And even in relatively free Hong Kong, using written vernacular is frowned upon.
Later in the 9th century (with the Strasbourg Oaths, possibly, and more clearly in the Eulalia poem), deliberate attempts were made to write vernacular Romance, though the resources of the Latin alphabet were not wholly adequate to the task.
Wilco, which formed in 1994, was initially an alt-country band, whose songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, demonstrated a knack for writing clipped, vernacular descriptions of relationships and emotional states.
Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang was written in vernacular Malay, as common for works by contemporary Chinese writers in the Dutch East Indies.
Bernstein even tapped that show's creator, Stephen Schwartz, to help write the vernacular lyrics added to the Roman Catholic liturgy.
As Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has written, black vernacular is a literary development as well as a linguistic one.
His first collection of short stories, Chenlun (1921; "Sinking"), was written in vernacular Chinese, as advocated by the new generation of writers.
In the 1960s and 1970s, books like the Living Bible and the Way came out, written in vernacular English, although scholars criticize their accuracy.
During the 13th century, Gonzalo de Berceo, Spain's earliest poet known by name, wrote rhymed vernacular chronicles of saints' lives, the miracles of the Virgin, and other devotional themes with ingenuous candour, accumulating picturesque and affectionately observed popular detail.
As soon as scribes first made attempts to write in vernacular languages, they found the resources of the Latin alphabet inadequate to represent the non-Latin sounds of their spoken language.
