How is written language different to spoken

One must be acutely aware of the tradeoff between comprehensiveness and comprehension. Trying to put too much into a speech is probably the single most frequent error made by speakers.

This desire to "say everything" stems from the distinctive limitations of speeches: after a speech, one cannot go back and correct errors or omissions, and such mistakes could potentially cripple the persuasiveness of a speech. A speaker cannot allow himself or herself to fall into this mentality. At the outset, a speaker must define an argument sharply and narrowly and must focus on only that argument.

There are certainly implications of an argument that are important but cannot be developed within the speech. These aspects should be clearly acknowledged by the speaker, but deferred to a question-and-answer period, a future speech, or a reference to a work that the audience can follow-up on its own. Speakers must exercise tight and disciplined control over content.

As a rule of thumb, the audience will remember about one-half of what was said in a twenty-minute talk. After twenty-minutes, recall drops off precipitously. Oral arguments should therefore be parsed down as much as possible. There are very few circumstances in which an audience will recall a great deal of the information in a speech longer than twenty minutes.

Most evidence suggests that audience recall declines precipitously after 16 and one-helf minutes. In some languages Chinese, for example , the various spoken dialects may even be mutually incomprehensible, while the written language is universally understood.

A learnt skill. Most people acquire the spoken language at least of their own mother tongue intuitively, whereas the written form is in most cases deliberately taught and learned.

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Written by Billy McCaw on July 13, Spoken vs. Written Language A key difference between written and spoken languages is that written language tends to be more formal and complex than spoken language.

Other differences are: Writing is more permanent and less easily changed. Once something is printed, or on the Web, it is out there permanently. Unless the speaker is recorded, however, they can restate their position. Except in the case of formal speeches, spoken language is more impromptu. Because of that, it often includes repetitions, interruptions, and incomplete sentences. Writing is more polished. Because written language is more complex, it requires punctuation. Punctuation has no equivalent in spoken language.

Writing communicates across time and space for as long as the medium exists and that particular language is understood. Speech is more immediate. Except with text messages, computer chats, or similar technology, writers can't receive immediate feedback to know whether their message is understood or not.

Spoken Language is more informal and simple than written language. Written Language is more formal and complex than spoken language. Spoken Language is mostly used between two people who are in the same place. Written Language promotes communication across space and time. Spoken Language can use tone, pitch, volume, etc. Written Language can use heading, punctuation, layouts, etc. Spoken Language is temporary since there are no records. Written Language is permanent since there are records. Spoken Language contains repetitions, incomplete sentences, interruptions, corrections, etc.