The relationship between the way we speak and the way we text is that they are extremely influential on each other in this modern age.There are factors which differ between spoken and text language, an example is word choice when writing an essay you tend to use words such as applicable in speech whereas in speech I would use relevant. Throughout this essay I will explore the similarities and differences between the two and how they influence each other.
Throughout the years forms of speech have changed and new words have been created to ease communication, these are found in forms of speech such as slang. Slang is an idiomatic language and restricted to a group of people created to ease communication. An example of an idiom in slang is “wasteman” this is a term used to class someone who you do not like. Wasteman would usually be used in a sentence with a loud voice which shows distress or anger.
When speaking face to face people express their emotions using para linguistics, such as lowering your eyebrows to show anger or raising them to show shock. This is then deducted and the additional meaning is understood by the listener. Usually the hidden meaning is understood better by someone who is familiar with the person and knows how they express their emotions. An example is “I got an A in my maths test” you cannot make the assumption that the person is satisfied with this result as it could be interpreted in two ways. The first way is that they had higher expectations and the second is that they are happy with it. Additionally if you are familiar with the person you are talking to you often omit words as it makes the conversation more efficient and more information can be shared. This experience is lost in text, companies such as Samsung and Apple have tried to ease the communication of emotion by introducing emoticons. Emoticons ease the texting experience but some key emotions which can only be read physically are lost. Examples of emoticons are ‘?’ this signify a laughter or ‘?’ which signify a anger. Paralinguistic features hold a key part in the exchange of hidden emotion, hidden emotions can say many things about a person, for example their attitude towards someone or something. In speech hidden emotions are almost impossible to read as they are hidden in paralinguistic features.
When speaking face to face many things are learned about the person such as country of origin and how you should speak to them. The country of origin can be guessed after hearing the person speak for example a person who grew up around a Nigerian dialect will speak English with a heavy accent stretching the words unnecessarily. Another thing learned is that after speaking to someone for just seconds you know which words are suitable for the conversation such as with a foreigner without good English you should break done your sentences so they can understand you quicker. Adding words is called laymans terms and taking words out is called ommiting. These are both subconsciously used in everyday conversations.
A factor shared between the two forms of expression is word choice. Both in written and spoken language a hierarchy is present as you do not speak to your teacher in the same manner you speak to your friends just because it is a different form of communication. For example I would use “yo” with my friends instead of hello but with my teacher “yo” is unsuitable as I am aware of the hierarchy.
Acronyms have taken a key role in increasing the efficiency of text communication. Acronyms are abbreviated versions of commonly used phrases such as “ASAP” this stands for As Soon As Possible. The reason to why the acronymical version of the phrase is in capital letters is to signify the loud tone which would be used in speech. Acronyms are also used to show emotions such as laughter from something humorous, an example is “lol” which is an abbreviated version of laugh out loud. This is an emotion that cannot be shown physically through text so words are used to tell the other person participating in the conversation about their emotions.
Homophones in text are understood easier due to the reader being able to differentiate between the meanings intended. An example is to,too,two all three sound the same but each one has a different meaning. In speech the speaker could say ‘I love you two’ but it could be interpreted at ‘I love you too’. There are two different forms of homophones, the first is heterographic hormones where the words are spelt differently but have the same meaning for example knight and night. The second form of homophones are homograpic homophones which is when the words are spelt the same but they have a different meaning an example is close as in nearby and close as in to shut. Heterographic homophones are not as easily understood as homograpic hormone. This is because with heterographic hormone you have to be aware of the context in which the writer intends to write it in whereas homographic homophones have different spelling.
Punctuation is incredibly important as they signify pauses, end of sentences , raises in tone and changes in speech. For example a ‘.’ tells the reader that they have reached the end of the sentence or ‘!’ signify a a raise in tone. Punctuation is incredibly important and is used in all forms of written communication. In speech the speaker can speak in a manner which allowed the reader to differentiate between sentences, whether it is a question or a rhetorical question and the different points.
Aural elements are ideally used in speech but elements such as repetition can be used in text/written communication too. An example of effective repetition is “no no no no no” the speaker could say no once but repetition emphasizes your point. Repetition is as effective in text as it is in speech.
Using the various points stated I have concluded that spoken and text language influence each other greatly and they are both commonly used in today’s technologically advanced era. Mobile phones can be used to make communication more efficient but if it was not for someone’s knowledge then books would not exist. Most of the information online is there due to someone inputting their information so it is easier to share information.
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