6. The role of inner speech in human cognitive intellectual activity

Consideration of the functions of internal speech in the first place implies a reflection of its closest links with other higher mental functions of a person.

Inner speech, according to LS. Vygotsky, “is a completely special, independent and original function of speech, a special internal plan of speech thinking, mediating a dynamic relation between thought and word” (45, p. 352–353).

Most modern scholars hold the view that, although thinking and speech are inextricably linked, they represent both “relatively independent realities” in their origin and functioning. This coincides with the provisions of the theory of internal speech LS. Vygotsky. What is the connection, the indissoluble unity of thought and speech? L. S. Vygotsky believed that the meaning of a word is an indecomposable unit of verbal thinking . The word, he wrote, is also related to speech, as well as to thinking, it is a living cell, containing in its simplest form the basic properties inherent in speech thinking in general. From a psychological point of view, the meaning of a word is, above all, a generalization of the designated. But a generalization, by LS. Vygotsky is a “extraordinary verbal act of thought,” which reflects reality quite differently than it is reflected in direct sensations and perceptions. However, the word - it is also a means of communication, so it is part of the speech. Being devoid of meaning, the word no longer refers to either thought or speech; when acquired, it immediately becomes an organic part of both (45).

However, thinking and speaking have different genetic roots. Initially (in the course of the socio-historical development of man) they performed various functions and developed separately. The original function of speech was the communicative function. In verbal communication, the content transmitted by speech presupposes a generalized reflection of phenomena, that is, a fact of thinking. At the same time, such a way of communicating as an pointing gesture initially does not carry any function of generalization in itself and therefore does not apply to thought.

At the same time, there are types of thinking that are not related to speech, for example, visual-effect, or so-called. "Practical thinking" in animals. Young children have peculiar means of communication that are not directly related to thinking: expressive movements, gestures, facial expressions, reflecting the inner state of a living being, but not being a sign or a generalization.

L.S. Vygotsky believed that at the age of about two years a critical turning point occurred in the relationship between thinking and speech : a "cross" of the lines of development of thinking and speech occurs; speech begins to become intellectualized, and thinking - speech. Signs of a fracture are the child’s rapid and active expansion of his vocabulary and an equally rapid increase in the communicative vocabulary. The child discovers, as it were, the symbolic function of speech and discovers an understanding that there is a generalization behind the word; the child begins to digest the concept.

The semantic and the outer side of the child's speech develop in opposite directions. The child’s thought, being born as “a vague and undifferentiated whole,” thanks to the speech “dismembered and proceeds to the construction of separate parts”, while the child “in speech goes from parts to a dismembered whole” (45, p. 307).

The complex interaction of speech and thinking, according to LS. Vygotsky and his followers, is precisely the essence of the inner speech as a process of "evaporation of speech into thought." L.S. Vygotsky defines the role of inner speech in the following way: "Inner speech turns out to be a dynamic, unstable, fluid moment flashing between more formed and enduring extreme poles ... of speech thinking, between word and thought." Inner speech is “thought associated with the word” (ibid., P. 353).

The “subjective language” of inner speech, unaware of the speaker, the inner speech itself, is inextricably linked with the basic elements that determine the human mind: the processes of sensation, perception, memory, and emotional phenomena. (NI Zhinkin, 1982, etc.). This connection is determined by the complex interaction of thinking with other higher mental functions of a person. Especially important is the role of internal speech in the implementation of arbitrary functions, as it organizes and regulates the implementation of any volitional act.

Particularly important is the role of speech (from a certain age, namely, inner speech) in the development of observation as an analysis and synthesis of sensory and rational experience of knowledge. Emphasizing the socio-cultural determination of observation, B. G. Ananiev draws attention to the fact that, in addition to the “alphabet of visual images,” it also includes a “peculiar syntax of observation”, due to the internal speech and multiple visual-verbal components of observation (ibid., P. 23 ).

The memory and attention of a person are exposed to an even greater impact of the linguistic mechanism of speech than sensory cognition. The emergence of human attention itself is closely connected with the process of communication mediated by signs. In early ontogenesis, the child’s attention is directed mainly by the verbal instructions of the adult. In the future, there is an “internalization” (translation into the internal plan) of the external objective and external sign components. At school P.Ya. Galperin, where the concept of attention development was developed in the process of interiorization of the joint practical action of the child and the adult, accompanied by sign communication, is commonly referred to as a “verbal sign” (2, 49). Gradually, as the inner speech is formed, the attention from the “external”, socially mediated becomes internal. The formation of "mental action", leading to the formation of thought, also simultaneously leads to the formation of attention directed at the conceivable content. Subsequently, it seems to “disappear”, but in case of subjective difficulties in concentrating a person, with the help of inner speech, he selects the subject or content of interest and tries to suppress interfering stimuli (2, p. 54).

The role of internal speech in the analysis and synthesis of human sensory experience and the formation of voluntary attention is also directly related to memory. On the one hand, the memory is in contact with the direct sensual experience of man. But images-impressions and complete pictures, “remembered in early childhood, before the formation of speech, as if disappear from our memory” (ibid, p. 56).

According to I.A. Winter (95), in ontogenesis (as applied to cognitive development), the formation of arbitrary memory based on signs can be clearly seen. In early childhood, motor and figurative memory prevails, it is “spontaneous”, the child cannot control it, he, in the words of LS Vygotsky, "thinking remembering." In the process of communication, the child learns socially developed principles and methods of memorization using a linguistic sign. The introduction of the sign into the structure of the memorization process dramatically increases the randomness of the memory; along with the images in it, they begin to be encoded with the help of signs “meanings”, “concepts” (by definition, N.I. Zhinkin). Here is how the formation of internal means of memorization by A.N. Leontiev: “It can be assumed that the transition itself, from externally mediated memorization to memorization, internally mediated, stands in closest connection with the transformation of speech from a purely external function into an internal function” (119, p. 166). In other words, the corresponding functions of external (egocentric) speech become internal speech functions. Thus, the process of improving human memory is in close connection with the development of internal speech. This, of course, does not mean that all memory turns into a verbal, figurative components (along with signs of the language) continue to play a significant role in it. Nevertheless, the leading role in mnestic processes from a certain moment of ontogenetic development (to the beginning of school age) belongs precisely to signs of the language and code units of inner speech.

During the experiments conducted under the guidance of A.N. Sokolov, it was found that as automation of mental actions speech motor impulses decrease and can disappear, arising only in the transition from one mental action to another. In these cases, "there are very curtailed (reduced) speech processes ... while simultaneously strengthening the visual-figurative components of thinking" (205, p. 47). Based on this, an. Sokolov put forward the hypothesis of the existence of “consistent visual-speech complexes”. The participation of internal pronunciation, the researcher notes, is far from being the same when solving problems of different types: tasks of visual content are solved with minimal participation of internal pronunciation, while tasks of “abstract content” that have no direct connection with visualization can only be solved with the help of internal speaking (205).