Essay On Written Language

In what ways does written language differ from spoken language in its relationship to knowledge?

Language is a method of human communication which can be written or spoken and consists of words in a structured way. Language is creative and open-ended. There are many different languages spoken across the globe but the purpose of language is always to pass knowledge from one party to another. Initially language was used to describe physical things such as food, weapons or people. After humans evolved, language had to adapt as well so humans could transmit their new knowledge to one another. Language subsequently also had to evolve and gained the rules of grammar and its vocabulary we know today. As evidently even today, language is not static

However choice of words and tone can still create great ambiguity. An example of this ambiguity found in written text is “The old lady saw the dog hiding under the eight-foot table.” Ambiguity in written text can thankfully be reduced with the understanding of knowledge. The interpretation of the description of the sentence has to then be believable, logical and true. Whilst it is possible to make an eight-foot tall table, it wouldn’t make any sense in this context to do so. This way the table can be determined to have eight legs. This is an example of how meaning is deduced from written text when there are only so many factors that can be accounted for. Generally written text is thought of as something more tangible and permanent than spoken text. If a piece of information is uncredible or from an untrustworthy source, it is much more likely to not be written down but not as likely to be spread with spoken language. Rumors can be an example of this. Subsequently, written language is then a more ensuring for accurate information than spoken language. I claim that written language is more accurate than spoken