ABSTRACT
Up to now, whenever we have referred to ‘spoken English’, it has made relatively little difference whether we examined spontaneous speech or written English read aloud. In reality we have concentrated on reading aloud, and paid scant attention to extempore speech. Whenever we are dealing with a text longer than a short phrase, the distinction is an important one. Different processes are involved in speaking and reciting, and these are reflected in the phonetic form of the text. You can usually tell whether the speaker is talking spontaneously, or reciting a prepared script. In spontaneous speech, the speaker has to think and prepare what to say next, and a large proportion of ‘speaking time’ is actually silence. Actors are expected to read written language aloud as though it were being delivered spontaneously, and in fact they have an almost impossible job. Owing to stage conventions, it is possible to recognize acting as a third category, alongside spontaneous speech and reading aloud.
