Discourse Modes Overview

Discourse Mode

• Discourse mode refers to the medium of communication (spoken or written).
• Linguistic effects on discourse are influenced by the communication medium.
• Different discourse types (spoken and written) have distinguishing features, but neither is superior.
• Each mode plays a significant role in communication.

Discourse Modes

• Communication uses three possible modes: spoken, written, and nonverbal.

A. Spoken Mode

• Spoken communication involves producing oral language, such as conversation, lectures, radio ads, interviews, etc.

B. Written Mode

• Written communication creates texts like newspaper articles, letters, stories, novels, instructions, etc.

C. Nonverbal Modes

• Nonverbal communication includes drawings, colors, and sounds (e.g., traffic lights, war signals).

Types of Data

• Spoken data utilizes the spoken mode.
• Written data utilizes the written mode.
• Multimodal data utilizes a combination of spoken, written, and nonverbal modes. (e.g., movies with subtitles)

Functions of Spoken and Written Discourse

A. Social Functions

• Spoken discourse facilitates social integration and relationship development through direct communication and immediate feedback.
• Social media platforms and mobile apps have expanded the social role of written discourse.

B. Legal and Intellectual Functions

• Written discourse offers permanence, giving it legal power for preserving records (laws, contracts).
• Written texts allow for preserving historical, literary, and scientific discoveries, supporting intellectual development.
• Modern technology allows for the preservation of spoken discourse. However, written texts still play a crucial role in preserving knowledge.

Reprocessing Possibilities

• Written language allows for careful planning by the writer, making texts clear and easier to reread.
• Spoken language has limitations in editing and reprocessing.

Mass Long Distance Communication

• Writing was the initial way to communicate over long distances, utilizing letters, telegrams, and other methods.
• Modern technology has significantly improved spoken communication's ability to reach numerous individuals simultaneously over great distances.

Formal Features of Spoken and Written Discourse

• Spoken discourse relies on phonological features like rhythm, stress, and intonation.
• Spoken discourse also uses non-linguistic features like gestures, facial expressions, and noises.

Linguistic Characteristics of Spoken Vs. Written Discourse

A. Explicitness

• Written texts are highly explicit.
• Spoken texts can be ambiguous because they might rely on shared knowledge and context.
• Spoken texts use body language for additional information, which isn't visible in written texts.

Sentence Boundaries

• Defining sentence boundaries clearly in spoken discourse is challenging because it's less structured than written language.
• Punctuation guides in written language facilitates clear sentence boundaries.

Sentence Structure Complexity

• Spoken discourse is generally simpler grammatically than written discourse.
• Spoken discourse often contains fewer complex grammatical structures because it's not planned.
• Written discourse allows for more complex ideas and grammatical structures.
• Varying sentence structures present more complex linguistic patterns in written tasks.
• Pronoun usage in spoken discourse, may have ambiguous references if the listener doesn't share contexts.

Fluency Level

• Writing is considered more fluent than spoken discourse due to the writer's ability to prepare and edit the text.
• Spontaneous spoken discourse might contain pauses, repairs, and unintentional repetitions.

Monitoring and Interaction Features

• Monitoring features (well, I mean etc) guide listeners.
• Backchannels (verbal or nonverbal signals) help maintain interaction or understanding during spoken discourse.

Formality Level

• Spoken language is generally less formal than written discourse.
• Formal language is influenced by the relationship between those involved in the discourse (called tenor).

Explore the different modes of discourse in communication, including spoken, written, and nonverbal. This quiz covers the characteristics and significance of each mode, along with the types of data that correspond to them. Test your understanding of how these modes influence communication.