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" One of the basic assumptions of modern linguistics is that speech is primary and writing is secondary. T
"Speech and Writing" One of the basic assumptions of modern linguistics is that speech is primary and writing is secondary. T
admin
2018-07-24
50
问题
"Speech and Writing"
One of the basic assumptions of modern linguistics 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 three-stage process: thinking of an idea, expressing it in mental grammar, and then transferring it to written form. All units of writing, whether letters or characters, are based on units of speech, i.e., words, sounds, or syllables. When linguists study language, therefore, 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.
You may think that with the advent of so many "instant messaging" programs, writing can now be as immediate as speech. But it is important to remember that even though the written form can be nearly immediate these days, there is still an extra step between conceptualizing the message you want to communicate and the reception of that idea, if you have to write it—regardless of whether you do so longhand or type it into a computer.
There are several reasons for maintaining that speech is primary and writing is secondary. A Writing is a later historical development than spoken language. B 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
Writing does not exist everywhere that spoken language does. 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. 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.
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.
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.
Despite all this evidence, 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.
What gives rise to the misconception that writing is more perfect than speech? There are several reasons. Writing can be edited, and so 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. Writing must be taught and is therefore 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. Writing is more physically stable than spoken language, which consists of nothing more than sound waves traveling through the air, and is therefore ephemeral and transient. 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 especially in the modern era. Of course, spelling does vary, 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 1, 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, therefore, 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/d3fO777K
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Completetheflowchartbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.ExpertiseincreativewritingB
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.CLIMATEANDARCHITECTURECasesandexamplesarefrom
Whichattitudeisassociatedwiththefollowingpeopleduringtheconversation?ChooseSIXanswersfromtheboxandwritetheco
Whichattitudeisassociatedwiththefollowingpeopleduringtheconversation?ChooseSIXanswersfromtheboxandwritetheco
Completethenotesbelow.WriteONEWORDONLYforeachanswer.DevelopmentStudiesDevelopmentStudiesattemptstounderstand-
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.Alisathinksthatfamoussuccessfulpeople
CoursesforinternationalstudentsExampleWritinginfirsttermInsecondterm:【L1】________Throughouttheyear:【L2】_______
PatentsandInventionsWhenaninventionismade,theinventorhasthreepossiblecoursesofactionopentohim:first,hec
PatentsandInventionsWhenaninventionismade,theinventorhasthreepossiblecoursesofactionopentohim:first,hec
PatentsandInventionsWhenaninventionismade,theinventorhasthreepossiblecoursesofactionopentohim:first,hec
随机试题
铸件本身质量与铸件本身质量加上浇冒口质量之和的百分比称为()。
战略控制的方法有:_____________;_____________。
患者,女,35岁,平素郁郁寡欢,近1月,小便不通或通而不爽,伴胁腹胀满,多烦易怒,舌红,苔薄黄,脉弦。
改善粉体流动性的主要措施有()
A.先兆流产B.难免流产C.过期流产D.不全流产E.完全流产
各种垂直运输接料平台,除两侧设防护栏杆外,平台口还应设置()或活动防护栏杆。
某企业适用的所得税税率为25%。2015年8月1日购入一项交易性金融资产,取得成本为5000万元,2015年12月31日公允价值为5500万元,税法规定公允价值变动不得计入应纳税所得额。2015年有关所得税会计处理表述中,不正确的是()。
下列选项中,关于Word中“项目符号”的说法,不正确的是()。
《中华人民共和国教育法》规定,国家实行十二年义务教育制度。()
下面是关于基于ARM内核的嵌入式芯片中的中断控制器的叙述,其中错误的是()。
最新回复
(
0
)