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Awritten language is the representation of alanguage by means ofwriting. This involves the use of visual symbols, known asgraphemes, to represent linguistic units such asphonemes,syllables,morphemes, orwords. However, written language is not merelyspoken orsigned language written down, though it can approximate that. Instead, it is a separate system with its own norms, structures, and stylistic conventions, and it often evolves differently than its corresponding spoken or signed language.
Written languages serve as crucial tools for communication, enabling the recording, preservation, and transmission of information, ideas, and culture across time and space. Theorthography of a written language comprises the norms by which it is expected to function, including rules regarding spelling and typography. A society's use of written language generally has a profound impact on its social organization, cultural identity, and technological profile.
Writing,speech, andsigning are three distinct modalities oflanguage; each has unique characteristics and conventions.[2] When discussing properties common to the modes of language, the individual speaking, signing, or writing will be referred to as thesender, and the individual listening, viewing, or reading as thereceiver; senders and receivers together will be collectively termedagents. The spoken, signed, and written modes of language mutually influence one another, with the boundaries between conventions for each being fluid—particularly in informal written contexts like taking quick notes or posting on social media.[3]
Spoken and signed language is typically more immediate, reflecting the local context of the conversation and the emotions of the agents, often via paralinguistic cues likebody language. Utterances are typically less premeditated, and are more likely to feature informal vocabulary and shorter sentences.[4] They are also primarily used in dialogue, and as such include elements that facilitateturn-taking; these includingprosodic features such as trailing off andfillers that indicate the sender has not yet finished their turn. Errors encountered in spoken and signed language includedisfluencies and hesitation.[5]
By contrast, written language is typically more structured and formal. While speech and signing are transient, writing is permanent. It allows for planning, revision, and editing, which can lead to more complex sentences and a more extensive vocabulary. Written language also has to convey meaning without the aid of tone of voice, facial expressions, or body language, which often results in more explicit and detailed descriptions.[6]
While a speaker can typically be identified by the quality of their voice, the author of a written text is often not obvious to a reader only analyzing the text itself. Writers may nevertheless indicate their identity via the graphical characteristics of theirhandwriting.[7]
Written languages generally change more slowly than their spoken or signed counterparts. As a result, the written form of a language may retain archaic features or spellings that no longer reflect contemporary speech.[8] Over time, this divergence may contribute to a dynamic of diglossia.
There are too many grammatical differences to address, but here is a sample. In terms ofclause types, written language is predominantly declarative (e.g.It's red.) and typically contains fewerimperatives (e.g.Make it red.),interrogatives (e.g.Is it red?), and exclamatives (e.g.How red it is!) than spoken or signed language.Noun phrases are generally predominantlythird person, but they are even more so in written language.Verb phrases in spoken English are more likely to be insimple aspect than in perfect or progressive aspect, and almost all of the past perfect verbs appear in written fiction.[9]
Information packaging is the way that information is packaged within a sentence, that is the linear order in which information is presented. For example,On the hill, there was a tree has a different informational structure thanThere was a tree on the hill. While, in English, at least, the second structure is more common, the first example is relatively much more common in written language than in spoken language. Another example is that a construction likeit was difficult to follow him is relatively more common in written language than in spoken language, compared to the alternative packagingto follow him was difficult.[10] A final example, again from English, is that thepassive voice is relatively more common in writing than in speaking.[11]
Written language typically has higherlexical density than spoken or signed language, meaning there is a wider range of vocabulary used and individual words are less likely to be repeated. It also includes fewer first and second-person pronouns and fewer interjections. Written English has fewer verbs and more nouns than spoken English, but even accounting for that, verbs likethink,say,know, andguess appear relatively less commonly with a content clause complement (e.g.I thinkthat it's OK.) in written English than in spoken English.[12]
Writing developed independently in a handful of different locations, namelyMesopotamia and Egypt (c. 3200 – c. 3100 BCE),China (c. 1250 BCE), andMesoamerica (c. 1 CE).[13] Scholars mark the difference betweenprehistory andhistory with the invention of the first written language.[14] The first writing can be dated back to theNeolithic era, with clay tablets being used to keep track of livestock and commodities. The first example of written language can be dated toUruk, at the end of the 4th millennium BCE.[15] An ancient Mesopotamian poem tells a tale about the invention of writing:
Because the messenger's mouth was heavy and he couldn't repeat, the Lord of Kulaba patted some clay and put words on it, like a tablet. Until then, there had been no putting words on clay.
