linguistic structures - Professor Binkert's Webpage - Oakland ...

grammars prescribe what one should say and why, for example, that one should say It’s I and not
It’s me, if one wishes to sound educated. Throughout the following discussion, we will be
concerned with only descriptive grammar; therefore, our description must provide for utterances like
It’s me as well as utterances like It’s I.
1.3 SPEECH AND WRITING
One of the most common misconceptions about language is the belief that writing is somehow more
important than speech. It is not difficult to imagine how this misconception arose: writing has
always been considered a sign of intelligence and of civilization; it is generally more permanent and
durable than speech; and, through it, the artistic and scientific achievements of humankind have been
recorded and preserved. Although there may be some justification for this cultural superiority of
writing over speech, nevertheless, it is speech and not writing which is basic both to language itself,
as a means of communication, and to linguistics. There are several reasons for this.
First, writing is a relatively recent invention. Even the most ancient examples of writing that have
been preserved are only about seven thousand years old. On the other hand, it seems safe to say that
humans have been speaking since the evolution of human society many hundreds of thousands of
years ago.
Second, writing is much less widespread than speech. Many languages, even today, exist only in
spoken form. Furthermore, there are many extinct languages about which very little is known,
except that they were spoken in a particular area at a particular time, because these languages were
not written down.
Third, it is speech and not writing which human beings are predisposed to learn. The acquisition
of speech in children proceeds automatically and without conscious attention or specific instruction,
unlike the acquisition of writing skills. Acquiring writing ability, on the other hand, is a voluntary,
deliberate choice.
Fourth, and most important, writing is a reflection of speech. All alphabetic writing systems such
as English are based, in one way or another, on the sound systems they represent, that is, a particular
sign or letter always represents some unit of sound or sounds in the spoken language. It is never the
case that the sound system of a language is based on a particular system of writing.
For all of these reasons, writing has only a marginal importance in most language studies. Linguists
are primarily concerned with describing speech and ascertaining how it is acquired and used.
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