Varieties Of Language

The functioning of the literary language in various spheres of human activity and with different aims of communication has resulted in its differentiation. This differentiation is predetermined by two distinct factors, namely, the actual situation in which the language is being used and the aim of com­munication. The actual situation of communication has evolved two varieties of language - the spoken and the written. Of the two varieties, the spoken is primary and the written is secondary. Each of these two has developed its own features and qualities, which in many ways may be regarded as opposed to each other.

The situation with the spoken variety can be described as the presence of an interlocutor. The written variety on the contrary is characterized by the absence of an interlocutor. The spoken language is maintained in the form of a dialogue, the written - in the form of a monologue. The spoken language has the advantage over the written form in that the human voice comes into play. This is a powerful means of modulating the utterance, as are all kinds of gestures, which, together with the intonation give additional information.

The written language has to seek means to compensate for what it lacks. Therefore the written utterance will inevitably be more diffuse, more explanatory. In other words, it has to produce an enlarged representation of the communication in order to be explicit enough.

The gap between the spoken and written varieties of language, wider or narrower, at different periods in the development of the literary language, will always remain apparent due to the difference in circumstances in which the two are used. The spoken language by its very nature is spontaneous, momentary, fleeting. It vanishes after having fulfilled its purpose, which is to communicate a thought. The written language, on the contrary, lives together with the idea it expresses.

The spoken variety differs from the written language phonetically, morphologically, lexically and syntactically.

The characteristic features of the spoken language are:

-the use of contracted forms (he'd; she's; I'd; I've)

-the use of "don't" instead of "doesn't"

-violations of grammar (I've asked you done that?)

-the use of colloquial words as opposed to bookish words

-the use of colloquial phrases (How come?)

the use of intensifying words (I sure like; You're basically right)

-the insertion into the utterance of words without any meaning, which are called "fill-ups" or "empty words" (and all; well, er-r; m-m; you know; so to speak)

-the omission of part of the utterance easily supplied by the situation in which the communica­tion takes place (Tell you why; Care to hear my ideas about it? Ever go back to England?)

-the tendency to use the direct word-order in questions or omit auxiliary verbs

-the use of unfinished sentences

-the emotiveness of the spoken language.

The characteristic features of the written language are:

-the abundance of all kinds of conjunctions, adverbial phrases and other means which may serve as connectives (moreover, likewise, similarly, on the contrary, however, presently etc.)

-the use of complicated sentence-units;

-logical coherence of the idea expressed.

The most essential property of the written variety of language is coherence and logical unity.

MEANINGS OF LANGUAGE UNITS