Rethinking Writing (Continuum Collection)

The traditional Western view of writing, from Aristotle down to the present day, has treated the written word as a visual substitute for the spoken word. The eminent Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was the first to provide this traditional assumption with a reasoned basis by incorporating it into a more general theory of signs. In the wake of Saussure's work, modern linguistics has ignored or marginalized writing in favour of the study of speech. In all literate societies, however, speech in turn is interpreted by reference to the culturally dominant writing system. This puts in place a system of educational values which ensures that the more literate members of society maintain superiority over the less literate, and at the same time establishes a hierarchy among literate societies which favours the local product (alphabetic scripts in the Western Case). Roy Harris shows that the theory of writing adopted in modern linguistics is deeply flawed. Reversing the orthodox priorities, the author argues that writing is a far more powerful mode of linguistic communication than speech could ever be. His book is a major contribution to current debates about human communication written and spoken. The traditional Western view of writing, from Aristotle down to the present day, has treated the written word as a visual substitute for the spoken word. The eminent Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was the first to provide this traditional assumption with a reasoned basis by incorporating it into a more general theory of signs. In the wake of Saussure's work, modern linguistics has ignored or marginalized writing in favour of the study of speech." "As in all literate societies, however, speech in turn is interpreted by reference to the culturally dominant writing system writing system. This puts in place a system of educational values which ensures that the more literate members of society maintain superiority over the less literate, and at the same time establishes a hierarchy among literate societies which favours the local product (alphabetic scripts in the Western Case)." "Roy Harris shows that the theory of writing adopted in modern linguistics is deeply flawed. Reversing the orthodox priorities, the author argues that writing is a far more powerful mode of linguistic communication than speech ever could be. His book is a major contribution to current debates about human communication written and spoken. Annotation. The traditional Western view of writing, from Aristotle down to the present day, has treated the written word as a visual substitute for the spoken word. The eminent Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was the first to provide this traditional assumption with a reasoned basis by incorporating it into a more general theory of signs. In the wake of Saussure's work, modern linguistics has ignored or marginalized writing in favour of the study of speech. In all literate societies, however, speech in turn is interpreted by reference to the culturally dominant writing system. This puts in place a system of educational values which ensures that the more literate members of society maintain superiority over the less literate, and at the same time establishes a hierarchy among literate societies which favours the local product (alphabetic scripts in the Western Case). Roy Harris shows that the theory of writing adopted in modern linguistics is deeply flawed 0826479243......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Foreword: Writing and Civilization......Page 18 1 Aristotle's Abecedary......Page 34 2 Structuralism in the Scriptorium......Page 56 3 Writing off the Page......Page 81 4 Notes on Notation......Page 108 5 Alphabetical Disorder......Page 138 6 Ideographic Hallucinations......Page 155 7 On the Dotted Line......Page 178 8 Beyond the Linguistic Pale......Page 201 9 Mightier than the Word......Page 232 Bibliography......Page 260 C......Page 268 L......Page 269 S......Page 270 W......Page 271 Plato was the first authority we know of who questioned the thinking about writing that was current in his day.