Differences between Speech and Writing

Main Differences	sounds versus letters
	permanency
	first and final drafts
	purposes of language
	interaction between listener and speaker
Radio interview with NHS Worker	Interviewer (Male): Now Joan tell me what what do you get paid and for what working what sort hours. Nurse (Female): I I get about five hundred and fifty pounds to six hundred and fifty six hundred pounds a month for thirty hours a week. Interviewer: Now the the prospect we've been hearing of a pay freeze seems to be receding but tell me first, if there was to be a pay freeze, what would that mean for you? Nurse: Well it just means that you have to cut the cloth back a little bit more. It would be all right er freezing pay if you could freeze inflation. ... Interviewer: And what about the the mood among other nurses in the hospital that you work with? Nurse: Well the mood amongst other nurses in the hospital, erm most of it is erm unrepeatable. Their their morale is very low. There are other things and other issues in the hospital that are causing low morale at the moment and this even makes it mor- worse for the nursing staffs here.
Which comes first: speech or writing?	Speech comes before writing historically Many languages lack a written form Many individuals cannot use written language Children automatically learn to speak but have to be taught how to read
Guardian report on NHS	Labour claims 2.3 million in 'hidden' queues that belie Bottomley claims True hospital waiting lists 'double official figures' Chris Mihill Medical Correspondent About 2.3. million patients in England are waiting either for their first appointment to see a consultant or for hospital treatment, more than double official figures, the Labour Party said yesterday. The "hidden" waiting list, covering the time from a GP referral to seeing a consultant, undermines the Government's claims that no one now waits more than two years for an operation, said the shadow health secretary, David Blunkett. Some people have been waiting as long as 182 weeks - 3 1/2 years - just to see a consultant, according to figures compiled by Labour. The 182 weeks is the maximum waiting time for ear, nose, and throat appointments at Burton Hospital Trust, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. The official waiting list, from seeing a consultant to having treatment, is about a million. The Labour researchers looked at the Mersey region, which says no one waits longer that a year for treatment, finding 57,256 people waiting for hospital care. However, a further 75,558 were waiting for their first consultant appointment - some 132 per cent more than the official list. The researchers found similar ratios in the North Western and South West Thames regions, and calculate that if the figures were extrapolated across England it would mean a true waiting list of 2.3 million. Mr Blunkett said: "These figures are the waiting lists the Government refuses to reveal. "Virginia Bottomley has been trotting out misleading statistics about waiting lists at every opportunity. The one thing she and her ministerial colleagues have always claimed is that nobody has to wait longer than two years for treatment. That is clearly untrue." Guardian Feb 2nd 1994
Characteristics of Spoken Language	repeating first draft status vocabulary grammar intonation
Characteristics of Written Language	final draft status density of content grammar neutrality of social roles punctuation
Unique Written Vocabulary some words are never really said in ordinary speech

" ... an identical spoken and written language would be practically intolerable; if we spoke as we write, we should find no one to listen; and if we wrote as we speak, we should find no one to read. The spoken and written language must not be too near together, as they must not be too far apart. " T.S. Eliot