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
23
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.
Which of the sentences below best expresses the information in the highlighted statement in the passage? The other choices change the meaning or leave out important information.
选项
A、Writing that has a very complex system must be learned.
B、All writing has to be taught because the systems are variable.
C、In spite of complex features in writing systems, people can learn them.
D、Both simple and complex writing systems require direct instruction.
答案
D
解析
Both simple and complex writing systems paraphrases "Writing systems [that] vary in complexity," and require direct instruction paraphrases "must all be taught."
转载请注明原文地址:https://jikaoti.com/ti/7DhYFFFM
0
托福(TOEFL)
相关试题推荐
Choosethecorrectletter,A,BorC.MayorJohnC.WileydecidedtheClocktowerwouldbeusedasa______intheearlystageso
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.CLIMATEANDARCHITECTURECasesandexamplesarefrom
Whichattitudeisassociatedwiththefollowingpeopleduringtheconversation?ChooseSIXanswersfromtheboxandwritetheco
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.CLIMATEANDARCHITECTURECasesandexamplesarefrompra
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.CLIMATEANDARCHITECTURECasesandexamplesarefrompra
Completethenotesbelow.WriteNOMORETHANTWOWORDSforeachanswer.CLIMATEANDARCHITECTURECasesandexamplesarefrompra
CoursesforinternationalstudentsExampleWritinginfirsttermInsecondterm:【L1】________Throughouttheyear:【L2】_______
PatentsandInventionsWhenaninventionismade,theinventorhasthreepossiblecoursesofactionopentohim:first,hec
PatentsandInventionsWhenaninventionismade,theinventorhasthreepossiblecoursesofactionopentohim:first,hec
"ConquestbyPatents"→Patentsareaformofintellectualpropertyrightsoftentoutedasameanstogive’incentiveandrew
随机试题
术后MODS中较容易和较早受到损害的器官是
在X线机电路中,高压整流器位于
下列各项与存货相关的支出中,不应计入存货成本的是()。
下列有关诉讼时效的表述中,错误的是()。
“五一黄金周”从存到废,现在又有不少人士认为应当恢复。就公共决策要求讲,早前“五一黄金周”之所以被废,并非是源于对假日经济好处的不了解,而恰恰是因为其人流的大量流动与环境影响,加上由人满为患所带来的不快乐等诸多原因存在而被取消。应该说.当时取消“五一黄金周
下列入物中,对西方作品的翻译或出版作出过较大贡献的有()等。
某房地产开发公司(以下简称A公司)在某市商业街开发了一幢商品楼,售价4000元/m2。某甲选中了其中一套三居室,双方签订了购房合同并于2004年2月1日办理了付款交房的手续,并且约定一年之内办理所有权证书。某甲因公需要出国一年,为了方便房屋的维护
你和同事小张共同完成一项工作,你的工作必须在小张完成后才能开展.但是小张是个慢性子。眼看完成工作的期限马上就要到了,如果小张还没有完成任务。那么就无法按期完成工作了。遇到这种情况你会怎么做?如果在工作开始前你就知道小张是个慢性子。你会怎么处理?
小明玩套圈游戏,套中小鸡一次得9分,套中小猴得5分,套中小狗得2分。小明共套了10次,每次都套中。每个小玩具都至少被套中一次。小明的总得分为61分,问他套中多少次小鸡?
一历史学学会有1260个会员,仅有525个会员参加理事长选举的投票。如果获胜的候选人的得票率是60%,问投票支持他的人占该会会员总数的百分之几?
最新回复
(
0
)