I think written English and spoken English are actually two separate languages, at least in terms of how the brain treats it. Most people, when reading, will say the words inside their head. Translating, because they're fluent in spoken, not written.
I never really thought about this until I realised that I know someone who does the opposite. They translate spoken to written in their head, because they're fluent in written.
I'm not a linguist or a neurologist, of course. Just observing.
@Terrana this is kinda true!
spoken language evolves naturally over time, whereas written language is actually just a human invention, and in order to learn it, you need to use different parts of your brain to what you use for spoken language!
@lizardsquid Spoken language is also a human invention. Both of these things have evolved over time.
@Terrana you're right, I misspoke and didn't explain what I meant properly - spoken language is created by humans, yes, but written language is a technology.
Given slightly different circumstances, the writing system of any language could be completely different - maybe we'd be using a logography (like chinese) for english, or some other alphabet (based directly on futhark, perhaps?)
