Difference between written word and spoken word

When teaching language, there are two forms that everyone should be aware of. The two forms of language are written and spoken. What are these two types of languages? Written language is a form of communication that requires both reading and writing. To achieve the lesson of written language, there are a few essential things that need to be taught which include phonological processing (decoding), vocab, and a clear understanding of grammar. 

Opposite of written language, there is also spoken language. Spoken language, also known as oral language, is another form of communication that has you talking rather than writing. You tell the information by speaking up. Comparing the two forms of language, spoken language is used mostly. Besides the definition of these forms of writing, there are other differences between the two that you should know. 

What Is The Difference Between Written And Spoken Language? 

Now that you have a clear understanding of what both of these languages are, let us go over what makes these two forms of language different from each other. We will give you the characteristics of both languages. 

Written Language

These are some of the characteristics of written language: 

• You don’t use personal pronouns in written language frequently 

• You create complex sentences in your writing 

• You repeat the same ideas by using precise and varied language 

• Written language always uses a formal tone or you don’t use colloquialisms 

• No matter what your audience is, you always use words that are rich and precise 

• During written language, you would use information that you already stated 

Spoken Language

These are some of the characteristics of spoken language:

• Unlike written language, you use personal pronouns 

• Spoken language is always easy to follow and to understand 

• You repeat words throughout the language to show your ideas 

• Always have a casual tone by using colloquial words and contractions 

• The spoken language uses words that will be familiar for people so audiences will understand 

• You also use fewer references to things previously mentioned. 

These are some of the differences between the two forms of language. There are, however, some similarities between the two that you should know about.

Similarities Between Written and Spoken 

• Both forms of language follow a logical structure 

• They both make great arguments that are understandable 

• Both forms of language need evidence to back up the argument. Without evidence, your argument would be weak 

Examples Of Written And Spoken Language: 

To give you a further demonstration of how both of these languages work, here is an example of both languages: 

Written Language: 

Here is an example of how written language: 

«Every previous visit had left me with a sense of the futility of further action on my part.» 

Now let us go over the spoken language example and compare the two: 

Spoken Language:

«Whenever I’d visited there before, I’d ended up feeling that it would be futile if I tried to do anything more.» 

See how the spoken language uses more personal pronouns than written language, that is how you can tell the difference. Here is another example we would like to share. This example is used when writing an argument. 

Written Language: 

«Improvements in technology have reduced the risks and high costs associated with the simultaneous installation». 

Spoken Language: 

«Because the technology has improved, it’s less risky than it used to be when installing them at the same time, and it doesn’t cost as much either». 

See how the written language is more complex and uses rich words compared to spoken language. These are just some examples of both written and spoken language. We hope this lesson helped you to understand both languages more. 

• Categorized under Language | Difference Between Written and Spoken language

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APA 7
, R. (2009, November 1). Difference Between Written and Spoken language. Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects. http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-written-and-spoken-language/.

MLA 8
, Rachel. «Difference Between Written and Spoken language.» Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects, 1 November, 2009, http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-written-and-spoken-language/.

The
spoken medium is directly linked to the time of its production and to
the perception by those present during the short-time verbal event.
By contrast, writing is viewed as the translation of spoken language
into more permanent, visible signs on a page. According to M. A.
Halliday, writing emerged in societies as a result of cultural
changes which created new communicative needs. These needs could not
be readily met by the spoken language. In particular, with the
emergence of cultures based on agriculture rather than hunting and
gathering, people needed permanent records which could be referred to
over and over again. This led to the emergence of a new form of
language – writing.

Written
language performs a similar range of functions to those performed by
spoken language – that is, it is used to
get things done, to provide information and to entertain. However,
the contexts for using written language are different from those in
which spoken language is used. In the case of information, written
language is used to communicate with others who are removed in time
and space.

Halliday
suggests that written language is used for
action (for
example, public
signs, product labels, television and radio guides, bills, menus,
computer manuals);
for
information (for
example, newspapers,
current affairs magazines, advertisements, political pamphlets);
and for
entertainment (for
example, comic
strips, fiction books, poetry and drama, newspaper features, film
subtitles).
These differences can be observed within the sentence at the level of
grammar, and beyond the sentence at the level of text structure.

Generally
speaking scholars have identified the following seven characteristics
of spoken / written languages:

Speech
is transient (short-time, temporary, occasional), rather than
permanent.
Because
of physical constraints, interlocutors may not speak at the same
time, or else they cannot hear what the others say. They are bound by
the non-reversible distribution of turns

at
talk. Written
language, by contrast, can be stored, retrieved, and recollected, and
responses can be delayed.
Because
it cannot be immediately challenged as in oral communication, written
language carries more weight and more prestige. Moreover, the
permanence of writing as a medium can easily lead people to suppose
that what it expresses is permanent too.

