Speech vs. Language

Written By Nicole Blanchard

In my professional career, I have talked with patients and professionals who tell me they have or have a patient who has a “speech issue” or “speech delay” when they really have difficulties with language. It is easy to see why I always hear the words “speech issue” because in everyday conversations, the words speech and language are used interchangeably. Due to this, it seems logical to think they DO mean the same thing. Well, this is NOT the case. Let’s take some time to look at the differences between the two. 

Speech is the actual motor movements your body goes through to produce sounds and words. It is the physical act of talking. It takes significant coordination for your tongue, lips, and jaw to move to produce all the sounds we do so quickly. Problems with speech occur when there is a breakdown in the motor planning for sounds. Typically, we see speech problems with younger children. These would be “developmental” speech disorders. It is estimated that 2.3% to 24.6% of school-aged children have a speech delay or a speech sound disorder (Black, Vahratian, & Hoffman, 2015; Law, Boyle, Harris, Harkness, & Nye, 2000; Shriberg, Tomblin, & McSweeny, 1999; Wren, Miller, Peters, Emond, & Roulstone, 2016).  

Pediatric Examples of Speech Errors:

  • Simple sound substitutions such as producing “tup” for “cup” or “wed” for “red”

  • Omissions/deletions such as “cu” for “cup”

  • Additions of extra sounds

  • Distortions where sounds are altered or changed (e.g., lateral lisp for the “s” sound)

  • Producing phrases or sentences that are not understandable due to multiple errors of speech sounds

Speech errors can also occur with adults, especially if they have experienced head trauma (e.g., stroke, brain injury, tumor, etc.). They can also be a symptom of other diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Huntington’s disease. These are “acquired” speech disorders. 

Adult Examples of Speech Errors:

  • Errors that have carried over from childhood

  • Have trouble imitating and saying sounds independently

  • Awareness of adding sounds that aren’t appropriate

  • Difficulty moving tongue, lips, and jaw to correct place for sounds

  • “Slurred” or “mumbled” speech due to muscle weakness

It is important to note that the lists above are common errors for each age range, but these errors can occur at any age.

Language is the content of what is spoken. There are two components to language: receptive and expressive. Receptive language is the information taken in and understanding that information. This would include comprehending what a person is saying during a conversation or the ability to follow directions given. Expressive language is the information that is spoken. This would be the sentences and phrases produced during conversations, presentations, etc. People who have difficulties with language are either difficult to understand because their sentences don’t make sense or they have difficulties understanding what is said to them. Like with speech disorders, language disorders affect people across the lifespan. Children typically have “developmental” language disorders, and adults have “acquired” language disorders. 

Developmental Language Disorder Signs:

  • Children with a diagnosis of autism, intellectual disability, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will usually have difficulties with expressive and receptive language.

  • Children who have difficulty acquiring language and are not using words to communicate or are producing phrases and sentences that do not make sense.

  • Older children who produce very short sentences.

  • Difficulties with grammar (e.g., verb tense, pronouns, sentence structure)

  • Slow rate of vocabulary development

Causes for Acquired Language Disorders:

  • Stroke

  • Traumatic brain injury

  • Brain tumor

  • Brain surgery

  • Brain infections

  • Progressive neurological diseases (e.g., dementia, ALS)

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder. Approximately 1 in 250 people in the United States are living with aphasia. It estimated that there are 180,000 new cases of aphasia per year in the United States.

There are two types of aphasia: Expressive (Broca’s) and Receptive (Wernicke’s).

Expressive signs and symptoms:

  • Word finding difficulties

  • Effortful speech

  • Speak in single words or short, fragmented phrases

  • Omit small words (e.g., the, of, was)

  • Grammatical errors

  • Words in wrong order

  • Substituting sounds or words (e.g., “table” for “bed”)

  • Make up words

  • Stringing together nonsense words and real words, but leave out relevant content

Receptive signs and symptoms:

  • Difficulty understanding spoken phrases and sentences

  • Requiring extra time to understand spoken information

  • Unreliable answers to yes/no questions

  • Hard to follow fast speech (e.g., television)

  • Lacking awareness of errors

It is possible to have a combination of these symptoms as well.

Communication in our world is very complicated. Speech and language make up our communication system, and there are multiple components that must work together to help us understand and be understood. If there is a breakdown in either speech or language, it affects our whole communication system. It is important to know where the breakdown is occurring to determine how to fix the problem. This is why having an understanding of the difference between speech and language can be beneficial in helping assist someone who is having difficulty communicating.

References:

Black, L. I., Vahratian, A., & Hoffman, H. J. (2015). Communication disorders and use of intervention services among children aged 3–17 years; United States, 2012 (NHS Data Brief No. 205). Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics.

Law, J., Boyle, J., Harris, F., Harkness, A., & Nye, C. (2000). Prevalence and natural history of primary speech and language delay: Findings from a systematic review of the literature. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 35, 165–188.

Shriberg, L. D., Tomblin, J. B., & McSweeny, J. L. (1999). Prevalence of speech delay in 6-year-old children and comorbidity with language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1461–1481.

Wren, Y., Miller, L. L., Peters, T. J., Emond, A., & Roulstone, S. (2016). Prevalence and predictors of persistent speech sound disorder at eight years old: Findings from a population cohort study. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 59, 647–673.

Speech Sound Disorders - Articulation and Phonology (https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/articulation-and-phonology/#collapse_8)

Nicole Blanchard
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