Re: The Main Problem

BETH O. BALDWIN (bobaldwi@hamlet.uncg.edu)
Mon, 23 Oct 1995 09:24:33 -0500


Fred says:

> >Writing is a human emotion process, not a rule process.

And John says:

> . . . But writing must to some extent
> be rule-governed, or it fails to communicate. Absolute prescriptivity is,
> as you note, ridiculous; but the opposite extreme -- a sort of
> I'm-ok-you're-ok approach to writing -- makes for as many mutually
> indiscernible languages as there are people. Babel.

Writing is an artifact of conversation. As such, it must adhere to *some*
conventions of social (human emotional) practice and basic conventions
of intelligibility.

Beth Baldwin
UNCG