Orality, Literacy and Some Things in Between

In this age of advanced technology, we often fail to see the similarities between oral and literate cultures since the differences are quite predominant. For example, oral cultures use sounds and utilizes mainly the sense of hearing while literate cultures employ letters and provoke the sense of sight. Furthermore, the latter is very much particular with syntax and grammar while the former ignore such intricacies. The two culture also differs as to how they handle information— its transmission, storage, and retrieval. Oral cultures are primarily reliant to their elders and leaders for knowledge, that is stored in the form of memory, whereas, literate cultures often turn to a diverse set of literary materials in pursuing knowledge.

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Indeed, the differences are overwhelming but then the two is not without any similarities. First, the most identifiable in the list is the utilization of mnemonics to shorten the downtime of relaying information and retrieval easier. Another is the use of situational examples and somatics as a way for the audience to fully understand and concretize the vague and abstract concepts that the speaker tries to explicate.

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With this, we ask the question “What is considered human communication?” Surely, they are both considered to be agents of that. But, it is not as simple as what the media model tells us. Human communication, as opposed to being one-way, is intersubjective. That is to say that it occurs between two separate conscious minds. The very reason why we have to consider the following questions: Could the audience see the context with clarity? Could they follow the direction the conversation? Could they cope up? These considerations are neglected in the media model of communication, where it loses the human touch and sees communication as a mere point-to-point system rather than a complex system. Chirographic conditioning, an effect of choosing to live in the media model of communication, degrades the value of communication. It turns the dynamism into a one-way street taken at face value, not showing the need for further levels of analysis.

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COMPLIMENTARY LINKS

For more information on similarities and differences between oral and literate cultures, click here (UBC Blog Post), and here (New Plains Review).

For a more in depth discussion of Oral Culture’s use of mnemonics click here (AncientAmerica.org )

REFERENCES

jkendell.(2012, September 30). Orality and Literacy – In What Ways Are Oral and Literate Cultures Similar? [Blog Post]. Retreived from https://blogs.ubs.ca/etec540sept12/2012/09/30/1150/

Ong on the Differences between Orality and Literacy.( n.d.). Retrieved from http://newlearningonline.com/literacies/chapter-1/ong-on-the-differences-between-orality-and-literacy

Ong, W.J.(1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Retrieved from https://web.facebook.com/download/248036469366037/Ong_Orality%20and%20 Literacy.pdf?hash=AcpA4mPJaYANkgel&__tn__=HH-R

Tvedtnes, J.A.(n.d.). The uses of mnemonic devices in oral traditions, as exemplified by the book of Abraham and the Hor Sensen Papyrus. Ancient America. Retreived from http://ancientamerica.org/library/media/HTML/hay1gflq/THE%20USE%20OF %20MNEMONIC%20DEVICES%20IN%20ORAL%20TRADITIONS.htm?n=0

BLOG POST BY:

Diane Ladoc

Jhio Jan A. Navarro

Juan Gabriel Ciencia

Sam Primalion

Sound of Symbols, Symbols of Sound

As the world we live in continues to evolve and develop, have you ever wondered how it all started? From our ancestors amazing ideas passed unto us. How the scribes of the ancient worlds were able to record the stories of history that we see in our textbooks today? And most importantly, how you are able to read this blog post? Basically, it involves something called ‘orality’ and its buddy named ‘literacy’. Let’s meet them from these two art-loving friends.

Orality is the essence of being oral, vocal or spoken. Communication through oral tradition is naturally interpersonal. While literacy, is defined as written communication which transforms phonemes into words. A little bit confused? This diagram might help.

Also check, similarities differences

Now, how are they related to each other?

The relationship between both cultures is that written language was developed from orality. Ong (2002), once called the “world of sound” as the “natural habitat” of language, and as he adapted from Lotman’s (1977) definition, writing is referred to as a “secondary modeling system” that is dependent to spoken language.

According to Ong (2002), communication being intersubjective and the ‘media’ model being otherwise is the “paradox of human communication”. The term ‘media’ now possesses a ‘technologized’ definition but it still hasn’t veered away from its singular form ‘medium’, which refers to a channel in which communication takes place. The difference between communication and “medium” model is that, in real-time human communication, you are addressing someone with an anticipation for a response. As Ong (2002) had put it, a sender has to be both in the sender and receiver-position to effectively send a message. Consequently, there has to be some sort of ‘common language’ or “something in the other person’s mind to which one’s own utterance can relate” as Ong (2002) described, for understanding to take place, otherwise called intersubjectivity of communication

To distinguish communication from media, view the diagram below…

Ong (2002) : “Willingness to live with ‘media’ model of communication shows chirographic conditioning”

Here or Ong’s Orality and Literacy, pp 172

coursera.org

retrieved from giphy.com

https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjMnuSqhY7dAhWLzmEKHQkXAIoQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2Fan-idea-for-you%2Fthe-two-minutes-it-takes-to-read-this-will-improve-your-writing-forever-82a7d01441d1&psig=AOvVaw25mjtIUvXi7L01D88k8Iu_&ust=1535487094144334

We hope some questions are answered, here’s Walter J. Ong saying…

Grossvater erzählt eine Geschichte, 1884 by Albert Anker

Mosei Gamburd, Literacy Classes 1946

The Artist’s Father, Reading. Paul Cezanne

google images

canva.com

wigflip.com

ToonyTool.com

Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.

Sound of Symbols, Symbols of Sound a blog post by:

SONTILLANOSA, JULIA SELAH B.

RIVERA, MICHELLE FLORENCE U.

NANTA, GENEVIEVE B.

JACA, MAI ZHIKO IZYLH FRITZ S.

A synthesis of Walter Ong’s book entitled Orality and Literacy provides a landscape for the comparison and contrast between oral and literary cultures. Basically, literary culture wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for the oral culture’s elaborate influence in the process of communication and the same is true the other way around.

(Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/images/N6dkX8 )

People from the primary oral cultures lived without the existence of writing and reading, while the people from the literate cultures deem not being able to know how to write and formulate speech as unimaginable. On the other hand, a common ground for both cultures is the fact that they both use active skills such as speaking and writing and receptive skills that include reading and listening, all of which are imperative in achieving effective communication.

(Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/images/P2hWob)

Another thing is that both cultures give significance towards mnemonics and formulas. This is because in oral culture, people don’t accumulate knowledge because they didn’t have a medium to use, so what they know is purely based on what they can remember, and shortened ideas reflected by their use of mnemonics and formulas is just one way for them to do this. Even up to this day, we still use mnemonics and formulas for learning convenience.

(Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/images/fujm8f)

With one culture serving as a backbone of the other, “intersubjectivity” is formed. Walter Ong indirectly defined this as a spectrum of ideas formed by the involvement of conscious minds in which the sender of the idea could anticipate a response from the audience.

Using this premise, we can say that communication is different from media because while the former is a process, the latter serves as the venue for which communication occurs. The media model of communication displays evidences of how chirographic cultures have such high discernment when it comes to oral cultures. This is because chirographic culture provides room only for fictional audience and delayed responses.

(Retrieved from: https://goo.gl/images/ExPz6x)

As Ong emphasized, literacy plays a major role in the development of all the significant discoveries from past to present. To further understand these concepts, please refer to the link provided here.