Oral and Written Language: Key Differences and Structures

Posted on Dec 18, 2024 in Social sciences

Oral and Written Language: Key Differences

Oral and written language are two different codes with distinct textual and contextual differences, each serving different functions and used in different situations. They are part of the same language.

Features of Spoken Language

  • Face-to-face communication: Social interactions build the text, and the situation makes details explicit.
  • Spontaneity: The speaker may amend but not erase what has been said. It is fleeting and therefore more informal.
  • Nonverbal codes: Intonation, voice, silence, bells, laughter, gestures (kinesics), and distance (proxemics).
  • Exclamatory and interrogative sentences.
  • Ellipsis, indexicals, colloquial elements, and calls to the receiver.

Oral Textual Genres

Depending on the degree of planning:

a) Spontaneous oral texts: Conversation

b) Planned texts with oral intervention by partners:

c) Singular texts (1 person): Conference

d) Dual, plural, or dialogue texts: Debate

Spontaneous Conversation in Oral Communication

  • The most important form of communication, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
  • An unplanned oral exchange between two or more persons, where viewpoints construct the text.
  • Governed by two rules or principles:
    • Cooperation: Respecting conversational maxims of quantity, quality, relationship (relevance), and manner.
    • Courtesy: Social standards. Developing maxims of “being polite”: do not impose, offer options, and strengthen ties through camaraderie.
  • Governed by routine (knowing how to start and stop a conversation, greetings, turns of speech, etc.).

Planned Singular Oral Exposure

  • Unidirectional: The speaker must master the formal requirements of the text.
  • Multiple receivers: No specific role.
  • Requires good knowledge of the topic.
  • Planning and control of the formal register.

Structure of Planned Oral Exposure

  1. Introduction: Greeting and introduction of the topic.
  2. Development: Orderly exposition, potentially containing arguments, examples, and repetition of content.
  3. Conclusion: Brief, clear, and concise synthesis.

Linguistic and Extralinguistic Forms

  • Linguistic: Declarative sentences, formal vocabulary, verbs in the present tense, abstract nouns, jargon, and neologisms.
  • Extralinguistic: Careful body position, expressive face and hands, natural and spontaneous but restrained gestures, clear speech, appropriate rhythm, intonation, and volume.

Types of Singular Oral Expressions

A) Conference: A dissertation on a scientific or cultural topic, given for educational or informative purposes.

B) Address: Solemn in character, presenting general ideas.

C) Oral Report: A relatively detailed exposition of facts, data, or past or present activities, used in business meetings or institutions. It must present objective, clear, and concrete findings or proposals.

Planned Plural Oral Communication: Debate

A confrontation of views on a topic, aiming to analyze it from different perspectives.

Participants in a Debate

  • Moderator: Introduces the topic, organizes turns, clarifies, eases tension, and summarizes the conclusion.
  • Secretary: Takes written notes.
  • Participants: Should pay attention to content, language use (avoid slang), respect mechanics (turns), and avoid false arguments and disqualifications.

Discussion: A meeting to exchange views on a topic.

Roundtable: A meeting of people knowledgeable about a subject, sharing their views.

Etymology and Vocabulary in Spanish

Castilian (Spanish) originates from Latin, so most of its vocabulary comes from that language. Depending on their evolution, we have:

  • Patrimonial Words: Words that have existed in the language since its origins and have undergone sound changes throughout history, resulting in their modern form.
  • Cultisms: Words directly introduced from Latin, often later, with minimal changes. They are also considered loanwords.
  • Doublets: A Latin word that evolves into a patrimonial word and is later reintroduced as a cultism.
  • Loanwords: Words introduced into Spanish from other languages.

Neologisms

Words recently introduced into the language, either through new creation or borrowed from other languages.

A) Calques: Words modeled, translated, or adapted to the pronunciation of the language.

B) Xenisms: Terms not yet assimilated, maintaining their original form and pronunciation similar to the source language.

Denotation and Connotation

Word: A linguistic sign consisting of a signifier and a signified.

  • Denotation: The objective meaning, common to all speakers, found in dictionaries.
  • Connotation: The subjective meaning attached by speakers, related to the linguistic or communicative situation.

Semantic Relations

  1. Monosemy: One signifier with a single meaning (denotative), common in scientific and technical language.
  2. Polysemy: One signifier with several related meanings, determined by context. Listed in a single dictionary entry.
  3. Homonymy: Similar signifiers with different meanings, originating from different roots. Listed in separate dictionary entries. Homonyms can be:
    • Homophones: Same sound, different spelling.
    • Homographs: Identical spelling.
  4. Synonymy: Different signifiers with similar or identical meanings. Can be partial (in some contexts) or total (in all contexts).
  5. Antonymy: Different signifiers with opposite meanings. Types of antonyms:
    • Gradual: Gradation exists.
    • Complementary: Affirmation of one implies negation of the other.
    • Reciprocal: The opposite meaning of one implies the other.
  6. Hyperonymy: Broader meaning, encompassing the meaning of other words (generalization).
  7. Hyponymy: Narrower meaning (concreteness).

Semantic Changes

Words undergo meaning changes over time, expanding, restricting, specializing, or acquiring new meanings. Causes include:

  • Linguistic: Ellipsis (e.g., mobile for mobile phone).
  • Historical: Pen (originally from bird feathers).
  • Social: Taboo words replaced by euphemisms (e.g., give birth instead of a more direct term).
  • Psychological: Relations of similarity (metaphor, e.g., spider for a type of lamp) and proximity (metonymy, e.g., sherry for the wine).

Lexicon and Semantics

Word: An independent linguistic unit, consisting of one or more monemes, appearing between two spaces in writing.

Moneme: Parts of speech with meaning, classified as:

  • Lexemes: Root or basic core.
  • Morphemes: Grammatical meaning, modifying or connecting. Morphemes can be:
    • Dependent: Derivational and inflectional.
    • Independent: Determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Word Formation Processes

Based on the combination of monemes:

Derivation

Lexeme + derivational morphemes. Derived words can also have inflectional morphemes (gender and number).

  • Prefixes: Precede the lexeme, altering meaning without changing the word’s category.
  • Suffixes: Follow the stem and can change the word’s category.
  • Infixes: Fall between the stem and the suffix.

Composition

Two or more simple words or words with inflections. Sometimes formed by two or more independent morphemes. Cases in compound formation:

  1. Remain unchanged.
  2. The last letter of the first lexeme is lost or changed.
  3. Lexemes are joined with an””.
  4. If the last letter of the first stem and the first of the second are the same, they merge into one.

Parasynthesis

Combination of Prefix + Lexeme + Suffix, where removing the prefix or suffix results in a non-existent word.

Learned Compounds and Phrasal Compounds

  • Learned Compounds: Words formed from learned lexemes, from Latin or Greek.
  • Phrasal Compounds: Noun phrases equivalent to a single concept.

Other Word Formation Procedures

  • Abbreviations: Constructed with the initials of several words.
  • Acronyms: Formed with initial letters or groups of letters, which may be initial or final.
  • Reductions: Informal shortening of long words.