How Writing Differs From Speech

Writing / Full Writing

"Writing is clearly a system of human intercommunication by means of conventional visible marks. " But "fully developed writing became a device for expressing linguistic elements by means of visible marks." Nevertheless, "the general statement that full writing expresses speech should not be taken to mean that it expresses nothing else but speech" (Gelb 12-15).

Duality Principle

"[A]ll writing systems convey meaning by two means. The first is by the use of symbols which represent sounds and function as surrogates of speech. The second is by the use of symbols that add nonphonetic information. These two together are combined in different proportions in different scripts" (DeFrancis 49).

Auxiliary Semantic Determinatives

Descriptive devices, color, position, context of situation (see Gelb 18-20).

Determinatives and Context

"Apart from the techniques just mentioned, the duality principle is also manifested in many symbols' having both a phonetic and a semantic function. This can be illustrated in English by the following multiple uses of the simple symbol x. The examples also incidentally illustrate the point that written symbols, whether letters, syllabograms, or combinations of these such a words, only 'mean' something in specific contexts" (DeFrancis 261).

Return to "Comparing Speech and Writing."