Writing is Language

Writing is Language

Language is a natural faculty, writing is an artefact. That is the reason why children acquire language, but not writing, without guidance. The difficult art of writing requires skills that must be taught, memorized, and laboriously practised. The place to do this is the school. The school is the institution that most obviously depends on writing and serves its dissemination. No writing, no school; no school, no writing. These equations are basically valid. (Writing Society, Florian Coulmas)
No no no.

No. Mostly.


I get that linguistics and sociolinguistics had valid reasons for wanting to approach language as speech. Coulmas explains howSausseure Bloomfield successfully banished writing from the study of language in the field of linguistics, and addresses the paradox between the alleged "tyranny" of writing in how language is conceived in the popular imagination, and what I would call the opposite "tyranny of speech" in (socio)linguistics: the idea that only speech is authentic language, and that writing is just the recording of language. It is impossible for me to agree with this, and Coulmas seems to be wanting to move in that direction too, in his first chapter, but then the above passage occurs in a chapter on writing and institutions.


I will just say this now, and probably many times later: Writing is language. It just is. It isn't (just) putting little marks on paper to represent things we say or would say. It is a way of languaging, just like speech is. Language use -- all language use -- is cultural. Our use of writing and speech forlanguageis always alreadyembedded in sociocultural context. That is just how we humans do. There is no reason for us to demand that writing is so fundamentally different from speech that one islanguageand the other is not, or that speech is more authentic than writing, or that because speech is more "natural" than writing it is more representative of "real" language than writing is.
We absolutely have to start with writingif we are going to get anywhere in thesociolinguisticsof writing. This is why I find it easier to go along with Lillis (whose book I finally finished last week) than Coulmas: Lillis isprimarilya writing specialist arguing for greater engagement with sociolinguistics;Coulmas is (more or less) primarily a (socio)linguist arguing for more engagement with writing.
I think it would be very hard for a person of my background, training, and generation not to take writing as a starting point in this discussion. I don't carry the disciplinary baggage of linguistics, for a start, but I also come from a time and place where communication in writing is just a simple, obvious, everyday fact ofcommunication. People of my generation (and social class), and younger, constantly write. We write all the time. We write to each other to make plans for the times that we are going to speak to each other. We switch between writing and speaking all the time, and in some domains we do most of our communication in writing.
So here is some talking back to the passage above.
1. Of course writing and speaking are different in many ways. But I'm not convinced that the 'learning vs.acquisition' argument is all that helpful. My son is 1 1/2 years old and I would argue that he islaboriously learning to use speech. We know that people who grow up without anyone to talk to -- that is, anyone to learn from -- do not develop language. You cannot possibly develop language without observing/hearing how other people do it. We can argue that people have a "language instinct" and not a "writing instinct," but that doesn't really change the fact that in a conventional understanding of human society, almost any symbolic behavior that people do has to be learned from other people.
2. "No writing, no school; no school, no writing" strikes me as untrue for many, many people.Certainly people learn how to read and write (or do it better, or a certain way) in school. But certainly not everyone. I could read before I went to school, and most of the reading and even a lot of the writing I did when I was a child and teenager was done outside the auspices of school -- and this is much, much more common now than it was 20-25 years ago. I am sure there are scores of young people who write much more on the internet than they ever do in school.
Where I really want to see the relationship between writing and sociolinguistics expand, though, is the area of variation. I need to read some more sociolinguistics stuff before I can really make this argument, but the problem is that it's too easy for sociolinguists to say "well, writing is highly standardized, just because, so let's just focus on variation in speech, which isn't very standardized." There are a lot of problems with this, especially when you think about language varieties across cultural and geographical differences. Which, of course, is what world Englishes is all about.




Anyway.


More on this soon.

The Sea Garden early copy giveaway

The Sea Garden early copy giveaway




A very exciting parcel from New York this week...some early copies of The Sea Garden. Known as "boundgalleys", these are uncorrected proofs, the same textI worked on a few weeks back, bound intopaperback form. There are a few mistakes, which have now been setright. These versions are intended forbook marketsand early reviewers, so I was wondering if any of you here would like a chance to read it now? I only have a few copies, so this will have to be a lucky dip. Please put a comment on this post and I will draw a name out of a hat in a week's time.Don't forget to leave a blog link oranother way for me to contact you. Or, if you prefer, go over tomy official facebook page, "like" it and leave a comment on the giveaway post there.Good luck!

