1) Modern linguistics gives priority to the spoken form of language, which is considered as more basic than the written form for a number of reasons.
2) First, in any human society we know of, speech precedes of writing. The writing system of any language is always a later invention, used to record the speech.
3) While quite a number of languages in the world today have both spoken and written forms, there are still many languages that have only the spoken form.
4) And then in terms of function, the spoken language is used for a wider range of purposes than the written, and carries a larger load of communication than the written.
现代语言学认为口头语和书面语相比，它是更基本的，原因如下。
第一，在我们所知的人类社会中，口头语先于书面语。
第二，任何语言的书面语都是比口头语更晚发明的，被用于记录口头语。
第三，当今社会中，许多语言既有口头语形式也有书面语形式，但是也有许多语言只有口头语形式。
最后，在功能方面，口头语比书面语运用的目的范围更广，承载着更大的交流载体。
