How Writing Changes the Way We Speak

Writing, speech, and signing represent three distinct modalities of language, each possessing unique characteristics and conventions. While language use is universal across human societies, writing is not, having emerged much more recently and independently in only a few locations. Historically, written languages have developed as a way to record corresponding spoken languages, establishing a profound, though often complex, relationship between these

forms. This relationship is not static; the modes of language mutually influence one another, with fluid boundaries, especially in informal written contexts like social media.

Distinctive Features of Written Language

Written language typically exhibits higher lexical density compared to spoken or signed language, meaning it employs a wider range of vocabulary with less repetition of individual words. It also tends to use fewer first and second-person pronouns and interjections. In English, written forms generally have fewer verbs and more nouns than spoken English. Even when accounting for this, verbs like