Reading and Communication

In #156-71 of the Investigations, Wittgenstein examines the process of Reading, with special attention to the seemingly mysterious influence that its object exerts on it.  A little later, in #180, he briefly entertains a potential explanation of that influence, but without fully exploring it.  There, he considers that that object might be a "signal", but without pursuing the implication that it is produced by a 'signaler'.  That bypassing is part of his general relative neglect of the process that is complementary to Reading, i. e. Writing.  Now, if he had devoted equal attention to the latter, he might have recognized that the two originate as phases of Communication, with Reading, therefore, as essentially a response to its object, and, thus, as inherently influenced by it.