View orality and literacy research papers on academia. Because he offers a detailed and intellectually developed theory of sound as presence, ong is an essential figure in twentiethcentury thought. The new electric and electronic forms of communications which are now referred to as mass media, that is as technologies of mass communication blur the two aspects. Ong 2002, ong sums up his own work over the previous three decades as well as the work of numerous other scholars. Walter jackson ong sj november 30, 1912 august 12, 2003 was an american jesuit priest, professor of english literature, cultural and religious historian and philosopher. Communication and consciousness is the last area to touch upon in dealing with ong and the word. The changes produced in the oralityliteracy continuum in galician have historically tended to come not from wiin,th but from the outside. As gee writes, viewed this way, the speechwriting or orality literacy distinction begins to become problematic. Communication theoryorality and literacy wikibooks, open. This classic work explores the vast differences between oral and literate cultures offering a very clear account of the intellectual, literary and social effects of writing, print and electronic technology. Although the very title the singer of t ales implies. The issue draws on contributions to a series of events on the theme that took place in london. Further explorations of contemporary culture and orality and literacy.
The changes, according to ong, have been momentous. The book was republished in 2002 and again on its 30 th anniversary in 2012, showing enduring interest in ongs scholarship and ideas. When we trace language from orality, characterized by the presocratics and the passing of tradition from one mouth to the next, to literacy made possible by writing on clay tablets, we see a complex shift in human consciousness. Jan 23, 2007 professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j.
Read orality and literacy 30th anniversary edition by walter j. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the. It is primary by contrast with the secondary orality of presentday hightechnology culture, in which a new orality is sustained by telephone, radio, television, and other electronic devices that depend for their existence and functioning on writing and print. The foundations of ong s concepts had been laid in the 1970s, though his landmark text orality and literacy was not published until 1982. The concept of orality stems from ethnographic descriptions of oral poetry in particular and of oral traditions in general. And he projects his analysis further into the age of mass electronic communications. Ong i style the orality of a culture totally untouched by any knowledge or writing or print, primary orality. Buy orality and literacy new accents 2 by ong, walter j. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and literate cultures in these terms.
With regard to oral tradition and primary orality he draws on pioneering work by milman parry, albert b. While hedging his argument in his introduction to orality and literacy, ong states that there are correlations between thought processes changing and the advent of writingsuggesting that literacy caused changes in the ways that oral societies processed information 3. Orality and literacy 25 years later centre for the study of. Ong made distinctions between primary orality and secondary orality, providing a perspective from which to approach the societies which have orality but which operate as oral societies. Professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. This book documents the pioneering research of milman parry on oral traditions in the former yugoslavia, 193335 collected papers. Talking is natural every person will learn how to talk conversation will flow naturally because you do not have to be aware of grammar rules you can speak without being conscious writing can be seen as artificial because putting thoughts to paper requires you to think and consciously contrive articulable rules this is a good thing because it expands human potential. In 1978 ong served as elected president of the modern language association. Orality and literacy 25 years later semantic scholar. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electr. Pdf files that visitors can read online or print out. Ong does not waste ink in praise of reading and writing. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and.
Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century forthcoming 2014. Rearrange individual pages or entire files in the desired order. Thirtythree years ago walter ong published his lifes work in orality and literacy. The study of orality is closely allied to the study of oral tradition the term orality has been used in a variety of ways, often to describe, in a generalised fashion, the structures of consciousness found in cultures that do. Expanding walter ongs theory of orality and literacy through a. As i read ong, i kept having what i will call ongmoments. His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness. Ong l iterary history is no longer entirely literary. However, this transition from oral culture, to a merger of orality and literacy, to. The subject of this book is the differences between orality and literacy.
His account has more than just historical interest, however, as there remain in the world today many cultures that are primarily oral. Pdf rethinking the oralityliteracy paradigm in musicology. If we are sensitive now to intertextuality, to the dependency of texts for their existence and meaning on other texts, we are sensitive also to the historical origins of literature out of oral verbalization. Among the 3,000 or so languages which currently exist only 78 have a literature page 7, from edmonson 1971, 323, 332 writing restructures consciousness. The crux of ongs argument in this chapter is that it is extremely difficult for literate people to truly understand. One thing ong s primary literacy secondary orality model doesnt foreground enough is a condition of postprimary, presecondary orality. One thing ongs primary literacy secondary orality model doesnt foreground enough is a condition of postprimary, presecondary orality. Journal of communication, v30 n1 p197204 win 1980 treats orality and literacy in two ways. Ong drew attention to the radical changes which are experienced by predominantly oral cultures when they develop writing and have access to print. Download and install the soda pdf desktop app to edit, compress, split, secure and merge pdf files offline. This is a brief listing of a few views on orality and literacy also see the pdf doc that was emailed for more detailed information brandt.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. In orality and literacy, walter ong gives a fascinating account of how the development of writing and moveable print has forever changed the way people think and process information. Moreover, their fieldwork experiments led them to think of literacy and orality as cognitive variables as well mitchell and nagy 2000. Oral culture is so far removed from contemporary society that we have. Orality and literacy professor walter ong s book explores some of the profound changes in our thought processes, personality and social structures which are the result, at various stages of our history, of the development of speech, writing and print. As the paradoxical relationships of orality and literacy in rhetoric and learned latin suggest, the transition from orality to literacy was slow ong 1967b, pp.
