On the integrational approach to reading and writing in the works of Roy Harris

In integrational theory, communication is treated as ‘including all processes in which human activities are contextually integrated by means of signs’ (Harris, 1996: 11). Because humans have bodies, it means that a person is always situated, and that the integration of activities is always uniquely contextualized. The signs made to implement a communication process do not pre-exist particular episodes, but are their results. Writing, as a form of communication, involves the integration of activities in relation to the material and spatial installation of the written sign. The written marks have a (relative) permanence that allows them to be re-read, but the reading itself is impermanent and non-reproducible. Thus, each reading involves the creation of new, unique signs. In this essay I will discuss the diversity of activities integrated in reading and illustrate the difficulties involved in distinguishing writing from non-writing, through an attempt made in the 19th century to read markings on the rock at Runamo in Sweden.