ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter the sophisticated process of an individual writer presenting speech idiolect in prose fiction, and real speakers’ idiolect in transcription were discussed. This chapter draws on the issues raised by this process in an investigation of the influence of context on the type of language produced. The particular interest in this chapter is in considering how the same information is presented differently in the two channels. For example, the immediacy of the spoken channel allows it to be used for commentary on events as they happen. In this context the producer of the language has a limited potential to assess accurately the implication of the events or their outcome, and this has an effect on the type of language produced. On the other hand, the less mutable ‘recording’ nature of the written channel permits a post hoc commentary on events, with all the deliberative editorial processes of constructing written material, not to mention the wisdom of hindsight. In contrasting a spoken and written commentary on the same events some sense of the influence of these factors on the linguistic choices made can be gained. Used in this sense the term context relates to the temporal and situational factors shaping the discoursewhen, where and why the speaking or writing happened.
