The Imperialism of Syntax

Abstract

This intervention presents an alternative to the Western image of syntax; the two facing pages of Chinese characters literally mirror each other. They force the reader to notice the visual structure of language’s lay-out. The usual invisibility of syntactical arrangement makes the dominant mode into a fixed, given, or "natural" progression of words on a page. The author demonstrates the beauty and power of alternatives and she literally reflects (thinks) on her Eastern arrangement: in the alternative merely backward or inverted? does the Eastern syntax function merely in relation to the dominant model? is the Eastern syntax a reversal of the dominant model? This is an intervention that offers a thinking-image of resistance.