首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
"Speech and Writing" It is a widely held misconception that writing is more perfect than speech. To many people, writing som
"Speech and Writing" It is a widely held misconception that writing is more perfect than speech. To many people, writing som
admin
2012-01-14
57
问题
"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, while writing, in turn, encodes spoken language into a physically preservable form. Writing is a two-stage process. All units of writing, whether letters 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).
There are several reasons for maintaining that speech is primary and writing is secondary. A First, writing is a later historical development than spoken language. B Current archeological evidence indicates that writing was first utilized in Sumer, that is, modern-day Iraq, about 6,000 years ago. C As far as physical and cultural anthropologists can tell, spoken language has probably been used by humans for hundreds of thousands of years. D
→ Second, writing does not exist everywhere that spoken language exists. This seems hard to imagine in our highly literate society, but the fact is that there are still many communities in the world where a written form of language is not used, and even in those cultures using a writing system, there are individuals who fail to learn the written form of their language. In fact, the majority of the Earth’s inhabitants are illiterate, though quite capable of spoken communication. However, no society uses only a written language with no spoken form.
Third, writing must be taught, whereas spoken language is acquired automatically. All children, except children with serious learning disabilities, naturally learn to speak the language of the community in which they are brought up. They acquire the basics of their native language before they enter school, and even if they never attend school, they become fully competent speakers. Writing systems vary in complexity, but regardless of their level of sophistication, they must all be taught.
Finally, neurolinguistic evidence (studies of the brain in action during language use) demonstrates that the processing and production of written language is overlaid on the spoken language centers in the brain. Spoken language involves several distinct areas of the brain; writing uses these areas and others as well.
→ So 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. Since the speech of the educated is more often than not set up as the "standard language," writing is associated indirectly with the varieties of language that people tend to view as "correct." However, the association of writing with the standard variety is not a necessary one, as evidenced by the attempts of writers to transcribe faithfully the speech of their characters. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men contain examples of this, Furthermore, because spoken language is physically no more than sound waves through the air, it is transient, but writing tends to last, because of its physical medium (characters on some surface), and can be preserved for a very long time. Spelling does not seem to vary from individual to individual or from place to place as easily as pronunciation does. Thus, writing has the appearance of being more stable. Spelling does vary, however, as exemplified by the differences between the American ways of spelling gray and words with the suffixes -ize and -ization as compared with the British spelling of grey and -ise and -isation. Writing could also change if it were made to follow the changes of speech. The fact that people at various times try to carry out spelling reforms amply illustrates this possibility.
According to paragraph 2, what can be inferred about linguistic research?
选项
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.
答案
D
解析
"When linguists study language, they take the spoken language as their best source of data and their object of description." Because they use the spoken language, researchers must prefer speech samples. Choice A is not correct because when researchers study Latin, they must make an exception [use written samples]. Choices B and C are not mentioned in the passage.
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/pVyO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Lookatthefollowingstatements(Questions18-23)andthelistofpeoplebelow.Matcheachstatementwiththecorrectperson,A,
Lookatthefollowingnamesofpeopleororganisations(Questions33-36)andthelistofopinionsbelow.Matcheachnamewithth
WhoisMrsSuttonworriedabout?Question19ChooseTWOlettersA-E.WhichTWOgroupsofpatientsreceivefreemedication?[A]p
learning/studygroups
Completethechartbelow.Matchtheadvantagesofjoiningalearningcircle(I-VI)totheperson.NOTE:therearemorea
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.EngineeringforsustainabledevelopmentTheGreenhou
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.MayorJohnC.WileydecidedtheClocktowerwouldbeusedasa______intheearlystageso
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.ChimpanzeeBehavioursSpeciesWecanfindPanorPanTroglody
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.ChimpanzeeBehavioursSpeciesWecanfindPanorPanTroglody
随机试题
A.人源化抗体B.小分子抗体C.抗体融合蛋白D.双特异性抗体E.抗体库技术特异性不同的两个小分子抗体连接在一起可得到
A.阿司匹林B.阿托品C.丙米嗪D.异丙嗪E.甘露醇属抗过敏药的是
关于胆汁酸代谢调节的叙述,错误的是
急性乳房炎的重要病因是
以下不属于液体辅料的是()
小儿结核性脑膜炎的早期临床表现主要是( )。
在股权投资基金退出阶段,律师提供的服务不包括()。
幼儿的具体形象思维有哪些特点?
【2014.贵州三穗】心理发展的不平衡性体现在()。
甲、乙两名运动员在400米的环形跑道上练习跑步,甲出发1分钟后乙同向出发,乙出发2分钟后第一次追上甲,又过了8分钟,乙第二次追上甲,此时乙比甲多跑了250米,问两人出发地相隔多少米?()
最新回复
(
0
)