Writing and reading leads to awareness of linguistic structure and
awareness of language structure, which is a product of writing, and not
a precondition for its development (Olson 1994: 69). In the same sense,
spatial configurations are not only a product, but the producers of a cognitive
system. This is what Derrida
meant
when he talked about writing as being prior to speech. He defines writing
not as the activity of writing, but as the movement of differentiation
of sign systems (différance). Language, like any other code, constitutes
itself as a texture of differences. Difference and opposition are the cognitive
foundations of semiosis and therefore the precondition for every semiotic
coding. This is a process which leads to an unbounded referring of
signs. Writing in Derrida's
sense creates networks by "spacing of speech" (Derrida 1967: 39) and can
be interpreted as a metaphor of the human mind.
contents
reference