ABSTRACT
Writing goes beyond the mere transcription of spoken language. Although writing is a medium whose content is spoken language, its uses differ from those of speech. Written language has evolved in ways quite different from speech. The epic poems of Homer provide a unique opportunity to compare the oral and the written forms of language. Once the verses were committed to writing, however, they became objectified, an artifact that could be studied and scanned visually, their components compared, and then edited into some temporal order, as is the case with Homer's verses. The objectification of information, or the separation of the knower from the knowledge that writing permitted, encouraged abstraction, systematization, and the objectivity of scientific thought. Phonetic writing, particularly alphabetic writing, encouraged classification and codification of information. Writing and mathematical notation were used to store the verbal or mathematical utterances of spoken language.
