Have you ever noticed someone's facial expressions while talking to you? These expressions communicate lots of feelings. Isn't it? Speaking is the verbal expression of a language and includes articulation, which is the manner in which words are formed. However, one can make oneself understood by means other than the spoken word, such as with signs, facial expressions or gestures. These are examples of what is called nonverbal communication, whereby even silence can be expressive.

Language and Speech

Linguists explain that the organs of speech necessary to express language in sounds, which constitute the fundamental elements of speech, are just as independent of language as a telegraph apparatus is of the Morse code it transmits. Linguists also compare language (the verbal system of communication that is almost always written) with a symphony whose score exists independently of the musicians who play it. The vocal cords behave like instruments. They are folds of muscle that open and close to produce sounds. When they are not producing vocal sounds, normal breathing occurs. Under the control of the brain, the vocal cords produce sounds that are modified by the lips and the tongue to create speech.

PASSAGE OF AIR

The vocal cords relax and open to allow air to pass to and from the lungs. No sound is produced because the vocal cords do not vibrate, which is the basis for sound.

SOUND IS PRODUCED

The vocal cords stretch horizontally above the larynx. They tighten when air flows past them. Sound is the vibration of the vocal cords.

Language of Gesture

The expressivity of the human face is the result of more than 30 muscles that tense small areas of the skin when they contract. Most of them operate in pairs. Their use is reflexive in most cases, as in the gestures, facial expressions and grimaces that often accompany the spoken word and are silent expressions in certain situations. In other cases, however, such as the art of acting, their use and mastery can be studied and practised. The usual example of this is the art of mimes, who can stage complete dramas that are transmitted very effectively with no recourse to the spoken word or use of the voice.

Following are the centres with their functions :

Broca - Controls the articulation of speech.

 Visual - Receives and analyzes the nerve impulses from the eye.

Wernicke - Controls the comprehension of language.

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