The origins of written language are tied to the development of human civilization. The earliest forms of writing were born out of the necessity to record commerce, historical events, and cultural traditions.[17] The first known true writing systems were developed during the earlyBronze Age (late 4th millennium BCE) in ancientSumer, present-day southern Iraq. This system, known ascuneiform, waspictographic at first, but later evolved into an alphabet, a series of wedge-shaped signs used to represent languagephonemically.[18]
At roughly the same time, the system ofEgyptian hieroglyphs was developing in theNile valley, also evolving from pictographic proto-writing to include phonemic elements.[19] TheIndus Valley civilization developed a form of writing known as theIndus scriptc. 2600 BCE, although its precise nature remains undeciphered.[20] TheChinese script, one of the oldest continuously used writing systems in the world, originated around the late 2nd millennium BCE, evolving fromoracle bone script used fordivination purposes.[21]
The development and use of written language has had profound impacts on human societies, influencing everything from social organization and cultural identity to technology and the dissemination of knowledge.[15]Plato (c. 427 – 348 BCE), through the voice ofSocrates, expressed concerns in the dialogue "Phaedrus" that a reliance on writing would weaken one's ability to memorize and understand, as written words would "create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories". He further argued that written words, being unable to answer questions or clarify themselves, are inferior to the living, interactive discourse of oral communication.[22]
Written language facilitates the preservation and transmission of culture, history, and knowledge across time and space, allowing societies to develop complex systems of law, administration, and education.[16][page needed] For example, the invention of writing in ancient Mesopotamia enabled the creation of detailed legal codes, like theCode of Hammurabi.[14][page needed] The advent of digital technology has revolutionized written communication, leading to the emergence of new written genres and conventions, such as interactions viasocial media. This has implications for social relationships, education, and professional communication.[23][page needed]
Literacy is the ability to read and write. From a graphemic perspective, this ability requires the capability of correctly recognizing or reproducing graphemes, the smallest units of written language. Literacy is a key driver ofsocial mobility. Firstly, it underpins success in formal education, where the ability to comprehend textbooks, write essays, and interact with written instructional materials is fundamental. High literacy skills can lead to better academic performance, opening doors to higher education and specialized training opportunities.[24][better source needed]
In the job market, proficiency in written language is often a determinant of employment opportunities. Many professions require a high level of literacy, from drafting reports and proposals to interpreting technical manuals. The ability to effectively use written language can lead to higher paying jobs and upward career progression.[25][better source needed]
Literacy enables additional ways for individuals to participate in civic life, including understanding news articles and political debates to navigating legal documents.[26][better source needed] However, disparities in literacy rates and proficiency with written language can contribute tosocial inequalities. Socio-economic status, race, gender, and geographic location can all influence an individual's access to quality literacy instruction. Addressing these disparities through inclusive and equitable education policies is crucial for promoting social mobility and reducing inequality.[27]
The Canadian philosopherMarshall McLuhan (1911–1980) primarily presented his ideas about written language inThe Gutenberg Galaxy (1962). Therein, McLuhan argued that the invention and spread of theprinting press, and the shift fromoral tradition to written culture that it spurred, fundamentally changed the nature of human society. This change, he suggested, led to the rise ofindividualism,nationalism, and other aspects of modernity.[28]
McLuhan proposed that written language, especially as reproduced in large quantities by the printing press, contributed to a linear and sequential mode of thinking, as opposed to the more holistic and contextual thinking fostered by oral cultures. He associated this linear mode of thought with a shift towards more detached and objective forms of reasoning, which he saw as characteristic of the modern age. Furthermore, he theorized about the effects of different media on human consciousness and society. He famously asserted that "the medium is the message", meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in any message it would transmit or convey, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.
While McLuhan's ideas are influential, they have also been critiqued and debated. Some scholars argue that he overemphasized the role of the medium (in this case, written language) at the expense of the content of communication.[29] It has also been suggested that his theories are overly deterministic, not sufficiently accounting for the ways in which people can use and interpret media in varied ways.[30]
Diglossia is a sociolinguistic phenomenon where two distinct varieties of a language – often one spoken and one written – are used by a single language community in different social contexts.[31]
The "high variety", often the written language, is used in formal contexts, such as literature, formal education, or official communications. This variety tends to be more standardized and conservative, and may incorporate older or more formal vocabulary and grammar.[32] The "low variety", often the spoken language, is used in everyday conversation and informal contexts. It is typically more dynamic and innovative, and may incorporate regional dialects, slang, and other informal language features.[33]
Diglossic situations are common in many parts of the world, including theArab world, where the highModern Standard Arabic variety coexists with other, lowvarieties of Arabic local to specific regions.[34] Diglossia can have significant implications for language education, literacy, and sociolinguistic dynamics within a language community.[35]
Analogously,digraphia occurs when a language may be written in different scripts. For example,Serbian may be written using either theCyrillic orLatin script, whileHindustani may be written inDevanagari or theUrdu alphabet.[36]
Writing systems can be broadly classified into several types based on the units of language they correspond with: namely logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic.[37] They are distinct fromphonetic transcriptions with technical applications, which are not used as writing as such. For example, notation systems for signed languages likeSignWriting been developed,[38] but it is not universally agreed that these constitute a written form of the sign language in themselves.[39]
Orthography comprises the rules and conventions for writing a given language,[40] including how its graphemes are understood to correspond with speech. In some orthographies, there is a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, as inSerbian andFinnish.[41] These are known asshallow orthographies. In contrast, orthographies like that of English and French are considereddeep orthographies due to the complex relationships between sounds and symbols.[42] For instance, in English, the phoneme/f/ can be represented by the graphemes⟨f⟩ as in⟨fish⟩,⟨ph⟩ as in⟨phone⟩, or⟨gh⟩ as in⟨enough⟩.[43]
Orthographies also include rules about punctuation, capitalization, word breaks, and emphasis. They may also include specific conventions for representing foreign words and names, and for handling spelling changes to reflect changes in pronunciation or meaning over time.[44]