SDC127 Early Christmas

SDC127 Early Christmas

Nellie is our hostess this week as we get ready for the holiday:
I always intent to start early making my Christmas cards. But real life often gets in the way and before I know it its the middle of December and my Christmas cards end up being either very simple and quick or bought in a shop. So I thought why not set a Stampotique challenge to make Christmas cards in November and force myself to really make and early start. So here is what I came up with. And of course I love to see your Christmas cards or other Christmas projects!**Please read new rule instituted with this challenge-we will no longer be accepting digi stamp creations as part of our challenges. Stampotique is a red rubber stamp company and we prefer to see creations with stamps versus those with digital creations. These entries will be deleted and will not be eligible for the prize. Thank you for understanding.**
IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Please read ALL RULES on thelinkz pagebefore linking your creation.



If you didn't follow the rules posted, you may have been deleted.



Feel free to relink your creation with the correct information for a chance to win.*No digi stamp creations please*




Debi McManus-Guest Designer



Jane Wetzel



Valerie Wilson



SamRead



Nellie van Leeuwen



Gez Butterworth



FrancePapillon




Maria Sabina Raita



SusanDavies



Roc Nicholas
We chose 3 random favorites this week, thank you to all who played along with us!(e-mail khowardga@gmail.com if you would like the favorites badge)CobyHelenWendylynn

Nixon Reconsidered 7

Nixon Reconsidered 7


I have two items for my blog post today about Joan Hoff's Nixon Reconsidered.

1.
My first item will concern whether the United States should intervene
in other countries. Hoff has a section in her book, "THIRD WORLD
MISTAKES", in which she is quite critical of how President Richard Nixon
approached the Third World. Overall, she seems to be arguing, he saw
it through the prism of the Cold War. Hoff discusses the Nixon
Administration's treatment of Chile, which was headed by the Marxist
President Salvador Allende, who would be overthrown in a coup. While
Hoff does not believe that there is evidence that the CIA or Nixon
Administration "played any direct role in the assassination of President
Salvador Allende," she does acknowledge that they "did everything
possible to destabilize his government" (page 249), by funding Allende's
political opponents, for example. One who was opposed to such features
of President Nixon's foreign policy was Secretary of State William
Rogers, who would later say that the U.S. giving contributions to
foreign elections is a bad idea. One reason, according to Rogers, was
that the U.S. doesn't get its "money's worth" in doing so. Second,
Rogers said, it is embarrassing to the countries and undermines their
trust in the U.S. And third, it contradicts the U.S.'s rhetoric about
non-intervention and allowing "countries to determine their own future"
(Rogers' words on page 251). Some have characterized Rogers as not particularly bright, but I do
believe that his critique of the Nixon Administration's policy in Chile
is quite insightful. I can still see Nixon's perspective----that the
Soviets were backing the leftists in Chile, that the U.S. did not want a
major Communist power in South America, and that thus the U.S. had to support Allende's opponents. Still, in my opinion, Rogers does well to highlight downfalls to U.S. intervention in other countries' political systems.

Hoff herself appears to pursue a
rather isolationist route at the end of her chapter on the Vietnam War
(even though I seriously doubt that she and Rogers were complete
isolationists). She essentially says that the U.S. government and
military officials should apologize for the Vietnam War. She blames the
South Vietnamese, "not the dove-inspired constraints on the U.S.
military", for losing the war (page 242). While Hoff defends Nixon
against a number of charges that she considers to be unfounded and
unfair, she still apparently retains the opposition to the Vietnam War
that she had when she was a New Leftist.

Hoff sometimes seems to
praise Richard Nixon's foreign policy, as when she says that detente may
deserve some credit for the end of the Cold War. But, overall, she
does not have too many kind words for Nixon's foreign policy. As I said
in my post yesterday, she is critical of the "linkage" element of
detente, in which Nixon and Henry Kissinger would link together
different issues in dealing with the Soviets, offering concessions in
some areas if the Soviets would do what the U.S. wanted in other areas.
Her chapter about the Vietnam War is entitled "VIETNAM: WITHOUT PEACE
OR HONOR". She's against how Nixon approached the Third World. What
exactly does she favor in President Richard Nixon's foreign policy? She
says that his rapprochement with Red China was an accomplishment, but
here, her applause strikes me as rather tepid. One goal behind the
rapprochement was to give the U.S. leverage in its relationship with the
Soviet Union, and my impression is that Hoff does not believe that it
did that. Hoff's praises of Nixon's domestic policies are quite
pronounced, by contrast. She does note flaws in some of them, such as
Nixon allowing the dollar to float, and Nixon believing that the Equal
Pay Act could actually bring about equal pay for men and women in the
workplace. But she also believes that Nixon accomplished a significant
amount of good in such areas as civil rights, the environment, and the
U.S. Government's treatment of Native Americans, and that his proposal
to reform welfare was quite groundbreaking. I don't find that same
level of respect in Hoff's book for Nixon's foreign policies.

