Spoken language

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/spoken-language

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary modality?Auditory-vocal communication using articulate sounds
2. What is the neurological basis?Involves specialized brain regions such as Broca's and Wernicke's areas
3. How does my voice make different sounds?Your lungs push air, the larynx changes the vibration of the vocal folds, and the shape of your tongue, lips, and jaw changes the sound to make different phonemes.
4. Why is spoken language important for humans?It lets us cooperate, share ideas, plan, and pass on culture, making our societies bigger and stronger.

Phoneme: The smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.
Syntax: The set of rules that govern the structure of sentences in a language.
Semantics: The study of meaning in language, including the meaning of words and sentences.