Speech and Writing
It is a widely held misconception that writing is more perfect than speech. To many people, writing somehow seems more
correct and more stable, whereas speech can be careless, corrupted, and susceptible to change. Some people even go so far as to
identify language with writing and to regard speech as a secondary form of language used imperfectly to approximate the ideals
of the written language.
One of the basic assumptions of modern linguistics, however, is that speech is primary and writing is secondary. The most
immediate manifestation of language is speech and not writing. Writing is simply the representation of speech in another
physical medium. Spoken language encodes thought into a physically transmittable form. Writing is a two-stage process. All
units of writing, whether letter or characters, are based on units of speech, i.e. words, sounds, or syllables. When linguists study
language, they take the spoken language as their best source of data and their object of description (except in instances of
languages like Latin for which there are no longer any speakers).
What gives rise to the misconception that writing is more perfect than speech? There are several reasons. For one thing, the
product of writing is usually more aptly worded and better organized, containing fewer errors, hesitations, and incomplete
sentences than are found in speech. This perfection of writing can be explained by the fact that writing is the result of
deliberation, correction, and revision while speech is the spontaneous and simultaneous formulation of ideas; writing is
therefore less subject to the constraint of time than speech is. In addition, writing is ultimately associated with education and
educated speech.
【題組】48. According to paragraph 2, what can be inferred about linguistic research?
(A) Linguists do not usually study Latin. (B) Research on writing is much easier.
(C) Studies always require several sources. (D) Researchers prefer speech samples.
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