Speech
is additive or “rhapsodic”.
Because of the dialogic nature of oral interaction, speakers
‘rhapsodize’, i.e. stitch together elements from previous
turns-at-talk, they add language as they go along (and
… and, then … and then …).
By contrast, the
information conveyed in writing is hierarchically ordered within the
clause structure,
and
is linearly arranged on the page, from left to right, or top to
bottom, according to the cultural convention. Since it is likely to
be read by distant, unknown, or yet-to-be-born audiences, it has
developed

an
information structure characterized by a high level of cohesion.

Speech
is aggregative,
i.e.
it makes use of verbal aggregates or formulaic expressions,
ready-made chunks of speech that maintain the contact between
interlocutors, also called phatic
communion.
By
contrast, in the absence of such direct contact and for the sake of
economy of information over long distances or long periods of time,
and because it can be read and re-read at will, writing
has come to be viewed as the medium that fosters analysis, logical
reasoning and abstract categorization.

Speech
is redundant or “copious”.
Because speakers are never quite sure whether their listener is
listening, paying attention, comprehending and remembering what they
are saying or not, they tend to make frequent use of repetition,
paraphrase, and restatement. By contrast, written language tends to
avoid redundancy.

Speech
is loosely structured grammatically and is lexically sparse (scanty);
writing,
by contrast, is
grammatically compact and lexically dense.
What
does this mean? Speakers have to attend to many aspects of the
situation while they concentrate on what they are saying, and while
they monitor the way they are saying it. Thus, their speech is
characterized by false starts, filled and unfilled pauses,
hesitations, parenthetic remarks, unfinished sentences. They create
their utterances as they are speaking them. Writers, by contrast,
have time to pack as much information in the clause as they can,
using all the complex syntactic resources the language can give them;
they can condense large quantities of information in a tighter space
by using, for example, dense nominalised phrases.

Speech
tends to be people-centered; writing tends to be topic centered.
Because
of the presence of an audience and the need to keep the conversation
going, speakers not only focus on their topic, but try to engage
their listeners as well, and appeal to their senses and emotions. In
writing, by contrast, the topic or message and its transferability
from one context to the other is the main concern. Writers try to
make their message as clear, unambiguous, coherent, and trustworthy
as possible since they will not always be there to explain and defend
it. Of course, a lot of written texts can appeal to the readers’
emotions, and display many features characteristic of speech.

Speech,
being close to the situation at hand, is context dependent;
writing,
being
received far from its original context of production, is
context-reduced.
Because
of the dialogic character of oral exchanges, truth in the oral mode
is jointly constructed and based on common sense experience. Truth in
the literate mode is based on the

logic
and the coherence of the argument being made. We must always remember
that the differences between spoken and written languages are not
absolute and the characteristics that we tend to associate with
written language can sometimes occur in spoken language and vice
versa. A scribbled memo, an e-mail, an informal letter, like a
conversation or a homily (moralizing discourse which is used in a
church by a priest), are written in the oral mode; an academic
lecture, a scientific presentation, a scholarly article, are spoken
in the literate mode.

GRAMMAR:
written language has certain features that are generally not shared
by the spoken language. Linguistically, written language tends to
consist of clauses that are internally complex, whereas with spoken
language the complexity exists in the ways in which clauses

are
joined together.

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Библиографическое описание:

Холжигитова, Д. Б. Differences Between Written And Spoken Language / Д. Б. Холжигитова. — Текст : непосредственный // Молодой ученый. — 2016. — № 9 (113). — С. 1305-1308. — URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/113/29185/ (дата обращения: 14.04.2023).

In any language there is some amount of difference between written language (planned) and spoken language (spontaneous). Since planned speech could be considered a form of written language, it could be inferred that there are also differences between planned speech and spontaneous speech. Some of these differences are very clear in terms of syntax, lexis, phonology and discourse.

Apart from obvious differences between speech and writing like the fact that writing includes some medium which keeps record of the conveyed message while speech involves only air, there are certain dissimilarities that are less apparent. Speech develops in time in that the speaker says with speed that is suitable for him, even if it may not be appropriate for the listener and though a request for repetition is possible, it is difficult to imagine a conversation in which every sentence is to be rephrased. Moreover, talking might be spontaneous which results in mistakes, repetition, sometimes less coherent sentences where even grunts, stutters or pauses might be meaningful. The speaker usually knows the listener, or listeners, or he is at least aware of the fact that he is being listened to, which enables him to adjust the register. As interlocutors are most often in face-to-face encounters (unless using a phone) they take advantage of extralinguistic signals as grimaces, gesticulation, expressions such as «here», «now», or «this» are used. Employment of nonsense vocabulary, slang and contracted forms (we’re, you’ve) is another feature of oral discourse. Among other significant features of speech there are rhythm, intonation, speed of uttering and, what is more important, inability to conceal mistakes made while speaking. [1. p. 67]

In contrast, writing develops in space in that it needs a means to carry the information. The author of the text does not often know who is going to read the text, as a result he cannot adjust to readers’ specific expectations. The writer is frequently able to consider the content of his work for almost unlimited period of time which makes it more coherent, having complex syntax. What is more, the reader might not instantly respond to the text, ask for clarification, hence neat message organization, division to paragraphs, layout are of vital importance to make comprehension easier. Additionally, owing to the lack of context expressions such as «now» or «here» are omitted, since they would be ambiguous as texts might be read at different times and places. One other feature typical of writing, but never of oral discourse, is the organization of tables, formulas, or charts which can be portrayed only in written form.

