening to podcasts in English about a subject that interests you, or even just listening to music. Try to pay attention to how others employ intonation. ‘Shadowing’ can be used to add to this. Shadowing entails hearing a brief sentence or phrase spoken, then repeating it while attempting to mimic the sounds, intonation, and word stress. You should also pay attention to how your mouth and tongue move when speaking.

Record Yourself

Once you’ve gotten some practise shadowing, you might want to videotape yourself speaking. You could do this by either repeating a brief phrase you’ve heard or by doing a larger speaking assignment from a coursebook, such describing a picture. Record yourself again after practising any difficult words or noises that you heard when you listened to the recording. Can you see a difference?

Get to know the Phonemic Chart

A graphic representation of various sounds is provided by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It may sound unusual and appear as though you are learning a completely new language, but it can truly aid in your pronunciation. Every dictionary includes a phonetic transcription of each word so you may learn how to pronounce it. This is particularly useful for English because, as we’ve already seen, the spelling doesn’t necessarily match the sound. The words “thought,” “through,” “tough,” and “ought” all include the letter “ough.” Consider them. It is impossible to guess how to pronounce those words without assistance.

Use a Dictionary

There are many online dictionaries where you may click and hear the word being uttered, in addition to printed dictionaries that will offer you a phonetic transcription of a word.

Do some Exercise!

Our mouths adjust to the diverse sounds that different languages make. We have a really hard time physically producing some sounds because they don’t occur in our native tongue. It’s crucial to train your lips to know how to produce new sounds; just like learning a new sport or dancing routine, the more you practise, the easier it gets.

Get to know your minimal pairs

Minimal pairs are words with nearly identical pronunciations that differ only in one sound, as in the case of ship and sheep. The length of the vowel distinguishes the sounds /I/ in “ship” from /i: in “sheep.” Many language learners find it challenging to hear because it appears in so many distinct terms. Being able to distinguish between sounds when you hear them is the first step.

The Best Exercises to Improve Your Pronunciation

It’s time to find some workouts and techniques to improve your pronunciation now that you know what’s involved. Again, keep in mind that the majority of tactics call for you to videotape yourself.

Basic recording strategy

Look for something you can read aloud, like Shakespeare. Listen to a recording of yourself that you made with a microphone. Yes, hearing your own voice might be strange or unsettling. But if you want to get better, you must do it. Pay close attention to your weak points (such as the ‘th’ sounds, halting in the appropriate spot, etc.) and make note of where work needs to be done. To make the recording better, do it again. Keep in mind that you don’t require an elaborate or pricey microphone. Your phone’s or laptop’s microphone will work just fine.

Shadowing is the practise of speaking immediately following another person, much like a shadow. You could, for instance, follow along with a TED lecture or audio by repeating every word the speaker says around 30 seconds after they say it. You can improve your pace, word stress, sentence stress, and chunking by doing this. This should be done with a speaker who speaks at a slow to medium tempo. Try shadowing the second time you listen to make it simpler by listening the first time without it.

Using Transcripts

You will work to make our pronunciation as natural and fluid as you can with this activity. You must select a podcast with a transcript for this exercise.

Step 1: First, give the audio a listen at least once.

Step 2: Read the transcript aloud while recording yourself. Feel free to follow the tempo and mannerisms of the original speaker.

Step 3: Play it back and compare it to the original recording in step three. What’d you think? Give yourself a score of 1 through 10.

An alternative strategy is to record oneself reading the transcript before listening to the audio. Try to picture how a native speaker might pronounce the text while you record. What phrases would they emphasise? What audio might be related?

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Pay attention to your tongue

Your tongue is where rice and lice vary most significantly. Your tongue is moved to produce sounds while you talk. You do it without thinking, so it’s likely that you weren’t even aware of that. It’s a good idea to pay attention to what your tongue is doing in order to improve your English pronunciation.

The letters “L,” “R,” and the sound “TH” are among those that are challenging for non-native speakers to produce. It’s all in the tongue how to pronounce them right!

