Writing, the linguist de Saussure argued, is an imperfect, distorted image of speech and obscures our view of language and its structure. Guided by the notion of “la tyrannie de la lettre”, the workshop focuses on issues of (de-)standardization and (re-)vernacularisation in written language in various social settings and diverse linguistic contexts.

The workshop explores the notion of the tyranny of writing, and the possibilities of going beyond, by discussing the uses and ideologies of standard and vernacular writing from contemporary and historical perspectives, investigating both forms and functions of written language and the social conditions of its use.

On the first evening of the conference, Prof. Dr. Florian Coulmas (Tokyo) will introduce the notion of “tyranny of writing” in an opening lecture and present what this concept meant for the study of language when Saussure first used this term a century ago, and what it means today. In his abstract he highlights that writing is one of the most powerful tools in our society: “It enables scientific insights to be given permanence, separating message from messenger, text from author, judgement from judge, sentence from speaker. And it allows us to critically assess, take issue with, and build on the knowledge of our forebears.”

What does the “tyranny of writing” mean in the Luxembourg context? After the opening lecture, Prof. Dr. Jean-Jacques Weber (Luxembourg) will elaborate the tension between spoken and written Luxembourgish in Luxembourgish policy of education.

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The launch event of the workshop is open to the general public and will be taking place on Monday, 26 May from 5 pm at Campus Walferdange, building II, room Vygotsky.
Further information and programme
To register, please contact Andrea Hake via email.
For any additional information, contact Dr Constanze Weth, associate professor at the Institute for Research on Multilingualism.

Photo caption: From the "Also Remember" section of the Saturday Review of Literature, June 23, 1951, p. 14. The caption reads: "Due to hundreds of requests the General has added a creative writing course to the curriculum . . ."