GRAMMAR IN SPEECH AND WRITING

A12.1 Variety in English ❏❏ between different dialects of English, for example, British and American forms e.g. I have already seen it vs I already saw it ❏❏ between formal and informal forms (or rather formal and non-formal forms) e.g. To whom am I talking? vs Who am I talking to? ❏❏ between ‘correct’ forms and forms that are considered by some to be incorrect e.g. Students have fewer chances of finding work nowadays. Students have less chances of finding work nowadays.

A12.2 Speech and writing Lend us a tenner. (= ￡ 10) (Spoken informal) I am writing to request the loan of Ł100. (Written formal) I was wondering if I could possibly trouble you to lend me Ł10? (Spoken formal)

Writing tends to be planned, speech not (Fillers) I was like, sitting there minding my own business... I was sort of thinking that we might go out tonight. He’s the owner of that, you know, big shop in the centre of town.

Other Factors Writing is more permanent and therefore more vulnerable to prescriptive forces. Writing has become more standardised, and speech retains much more variation. Writing is typically a solitary process, whereas much of speech, in the form of conversation, is two- or multi-sided, involving two or more participants simultaneously, with such interactional properties as feedback, interruptions and so on.

A12.3 Basic differences: intonation and punctuation The main difference between speech and writing is the use of intonation (and other suprasegmental features such as stress) in the former and punctuation in the latter. The two sometimes correspond; for example, a question mark in writing with a yes/no question can be equated to a rising intonation in speech: Are you coming?

A word space may correspond to a double stress pattern to distinguish a premodifier + noun from a compound noun (e.g. black bird vs blackbird). There are some features of grammar in writing that are not reflected in speech, for example the difference between the plural, genitive, and genitive plural of nouns (dogs, dog’s, dogs’). Intonation is a much more sophisticated tool for marking grammatical distinctions than writing.

A12.4 Some tendencies in spoken English Contextual ellipsis: the missing words may be deduced from the accompanying text: –start of a clause is omitted I’ll come if you want (me to come). (textual ellipsis) Hope you are well. (I hope... ) (contextual ellipsis) –subject that is missing Tomorrow at 4 be okay for you? (Will tomorrow... ) You coming? (Are you... ) –auxiliary and subject missing Know what I mean? (Do you know... ) Got any matches? (Have you got... ) –Auxiliaries are also omitted in semi-modal expressions (as discussed in B6), often with non-standard spelling: You gonna get in trouble. (You’re going to... ) We betta watch out. (We had better... ) I gotta go. (I’ve got to... )

Left and right dislocation (also called ‘headers’ and ‘tails’) This involves making a ‘copy’ of an important noun phrase, moving it either to the start (left) or finish (right) of the clause and leaving a personal pronoun in its original place: –This film we’re going to see – what’s it about? –What’s it about, this film we’re going to see?

New structures New structures that have become popular in speech recently. The use of go and be like as reporting verbs to introduce direct speech (‘quotes’): –And she goes ‘What are you up to?’ –He’s like ‘Keep your hands off!’ –(Reporting thought) And I’m like ‘What am I doing here?’

Non-standard forms Non-standard, incorrect or acceptable but informal. –agreement following existential there: There’s your pills (vs There are your pills). –contact relative clauses with the subject deleted: There’s a lot of people think he’s crazy. –the use of they to refer back to an indefinite noun phrase –non-standard pronouns (for example: y’all, hisself)

Different forms of coordination In formal written language, when there is a list of coordinated items, the normal ‘rule’ is to place and between the last and last-but-one item. –We need ham, cheese, water and bread. Variations are found with the repeated use of and between clauses: –... I – was also in the marching band – and – basically – we had to – perform at football games – at the 4th of July parade of course – and we had to wear these horrible uniforms –... – and we had to march in formation out on the football field...

Vocatives Vocatives are words or phrases used in speech to draw the attention of a person or persons to what the speaker is saying. –familiar (mum, dude, mate, Jonny) –formal (Sir, Madam, Dr) Good morning, sir. Emily, can you pass me the towel?