• To make the “L” sound – The top of your mouth, right behind your teeth, and the rear of your front teeth should be in contact with your tongue.
• To make the “R” sound – You shouldn’t let your tongue rest on your top of mouth. Reposition your tongue such that it is close to where it would normally be if you were not speaking. Your lips should be slightly rounded when you make the sound. Say the word “right”  a few times. You should feel air blowing between your tongue and the top of your mouth as you speak. You should also feel your lips get a little rounder when you make the sound.
• Now for the “TH” sound – Put your tongue in between your top and bottom teeth to produce this sound. The sound is created by letting some air escape between your tongue and teeth as you exhale. Your tongue should protrude slightly between your teeth. utter the word “think.” Several times, say it. Ensure that your tongue is inserted between your teeth.

Add stress to sounds and words

English is a language with emphasis. Thus, some words and sounds have a greater significance than others. When you speak out, you may hear this. As an illustration, the word “introduce” is spoken with emphasis at the end, as in “in-tro-DUCE.” The meaning of a word can occasionally alter depending on where the stress is placed. Out loud, say the word “present.” If you used the word “Present,” you are referring to a noun that either denotes “this very second” or “a gift.” If you responded with the word “preSENT,” you are using a verb that meaning “to give or show.”

Keep in mind that the first syllable of most two-syllable nouns is stressed, while the second syllable of most two-syllable verbs is.

The best method to learn is to practise and listen, so don’t worry if this all seems too difficult to remember. Keep in mind that the majority of native English speakers don’t grasp the rules either; instead, they simply say what “sounds right.” You can learn to obtain what sounds right with enough practise.

Write out difficult words by their sounds

Having issues with specific words? Write them out if you can. Not just the term, though. Try writing it out phonetically, using the sounds of the words rather than the spelling. Say you have trouble pronouncing the word “pizza.” The phonetic spelling is pits. As you can see from the phonics, the double-z is sounded like a “ts.” Make some flashcards. On one side, write the word; on the other, phonetically spell it. You can highlight the letters you’re testing yourself on on either side if that helps. (Visual learners may find this to be particularly helpful.) how-to-improve-english-pronunciationIt can be challenging to write things out phonetically, especially if it’s in your second language.

Write down what you hear

Want to improve your pronunciation of English? Recline and pay attention. When someone is speaking, pay attention and take notes. But listening is a fantastic technique for improving your English pronunciation.

Practice with tongue twisters

Do you occasionally have trouble distinguishing between similar sounds in English, such as “sh” and “ch,” “t” and “th,” or the short and long “e” sounds? You’re not alone, so don’t worry. Tongue twisters can be a challenging (but entertaining!) exercise in sound distinction. Given how similar many of the sounds are, these are poems that can be challenging to recite. People use them in English-speaking nations simply because they find it amusing when you make mistakes and sound dumb. And after you complete the poem, you’ll feel accomplished! These popular and successful English tongue twisters are an excellent way to practise the “s” and “sh” sounds:

“She sells seashells by the seashore.”

That tongue twister has a long history. But after you’ve mastered that, try including a few less well-known lines:

“The shells she sells are sea-shells, I’m sure. For if she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore Then I’m sure she sells sea-shore shells. “

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Practice with a buddy

It’s true as always: “Practise makes perfect!” Additionally, practising with a companion is simpler. Find a partner with whom you can practise pronouncing words, either in person or online. You will be able to put all that you have learned into practise while working with a friend and picking each other’s brains for new ideas. It’s also enjoyable!

Speak as much as you can

If you don’t speak much, you could have anxiety when it’s eventually time to speak in English. Like playing a game of basketball. You might be adept at dribbling, passing, and running, but you’ll never be able to shoot the ball. It would be challenging to shoot when the game is in session. You can even get paralysis from nerves if you try anything new in front of other people. The same holds true for using English. You should practise your English pronunciation in addition to overcoming your shyness in order to feel at ease speaking in front of others. Nervousness can cause many blunders, particularly when it comes to pronunciation.

Make the following rule for yourself: At home, you must speak English to yourself. Start by simply recounting your activities as you prepare dinner or get ready for bed. Make a commitment to yourself to talk aloud for at least a few minutes each day.

Set a schedule and stick to it!

The last stage is to make a plan and follow it. The greatest approach to get anything done, including improving your pronunciation, is to have a routine. For instance, if you schedule an hour a day for English study, set aside 20 minutes for practising your pronunciation. Alternatively, if you have two hours set aside for English, allot 30 minutes to working on your pronunciation. The duration itself is not that significant. The most important thing is to follow a routine. I guarantee that if you do this, your progress will be steady.

