Linguistic Theory: What Can It Say About Reading?

It has always concerned linguists that professionals in the field of reading would allow the notion to develop that there is such a thing as "a linguistic approach to reading." One of the more obvious aspects of the act of reading (in most languages at least) is that, in some mysterious way, the knowledge a reader possesses of his language is called upon and made of use...Why linguistics has been singularly blessed with such a burden is not at all clear, but the phenomenon is certainly apparent. --- excerpt from book's Introduction