Naturally, this division into two ways of producing discourse is quite straightforward, yet, it is possible to combine the two like, for example, in the case of a lesson, when a teacher explains something writing on the blackboard, or when a speaker prepares detailed notes to be read out during his speech. Moreover, some of the foregoing features are not so explicit in the event of sophisticated, formal speech or a friendly letter.

Syntactical Structure. One of the main differences between spontaneous and planned speech is that of syntax. The syntactical structure tends to be more complicated in planned speech, so the sentences tend to be very long, complicated and complete. McCarthy states that «without a command of the rich and variable resources of the grammar, the construction of natural and sophisticated discourse is impossible». Therefore, grammatical cohesion and semantic links between words could be easily detected in planned speech. On the other hand, the syntactical structure in spontaneous speech is very simple, incomplete and sometimes even incorrect. The sentences are very simple and short. The spontaneous speaker slurs words; half enunciates the words or says incomplete sentences (e. g. fragments). However, these incomplete sentences are acceptable because they are a typical feature of spoken English. Moreover, Goldman‑Eisler reports: Spontaneous speech was shown to be a highly fragmented and discontinuous activity. When even at its most fluent, two‑thirds of spoken language comes in chunks of less than six words, the attribute of flow and fluency in spontaneous speech must be judged an illusion.

Lexical features:

1. Vocabulary and the (Interactive features & Organization) of Text.

In spontaneous speech, the speaker tends to switch from one point to the other without paying attention to the organization of his message. He might start talking about a certain topic and then moves to talk about something totally different and then returns to his main topic and continues in that circle. Moreover, vocabulary items are carelessly selected and they could be repeated again and again in order to communicate the meaning. However, in planned speech, the speaker makes use of the vocabulary in organizing his message so that it has a beginning, a middle and an end. Moreover, he tends to focus on high lexical density and complex vocabulary including abstract and he uses a variety of vocabulary with lower level of repetition (Hughes, 1996). McCarthy (1991:75) suggests that vocabulary is not just used to organize the text but also to indicate the larger text patterns chosen by the author. He states that: As well as representing text‑segments, some of the discourse organizing words give us indications of the larger text patterns the author has chosen, and build up expectations concerning the shape of the whole discourse.

− Vocabulary plays another role in focusing the attention on a specific part of the message. In planned speech for instance, the speaker tends to use words that take lesser space and more information. These words help him to place the focus on the main idea of the message. On the other hand, the focus is diverted in different directions in the spontaneous speech due to the speaker’s unorganized way of delivering the message.

− Vocabulary is not only necessary for the organization of the message in planned speech; it is also important to reflect an interactive impression about the message in spontaneous speech. Spoken speech in general and spontaneous speech in particular are noticeable for their interactive expressions. Spontaneous speech frequently involves interactive expressions like well, now, you know… etc.

1. False starts. Maclay and Osgood observed that false starts, when a speaker starts an utterance, stops abruptly and restarts, usually involves not just corrections of the unintended word, but also corrections of the associated function words. False start occurs a lot in spontaneous speech due to the high speed of interaction, the fast flow of utterances and the short time that the speaker has to think about his utterances. On the other hand, false start does not occur in planned speech because the speaker has enough time to plan, organise and think about what he is going to say. So, his utterances are more likely to be very organized, accurate and focused on the main idea of the message which means there is no chance for false start to exist in such a speech.

Phonological features:

1. Pauses and Rhythms. Preplanned speech, such as a talk, can be read smoothly and continuously. Spontaneous speech can rarely be described in this way. It is full of pauses, hesitations, false starts, fragments and corrections, which the listener has to disentangle somehow. In actual fact, these factors have some important functions in the spontaneous speech. For instance, the pause or the silence in speech can play a social role, as when we pause for effect, in order to emphasize a point; it can also signal that the speaker has finished talking and now wishes someone else to talk. Moreover, it plays a physical role since we can not talk and inhale at the same time. Finally, it can play a cognitive role; pauses may occur when we are planning what to say next. So, we could say that pauses play a crucial role in the planning of spontaneous speech at both the lexical and the semantic level.

