Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking.

[1] The
word glossophobia comes from the Greek glssa, meaning tongue, and phobos, fear or dread. Many people only have this fear, while others may also have social phobia or social anxiety disorder. Stage fright may be a symptom of glossophobia.

Symptoms include: intense anxiety prior to, or simply at the thought of having to verbally communicate with any group, avoidance of events which focus the group's attention on individuals in attendance, physical distress, nausea, or feelings of panic in such circumstances.[2]

The more specific symptoms of speech anxiety can be grouped into three categories: physical, verbal, and non-verbal. Physical symptoms result from the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) responding to the situation with a "fight-or-flight" reaction. Since the modus operandi, or method of operating, of the symphatetic system is all-or-nothing, adrenaline secretion produces a wide array of symptoms at once - all of which are supposed to enhance your ability to fight or escape a dangerous scenario.[original research?] These symptoms include acute hearing, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, dilated pupils, increased perspiration, increased oxygen intake, stiffening of neck/upper back muscles, and dry mouth.[original research?] Some of these may be alleviated by drugs such as beta-blockers, which bind to the adrenalin receptors of the heart, for example.[original research?] The verbal symptoms include, but are not limited to a tense voice, a quivering voice, and vocalized pauseswhich tend to comfort anxious speakers.[original research?] One form of speech anxiety is dysfunctional speech anxiety, in which the intensity of the fight-or-flight response prevents an individual from performing effectively. Many people report stress-induced speech disorders which are only present during public speech. Some glossophobics have been able to dance, perform in public, or even to speak (such as in a play) or sing if they cannot see the audience, or if they feel that they are presenting a character or stage persona rather than themselves. Estimated 75% of all speakers experience some degree of anxiety/nervousness when public speaking.[ Organizations, such as Toastmasters International, POWERtalk International or Association of Speakers Clubs, and training courses in public speaking help reduce the fear to manageable levels. Self-help materials that address public speaking are among the best selling self-help topics.[citation needed] Some affected people have turned to certain types of drugs, typically beta blockers to temporarily treat their phobia.

Prevention and treatment

Cognitive restructuring Systematic desensitization Skills training for teachers and for sufferers Visualization

Communication apprehension is fear associated with communication with another person. According to research, 31 percent of elementary school students experience some level of communication apprehension. Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement toperform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially (for example, when performing before a camera). In the context of public speaking, this fear is termed glossophobia, one of the most common of phobias. Such anxiety may precede or accompany participation in any activity involving public self-presentation. In some cases stage fright may be a part of a larger pattern of social phobia or social anxiety disorder, but many people experience stage fright without any wider problems. Quite often, stage fright arises in a mere anticipation of a performance, often a long time ahead. It has numerous manifestations: fluttering or pounding heart, tremor in the hands and legs, sweaty hands, diarrhea, facial nerve tics, dry mouth, erectile dysfunction. Stage fright is most commonly seen in school situations, like stand up projects and and class speeches. Speech anxiety, the fear of public speaking, affects millions of people. For some this is simply a natural nervousness that stems from not wanting to embarrass themselves. For others, this fear creates serious physiological responses that can render someone paralyzed.

Other related terms:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Social anxiety Social phobia Selective mutism Public Speaking anxiety timidness shyness

Systematic Desensitization
It is a behavioral therapy technique for treating specific phobias such as speech anxiety. During this treatment, the phobic person is asked to imagine the events that cause anxiety while engaging in a series of relaxation exercises. Over time, the person becomes desensitized to the anxiety-provoking event. After treatment, they will usually face the feared event with less anxiety.

Cognitive Restructuring A cognitive-behavioral therapy technique used to identify and correct negative thinking patterns. The technique involves altering negative automatic thoughts that occur in anxiety-provoking situations (such as "They think Im boring") by replacing them with

more rational beliefs (such as "I can't read other people's minds; they are probably just tired"). As thoughts are challenged and disputed, their ability to elicit anxiety is weakened. The basic idea of cognitive restructuring is that people's emotions and behavior can be greatly affected by what they think. If people can consciously change their habits of what they say to themselves and what mental images they present to themselves, they can make themselves happier or kinder or more productive or can accomplish any of several other positive changes. Skills Training
The primary goals of Skills Training are: Creating the social environmental conditions that facilitate improved behavior of the individual Aiding in learning and mastering the new techniques and tactics of behavior.

II.

PHONETICS

1. Phonetics vs. Phonology

Phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior knowledge of the language being spoken. Phonology is about patterns of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different languages, or within each language, different patterns of sounds in different positions in words etc. 2. Phonetics vs. Acoustics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or

in the case of sign languagesthe equivalent aspects of sign.[1] It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs (phones). Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. 3. Phonetics vs. Phonics In popular usage the words are often used interchangeably, although phonics [fn'ks] is the term usually employed when speaking of a method of beginning reading instruction. In this use, phonics is regarded as a simplified form of phonetics [f-nt'ks], which is the scientific study of speech sounds. Phonics is the branch of linguistics concerned with spoken sounds; while phonetics is the correlations between sound and symbol in analphabetic writing system; the phonic method of teaching reading. It is the study and classification of speech sounds, esp. with regard to the physical aspects of their production; the branch of linguistics that deals with this.

