Now we will concentrate on the two main modes of language: spoken and written language.
For the same, we will start by analysing their historical attitudes.
Historically speaking, written language was considered to be superior to spoken language for many centuries since it was the medium of literature, and literature was considered a source of standards of linguistic excellence; so spoken language was ignored as an object unworthy of study because of its lack of care and organisation.
This viewpoint became widely criticized at the turn of our century, when Leonard Bloomfield insisted that as speech is the primary medium of communication, it should be also the main object of linguistic study. Therefore, many linguistics came to think of written language as a tool of secondary importance and writing came to be excluded from the primary subject matter of linguistic science.
Nowadays, there is no sense in the view that one medium of communication is intrinsically better. Writing cannot substitute speech. The functions of speech and writing are usually said to complement each other.
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