In fact, a pause for the cognitive function of planning will not always be silent. Many of the hesitations which occur in speech — the ‘ers’ and ‘ums’ — are thoughtto be attempts to achieve the cognitive function of planning something else to say, while retaining control of the conversation. If the silence is filled with sound, the speaker is indicating that no interruption is to be tolerated. On the other hand, in the planned speech pauses do occur but rhythmically along with ebb and flow of the sentence. Brown (1990:48) suggests that pauses in the spoken mode of a written speech (planned speech), occur on the rhythmic beat just as stressed syllable do. In other words, short pauses will contribute a single beat whereas long pauses contribute multiple beats. Planned speech is more rhythmic than spontaneous speech in that short pauses are used for commas, long ones for fullstops and longer pauses while switching to the next passage and this rhythm is almost lacking in spontaneous speech. In actual fact it is very hard for a spontaneous speaker to establish a rhythmic quality in his speech unless he is very fluent and well experienced speaker. The reason for this is that the spontaneous speaker would sometimes stop at the middle of a sentence in order to find a suitable word that serves the meaning he wants to convey or express.

The Use of.

1. Fillers. Spontaneous speech is disfluent: speakers need time to formulate utterances and often to make changes, so fillers, pauses, repetitions and restarts are abound. Fillers and hesitations dominate spontaneous speech and give it its distinctive structure and feeling. According to Brown (1990), in normal spontaneous speech the speaker concentrates both on what to say and how to say it. If that is the case, spontaneous speaker would use lots of fillers such as «erm», «er», «uh»…ete in order to gain some time to think of what to say next or to search for a suitable word that would best convey his meaning. It could be said therefore, that these fillers help the spontaneous speaker to be more efficient while speaking. However, if the speaker exaggerates in using these fillers, this could affect his fluency. On the other hand, in planned speech the speaker does not need to use the fillers so often since he has already had enough time to plan what he is going to say. That justifies the small number of fillers used in planned speech and the huge number used in spontaneous speech.
2. Pronunciation Variants. Spontaneous speech, as opposed to planned speech, is a more natural way in which people communicate with each other. However, the recognition of spontaneous speech is made more challenging by the severe pronunciation variants and unpredictable pauses or laughter in between words. For instance, when words follow one another in speech, phonemes may undergo considerable changes. Hence, it is more likely that planned speech would have more careful and precise pronunciation.
3. Time and speed factors. We have seen previously that the use of fillers is more common in spontaneous speech than in planned speech. The use of fillers and pauses consumes a considerable time of the overall time of speech and this in turn, decreases the speed of the speech delivery and affects the fluency of the speaker. On the other hand, the time consumed in delivering a planned speech (of the same topic as in spontaneous speech) is less than that consumed in spontaneous speech although the message in the former is more coherent and organized. This could be justified by the fact that in planned speech, the speaker has had enough time to think about the message whereas, in spontaneous speech, he is speaking casually on the spot without having any time to think about it.

The Discourse Features:

1. The use of referring expressions. «Referring expressions are words whose meaning can only be discovered by referring to other words or to elements of the context which are clear to bothsender and receiver». Planned speech is explicit with precise and specific references, whereas the spontaneous speech frequently demonstrates nonspecific references. The most common example of these references is third person pronouns (she/ her/ hers/ herself; he/ him/ his/ himself; it/ its/ itself; they/ them/ their/ theirs/ themselves). However, it is not only the third person pronouns which work in this way. The meanings of this, that, here and there have also to be found either formally in another part of the discourse or contextually from the world. Referring expressions fulfil a dual purpose of unifying the text (they depend upon some of the subject matter remaining the same) and of economy, because they save us from having to repeat the identity of what we are talking about again and again (ibid).
2. Ellipsis. The complexity of the grammatical features found in spontaneous speech often stems from a high incidence of a characteristic called ellipsis. According to Hughes, «Ellipsis is a complex concept which basically hinges on the notion that something is «missing» from an utterance or clause, but that it can be understood because of the surrounding discourse and context». Ellipsis is more likely to occur in spontaneous speech rather than in planned speech because in the latter, the ideas tend to be expressed in complete sentences and they are relatively straightforward; whereas in the former, the message is implicitly expressed to an audience who is supposed to know the context of the speech.

References:

1. Gee J. P. An introduction to discourse analysis. London: Routledge. 2001, p. 67.
2. Hutchby I, Wooffitt, R. Conversation Analysis, Cambridge, UK. 1998, p. 65.
3. Jaworski A., Coupland, N. (Eds) The Discourse Reader, London: Routledge. 1999, pp. 66–78.
4. McCarthy M. Discourse analysis for language teachers. Cambridge: CUP. 1999, pp. 33–65.
5. McCarthy Michael and Carter Ronald, Language as Discourse: Perspectives for Language Teaching — Essex. 1994, p. 78.