What Is The Difference Between Written And Spoken Language?

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.