Editing Written language (section)

== Relationship with spoken and signed language ==
[[File:Diagram of the spoken, written, and signed modalities of language.svg|thumb|The relationship between spoken, written, and signed modes of language, as modeled by Beatrice Primus et&nbsp;al.{{sfnmp|1a1=Meletis|1a2=Dürscheid|1y=2022|1p=17|Primus|2003|2p=6}} While many spoken or signed languages are not written, there are no written languages without a spoken counterpart that they originally emerged to record.]]
[[Writing]], [[speech]], and [[Sign language|signing]] are three distinct modalities of [[language]]; each has unique characteristics and conventions.{{sfnp|Chafe|1994}} When discussing properties common to the modes of language, the individual speaking, signing, or writing will be referred to as the ''sender'', and the individual listening, viewing, or reading as the ''receiver''; senders and receivers together will be collectively termed ''agents''. The spoken, signed, and written modes of language mutually influence one another, with the boundaries between conventions for each being fluid—particularly in informal written contexts like taking quick notes or posting on social media.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baron |first=Naomi S. |title=Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-19-531305-5}}</ref>

Spoken and signed language is typically more immediate, reflecting the local context of the conversation and the emotions of the agents, often via paralinguistic cues like [[body language]]. Utterances are typically less premeditated, and are more likely to feature informal vocabulary and shorter sentences.{{sfnp|Biber|1988}} They are also primarily used in dialogue, and as such include elements that facilitate [[turn-taking]]; these including [[prosodic]] features such as trailing off and [[Filler (linguistics)|filler]]s that indicate the sender has not yet finished their turn. Errors encountered in spoken and signed language include [[disfluencies]] and hesitation.{{sfnp|Meletis|Dürscheid|2022|p=22}}

By contrast, written language is typically more structured and formal. While speech and signing are transient, writing is permanent. It allows for planning, revision, and editing, which can lead to more complex sentences and a more extensive vocabulary. Written language also has to convey meaning without the aid of tone of voice, facial expressions, or body language, which often results in more explicit and detailed descriptions.{{sfnp|Tannen|1982}}

While a speaker can typically be identified by the quality of their voice, the author of a written text is often not obvious to a reader only analyzing the text itself. Writers may nevertheless indicate their identity via the graphical characteristics of their [[handwriting]].{{sfnp|Subaćius|2023|p=306}}

Written languages generally change more slowly than their spoken or signed counterparts. As a result, the written form of a language may retain archaic features or spellings that no longer reflect contemporary speech.{{sfnp|Lerer|2007}} Over time, this divergence may contribute to a dynamic of diglossia.

=== Grammar ===
There are too many grammatical differences to address, but here is a sample. In terms of [[clause]] types, written language is predominantly declarative (e.g. ''It's red.'') and typically contains fewer [[Imperative mood|imperatives]] (e.g. ''Make it red.''), [[interrogatives]] (e.g. ''Is it red?''), and exclamatives (e.g. ''How red it is!'') than spoken or signed language. [[Noun phrase]]s are generally predominantly [[Grammatical person|third person]], but they are even more so in written language. [[Verb phrase]]s in spoken English are more likely to be in [[Uses of English verb forms|simple aspect]] than in perfect or progressive aspect, and almost all of the past perfect verbs appear in written fiction.{{sfnp|Biber|Johansson|Leech|Conrad|1999|p=461}}

=== Information packaging ===
[[Information packaging]] is the way that information is packaged within a sentence, that is the linear order in which information is presented. For example, ''On the hill, there was a tree'' has a different informational structure than ''There was a tree on the hill''. While, in English, at least, the second structure is more common, the first example is relatively much more common in written language than in spoken language. Another example is that a construction like ''it was difficult to follow him'' is relatively more common in written language than in spoken language, compared to the alternative packaging ''to follow him was difficult''.{{sfnp|Smolka|2017}} A final example, again from English, is that the [[passive voice]] is relatively more common in writing than in speaking.{{sfnp|Biber|Johansson|Leech|Conrad|1999|p=938}}

=== Vocabulary ===
Written language typically has higher [[lexical density]] than spoken or signed language, meaning there is a wider range of vocabulary used and individual words are less likely to be repeated. It also includes fewer first and second-person pronouns and fewer interjections. Written English has fewer verbs and more nouns than spoken English, but even accounting for that, verbs like ''think'', ''say'', ''know'', and ''guess'' appear relatively less commonly with a content clause complement (e.g. ''I think <u>that it's OK</u>.'') in written English than in spoken English.{{sfnp|Biber|Johansson|Leech|Conrad|1999|p=668}}