differences between written and spoken language
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7/6/2015 Differencesbetweenwrittenandspokenlanguage
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/writingvspeech.htm 1/2
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DifferencesbetweenwritingandspeechWrittenandspokenlanguagedifferinmanyways.Howeversomeformsofwritingareclosertospeechthanothers,andviceversa.Belowaresomeofthewaysinwhichthesetwoformsoflanguagediffer:
Writingisusuallypermanentandwrittentextscannotusuallybechangedoncetheyhavebeenprinted/writtenout.
Speechisusuallytransient,unlessrecorded,andspeakerscancorrectthemselvesandchangetheirutterancesastheygoalong.
Awrittentextcancommunicateacrosstimeandspaceforaslongastheparticularlanguageandwritingsystemisstillunderstood.
Speechisusuallyusedforimmediateinteractions.
Writtenlanguagetendstobemorecomplexandintricatethanspeechwithlongersentencesandmanysubordinateclauses.Thepunctuationandlayoutofwrittentextsalsohavenospokenequivalent.Howeversomeformsofwrittenlanguage,suchasinstantmessagesandemail,areclosertospokenlanguage.
Spokenlanguagetendstobefullofrepetitions,incompletesentences,correctionsandinterruptions,withtheexceptionofformalspeechesandotherscriptedformsofspeech,suchasnewsreportsandscriptsforplaysandfilms.
Writersreceivenoimmediatefeedbackfromtheirreaders,exceptincomputerbasedcommunication.Thereforetheycannotrelyoncontexttoclarifythingssothereismoreneedtoexplainthingsclearlyandunambiguouslythaninspeech,exceptinwrittencorrespondencebetweenpeoplewhoknowoneanotherwell.
Speechisusuallyadynamicinteractionbetweentwoormorepeople.Contextandsharedknowledgeplayamajorrole,soitispossibletoleavemuchunsaidorindirectlyimplied.
Writerscanmakeuseofpunctuation,headings,layout,coloursandothergraphicaleffectsintheirwrittentexts.Suchthingsarenotavailableinspeech
Speechcanusetiming,tone,volume,andtimbretoaddemotionalcontext.
Writtenmaterialcanbereadrepeatedlyandcloselyanalysed,andnotescanbemadeonthewritingsurface.Onlyrecordedspeechcanbeusedinthisway.
Somegrammaticalconstructionsareonlyusedinwriting,asaresomekindsofvocabulary,suchassomecomplexchemicalandlegalterms.
Sometypesofvocabularyareusedonlyormainlyinspeech.Theseincludeslangexpressions,andtagslikey'know,like,etc.
SeealsoWhatiswriting?andTypesofwritingsystems
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7/6/2015 Differencesbetweenwrittenandspokenlanguage
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/writingvspeech.htm 2/2
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