Archi-writing

"Archi-writing" is a term used by Derrida in his attempt to re-orientate the relationship between speech and writing. As far back as Plato, speech had been always given priority over writing. In the West, phonetic writing was instead considered as a secondary imitation of speech, a poor copy of the immediate living act of speech. Later, Rousseau and Saussure both gave writing a secondary or parasitic role. In Derrida's essay "Plato's Pharmacy", he sought to question this prioritising by firstly complicating the two terms speech and writing.

One can immediately see this complication in the Greek word pharmakon, which meant both cure and poison. Plato maintained that writing was "poisonous" to memory, it weakens the memory since writing is a mere repetition, as compared to the living memory required for speech. Derrida points out however, that since both rely upon repetition they cannot be completely distinguished.

The neologism "archi-writing", "archi" meaning origin, principle or telos, attempts to go beyond the simple division of writing/speech. It refers to a kind of writing that precedes both speech and writing. Archi-writing is, in a sense, language, in that it is already there before we use it, it already has a pregiven, yet malleable, structure/genesis, which is a semi-fixed set-up of different words and syntax. This "fixedness" is the writing to which Derrida refers, just such a 'writing' can even be seen in cultures that do not employ "writing", it could be seen in notches on a rope or barrel, fixed customs, or placements around the living areas.