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Improving pronunciation: exercises and tools for clear speech – faqs.

Q1: What are the important aspects of pronunciation?

Ans: Pronunciation of individual sounds, Word stress, Sentence stress, Rhythm, Intonation.

Q2: How long does it take to improve pronunciation?

Ans: The amount of time required for effective accent removal varies depending on the individual. However, after 3–4 weeks of consistent practise, the majority of participants claim to have noticed an improvement in their English pronunciation. There is a significant improvement in their speech clarity and accent reduction after six months of practising.

Q3: Does pronunciation affect fluency?

Ans:  It is obvious that heavy accents seriously impair verbal fluency. You will need to give up some poor habits and pick up improved pronunciation and enunciation strategies to make yourself more understandable in conversation.

Q4: Does reading improve pronunciation?

Ans:  One of the most effective exercises for pronunciation improvement is reading aloud. Regularly reading aloud serves as a review for the pronunciation you’re learning.

Q5: Why is improving pronunciation important?

Ans: You might be surprised to learn that perfecting your pronunciation will make learning English easier. This is due to pronunciation, which makes you pay more attention to how speakers employ the appropriate sounds when they talk.

To find out more about spoken English, watch the video from the ENTRI English YouTube channel. It will be very helpful to watch one of their many videos on spoken English.

Speak confidently and fluently with our Spoken English Course!

Sanvi Mariam

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Speech and language problems: Ages 5 to 8

What to expect when

Mispronunciation, childhood apraxia of speech, when to seek help.

Children learn to talk at different speeds, so don't be surprised if your child isn't using the same vocabulary or expressions as playmates the same age. However, there are some general guidelines for typical speech and language development.

By age 5, your child should:

• Pronounce all the sounds of speech (though sounds like l , s , r , v , z , ch , sh , and th might still be tricky).
• Respond when asked, "What did you say?"
• Name letters and numbers.
• Use more than one verb in a sentence, such as, "I got my ball and played with Freddy."
• Tell short stories.
• Maintain a conversation.
• Tailor the way she talks to suit different listeners and places, like using shorter sentences with younger kids or a louder voice when playing outside.

By the end of first grade, your child should:

• Be easy to understand.
• Ask and answer wh questions – who, what, when, where, and why.
• Tell stories and talk about events in a logical order.
• Use varied, complete sentences.
• Use correct grammar most of the time.
• Initiate and maintain conversations, taking turns speaking.
• Give and follow directions with two and three steps.

By the end of second grade, your child also should:

• Be able to explain words and ideas.
• Use speech to inform, persuade, and engage with other people.
• Use more complex sentences.
• Take turns, stay on topic, and use eye contact during conversations.
• Give and follow directions with three and four steps.

Some children still have trouble getting ideas across or have other language difficulties that might affect their ability to learn important new skills, such as reading and writing .

Some children still have minor pronunciation problems at this age. Here are a few common ones you might hear:

• Your child might mix up words with multiple syllables, such as "manimal" for "animal," or "pasghetti" for "spaghetti."
• Some kids still struggle with a few tricky consonant sounds. Your child may say a w or a y for an l ("yeg" instead of "leg") or use w for r ("wabbit" instead of "rabbit") or substitute an f for a th ("baf" instead of "bath"). Diane Paul, director of clinical issues in speech-language pathology for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says, "Some of these sounds may not be speech errors at all, but just differences in an accent or dialect."

What you can do: When your child stumbles over long words, resist the urge to correct his speech. Just model the right pronunciation when it's your turn to talk. So instead of saying, "It's spaghetti, not pasghetti!" you can say, "Yes, we're having spaghetti for dinner."

These minor pronunciation problems may not be cause for concern, and most children can say all speech sounds by age 7. However, don't wait and hope your child will outgrow speech sound errors. A speech-language pathologist can help and the earlier, the better.

Your child may lisp or pronounce the s sound like a th , so that "My sister is seven" becomes "My thithter ith theven." Another common variation is to pronounce the z sound like a th , as in "thoo" for "zoo," and "eethee" for "easy."

What you can do: If your child still has a lisp by age 5, it's a good idea to make an appointment with a speech-language pathologist rather than continue waiting to see if your child outgrows it. The specialist will take a detailed history, check your child's mouth's structure and function, and get a speech and language sample to study. Often the problem can be resolved in a short time.

