English grammar - Roger Berry 2012
A12.2 Speech and writing
A12 Grammar in speech and writing
Section A. Introduction
Another distinction that plays a part in variety is that between speech and writing. However, there are differences within both writing and speech. The grammar used in academic writing is not the same as that in e-mails, nor are conversations the same as prepared speeches.
There are clearly other factors at work, such as formality. So if we compare a typical spoken sentence with a written one
Lend us a tenner. (=£10)
I am writing to request the loan of £100.
We would have to note that the former is informal (and could be used between friends from the same social group) while the latter is formal (as in a letter to a bank
manager). However, it is not just a matter of writing being formal and speech informal.
Speech can also be formal, for example:
I was wondering if I could possibly trouble you to lend me £10?
Another factor involved is planning. Writing tends to be planned, speech not. We can see evidence of the latter in the use of fillers and hesitation markers, such as sort of, you know, like, which can be used to fill in gaps while planning takes place:
I was like, sitting there minding my own business . . .
I was sort of thinking that we might go out tonight.
He’s the owner of that, you know, big shop in the centre of town.
A third factor is the amount of variation within the two modes (rather than between). Writing is more permanent and therefore more vulnerable to prescriptive forces (see A1). Certain grammatical forms are much more easily stigmatised in writing, for example the use of multiple negation (see A7). As a result, writing has become more standardised, and speech retains much more variation, particularly between different dialects but also within them. Many spoken forms are difficult to render into writing, except as parody.
A final factor is the nature of participation. Writing is typically a solitary process, whereas much of speech, in the form of conversation, is two- or multi-sided, involving two or more participants simultaneously, with such interactional properties as feedback, interruptions and so on.
However, modern technology has made writing potentially almost as interactive as conversation. Indeed, technology is responsible for breaking down several of the traditional divisions between speech and writing, such as formality in the case of emails and other forms of computer-mediated communication.