Preface

Summary

Writing systems and written language are objects of great complexity and wonder testifying to human ingenuity and the determination to create our own universe. If language is the most distinctive inborn trait of our species, writing is our most consequential invention. It is so ubiquitous in everyday life that one has to wonder what purposes it serves. How does writing relate to speech? What impact does it have on social organization and development? How do unwritten languages differ from those that have a written form and tradition? In twentieth-century linguistics it has been axiomatic that writing is unimportant, but this is hardly so, certainly not if we direct our attention to the social aspects of language behaviour, a society's repertoire of codes, and the division of labour between different modes of linguistic communication. From a sociological point of view the very concept of a language, in the sense of one language being distinct from another, is indissolubly bound up with writing. If we want to understand the social functions of language, both speech and writing must be taken into consideration, as well as the multifaceted interplay of the two.

In this little book I have recorded my observations and thoughts about the role written language and writing play in society. For historical reasons explained in the first chapter sociolinguistics has not been very interested in or accommodating to writing. However, nowadays, not just Trappist monks but many other younger tribes write more than they speak and writing has evolved from a specialized skill into a mass mode of communication. The communicatively relevant parts of social environments can no longer be adequately described and analysed unless writing is recognized as a crucial component of linguistic ecology. The reasons for this are less theoretical than empirical. Humanity has moved steadily towards relying on written communication in ever more domains of life. This involves changes in communicative behaviour, in language socialization, in the ways we learn and acquire knowledge, and in the formation and maintaining of social networks. The media revolution is not just a catchword; it is a reality to which we are forced to adapt and in which writing is of central importance.