Also, make sure your child can breathe comfortably, and treat any allergy, cold, or sinus problems so your child can breathe through her nose with her lips together. An open-mouth breathing posture causes the tongue to lie flat and protrude. A stuffy nose is often the cause, so work on nose-blowing too.

Most people (adults and children alike) stutter from time to time, often when they're nervous or rushed. Examples of stuttering include:

• Repeating part of a word, as in, "W-w-w-where are you going?"
• Prolonging a sound, as in, "Ssssit down in the chair."
• Inserting interjections and having difficulty completing a sentence, as in, "I want to – um, um, um, you know, um – go outside."

Most kids outgrow stuttering before age 5. But some kids continue to stutter, and the reason why is unclear. Sometimes stuttering grows more severe over time, or it may vary quite a bit from day to day.

It's a good idea to make an appointment with an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist Opens a new window if your child stutters regularly. The speech-language pathologist will do an evaluation to determine whether your child's stutter is likely to continue and can work with your child on therapy that will lessen the severity of stuttering.

A speech-language pathologist also can help if you see tension in your child's jaw or cheeks, or if he looks away, clenches his fist from tension, blinks repeatedly, grimaces, or stomps his feet in frustration trying to get the words out.

What you can do: Be patient. Resist the urge to finish your child's sentences or fill in words for him. Suggestions like "relax" or "slow down" aren't really helpful and can make your child feel even more pressure to get his words out.

Keep giving your child your attention. You may feel like looking away while your child tries to talk to give him time to calm down and make it easier to speak, but that might actually make him feel more rushed or even ashamed.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a disorder of the nervous system that affects a child's ability to say sounds, syllables, and words. With CAS, the brain has trouble telling the lips, jaw, and tongue what to do in order to produce speech. A child with CAS knows what she wants to say but can't make the sounds come out correctly and consistently.

If your child has CAS she may do any of the following:

• She makes inconsistent pronunciation errors that aren't due to her not knowing how to say the sounds yet.
• She can understand language much better than she can speak.
• She has trouble imitating speech, but her imitated speech is clearer than her spontaneous speech.
• She appears to struggle when she tries to make sounds or coordinate her lips, tongue, and jaw to speak.
• She has more trouble saying longer words and phrases than shorter ones.
• She has more difficulty speaking when she's anxious.
• She's hard to understand, especially for someone who doesn't know her.
• Her speech sounds choppy or monotonous, or stresses the wrong syllable or word.

If your child shows signs of CAS, it's important to make an appointment with a speech-language pathologist as soon as possible. Most kids with CAS will need professional therapy to be able to speak clearly.

What you can do: Talk slowly but naturally. Let your child take her time when she tries to speak. Your child's speech-language pathologist may have more tips for you to try at home.

If you're worried about your child's speech and language development, give your child's doctor a call or make an appointment with an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist Opens a new window . You may find you have nothing to worry about, but that's for a speech and language professional to determine. Also seek help if your child fits any of the following descriptions:

• Your child rarely asks questions or often lets adults do most of the talking, speaks only in short phrases and sentences, or seldom adds additional information to a story.
• Your child can't find the right word to express what he means – for instance, he may substitute words with related meanings ("cake" for "cupcake"), substitute words with similar sounds ("knob" for "knock"), or substitute visually related words ("clock" for "watch").
• Your child talks around words ("something we eat on" for table) or frequently says "thing" or "stuff" instead of using specific words.
• Your child uses long pauses between words and sentences.
• Your child drools when he mispronounces words or has difficulty eating or swallowing. (If this is the case, talk with his doctor.)
• Your child has trouble pronouncing many sounds or has trouble expressing himself. This could lead to reading, writing, and spelling difficulties if the problem isn't addressed.

In addition, if you have any concern that your child may have a speech or language delay due to a hearing loss, call his doctor, ask for a hearing evaluation by an audiologist at his school, or make an appointment with an ASHA-certified audiologist.

How to help your child develop a good vocabulary

Fun activities to promote speaking skills

How to make reading aloud fun

This article was reviewed by Diane Paul, director of clinical issues in speech-language-pathology for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Visit the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's website Opens a new window for more information or to find an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist near you.

