Written and Spoken Language

Written and Spoken Language


When individual languages have a written as well as a spoken form, it is often the case that the writing system does not represent all the distinctive sounds of the language. The writing system of one language may make use of symbols from the writing system of another language, applying them to sounds, syllables, or morphemes for which they were not originally intended. Written and spoken forms of the same language can be compared by studying the “fit” between the writing system and the spoken language.
Many kinds of writing systems exist. In Chinese, a written character is used for every morpheme. The written form of the Cherokee language has a symbol for every consonant-and-vowel syllable. Japanese is also written with such a system, which is called a syllabary. In writing systems using an alphabet, such as the Latin alphabet, each symbol theoretically stands for a sound in the spoken language. The Latin alphabet has 26 letters, and languages written with it generally use all 26, whether their spoken form has more or fewer sounds. Although it is used for written English, the Latin alphabet does not have symbols for all the sounds of English. For example, for some sounds, combinations of two letters (digraphs), such as th, are used. Even so, the combination th does not indicate the spoken distinction between th in “thin” and th in “this”.
The written form of a language is static, unchanging, reflecting the form of the language at the time the alphabet, syllabary, or character system was adopted. The spoken form is dynamic, always changing; eventually, the written and spoken forms may no longer coincide. One of the problems with the English written language is that it still represents the pronunciation of the language several centuries ago. The word light, for example, is today pronounced “lite”; the spelling “light” reflects the former pronunciation. In languages with writing systems that have been recently developed (such as Swahili) or reformed (such as Hebrew), the written and spoken forms are more likely to fit.
Unlike speech, writing may ignore pitch and stress, omit vowels, or include punctuation and capitalization. The written and spoken forms of a language also differ in that writing does not incorporate spoken dialect differences. Speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese languages or dialects, for example, can read one another's writing even though they cannot communicate through speech. Similarly, speakers of the different German dialects all write in High German, the accepted standard form of the language.
The written form of a language may have more prestige than the spoken form, and it also may have a more complex grammar and a distinctive vocabulary. A standard written literary language thus tends to influence the speech of educated people. In certain circumstances they will try to imitate it when they talk, and they may relegate the unwritten form to situations where prestige is less important. In Arabic-speaking countries, for example, educated people sometimes use classical Arabic in speech as well as in writing, whereas uneducated people speak only colloquial Arabic. The use of two such varieties of a single language by the same speaker in different situations is called diglossia. People who use the spoken form of a standard literary dialect in public and their native regional dialect when they are with friends (as do many German-speaking Swiss) are said to be diglossic.
A standard language is that one of the language's dialects that has become dominant. Often, such dominance is due to governmental policy whereby one dialect is given prestige over others, and various regulations or customs ensure that it is used. A standard variety is not in any way inherently superior to other dialects and is, itself, just another dialect with its own individual grammar, vocabulary, and accent (while the standard can—and is—spoken in many accents, there is usually one accent that is held as more prestigious than others, as in Received Pronunciation in the UK). The standard language (such as High German) is frequently the dialect used in writing; that is, it is the literary language of a speech community, or at least a dialect that has an existing orthography and a body of material written in it.
Few people actually speak such a standard language; rather, they approximate it with their own regional variations. The standard dialect is the one that is used when a language is taught to nonnative speakers; the learners then speak it, but do so with an accent, or variation carried over from their first language and region. The standard language also provides a common means of communication among speakers of regional dialects (as in the examples given above for German). Standard languages are thus highly useful in efforts to unite people and create a sense of national spirit.