> ... Unless, there is some corresponding distinction in mechanics > between speaking and writing. That is, if something about the process > of generating writing makes it, post-modification, easier. I'm going > to assume that it's been observed across all modes of writing too, (in > addition to across all formality levels), where in all cases it was > equally easy to go back and edit, which is impossible in speech. And, > in the cases where the entire process of writing was observed, that > neither kind of modification occurred more frequently in revisions.
There are such distinctions. In writing, more time is available to produce the text, there is the opportunity to revise the text, the reader has more time to read the text and the reader has the opportunity to re-read the text. Unfortunately, because of the "more time is available to produce the text", observing the writing process would be of limited value. I don't think it's that post-modification becomes easier than pre-modification in writing, I think it's that post-modification becomes more feasible in writing, and is preferred for stylistic reasons. When you say "across all modes of writing" I'm not sure what you mean (linguistically, writing /is/ the mode!) -- I suspect you mean either register (style of writing) or medium (loosely, method of writing). -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list