The articulation of written expression

Abstract

In this paper linguistic arguments in favour of the functional autonomy of the written expression are provided. Written expression would present an independent organization which, nevertheless, would hinge on the same basic principles as the spoken one. Essentially, these principles would be characterized by the recurrent nature of the signifiers. Unlike what happens with spoken expression, recurrence affects the various writing systems very differently, and this aspect determines their different level of precision, which varies from that of the logographic writings to that of the featural (subphonological) ones. This variability in the level of precision is proposed to be called "resolution", and it is linked to the presence of diverse oppositions forming nested hierarchies.