from Part I - Impressions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 August 2023
This chapter is concerned with locating and defining writing in the context of communication in general, and in the more specific domain of human communication. It emphasizes the linguistic basis of all writing systems, examining their underlying characteristics, how their invention works as a representational resource and how they are intimately connected with social, material and cultural conditions. It clarifies basic concepts about writing, to establish some terms of reference and to find a language for subsequently talking about writing. Writing is seen as a system of visual communication that uses symbols that have a particular relationship to the world. The chapter underlines the materiality of writing as a visible language.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.