Portfolio 1: Informal Writing #2: Notes from Class

The following text is notes from class I took prior to writing my "Theorizing With the Linguistic Mode" paper. Through these notes, you can see how I interpreted the Fisher article to mean that writing is not the only valid form of literacy.

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Linguistic mode

• The linguistic mode refers to the use of language, which usually means written or spoken words

When we think about the ways the linguistic mode is used to make or understand meaning, we can consider:

• Word choice
• The delivery of text as spoken or written
• The organization or writing or speech into phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc
• The development and coherence of individual words and ideas

How does Fisher help us understand…

• What is literacy for?
• Share literacy - communal
• Spread of information and ideas, helps to unite people
• Gateway to freedom and humanity
• “Using speech to challenge the traditional notion of writing”
• Why do educational institutions privilege the written word and what damage does that privileging do?
• It dehumanizes people
• Prevents them from building their own institutions
• Omission of african-american literature from the public sphere
• It eliminates a group as a people 
• Some forms of text are different when read and when spoken/performed
• Ex: play, poetry, song
• Conversations when written in books often aren’t how real people talk
• Interactions are simplified and changed from how they would be irl
• Obvi people are more articulate (no umms and uhhh) but also go on for long stretches without being distracted, use epithets (my friend, brother)
• Also in films, tv shows
• Good acting humanizes it but even then, people dont really use names so much
• “Mulder!” “scully!!!”