The Lemma Dilemma: Teaching Voice and Speech through a Linguistic Lens!

For voice and speech teachers, the importance of “the thought” is almost a given. Text comes to life when it is fueled by an external stimulus; we breathe in response to an image, a concept, a need we wish to express, then transmit that to our listener on the voice.

However, teaching our students how to do this, especially with memorized text, remains challenging. Different methodologies have come up with solutions for this problem: dropping in, restructuring, the second circle. All of these are great techniques, but they don’t get to the heart of the problem: the lemma.

In psycholinguistic models of speech processing and production, the lemma is the mental representation of a concept that contains both semantic and syntactic meaning, linking an idea to the sounds needed to express the idea. When we give voice to an idea, our brain goes in search of a concept, which can activate many different lemmas, and we ultimately select one to move further along in the process of speech production. 

Here’s the interesting part: we memorize a script, and while the author’s speech planning might take them down one lemma-road, our brain might instinctively take us down another! When we talk about owning the language, this is the obstacle. We can understand the beats, the ideas, work moment to moment and thought to thought, but it doesn’t change the fact that we might select a different lemma than the text instructs to express the same concept. This disconnect is heard in the voice, felt in the listener, and leaves the text flat.

This workshop will explore how to bridge the gap between actor and text, examining how psycholinguistics can support our voice and speech teaching. Participants will learn about exercises and coaching techniques designed to combat “actor voice” and bring text fully to life through the actor’s lived experience.