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How can I help my child develop a good vocabulary? (grades 1 to 3)

Common speech and language problems in children

Can I help correct my child's lisp? (ages 6 to 8)

BabyCenter's editorial team is committed to providing the most helpful and trustworthy pregnancy and parenting information in the world. When creating and updating content, we rely on credible sources: respected health organizations, professional groups of doctors and other experts, and published studies in peer-reviewed journals. We believe you should always know the source of the information you're seeing. Learn more about our editorial and medical review policies .

ASHA. Undated. How does your child hear and talk: Four to five years. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/45.htm Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

ASHA. Undated. Your child's communication: Kindergarten. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.   http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/kindergarten/ Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

ASHA. Undated. Your child's communication: First grade. American Speech-Language-Hearing-Association. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/firstgrade/ Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

ASHA. Undated. Your child's communication: Second grade. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/secondgrade/ Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

ASHA. Undated. Stuttering. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/stuttering.htm Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

ASHA. Undated. Speech sound disorders: Articulation and phonological processes. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SpeechSoundDisorders/ Opens a new window [Accessed July 2016]

Where to go next

You Don’t Have to Type Anymore

Welcome to the golden age of voice dictation.

As a little girl, I often found myself in my family’s basement, doing battle with a dragon. I wasn’t gaming or playing pretend: My dragon was a piece of enterprise voice-dictation software called Dragon Naturally Speaking, launched in 1997 (and purchased by my dad, an early adopter).

As a kid, I was enchanted by the idea of a computer that could type for you. The premise was simple: Wear a headset, pull up the software, and speak. Your words would fill a document on-screen without your hands having to bear the indignity of actually typing. But no matter how much I tried to enunciate, no matter how slowly I spoke, the program simply did not register my tiny, high-pitched voice. The page would stay mostly blank, occasionally transcribing the wrong words. Eventually, I’d get frustrated, give up, and go play with something else.

Much has changed in the intervening decades. Voice recognition—the computer-science term for the ability of a machine to accurately transcribe what is being said—is improving rapidly thanks in part to recent advances in AI. Today, I’m a voice-texting wizard, often dictating obnoxiously long paragraphs on my iPhone to friends and family while walking my dog or driving. I find myself speaking into my phone’s text box all the time now, simply because I feel like it. Apple updated its dictation software last year , and it’s great. So are many other programs. The dream of accurate speech-to-text—long held not just in my parents’ basement but by people all over the world—is coming together. The dragon has nearly been slain.

“All of these things that we’ve been working on are suddenly working,” Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told me. Scientists have been researching speech-recognition tools since at least the mid-20th century ; early examples include the IBM Shoebox , a rudimentary computer housed within a wooden box that could measure sounds from a microphone and associate them with 16 different preprogrammed words. By the end of the 1980s, voice-dictation models could process thousands of words . And by the late ’90s, as the personal-computing boom was in full swing, dictation software was beginning to reach consumers. These programs were joined in the 2010s by digital assistants such as Siri, but even these more advanced tools were far from perfect.

“For a long time, we were making gradual, incremental progress, and then suddenly things started to get better much faster,” Hasegawa-Johnson said. Experts pointed me to a few different factors that helped accelerate this technology over the past decade. First, researchers had more digitized speech to work with. Large open-source data sets were compiled, including LibriSpeech, which contains 1,000 hours of recorded speech from public-domain audiobooks. Consumers also started regularly using voice tools such as Alexa and Siri, which likely gave private companies more data to train on. Data are key to quality: The more speech data that a model has access to, the better it can recognize what’s being said—“water,” say, not “daughter” or “squatter.” Models were once trained on just a few thousand hours of speech; now they are trained on a lifetime’s worth.

The models themselves also got more sophisticated as part of larger, industry-wide advancements in machine learning and AI. The rise of end-to-end neural networks—networks that could directly pair audio with words rather than trying to transcribe by breaking them down into syllables —has also accelerated models’ accuracy. And hardware has improved to allow more units of processing power on our personal devices, which allows bigger and fancier models to run in the palm of your hand.

Of course, the tools are not yet perfect. For starters, their quality can depend on who is speaking: Voice-recognition models have been found to have higher error rates for Black speakers compared with white speakers, and they also sometimes struggle to understand people with dysarthric, or irregular, speech, such as those with Parkinson’s disease. (Hasegawa-Johnson, who compiles stats related to these issues, is the principal researcher at the Speech Accessibility Project , which aims to train models on more dysarthric speech to improve their outputs.)

