'The classical debate about language has been re-argued so often that it would now be useful to have a summary of where we stand, what ideas from the ancients persist, and why they make such an attractive screen on which to project modern controversy. Professor Swearingen does just this... Her knowledge of the field makes her as good a commentator as (Eric Havelock, Wayne Booth and Walter Ong) are theoreticians.' Robert Pattison, author of On Literacy, (OUP,1982).