Speaking, Talking, Saying

So. On WaniKani I’ve seen all kinds of words which all sort of mean some thing like “to speak, to talk” or “to say”. With all these words and only one sentence for each, I’ve not the foggiest how to express myself as to the action of using human vocal cords.
So, how DO you? There are plenty of fine little differences between the words I’ve listed above. What of them in Japanese?

to say is 言う
to speak / talk is 話す

These are the basics.

I thought so. But what of 語る?

語る is more like telling a story…

Also (and this might just be an anime trope) but often characters exclaim 喋る! (しゃべる) when they hear something talk if they didn’t think it could, like an animal or something. So I think it may refer to the very basic act of articulating words or something there abouts.

Yeah, I’d say 喋る is an informal 話す

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