Changes in language

Socrates& Plato

SocratesOral tradition – power of rhetoric

truth via arguementation

PlatoNew writing tradition – Plato’s

republiclinear logic in argument

birth rationalism

Socrates thought that writing & reading would

destroy our memory

Silent reading was unknown in the ancient

world

Ancient intellectuals did not write to store knowledge; they had slaves trained for the task.

Ancientwritinghadnospacesbetweenwordsandlittle

grammar

There was no grammar

Meaning was created through the reading aloud

Scriptura continua

Copying was an incredibly important skill

13th Century

Scriptura continua is nearly dead.• Spaces, grammar, and finally punctuation are

common• Writing is for the eye, not the ear.• Comprehension more important than

appreciation.• Reading is individual rather than communal.• Composition becomes important

Reading becomes automated (ordered) rather than an act of skill. Thus there is more time/energy for meaning.

Authors started to write rather than dictate to a scribe. And they started to edit after writing.

Writing became more personal.Arguments became more focused and

longer.

14th Century

Features of modern writing appear• Paragraphs• Chapters• Contents page

• Originality is more important than copying• Scholarship is quiet study, being well readSoon after 14th C, universities re-appear in

Europe.

BardPart of an oral tradition, but now we study him as written literature

Shakespeare

•Shakespeare was written to be performed in open spaces•It has few props, little memorisation – it was about the power of rhetoric

Speaking different languages creates different brain wave patterns

e.g. Enlish and Italian are different-English is more visual, Italian is more phonetic