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notationbased primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Associationas a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language.[1] The IPA is used byforeign language students and teachers, linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, singers,actors, lexicographers, constructed language creators (conlangers), and translators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are distinctive in spoken language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables.[1] To represent additional qualities of speech such as tooth gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft palate, an extended set of symbols called the Extensions to the IPA may be used.[2] IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types, letters and diacritics. The general principle of the IPA is to provide one letter for each distinctive sound (speech segment).[11] This means that it does not use combinations of letters to represent single sounds, the way English does with sh and ng, or single letters to represent multiple sounds the way x represents /ks/ or /z/ in English. There are no letters that have context-dependent sound values, as c does in English and other European languages, and finally, the IPA does not usually have separate letters for two sounds if no known language makes a distinction between them, a property known as "selectiveness".[2][note 2] Among the symbols of the IPA, 107 letters represent consonants and vowels, 31diacritics are used to modify these, and 19 additional signs indicate suprasegmentalqualities such as length, tone, stress, and intonation.[note 3]

IPA Vowel Chart:

The IPA chart uses the terms open and close instead of low and high. The IPA chart has four height levels instead of three. The mid level in the tictac-chart is split into two levels in the IPA chart:

tense mid is called close-mid lax mid is called open-mid

[ ] and [ ] are demoted to second-class citizens (non-cardinal vowels) and pushed to the inside of the chart. This makes the implicit claim that the difference between [e] and [ "tenseness" property. ] is mainly one of height, not of some extra

Acoustically, the IPA chart's arrangement is closer to real F1-by-F2 graphs. The acoustic difference between [e] and [ ] is not parallel to

the acoustic difference between [i] and [ ]. Articulatorily, there is variation between languages and even between speakers within a language. For some languages/speakers, the tonguebody positions look very like what the IPA chart suggests. For other languages/speakers, the tongue-body positions are similar for [i] and [ ] and for [e] and [ ], as suggested by the tic-tac-toe chart, and the tense/lax distinction is made primarily by moving the tongue root forward or backward in the pharyngeal cavity. (See the section of the textbook on Advanced Tongue Root.) Phonologically, many languages act as if the vowel space were organized as in the tic-tac-toe chart, even if the IPA chart is more physically accurate. (E.g., English, many languages of Africa)

[a] is a front vowel in the IPA chart and central in the tic-tac-toe chart. In the IPA chart, [] is a second-class citizen squeezed in between [a] and [

].

Both charts are about equally close to the physical reality. [a] is more common than [] cross-linguistically, so there is some justification for treating it as more "important". Phonologically, most languages don't make a difference between front and back low vowels -- whether their single low vowel [a] should be treated as front or central or back is not a pressing question. Those languages that do make a front/back distinction in the low vowels will often use the exaggeratedly front [] for the front one. The rare languages which contrast three degrees of frontness for low vowels usually act the way the tic-tac-toe chart suggests.

The IPA chart treats [ ] as an unrounded back vowel. The tic-tac-toe chart treats it as a central vowel. As suggested by the layout of the IPA chart, back unrounded vowels will tend to be somewhat more central than rounded ones, both acoustically and articulatorily. But English [ away like this. ] is clearly central, more so that we can explain

Unlike the earlier differences, this is a case of using the same symbol for two different sounds. From the viewpoint of strict standardization, English linguists are just plain wrong to use [ ] for the vowel of cup. Especially in narrow transcriptions, it would be more accurate to add a diacritic indicating that the vowel is advanced or centralized, or to use the symbol [ ] for a lower-mid central vowel (approved in 1996). From a more realistic viewpoint, English linguists are simply following the IPA-sanctioned practice for broad transcriptions of using the symbol for the nearest cardinal vowel whenever practical. (If we were writing a grammar of English, we'd have a moral obligation to put in a footnote explaining how our broad use of [ from the standard for cardinal vowel 12.) ] differs

In the tic-tac-toe chart, the mid-central region is a box like any other. In the version of the IPA chart printed in the textbook, um, well, it's anybody's guess what's going on there. The cardinal vowel system hinges on the four corners of the vowel space, and the cardinal vowels are arranged around the well-defined edges. The IPA has tended to look at the central region as a nebulous no-man's-land -- that area of the chart might as well have had a "Here there be dragons" sign. In 1996, the IPA bit the bullet and designated symbols for rounded and unrounded central vowels at each of its four height levels (except low). Schwa is used as a cover symbol for any unrounded mid central vowel when you don't want to get fussy over whether it's higher-mid or lower-mid, tense or lax. This is now way more central vowel symbols than we'll ever need. But at least it's consistent.

Vowels
Mouth wider horizontallyMouth narrower horizontally Mouth narrower vertically

sleep /slip/ slip /slIp/

book /bk/ boot /but/ ten /ten/

after /aft/ bird /bd/

u e

bored /bd/Mouth wider vertically cat /kt/

cup / k^p/

car / cr/ hot /ht/