2. In my post here,
I refer to Stephen Ambrose's claim that Nixon's desire for information
about Democratic National Committee chairman Larry O'Brien could have
contributed to the atmosphere that led to the break-in at the DNC's
headquarters at the Watergate hotel. Ambrose is not the only one who
posits this, for many believe that the burglars were looking for
information about O'Brien. But Hoff does not buy this explanation for
the break-in, and her reason is that "the Watergate burglars did not
initially bug, nor were they subsequently caught in, O'Brien's office"
(page 305). Hoff goes into other motivations for the break-in that have
been proposed, but she appears to be open to the controversial argument
in the book, Silent Coup, by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin,
that the break-in was an attempt to find information about a
prostitution ring that was servicing Democratic and Republican
politicians. I'm not sure if, or to what extent, she buys into the
aspect of Silent Coup's argument for which John Dean sued its
authors for libel: the argument that John Dean was somehow involved in
ordering the break-in and trying to cover things up, since (according to
the authors) Dean's wife was connected with someone who was prominent
in the prostitution ring. Hoff does, however, say on page 311 that Silent Coup
"has surpassed other books about the origins of Watergate" and also
"attempts to resolve factual contradictions in the testimony of all the
participants about the break-ins and cover-up" (page 311).

David Greenberg in Nixon's Shadow said that Hoff essentially provided scholarly cover for Silent Coup. There are many who may feel that Silent Coup
was a book with a crackpot theory that several Nixon apologists
desperately tried to grab onto, perhaps to make Dean a scapegoat for
Watergate. I don't know enough about Watergate to comment. But I do
have to respect Hoff's humble tone in praising Silent Coup, as
when she notes that the book attempts to resolve contradictions in
testimonies. There's not a whole lot of pretense in her liking the book
for that reason.

Late Night TV Preview November 25 - 30, 2013

Late Night TV Preview November 25 - 30, 2013


Here is a selection of the musical acts scheduled to appear on late night TV in the coming week. Note: * indicates an encore episode.MONDAY • Juicy J - Arsenio Hall Show (10pm - OMNI, 11pm - CW) • Sky Ferreira - Late Show with David Letterman (11:35pm - CBS, OMNI) • Michael Bublé - Tonight Show (11:35pm - NBC, CTV2) • Mazzy Star- Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:35am - NBC, CTV)TUESDAY • Trombone Shorty - Arsenio • Kelly Clarkson - TonightWEDNESDAY • Iggy Azalea w/ T.I. - LettermanTHURSDAY • Ariana Grande - FallonFRIDAY • Gary Clark Jr - Letterman* • Christina Aguilera - Tonight • Big Sean w/ Kid Cudi - Fallon*SATURDAY • Eminem - Saturday Night Live* (11:30pm - NBC, GlobalTV)

Getting to know you Thursday (posted on Wednesday this week) With Marilyn Turk with giveaway

Getting to know you Thursday (posted on Wednesday this week) With Marilyn Turk with giveaway

Please welcomeMarilyn Turk to my blog today. I have been delayed getting this interview up but it is timely as Marilyn has her story in a Guidepost Christmas book of short stories.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?Originally from
Louisiana, I moved to Atlanta, GA after college, married and had my three sons
and lived there until after my divorce when I was laid off. I moved to Florida
in 2004 and started my new life. I married the love of my life, my second
husband, five years ago. Together we have four sons and one daughter, two
daughters-in-law, and three grandsons ages 3, 4, 6. Although I graduated with a
degree in journalism, it was advertising I wanted to do which was in the
college of journalism. However, I learned a lot about journalism, meeting
deadlines and editing during that time, things which any writer needs to know.

