The Written World: Studies in Literate Thought and Action

ISBN-13: 9783642728792 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 214 str.

Roger S. Lj

Opis

The written word has taught a way of being. Since the written version of language is visible and permanent, many of our attitudes to and normative assumptions about language - and human communication in general - derive from our experiences of written language. In recent years, scholars from such disciplines as history, anthropology, education and linguistics have joined forces to readdress issues surrounding the problems of the relationship between oral and written language. The lessons to be learnt are fascinating and imply that many of the assumptions we hold concerning language and the human condition are neither "natural" nor universal; rather, they build on highly specific norms and attitudes introduced through a certain literate tradition. Furthermore, these norms have come to dominate many modern social institutions such as schools, the legal system and bureaucracies of various kinds that influence and determine our lives. The present volume analyzes in detail the impact of written language on a broad range of issues that relate to human development in both an ontogenetic and a phylogenetic perspective, together with the relationship of written language to oral and literate practices. The articles cover empirical studies as well as theoretical analyses of literate practices in diverse settings.

Spis treści

The Written World: Introduction.- 1 Literate Conceptions and Conceptions of Literacy.- 1 On Literacy and the Myth of Literal Meaning.- 2 The Impact of Literacy on the Conception of Language: The Case of Linguistics.- 3 Literacy Practices and Literacy Myths.- 4 Language Practices and the Visibility of Language. Reflections on the Great Divide in the Light of Ethiopian Oral Traditions.- 5 Computer Literacy and Procedural Knowledge.- 6 Writing, Time and Memory in the Perspective of Socio-cultural Evolution.- 2 Literate Practices and Human Cognitive Repertoires.- 7 Interpreting Texts and Interpreting Nature: The Effects of Literacy on Hermeneutics and Epistemology.- 8 Learning to Read — Some Possible Consequences for Thinking.- 9 Entrance into the “World of Knowledge” — Pre-school Children’s Conceptions of Learning.- 10 Towards an Anatomy of Academic Discourse: Meaning and Context in the Undergraduate Essay.- 11 A Text and Its Meanings: Observations on How Readers Construe What Is Meant from What Is Written.- 12 Insight into Understanding.- Author Index.