Features of Connected Discourse

Speech vs Text SPEECH	TEXT
Universal, everybody acquires it	Not everyone learns to read and write
Spoken language has dialect variations that represent a region	Written language is more restricted and generally follows a standardised form of grammar, structure, organization, and vocabulary
Speakers use their voices (pitch, rhythm, stress) and their bodies to communicate their message	Writers rely on the words on the page to express meaning and their ideas
Speakers use pauses and intonation	Writers use punctuation
Speakers pronounce	Writers spell
Speaking is often spontaneous and unplanned.	Most writing is planned and can be changed through editing and revision before an audience reads it
Speakers have immediate audiences who nod, interrupt, question and comment	Writers have a delayed response from audiences or none at all and have only one opportunity to convey their message, be interesting, informative, accurate and hold their reader’s attention
Speech is usually informal and repetitive	Writing on the other hand is more formal and compact. It progresses more logically With fewer explanations and digressions.
Speakers use simpler sentences connected by lots of ands and buts.	Writers use more complex sentences With connecting words like however, Who, although, and in addition.
Speakers draw on their listeners reactions to know how or whether to continue	Writers are often solitary in their process
Speakers can gauge the attitudes, beliefs, and feelings of their audience by their verbal and non-verbal reactions	Writers must consider what and how much their audience needs to know about a given topic

Source: http://www2.wmin.ac.uk

 Speech vs Text

Writing is usually permanent and written texts cannot usually be changed once they have been printed/written out. 

Speech is usually transient, unless recorded, and speakers can correct themselves and change their utterances as they go along. 

A written text can communicate across time and space for as long as the particular language and writing system is still understood. 

Speech is usually used for immediate interactions.  


Written language tends to be more complex and intricate than speech with longer sentences and many subordinate clauses. 

The punctuation and layout of written texts also have no spoken equivalent.  However some forms of written language, such as instant messages and email, are closer to spoken language. 

Spoken language tends to be full of repetitions, incomplete sentences, corrections and interruptions, with the exception of formal speeches and other scripted forms of speech, such as news reports and scripts for plays and films. 

Writers receive no immediate feedback from their readers, except in computer-based communication. Therefore they cannot rely on context to clarify things so there is more need to explain things clearly and unambiguously than in speech, except in written correspondence between people who know one another well. 

Speech is usually a dynamic interaction between two or more people. Context and shared knowledge play a major role, so it is possible to leave much unsaid or indirectly implied. 

 Writers can make use of punctuation, headings, layout, colours and other graphical effects in their written texts. Such things are not available in speech 

Speech can use timing, tone, volume, and timbre to add emotional context. 

 Written material can be read repeatedly and closely analyzed, and notes can be made on the writing surface. Only recorded speech can be used in this way. 

 Some grammatical constructions are only used in writing, as are some kinds of vocabulary, such as some complex chemical and legal terms. 

Some types of vocabulary are used only or mainly in speech. These include slang expressions, and tags like y'know, like, etc. 

Source: http://www.omniglot.com

Connected Discourse

Speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines between each word. In spoken discourse, we adapt our pronunciation to our audience and articulate with maximal economy of movement rather than maximal clarity. Thus, certain words are lost, and certain phonemes linked together as we attempt to get our message across.

Features of Connected Discourse

• Intrusion – an extra sound is produced

         Try saying the following pairs of words:

1. media event
2. I always
3. go away

Do you hear the /r/ sound intruding after “media”, the /j/ sound intruding after “I” and the /w/ sound intruding after “go”?
 

•  Assimilation – occurs when a phoneme (sound) in one word causes a change in a sound in a neighboring word. For example, try saying the following pairs of words:

1. in Bath
2. last year
3. Hyde Park

You’ll notice that the last sound of the first word changes in each case. The /n/ sound becomes /m/, /t/ becomes /tʃ/ and /d/ becomes /b/.

• Elision / Deletion -  the drop or omission of a sound especially in unaccented syllables. It usually affects weak sounds such as /u/ /i/ and /ə/ when they’re between two consonant sounds and most commonly the /t/ and /d/ sounds. Have a look at these examples:
  

1. left back
2. stand by
3. looked back
4. I must go

In each case the last phoneme of the first word is elided (lost). In the most simple terms, the reason is that the time and effort required to change the mouth position from the /t/ to the /b/ sound (as in the first example) or the /t/ to the /g/ sound (as in the last example) is too great!

• Linking - an end of the word is joined to a vowel  sound at the start of the next word.

For example:

1. pick it up – (learners will hear something like pi ki tup)
2. what is it – (learners will hear something like wo ti zit)

Source: www.eslbase.com