2. When you were a child did you have a favorite book or books? I loved Nancy Drew books.

3. Do you have a favorite Genre to both read and right write? My favorite genre
is historical with romance, so I read and write it.

4. Did you have favorite authors growing up who have influenced you? Besides
Carolyn Keene who wrote Nancy Drew, I
really didnt have a favorite author.

5. When did you know you wanted to be an author? Writing was always easy for
me, so I didnt consider it a career until much later in life. But I loved Guideposts magazine and read it from
cover to cover, so I wanted to be published in it, however my career in sales
and my family prevented me from even thinking about writing.

6. How did you go about becoming an author? When I moved to Florida as an
empty-nester, I felt God telling me I now had time to write. I took an online
writing course to refresh my memory having
been out of school a long time. I then began attending writers
conferences and learning about the craft and business of writing. I thought Id
only write articles and devotions, so thats what I did and was published in Focus on the Familys Clubhouse Jr.
magazine, and The Upper Room. In 2010
I won the Guideposts Writers Workshop
and was subsequently published in Guideposts.
I hadnt considered writing a book until I went to conferences and heard people
talking about their books. While doing historical research on the area I live
in, which is a hobby of mine, the threads of a story formed and my first book
was birthed. I am currently writing my third
book while my editor looks for the right publisher for the others.

7. If you were not a writer what would you like to be? Ive been blessed to
achieve most of what I wanted to be. At this point in my life, I wouldnt want
another career.

8. Outside reading and writing what do you like to do? I love tennis and play
twice a week. I would play more except that Im trying to focus on writing and
not tennis. I also enjoy taking walks and boating and fishing with my husband.
I attempt to garden, but sometimes the Florida heat is brutal on plants.
Fortunately, we got a lot of rain this year.

9. Do you have a place you love to visit or would love to visit? I love
lighthouses and would love to visit them all over the world. I still have a lot
to see in the US though. My husband and I would love to take a trip to
Australia and stay a couple of months doing volunteer work. (Jenny here I think you would Love Australia there is so much to see and do)

10. If you could have a meal with 3 living people who would you choose and why?
I just met Frank Peretti at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference,
and he is really cool. Id love to talk more with him. Also, I love Lynn
Austins writing and would love to spend some time with her. Of course, Id
love to get close to Hugh Jackman, but I doubt I could eat if I were. (I know what you mean about Hugh Jackman I would be the same but at least I could talk cricket with him as he is a big fan)

Finally can you tell us about your current books and/or any that will
be coming out soon.Ive been published in
four Chicken Soup for the Soul books
– Devotional Stories for Tough Times, Say
Hello to a Better Body, Say Goodbye to
Stress, and the most recent, Devotional
Stories for Wives, which came out in September.
I also have a short
story in a Guideposts book that will
be coming out in November called A Cup of
Christmas Cheer. There are two books
in the collection and my story is in the one called Stories of Joy and Wonder. These will be available through Guideposts.Also where we can find you on the web.http://www.shopguideposts.org/new-releases-1/a-cup-of-christmas-cheer.htmlMy website is www.pathwayheart.com or www.marilynturk.com. I post a weekly blog
about lighthouses there. I also have a blog on The Writers Path on the same
website. Im always looking for lighthouse stories, so if you know any, please
contact me. My email is marilynturkwriter@yahoo.com.


Giveaway:
Marilyn is happy to do a giveaway to one American who leaves a comment. To enter just leave a comment saying what you favourite Christmas Carol is and a way to contact you. Entries close Dec 5th.

CSI case file 99 - You are my world gorgeous boy

CSI case file 99 - You are my world gorgeous boy

Helooooooo there :)How are you all going?I have had a crazy fortnight, and haven't had much time for scrapping :(My wee shop Rainbows Whimsy has been super busy with the Christmas rush and some exciting new wholesale orders! The orders have finally calmed down and I am now re-emerging my self back into the "real" world heheheAnyhoo today I have CSI case file #99 to share with you!I love how the different colour combos of the case files force me to go through my stash and use things I normally wouldn't.....I think I'm making a dent (albeit a small one) in my stash!Here is the AWESOME case file (LOVE the colours on this one):
Here is what I came up with:
Layers (Love my Purple Pumpkin goodies):
Thanks soooooo very much for checking out my blog!Love and Peace xoxJess