Language v. Speech: What’s the Difference?

For most people, the terms language and speech are used interchangeably when talking about, well, talking. But in the world of speech-language pathology, these terms have very distinct meanings. It's important to know the difference, especially if you or a loved one receives speech therapy. Understanding what is meant by speech or language when talking to your SLP can give you a better insight into the goals and methods used during therapy sessions.

Speech

The definition of speech provided by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA)  is "how we say sounds and words" and includes articulation, voice, and fluency. Articulation refers to the the way our mouth and tongue move to form specific sounds when talking. Voice is the quality of the sounds we make using our vocal folds and is often described using words like clear, hoarse, breathy, etc. And fluency refers to how smoothly we produce our speech sounds, taking into account qualities such as rhythm, repetitions, and pauses.

Language

ASHA's definition of language is "the words we use and how we use them to share ideas and get what we want." Language covers a much broader picture of communication and includes things like vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics. 

If you've ever sat through an ELA class, you probably remember those dreaded vocabulary tests - learning new words and their definitions. As children develop language, they need to develop the vocabulary necessary to talk about the world around them.  As we age, we  may experience vocabulary deficits in the form of word-finding difficulties, sometimes using other words to describe the word we can't remember or relying on non-specific language such as "that thing" instead of naming the object in question.

Morphology takes vocabulary to the next level. This is how we manipulate words to create new meanings or parts of speech. Prefixes and suffixes (remember those ELA terms you haven't thought about since high school?) are examples of morphemes, which are the smallest units of meaning in a language. For example, taking the noun "friend" and adding the suffix "-ly" creates the adjective "friendly." By extension, you could then add the prefix "un-" to change the word "friendly" to its opposite, "unfriendly." 

Syntax is the way we organize our words to make sentences. In English, we typically use a subject+verb+object sentence structure (e.g., "He walks the dog"). When describing something in English, the adjective always comes first (e.g., "a small kitten," "the orange ball"). But for anyone who's studied a foreign language, you know that syntax in English is sometimes different than that of other languages. This is especially important to understand for families with bi- and multi-lingual individuals who may need to learn different syntactic organizations for each language they speak. 

And finally, pragmatics refers to the social components of language, such as turn-taking, topic maintenance, and even inflection and intonation.

In addition to being able to produce all of these language structures (known as expressive language), we must also be able to understand when others use them to convey messages to us (receptive language).

Speech and Language Disorders

While speech and language refer to different components of communication, we can experience difficulties in one or both of these areas.  Speech and language disorders can occur at any time. Developmental speech and language disorders are seen in children who are learning to communicate, while acquired speech and language disorders are seen in individuals who previously had normal speech and language that is impacted by illness, injury, or age. 

What to do if you have speech or language concerns about yourself or a loved one

The first step in identifying any communication disorder is to reach out to a speech-language pathologist (SLP). SLPs receive extensive training in all areas of communication and use specially designed evaluations and assessments to closely analyze an individual's speech and language skills. These tests provide information about how an individual communicates and what errors are present in their communication, whether this is producing a specific speech sound incorrectly or omitting important morphemes such as progressive -ing (e.g. "eating").  Information from these tests is then used to create goals specific to that individual's areas of need. In some cases, the SLP may ask you to see another specialist before the evaluation or before starting treatment.

Questions?

If you have any other questions about speech and language skills or their associated disorders, please contact me!

References: https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/speech-and-language/ 
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