The future of voice dictation will also be further complicated by the rise of generative AI. Large language models of the sort that power ChatGPT can also be used with audio, which would allow a program to better predict which word should come next in a sequence. For example, when transcribing, such an audio tool might reason that, based on the context, a person is likely saying that their dog— not their frog —needs to go for its morning walk.

Yet like their text counterparts, voice-recognition tools that use large language models can “hallucinate,” transcribing words that were never actually spoken. A team of scholars recently documented violent and unsavory hallucinations , as well as those that perpetuate harmful stereotypes, coming from OpenAI’s new audio model, Whisper. (In response to a request for comment about this research, a spokesperson for OpenAI said, in part, “We continually conduct research on how we can improve the accuracy of our models, including how we can reduce hallucinations.”)

So goes the AI boom: The technology is both creating impressive new things and introducing new problems. In voice dictation, the chasm between two once-distinct mediums, audio and text, is closing, leaving us to appreciate the marvel available in our hands—and to proceed with caution.

The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

• Editorial Independence
• Volokh Daily Email

Free Speech

Journal of Free Speech Law: "'Falsely Shouting Fire,'" by Profs. Genevieve Lakier & Evelyn Douek

Eugene Volokh | 4.11.2024 11:38 AM

The article is  here ; the Introduction:

Over one hundred years ago, in Schenck v. United States , Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes created a meme. Holmes wanted to illustrate why freedom of speech was not—and could never be—absolute. "The most stringent protection of free speech," Holmes wrote, "would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." This was because, Holmes explained, "[t]he question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent." A false cry of fire in a theater, he implied, surely posed this kind of clear and present danger. It might have surprised Holmes to know that more than a century later, his claim about the constitutionality of false cries of fire in theaters has become one of the most famous hypotheticals in American constitutional law. And it has acquired a remarkable significance in debates about speech regulation. On a near-daily basis, the fire meme is invoked to support restricting a wide variety of speech, from health misinformation, to former presidents' social media posts, to Tucker Carlson's television show. In response to these near-constant invocations of the hypothetical, many have suggested that the meme should be struck from our lexicon in conversations about free speech. These arguments typically come in three forms.

The first is that the meme is so tainted by the shameful nature of the outcome in Schenck , which essentially rubber-stamped the Wilson administration's persecution of political dissidents during World War I, that reference to it is "historically ignorant" and embarrassing. The second is that regardless of its rotten roots, the meme is not, and perhaps never was, a good description of the law: that those who invoke Holmes' famous hypothetical in public debates are relying upon "an empty rhetorical device . . . in a long-overturned case about jailing draft protestors." The third is that it doesn't matter whether or not it's good law—the meme is so often used to attempt to justify blatantly unconstitutional laws, it is dangerous for this reason alone. As we show below, none of these arguments for banishing the analogy from free speech debates withstands scrutiny. Without a doubt, the case that birthed the fire meme, Schenck , is as big an affront to free speech as they come. But despite these origins, the fire meme is actually still good law—to an extent that surprised us both when researching this piece. Holmes' comment may have been dicta when he said it, but it has since been (and continues to be) repeatedly relied upon by courts in First Amendment cases and provides the justification for important forms of speech regulation—including laws banning bomb threats, harassment, and other types of coercive speech. In other words, for courts, the fire meme plays an important, and almost entirely uncontroversial, role in delimiting the boundaries of First Amendment protection. For this reason, the analogy also plays—or at least can play—an instructive role in popular debates about speech regulation. Analogies provide a powerful means of encapsulating complex ideas in a concrete form. The fire meme is one such analogy: It is a vivid illustration of a limitation on First Amendment protection (and one that, contrary to what is commonly assumed, actually has nothing to do with the limits that apply to speech that incites unlawful action). It is not merely a stand-in for the truism that "not all speech is protected," but says something deeper about how to think about the value of speech. This doesn't mean, of course, that the fire meme doesn't get invoked problematically to justify what would clearly be unconstitutional laws. But the problem in these cases is not the invokers' understanding of the law, but their application of the law to the facts. In what follows, we attempt to add light (but not heat!) to the conversation about false cries of fire in crowded theaters by taking a close look at how the fire meme was employed in Schenck and how it has been subsequently interpreted. As we explain, the problem is not that those who invoke the fire meme are relying on a "legal irrelevance" that "hasn't been the law in the U.S. for almost 50 years." The problem is that those who invoke it tend to rely on an overly reductive view of how public discourse works in the digital age (one which conceives of its participants as lemmings, more or less). Another way of putting this is to say that looking again at the fire meme pushes us to think about the limits of the First Amendment in more nuanced ways than the inside baseball conversation about false cries of fire in crowded theaters often permits.

