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

7/6/2015 Differencesbetweenwrittenandspokenlanguage

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/writingvspeech.htm 2/2

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