From Utterance to Text: The Bias of Language in Speech and Writing
Abstract
In this far-ranging essay David Olson attempts to reframe current controversies over several aspects of language, including meaning, comprehension, acquisition,reading, and reasoning. Olson argues that in all these cases the conflicts are rooted in differing assumptions about the relation of meaning to language: whether meaning is extrinsic to language—a relation Olson designates as "utterance"—or intrinsic—a relation he calls "text." On both the individual and cultural levels there has been development, Olson suggests, from language as utterance to language as text. He traces the history and impact of conventionalized, explicit language from the invention of the Greek alphabet through the rise of the British essayist technique. Olson concludes with a discussion of the resulting conception of language and the implications for the linguistic, psychological, and logical issues raised initially.
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- Authors
- Olson, D.
- Corresponding author
- Olson, David
- ORCID
- Olson, David
- Venue
- Harvard Educational Review
- Publisher
- Harvard Education Publishing Group
- Published
- 1977-09-01
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 257-281
- ISSN
- 0017-8055 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-5045
- OpenAlex
- W1679826675
- Cited by
- 1,065
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 17 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 42 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 646.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Harvard Educational Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Linguistics and Education Research
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistic research and analysis
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media, Communication, and Education
- Keywords
- meaning, language and meaning, language acquisition, reading, comprehension, reasoning, history of writing, Greek alphabet, language bias
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