phonetic languages and languages such as Chinese in which a single character represents a word. He believed that only phonetic languages cause problems for linguists. Ong has argued that American society is particularly opposed to phonocentrism. He believes that one cause of this is the fact that written documents, such as the United States Constitution, form a key part of American national identity. He also notes that many Americans view the reality of words as defined by dictionaries rather than by vocal speech. He has stated, "We are so literate in ideology that we think writing comes naturally. We have to remind ourselves from time to time that writing is completely and irremediably artificial." Ong believes that writing is necessary for transmitting knowledge in a technological culture. He maintains that speech should be viewed as primary because it is drawn from the unconscious while writing requires conscious attention: "Speech is structured through the entire fabric of the human person. Writing depends on consciously contrived rules." He also states that writing and speech are each privileged in specific ways, and that they depend upon each other for identification and clarity. Derrida Derrida believed that the fields of philosophy, literature, anthropology, and linguistics had become highly phonocentric. He argued that phonocentrism was an important example of what he saw as Western philosophy's logocentrism. He maintained that phonocentrism developed due to the human desire to determine a central means of authentic self-expression. He argued that speech is no better than writing, but is assigned that role by societies that seek to find a transcendental form of expression. This form of expression is said to allow one to better express transcendental truths and to allow one to understand key metaphysical ideas. Derrida believed that phonocentric cultures associate speech with a time before meaning was corrupted by writing. He saw phonocentrism as part of the influence of Romanticism, specifically its belief in a time in which people lived in harmony and unity with nature. Derrida did not believe that there was any ideal state of unity with nature. He also argued that speech suffers from many of the same inherent flaws as writing. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has characterized Derrida's opposition to phonocentrism as part of his campaign against "human egocentricity." Derrida points out that the expression of human views is often dominated by the voices of humans. He also noted that writing frees expression from