Separations

Ong says that writing separates interpretation from data. Writing is concrete as opposed to oral translation. In an oral conversation one can give information to someone and when passed on to two other people you probably will get two other interpretations of the same spoken word. What is written stands as said and cannot be changed unless the writer himself/herself changes what is written in their drafting of the article. It will stand through history and time. Oral interpretations change by embelishment or imagination. This isn't always a bad thing in that some cultures use this to inspire and encourage non-writing individuals to preserve their oral traditions.

Separations

One way that writing seperates past from present is the forms of speech used. When the early settlers came to America, they wrote and spoke what was known as King's English. When we read books that use this type of english we humor ourselves with the pronunciations but we wouldn't and couldn't use this as an effective form of communication in English 201. Historically, in oral communications, whether past or present words are excluded to get a point across or that do not fit the explanation you are trying to relay. This can depend on who you are talking to. In African American culture some words are changed that may not be proper english in a conversation, but the person who you are talking to can relate to what you are talking about whereas someone from outside the culture may not.

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Writing can divide society -high language usage and low language usage. This relates to dominant discourses in its application as the higher language being that of those who were in control. Women have worked their way into the mainstream of higher language due to achieving academic success. Yet, the disparity in high language theory and application is still one of those who safeguard, or are the gatekeepers to screen and disallow those who are not qualified to share their goods. Gee stated that they are very protective of their goods, those who are of the dominant discourses. It is demeaning in one sense to say that women have the lower rung of language. It takes a high venacular to instruct and raise a child, carry on functionally in running a household, and dabble socially. It may not be Latin or Greek, but would most women use that in the course of their day anyway.