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Recommended

Examining the Intelligibility differences between two types of clear speech

This study investigates the intelligibility differences between global and focal clear speech adjustments in comparison to baseline or conversation speech. The objective is to determine what adjustments need to be made for individuals with speech disorders to produce intelligible and effective speech. Clear speech is a style of speaking where words are longer, articulatory precision is greater, and speaking rate is slower than conversational speech (Picheny et al. 1986). Clear speech represents a way of communication where the listener can understand what the talker says at a higher intelligibility rate. These adjustments have been proven to be beneficial for many individuals, specifically those with conditions like dysarthria secondary to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (Lee et al., 2019). This perceptual study recruited listeners through Prolific to listen to recordings of 9 different words embedded in speech-shaped noise produced by 12 talkers. Through conducting this study, we can understand what perceptual qualities contribute to higher intellgibility rates of clear speech while also considering factors such as vocal fatigue. This research study can help further speech recognition technologies, and speech therapy practices, and contribute to overall effective and efficient communication. 

6 techniques for clear and compelling speech

By Simon Lancaster on December 9, 2019 in News + Updates

Politicians and other public figures deploy particular rhetorical devices to communicate their ideas and to convince people, and it’s time that we all learned how to use them, says speechwriter Simon Lancaster.

There is a secret language of leadership — and it’s one that anyone can learn, says UK speechwriter  Simon Lancaster  in  a TEDxVerona talk . He has made a career out of crafting addresses, remarks and talks for top politicians and CEOs of international corporations such as Nestle and Unilever, and  continues to do so . Refreshingly, rather than clinging  Gollum-like  to what he’s learned and knows, he believes everyone should have access to the same tools that he and his colleagues use.

By tools, he’s not talking about special software or databases — he’s referring to rhetoric.   Rhetoric  has its roots in ancient Greece ( think: Aristotle ) as clear, convincing speech was seen as an essential component of communication and participation in a democracy. Instruction in rhetoric remained part of the curriculum in many secondary schools in Europe and the US until the 19th century.

“The reason we all used to learn rhetoric at school was because it was seen as a basic entry point to society,” explains Lancaster, who is based in London. “How could society be fair, unless everyone had equal ability to articulate and express themselves? Without it, your legal systems, your political systems, your financial systems are not fair.”

Yes, the power to persuade is just that — power.

Lancaster states there is only one school in England that still teaches rhetoric: Eton, the alma mater of 20 Prime Ministers (including current officeholder, Boris Johnson). He adds, “It should be of intense concern to all of us that education in this has been narrowed to a very small … elite.”

While Lancaster can’t send the world to Eton, he can share the 6 rhetorical building blocks needed to speak persuasively. Here they are:

Building block #1: Breathless sentences or phrases

Barack Obama gave an acceptance speech for the ages in 2008  after he was first elected president of the US. He spoke vividly of the challenges that lay ahead for the country: “Even as we celebrate tonight, we know that the challenges tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime: Two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”

Lancaster wants us to pay special attention to the last part of that sentence, the “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century” part. Yes, it’s a stressful mouthful — not just because of the content but because of how it’s delivered. Short, staccato phrases like these mimic how we speak when we’re anxious and in a hurry. This technique helps communicate urgency to an audience.

Building block #2: Speaking in 3s

What’s the other rhetorical trick underlying “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century”? The rule of 3.

Humans are accustomed to things coming in 3s: whether it’s judges on  American Idol , bowls of porridge in  a fairy tale , or sides in a triangle. Our minds and ears have been trained by speeches (Abraham Lincoln’s “government of the people, for the people, by the people”); slogans (reduce, reuse, recycle); and book titles ( Elizabeth Gilbert ‘s memoir  Eat, Pray, Love ).  “You put your argument in 3s, it makes it sound more compelling, more convincing, more credible. Just like that,” says Lancaster.

Recall British PM Winston Churchill’s stirring triplet from  the speech he delivered to Parliament on June 4, 1940 : “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight on the fields and in the streets.” Besides the rule of 3, he gave the line additional rhetorical firepower by repeating the opening clause.

