The Problem of Ritual Language: From Information to Situation

Abstract

any of the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences have as one of their principal tasks the analysis of bodies of language. These sets of utterances, especially when congealed into a fixed form that can become a common object of study for scholars, a text, provide unique insights into the human situation that no observation and measurement of mute behavior can duplicate. The text allows entry into the world of ideas. And we assume that that was the intent of the original utterances-to convey meaning to an audience, to make the speaker's or writer's thoughts accessible to another.