Amp; Basic information on the topic

Ordm; oral versions of speech productions

Quot; Practical stylistic tasks

Iquest; Collecting data on other stylistic aspects

² Unit 1 Oral and written speech

Amp; Read information on the topic

Oral and written speech: differences and purposes in communication process

Though there are many differentiations of speech productions, the basic ones, mentioned in many linguistic works, are oral and written. Both are important ingredients of communication process. When people communicate with each other, they exchange information, through a common system of symbols. In oral, or spoken, communication sound patterns are used to stand for objects of reality.

Oral communication, however, involves more than just language. People use vocal characteristics —rate, pitch, loudness, and so on—to help clarify the intent of the sound patterns. When people speak, they use facial expressions, gestures, and eye contact to make their meanings clear.

Ancient cultures begin with oral languages. Although oral language was a major achievement for humanity, it had limitations. It was an imperfect means for transporting messages over distance and time. With the invention of writing, ideas could be recorded, copied, and sent by several runners to people in distant places. Ideas could also be passed on with little or no distortion to succeeding generations. Later people learnt to represent the language of their group with written symbols. A written language uses printed symbols to stand for sound patterns. In addition to using letters to represent sounds, a written language contains punctuation marks that express the vocal characteristics. For example, a period and a comma in writing are equivalent to a pause in speech, while a question mark is expressed through a change in inflection, or pitch, and an exclamation point can be heard as increased volume and intensity. Nonverbal aspects of oral communication have no direct substitute in written language. Plus they can be different in oral and written speech. For example, diagrams, charts, graphs, pictures, and drawings may be used to help the reader understand the printed text. In oral speech all the richness of the voice is used.

Oral and written speech in human communication developed to serve many purposes. Writing enabled people to record ideas on a single surface. It helped to develop new communication means. Television broadcasting, radio broadcasting, digital communication made it possible to compress, store, and transmit large volumes of data efficiently. Oral speech, however, did not lose its importance and helps to provide spontaneous communication and develop the language, for it is innovative, while written speech is conservative. Both oral and written speech meets the fundamental human need to exchange and interpret information.

To examine oral and written speech it is necessary to look beyond Language or in other words, at Paralanguage (When people talk, they don't stop short at language. They use their voices in ways that go along with language. People also talk with their bodies. And they use substitutes for language). In other words paralanguage means are called extralinguistic ones. Here we can attribute voice parameters, for the voice carries more than the sounds of language. It carries sounds that go along with language. Another example is body talk. Body movements, too, go along with language. Sometimes they take the place of actual speech. These means are sometimes called Language Substitutes.