Written language

A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia.

A written language is the representation of a language by means of a writing system.

Written language is an invention, whereas spoken language has evolved along with homo sapiens. Children will instinctively learn or create spoken (or gestural) languages. However, written language must be taught.

Written language always appears as a complement to a specific natural language (English, French, American Sign Language, etc.) and no purely written languages (with the exception of computer languages, which are not natural languages) exist. Nevertheless many extinct languages are in effect purely written, since the written form is all that survives.

See also

*List of writing systems
*Literary language
*List of languages by first written accounts
*Writing
*History of writing
*History of writing numbers