Difference Between Spoken and Written Language With Examples

Speech is the main form of language. We are aware that Adam and Eve had friendly exchanges with one another and that Adam had verbal communications with God. There were undoubtedly billions of spoken words before any words were ever written. Drawing images, which depict actual events from that era, is said to have been how early man first began writing. A non-arbitrary way of encoding meanings with the use of pictures—one picture for each concept or meaning—was known as “picture writing” or “pictograms.”

Because each image represented a real thing, these graphics had to be related to speech. Later, the pictograms’ significance was expanded much more. For example, the image of the sun would stand in for “heat,” “warmth,” “light,” “daytime,” etc.

Ideograms, or concept images, came next. It is thought that the current writing system evolved from the (cuneiform) writing system created by the Sumerians more than 5,000 years ago. Greeks inherited the hieroglyphic writing system from Egypt in the eleventh century BC. Hieroglyphics are a type of pictogram that was established by the Egyptians. The world first learned about current writing systems thanks to the Greeks.