Speech activity is a type of activity that has a social orientation. In its course, the formation and use of a statement is created to achieve a specific goal (communication, influence, influence, etc.). The definition of speech activity was given by many scientists and linguists. So, one of the examples is the psychologist L. S. Vygotsky, who characterizes it as a process of materialization of thought, that is, its conversion into verbal form.
In general, the structure of speech activity is as follows: it consists of speech acts based on the preparation and implementation of a statement, which has a different volume and meaning.
However, psychologists note that this structure consists of four levels. The first of these is the interaction of needs and desires, as well as motives, which should influence the future statement. That is, an indicative, first phase is aimed at determining the conditions for conducting speech activity, as well as the allocation of its subject and the use of necessary funds. The second level - planning - involves the selection and organization of the means and method of its implementation. As for the third phase, which is called implementing, it can be externally expressed or unexpressed. At the fourth level, speech activity is controlled, and the methods for conducting this operation are carried out in different ways. For example, during a hearing, the main emphasis is on the goal and setting a certain kind of it. As for speaking, here self-control is carried out throughout the process.
If we consider these structural elements from the point of view of linguistics, the scheme of a speech act developed by R. O. Jacobson is most widely used. It consists of four main elements:
1. Addressee (the one who speaks).
2. Addressee (the one who listens).
3. Context (the situation in which the statement is made - the official situation, the lesson, the conversation of friends, etc.).
4. The essence of the transmitted information.
Speech activity can be of two types: external and internal, and these two parts exist in constant dependence and unity. So, as for the internal form, it controls the organization, planning and programming of all speech activity, and the executive functions here are the mental functions that are responsible for its implementation (emotions, needs, thinking, memory). The internal form is characterized by four stages: motivation, the formation of the plan, its implementation, as well as the comparison of the plan itself with the resulting implementation.
Speech activity, as already noted, is bipolar, that is, its implementation becomes possible in the presence of two subjects. In the case of a one-sided form of expression, when only the addressee or addressee exists, the process will not take place. If we consider this situation from the point of view of psycholinguistics, then this is possible if a person is talking to himself.
Note that the second subject, the addressee, is no less active than the first. Psychologists believe that his speech activity is called the process of "internal mental activity."
In general, this process is considered intellectual, because it is due to its nature and subject. So, the role of the latter is the mental reflection in the consciousness of the personality of one or another element of the surrounding being. Also, among the characteristic features of this type of activity, the specificity of its tools, the role of which are language units, is distinguished .
Thus, it becomes clear that it is speech activity that is considered the main means of communication between individuals. It is simultaneously defined as the main means of communication.