Great Regulars: Words were sounds before they were ciphers.

They were listened to long before they ever could be read. That a sound made with lips and tongue and voice could become associated with something encountered in the world--a tree, the sky, another person--surely is a kind of miracle. "In the beginning was the word" certainly applies to the world we inhabit.

I wonder if we do not do our children a disservice by teaching them to read too soon.

from Frank Wilson: When Falls the Coliseum: The language of enchantment

~~~~~~~~~~~