#7. Speaking vs. Writing

Do we write more eloquently or speak more eloquently?
I think I write much better than I speak, because I can organize my thoughts and express them in the best way possible. Although speaking has the benefits of conveniency and instant feedback, I've always preferred writing when I need to say something important. The chances of making a mistake, such as hurting someone's feelings or messing up grammar/vocabulary and looking stupid, are much lower. I can also write things that are difficult to vocalize. That's why I think I become much more truthful when I write. I'm not saying that I lie all the time when I speak, but I think I reveal more on paper. My friends have always told me that they enjoy my letters because they can feel my sincerity. So naturally, I became curious why it seems easier to speak than to write.
A book called Um . . . : Slips, Stumbles, Verbal Blunders and What They Mean by Michael Erard explains this somewhat. There are two types of speech blunders, according to the author: slips of the tongue and "speech disfluencies." "Slip-ups happen because we're thinking way ahead of what comes out of our mouths. We make what another linguist, Rudolf Meringer, once called 'forward errors.'" That's why we sometimes say things like "Glab that glass." We're thinking about the "gl" sound too fast. "Disfluencies" refer to lack of eloquence. Only a few very gifted people can speak without making mistakes or hesistating. The rest of us normal people have to fill our momentary gaps of ineloquence with "um"s and "er"s or "you know"s and "like"s.
According to my limited research, speaking and writing is thought of as very different things. Speaking is natural to human beings. That's why we speak before we can write. But writing is not. That's why we have to LEARN to write and why not all languages have alphabets or an equivalent. Speaking and writing cannot be but different because they are used in different contexts. People usually speak when 1) in close proximity; 2) they need to see the reaction of the listener(s) to go on; 3) the intonation of the sentences are important; 4) the situation is informal; etc. People usually write when 1) they are not at a distance to have a conversation; 2) they have to leave tangible records, such as contracts; 3) they need to organize all their thoughts clearly and convey them to someone else; etc. However, these distinctions are not absolute. They are often blurred, especially with the advancement of technology like the telephone and e-mail. We use emoticons to make writing more like speaking, in which gestures and facial expressions can be involved. We write speeches and present them orally to be more effective in reaching an audience.
This is all probably obvious information, but it's interesting that I think I can write better when actually, speaking is supposed to be easier (in terms of innate ability). It's also interesting that the two are treated as separate functions, but they overlap increasingly.
According to Wikipedia, "most contemporary linguists work under the assumption that spoken language is more fundamental, and thus more important to study, than written language." I don't know if I agree with this; for me, written language is just as important, if not more, than spoken language.

Links:
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2007-10-16-voa25.cfm
http://www.garlikov.com/talkwrite.htm
http://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/verblang.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistics#Speech_versus_writing
http://www.pearsonlongman.com/dictionaries/pdfs/Speaking-Writing-Crystal.pdf
http://www2.wmin.ac.uk/eic/learning-skills/literacy/sp_vs_writ_dif.shtml