A foundational work is the singer of tales, by albert b. Written orality in thomas kings short fiction teresa gibert 1 in his pioneering and extremely influential study orality and literacy 1982, walter j. Extensive references to recent scholarship on orality, literacy and the study of knowledge technologies, tracing changes in how we know what we know. The foundations of ongs concepts had been laid in the 1970s, though his landmark text orality and literacy was not published until 1982. Charles marsh 2006 journal of mass media ethics 21 4. Full text of ong walter, orality and literacy internet archive. Louis university and an internationally renowned scholar of rhetorical theory and history. In many respects, this is where one of ongs most famous works, orality and literacy. He is the author of numerous books, including in the human grain. One of the best and most challenging books ive read in recent months is walter j. Oct 15, 2010 a primary oral culture is defined by walter j. Some of these folks cant read, but many who can at a basic level are.
Please, select more pdf files by clicking again on select pdf files. The opposition between orality and literacy is never as obvious as in the christian religion, where the son of god is also known as the word of god but where the word of god is also the bible, the most published book in the history. Orality and literacy professor walter ongs book explores some of the profound changes in our thought processes, personality and social structures which are the result, at various stages of our history, of the development of speech, writing and print. It is possible to generalize somewhat about the psychodynamics of primary oral cultures, that is, of oral cultures untouched by writing. The crux of ongs argument in this chapter is that it is extremely difficult for literate people to truly understand the nature of a primary oral culture because. Orality is thought and verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy especially writing and print are unfamiliar to most of the population. Ong 30 november 1912 12 august 2003 was university professor emeritus at saint louis university, usa, where he was previously professor of english and professor of humanities in psychiatry. The framing of orality as a preference or tendency encourages its place within the paragone of the printed and spoken word, and suggests a singlesensory conception of media that orality exists in a dialectical relationship with literacy, and that communication is a competition between eye and ear.
Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new. Chapter 3 of walter ongs orality and literacy addresses the characteristics of primary oral cultures in relation to residual oral, chirographic and typographic cultures. There is residual orality, but residual orality is orality in writing, which is not what im getting at here. His chapter entitled some psychodynamics of orality has been particularly influential in evangelical treatments of orality. Ongs extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Wright sussex are coediting orality and literacy, a special issue of 19.
The first volume appeared at a time when people were. Orality and literacy two crucial pathways into written language. Ongorality and literacy chapter 3 some psychodynamics of oralitychapter 3 of walter ongs orality and literacy addresses the characteristics of primary oral cultures in relation to residual oral, chirographic and typographic cultures. Walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. To change the order of your pdfs, drag and drop the files as you want. Merge pdf files combine pdfs in the order you want with the easiest pdf merger available. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century, which will appear in spring 2014. Chapter 3 orality and literacy revisited by gilles gravelle. As gee writes, viewed this way, the speechwriting or oralityliteracy distinction begins to become problematic. For parry and lord, the opposition of literacy and orality of schriftlichkeit and mundlichkeit is a cultural variable, not a universal. Ong noted the development of consciousness through stages within culture.
It explores the changes in consciousness that have been wrought by the introduction of literacy and then print into human culture. This classic work explores the vast differences between oral. Walter ong celebrates orality in a way most thinkers overlook in his book, orality and literacy. Pdf merge combine pdf files free tool to merge pdf online. Ongs conclusions in orality and literacy 1982 are generally regarded as accurate depictions, and serve as the foundation for development of theories, strategies, and methodologies.
Most human development according to ong have been affected at great depth by the shift from orality to literacy. Reacting to walter ong by way of a critic of the book orality and literacy, emevwo a. Ong s extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Walter ongs psychodynamics of orality and the reader. This post is the first in a series of notes on walter ongs book orality and literacy. Sep 02, 2009 walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Lastmentioned is the pristine orality of mankind untouched by writing or print. The galician language has gone back andintermittently forth between orality and literacyuring d. Orality, literacy, and medieval textualization walter j. He notes the benefits of literacy, but his foundational point is that writing and subsequent print culture came from something from a rich and welldeveloped culture of speech speech orality is more basic to humanity than literacy. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness.
While ongs assertion that primary orality, literacy, and secondary orality are interacting vigorously with one another in confusing complex patterns 10 seems not so far from chamberlins vision, his characterization of orality as redundant and situational reveals his ultimate reversion to a binary perspective. Orality and literacy is but the latest in a series of books in which ong has explored the implications of this revised understanding of human identity. These illuminating essays contextualize ong within recent intellectual history, and display his works continuing force in the ongoing study of the relationship between literature and the media. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the like. Ongs book orality and literacy 1982 is likely the most widely read, cited, and translated conceptualization of orality over the last 30 years. Ong calls writing a technological revolution that not only transformed societies, but also restructured the way individuals think and feel in the privacy of their own minds.
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