Aspoken language is a structured system ofcommunication that is produced with articulate sounds using the vocal tract, sometimes specifically also called anoral language orvocal language to differentiate it fromwritten language and possibly fromsign language. However, the term "spoken language" may also be used to incorporate sign languages, referring to anynatural language or forms of language other thantranscribed or written ones.[1][2][3]
Spoken (including signed) language is traditionally ephemeral, only communicated once, and not retrievable after being produced—notwithstanding modernvoice-recording andaudiovisual technology. This differs from written language, whose explicit purpose is to represent an enduring message on a physical surface. The major written languages of the world developed secondarily from naturally-emerged spoken languages. As such, spoken languages are usually the more relevant focus to the study ofhuman history, theorigin of language, andlanguage acquisition.
The term "spoken language" is sometimes used to mean only oral languages, especially by linguists, excluding sign languages and making the terms 'spoken', 'oral', 'vocal language' synonymous. Others refer to sign language as "spoken", especially in contrast to written transcriptions of signs.[1][2][3]
All spoken languages make use of distinct speech patterns, calledphonemes, to distinguish and selectwords from a sharedvocabulary. In oral languages, phonemes are sound patterns likevowels,consonants, andtones, whereas in sign languages, phonemes are distinct components of signs, such aslocation,handshape, andmotion. The study ofphonemes in spoken language is calledphonology.[4]
The origin of language occurred early in humanprehistory, before the invention of writing systems and therefore written language. The origin of language is thus synonymous with the origin of spoken language, whether it was oral or signed. Evidence fromanimal andprimate communication suggests that human language developed from animalgestures and vocalizations produced by human ancestors.[5]
Although non-human animals are capable of communication, humans are the only animals capable of usinglanguage.[6] The organization of communication into a system of phonemes and the development oflexical rules capable of producing an infinite number of new messages (seedigital infinity) are defining features which separate language from unstructured forms of communication. The exact process by which the structured systems of language developed is not known, as the process occurred beforerecorded history, and is the subject of several hypotheses inanthropology,linguistics, andevolutionary biology.
The relationship between spoken language and written language is complex. Within the fields oflinguistics, the current consensus is thatspeech is an innate human capability, and written language is a cultural invention.[7] However, some linguists, such as those of thePrague school, argue that written and spoken language possess distinct qualities which would argue against written language being dependent on spoken language for its existence.[8]
Hearing children acquire as theirfirst language the language that is used around them, whether vocal,cued (if they are sighted), or signed. Deaf children can do the same with Cued Speech or sign language if either visual communication system is used around them. Vocal language is traditionally taught to them in the same way that written language must be taught to hearing children. (Seeoralism.)[9][10] Teachers give particular emphasis on spoken language with children who speak a different primary language outside of the school. For the child it is considered important, socially and educationally, to have the opportunity to understand multiple languages.[11]
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