Written and spoken discourse

Written Discourse is:

• More grammatical
• More formal
• Has richer vocabulary
• Is stylistically more elegant
• Is planned

Spoken discourse is:

• The primary form of language
• There are not fully convey
• Is unplanned

Differences:

1. Time pressure: in spoken discourse we have little opportunity to come back and correct anything. In written we can re-read and re-write what we do not like.
2. The presence or absence of the audience: in spoken discourse we have a feedback immediatly. In written discourse we have to be sure that we write clear and express exaclty the meaning we intended to convey.

Main Features:

• Spoken discourse: hesitations, body language, strees and intonation, the main unit of grammar is the clause, noun and phrases ar short and post modification is less frequently, vague language is common, lexical density is low, vocabulary consist mainly of high frequency items, deixix (context), nominalization is rare, interactive expressions are frequently used, repetition and paraphrase are common.
• Written discourse: deletions, additions and correction are found in drafts, mod and attitude are conveyed mainly thourgh lexical choices, the main unit of grammar is the sentence often with complex subordinate clauses, noun and phrases are often long with pre- and porst modification, vocabulary is more specific and precise, lexical density is high, vocabulary often includes items that are rare of low frequency, reference outside the text is usually to background knowledge, nominalization is frequently, interactive expressions are uncommon, repetition and paraphrase are common.