If you ever take a linguistics class, you will hear this catechism from the first day on:
1) Speech is primary.
2) Speech is universal among human cultures, and separates us from other animals.
3) Speech is innately acquired-–-unlike writing, which is a skill that must be learned.
4) Therefore speech (not writing) is the primary material for linguistic study.
Yes, dear NaNoWriMor-ers, writing is important. But speech is the bee's knees. So when you want to measure your burgeoning novel against a b...
Published on November 19, 2009 13:55