Lancaster explains, “When we are emotional about things, our perspective distorts, and this then manifests in our speech. So this is the authentic sound of passion.” Doing this can catch an audience in the speaker’s enthusiasm.

Building block #3: Balanced statements

“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” It’s a line from  president John F Kennedy’s inspiring 1961 inaugural address , and one that’s stood the test of time. Why? Its balanced construction, says Lancaster. “If the sentence sounds as if it’s balanced, we imagine that the underlying thinking is balanced and our brain is tuned to like things that are balanced.”

Grouping balanced statements in 3s further amplifies the effect:

“We’re looking to the future, not the past.

We’re working together, not against one another.

We’re thinking about what we can do, not what we can’t.”

Building block #4: Metaphor

According to Lancaster, people use a metaphor once every 16 words on average ( side question: Where do statistics like this even come from? ). He declares, “Metaphor is probably the most powerful piece of political communication.”

Metaphors are rich in imagery and awake immediate feelings in people, so it follows that politicians love them and sprinkle them like birdseed (“like birdseed” is  a simile, not a metaphor , and similes are other strong rhetorical tools to have in your kit). At times, they can employ them to point us to an ideal or aspiration. For example,  in his farewell address , president Ronald Reagan movingly invoked America, h/t to John Winthrop, as a “shining city upon the hill.”

Too often, however, metaphors are used to manipulate, incite and denigrate. Politicians and talking heads could have called the 2015-16 refugee encampment in Calais, France, a “refugee camp” or “refugee settlement.” Instead, they deployed this loaded word: “jungle.” Lancaster says,“It’s planting in your mind the idea that migrants are like wild animals to be afraid of, that they are dangerous, that they represent a threat to you. This is a very dangerous metaphor because this is the language of genocide; it’s the language of hate.” Unfortunately, media outlets picked up “Calais jungle” and used it as their shorthand identifier of the camp, extending the metaphor’s reach.

Building block #5: Exaggeration

In the same way that we get breathless when they’re speaking with passion, our speech distorts in another significant way. We exaggerate. So when we’re sitting down to a meal after having eaten little that day, we tell our family and friends: “I love this pizza.” But when we say things like this to each other, we also realize it’s a bit of distortion: We do not love the pizza in the same way that we love our children or parents or the planet, and everyone present knows that.

Similarly, politicians and leaders might say things like “I’ve waited my whole life to say these words” or “I will work to achieve this with all my heart and soul.” These utterances are indeed over the top, but because they’re acceptable and even welcome since they echo how we speak.

Building block #6: Rhyming

Starting from childhood, many of us are taught concepts through rhymes — such as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” or “i before e except after c.” With their musicality, they’re a pleasing informational snack that sticks in memories like  a musical earworm .

Rhymes can seem corny, but sprinkled in at the right time, they can be incredibly potent. We all  remember the pithy “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit” from defense attorney Johnnie Cochran during O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial.

Rhyming’s appeal comes “down to what linguists talk about as the processing fluency of language — how easy is language to swallow?” says Lancaster. “If you speak using long words and long sentences, it’s like giving someone a steak and asking them to swallow it. Whereas if you give them something pithy, like a rhyme, it’s like asking them to just sip on some Prosecco.”

These six tricks can help us speak directly to people’s instinctive, emotional and logical brains, and they are extremely effective , says Lancaster. There’s no need for us to be in the public eye to use them in order to sway others or make our words stay in people’s minds. Even if we never employ them in our own lives, it’s equally important for us to recognize them. Politicians, con artists and advertisers utilize them to win votes, spread opinions, or sell products people don’t need. By being alert to these rhetorical devices, we can be better citizens and consumers.

Watch Simon Lancaster’s  TEDxVerona  talk here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Simon Lancaster  is one of the world’s top speechwriters. He first became a speechwriter in the late 1990s, working for members of Tony Blair’s Cabinet and now writes for the CEOs of some of the world’s biggest companies. Lancaster is a visiting lecturer at Henley Business School, Cass Business School and Cambridge University. He writes regular columns for Total Politics and The Guardian and provides expert commentary for the BBC and Sky News.

This post was originally published on  TED Ideas . It’s part of the “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from someone in the TED community;  browse through  all the posts here.

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