Chapter 2

From Signs to Language Semeion revisited The first record is a whip Scale and threshold Signs and tools

From Orality to Writing Individual and collective memory Cultural memory Frames of existence The alienation of immediacy

Orality and Writing Today: What Do People Understand When They Understand Language? A feedback called confirmation Primitive orality and incipient writing Assumptions Taking literacy for granted To understand understanding Words about images

The Functioning of Language Expression, communication, signification The idea machine Writing and the expression of ideas Future and past Knowing and understanding Univocal, equivocal, ambiguous Making thoughts visible Alphabet cultures and a lesson from aphasia

Language and Logic Logics behind the logic A plurality of intellectual structures The logics of actions Sampling Memetic optimism