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Overview
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.Editorials
Choice
"Noted linguist Harris (emer., Oxford) challenges the assumptions underlying traditional Western views of writing as secondary to speech. Harris applies an integrationist approach to writing, a topic in which he has previously established expertise in such works as The Origin of Writing (1986) and Signs of Writing (1995). In the early chapters of the present work, he systematically dismantles the theories of linguists and philosophers beginning with Aristotle (with emphasis on Saussure) whose seminal ideas about language as essentially oral reduced the status of writing to symbol of speech. Harris finds fault in Saussure's failure to recognize that writing and speech are separate but integrated forms of communication, with writing offering much more than mere representation of sounds. Aided by illustrations and analogies that are sometimes stretched but often ingenious, the volume culminates in discussions of the signature, the experimental writing of such authors as Mallermé (Mallerme) and Joyce, and the computer, through which the possibilities for integrating forms of communication promise a whole new concept of language. A difficult but important work with excellent bibliography and index, this title is recommended for graduate students and professors in linguistics, philosophy, literature, and communication." —C. P. Jamison, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Choice, July 2001— C. P. Jamison, Armstrong Atlantic State University
Book Details
Published
July 7, 2005
Publisher
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Pages
272
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780826479242