What’s the difference between speech and language?

“Aren’t speech and language the same thing?”

Frequently we receive referrals identifying they have speech concerns, when they are referring to their language skills.

Having assessed and treated speech and language disorders as separate beasts for so long, it took me a while to think about how best to respond.  It was – and is – a very important question.

Speech and language are not the same thing!

Language is the method humans use to communicate with each other, often involving words and symbols used consciously by a group in a structured or conventional way.  Languages can be spoken, signed and/or written.  We are “wired” for oral language – almost as if it’s an instinct.  Language is one of the key ways we differ from other primates.  It is an important element in what makes us human.

Speech is the expression of thoughts and feelings by humans through articulated sounds that come out of our mouths and noses (with help from our cranial nerves, lungs, vocal chords, throats, soft palates, teeth, facial and neck muscles and tongues).  Speech is one way that we express language.

(Cute fluffy bunnies can neither speak nor use language (with the exceptions of Peter Rabbit, Roger and the Velveteen Rabbits as well as the cast of Watership Down)

Speech and language problems don’t always happen together

For example:

o    a child or adult may have normal language skills – she may understand what others are communicating and communicate her thoughts and feelings fully through signs, symbols/pictures or in writing – but be unable to speak clearly or fluently, e.g. because of a phonological disorder, apraxia of speech, dysarthria, or stuttering OR

o    a child or adult may have the physical ability to speak clearly, but have limited language skills that make it hard to communicate with others, e.g. because of specific language impairment or as a result of a stroke.

Although, problems with speech development can sometimes affect language development and vice versa

For example:

o    a child who can make only a few sounds may struggle to communicate with others.  A child who can only say /b/ and /m/ and a few vowels will find it difficult to ask for daddy’s watch, although she may compensate with gestures, such as pointing; and

o    a child with a vocabulary of less than 50 words may not have much opportunity to practice or master some of his speech sounds, which may in turn affect his intelligibility.

Hayley