Course:ETEC540/2010WT1/Orality and Literacy/Characteristics of Literacy
"More than any other single invention, writing has transformed human consciousness." (Ong, 2002, p. 77)
"To live and understand fully, we need not only proximity but also distance. This writing provides for consciousness as nothing else does."(Ong, 2002, p. 81)
Written Language
- transformed human consciousness
- context free
- objectively distanced
- isolated
- no necessary transference between one writing system and another
- analytic
- linguistically structured
- abstract
- categorical
- logographic, syllabic or alphabetic
--ChrisAitken 02:34, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
Writing concentrates meaning in language itself, whereas orality integrated meaning and context (Olson, 1977; pg. 105)
- writing and print develop special dialects -- one or more dialects develop beyond others chirographically and become national languages
--GordonHigginson 00:27, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
- expressionless: the author can not truly convey expression and intonation in writing
- defenseless: the author can not defend what was written and the reader has no opportunity to question
- transforms sound to space
- has the ability to exclude and include people
- alphabetic systems are democratizing
- contains more vocabulary than oral languages
- Writing is artificial and consciously contrived in comparison with natural, oral speech (p.81)
- Texts are thing-like immobilized in visual space
- Writing is a solipsistic operation
- Lack of verifiable context is what makes writing normally more agonizing than oral
- Writing is always a kind of imitating talking
- writing is technology, calling for the use of tools and other equipment
- writing initiated what print & computers continue today
- writing is the most momentous of all human technological inventions
The Greek Alphabet
"The phonetic alphabet invented by ancient Semites and perfected by ancient Greeks"(Ong, 2002, p. 90)
- first alphabet complete with vowels
- the most adaptable of all writing systems in reducing sound to visible form
- easy for everybody to learn
- suggested to foster abstract analytic thought as it favors the left hemisphere of the brain (Kerckhove, 1981, as cited in Ong, 2002, p. 89)
- The alphabet as a simple sequence of letters acts as a major bridge between oral mnemonic and literate mnemonics
- Extratextual context is missing not only for the readers but for the writers as well (pg 100).
- Writing develops codes in a language different from oral codes in the same language (pg 104)
- With writing, words may be chosen through selective thought and discrimination and erased, eliminated or changed with no equivalent process in oral specific cultures.
LLee
The Onset of Literacy
- Literacy is usually restricted to special groups(eg: clergy) (p.92)
- Text may have an intrinsic religious or cult value (p. 92).
- "Craft Literacy” is where writing is a trade practiced by craftsmen, who are hired to write documents (p.93)
- The physical properties of special tools and materials for writing encouraged the continuance of scribal culture (p.93-94)
- In the past some societies have seen literacy to be a threat.
- "[Text] did not immediately inspire trust" (p.95)
- Cultures that interiorize writing assume written records have more force than spoken words, for residually oral cultures it is the opposite (p.95)
- Witnesses are considered more credible than texts, as witnesses can be challenged and can defend their statements (p. 95)
Christianity and the Holy Roman Empire
- Emperor Constantine declares the Roman Church to be the true Church and encourages the spread of Christianity through the use of the Codex (early 300's)
- after the fall of Rome, disenfranchised Romans and Benedictine Monks begin to copy the antiquities and the Bible in order to spread the word
- Charlemagne, in the 800's declares that citizens should be more literate - clergy and free sons
- Crusades brings and spreads a wealth of knowledge and trade as well as technical advantages of paper production and navigation
- increased international trade leads to a rise in the power of cities, a need for the documentation of transactions and ownership, an increased number of Universities and ultimately to an increase in the power of the merchant class
- by the late Middle Ages, literacy was not just in the hands of the clergy, but lay people and middle class merchnats, who needed to be literate or at least reqired the services of someone who was, lead to increased literacy throughout Europe.
--LauraBonnor 18:28, 2 November 2010 (UTC)
Writing according to Plato, interpreted by Ong:
- A thing, a manufactured product
- external, alien technology
- inhuman
- Unresponsive
- Passive
- Existing in an unreal, unnatural world
- Destroys memory:causes one to become reliant on external sources
- Feebles the mind
- Downgrades the wise man (oral man)
- Voiceless
- Immobile
- Devoid of warmth
- Not interactive, isolated
- Apart from the human life world
- A noted paradox is that although writing is described as being lifeless and non-human, writing is admitted to having the potential for a limitless life (like a vampire?)
- Ironically, in order to make his objectives to writing more effective, Plato had to put them into writing itself (tsherwood)
- "Most persons are surprised, and many distressed to learn that essentially the same objections commonly urged today against computers were urged by Plato in Phaedrus (274-277)and in the Seventh Letter against writing."(Ong, 2002, p.78)
Ong, W. J. (2002). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Routledge: New York.
--IreneIwasaki 12:16, 30 September 2010 (UTC)
History of Literacy
The majority of scripts find their origin in tokens or pictographs. Rebus writing for instance, while a type of pictograph, identifies things by using symbols that are associated with a sound. For example, pictures of a bee and a leaf could correspond to the word 'belief' (Ong, 84-86).
Pictograph systems require a plethora of symbols. Chinese for instance, is made up of an intricate system of 40,000+ symbols or characters. And while it is possible to become knowledgeable after 20 years, there is no one person who has the ability to write all of these characters. (Ong, 86)
A high percentage of writing systems are hybrids, blending together two or more foundations. Japanese is an excellent example of a hybrid system. It is written in syllabaries (Hiragana and Katakana), with a symbol representing a consonant and a trailing vowel. The third syllabary is based on Chinese characters (Kanji), the symbols are the same but they are pronounced differently. (Ong, 87)
King Sejong of the Yi Dynasty believed the Koreans should have their own alphabet that suited the needs of their language instead of relying only on Chinese characters. It was developed in 3 years but met resistance as higher society believed the Chinese characters to be elite. (Ong,91)
Ong says there can be no doubt that Chinese characters will be replaced by the roman alphabet once all Chinese people in the PRC master the same dialect (Mandarin). (tsherwood)
Literacy as a Reflection of Education
Writing, styles of writing, and reading and styles of reading have shifted with education.
The Romantic Era saw a shift in writing for performance as a primary purpose to writing for reading. Likewise, the education of girls, who were educated for different purposes than boys and not taught Learned Latin, resulted in a shift from literacy in agonistic rhetoric for noted professions and public service to literacy for commerce and domestic affairs.
This literacy for women enabled women to not only read, but to write, resulting in production of literature pertaining to similar topics in a new genre: the novel (Ong, 2002, p. 110). --VickiSchrader 04:45, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
Literacy & Thought
It takes only a moderate degree of literacy to make a tremendous difference in the thought process (pg. 50)
- literate persons classify in categories, whereas oral cultures tend towards concrete naming (categories too abstract), names may convey power over things (Ong. pg. 33) or the complexity of the thing
- literate folk see names as labels (pg. 33)
Writing is a technology used to eliminate redundancy; the repetition and redundancy required in oral culture is not as necessary in literate culture (pg. 40) --GordonHigginson 00:13, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
Reference
Ong, W. J. (2002). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. Routledge; New York.