Why did Jacques Derrida question the traditional preference for speech over writing?

Jacques Derrida questioned the traditional Western preference for speech over writing because he identified it as a manifestation of logocentrism—the assumption that truth exists independently of language.

Traditionally, speech is viewed as more authentic because it is believed to immediately present a speaker's intentions. Derrida argued this is a distorted view, as speech functions as a linguistic sign only through the same mechanisms of "absence" and "difference" typically attributed to writing. He noted that even philosophical texts describing speech as primary often rely on metaphors derived from writing, revealing that the hierarchy is a "construction" rather than a natural fact.12

Derrida’s goal was not to invert this hierarchy by prioritizing writing, but to "displace" it. He proposed that both speech and writing are forms of a generalized "arche-writing," as linguistic meaning is never fully present; instead, it is endlessly deferred through the "play" of differences between words, a process he termed différance.12