Studying the consequences of literacy within a literate. Thanks to the lucidity of its style and presentation of complex thought. His account has more than just historical interest, however, as there remain in the world today many cultures that are primarily oral. The technologizing of the word, provides some helpful reflection on the distinctive nature of cultures which have not been totally subsumed by the values of a literacy and mass media. Full text of ong walter, orality and literacy see other formats. The best available summary, and the one on which i draw here, can be found in. Communication theoryorality and literacy wikibooks, open. Journal of communication, v30 n1 p197204 win 1980 treats orality and literacy in two ways. Ong manuscript collection archives secondary orality and secondary visualism. Deeply typographic folk forget to think ofwords as primarilyoral, as events, and hence as necessar ily powered.
The national institute for literacy, a federal government agency, is a catalyst for advancing a comprehensive literacy agenda. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century forthcoming 2014. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the like. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness. 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. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific. 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. Ong begins with a discussion of literacy, and its assumed naturalness.
Ong the politics of postmodernism linda hutcheon postcolonial shakespeares ed. 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. Some of these folks cant read, but many who can at a basic level are. Ong l iterary history is no longer entirely literary.
This volume aims to prompt debate regarding the transformations needed for literary historians to provide a more balanced and fuller appreciation of what we call literature, one that acknowledges the interdependence of oral storytelling and written expression, whether in. Interdisciplinary studies in the long nineteenth century, which will appear in spring 2014. Media ecology association for one key book, orality and literacy. One of the best and most challenging books ive read in recent months is walter j. Ong offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. The technologizing of the word 30th anniversary ed 3rd ed new accents orality and literacy. Buy orality and literacy new accents 2 by ong, walter j. Orality and literacy communicating by computers the oralliteracy continuum ediscourses moreover, chaika, 2008 explains that there is no sharp break between oral and literate language. Ong says that the problem with sound is that it is evanescent. The changes, according to ong, have been momentous. Ong s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact on philosophical, theological, scientific and literary thought. The middle ages used texts far more than ancient greece and rome, teachers lectured on texts in the universities, and yet never tested knowledge or intellectual. It is possible to generalize somewhat about the psychodynamics of primary oral cultures, that is, of oral cultures untouched by writing. Literacy and orality in ancient greece by rosalind thomas.
Orality and literacy two crucial pathways into written language. Professor ong has managed to synthesize an incredible amount of thought and at the same time has carried some of his earlier ideas still further. Marxism, geothematics and orality literacy studies in the sahel. Ong s extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Studies in the evolution of consciousness and culture pp. Ong, 9780415538381, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Jan 23, 2007 professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. Because he offers a detailed and intellectually developed theory of sound as presence, ong is an essential figure in twentiethcentury thought. Writing, a process, for ong, of putting spoken language into writing is ruled by contrived, articulatable rules 81 but, for ong, this isnt a problem. Walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Ong manuscript collection archives add or remove collections home walter j. 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.
Orality and literacy 25 years later semantic scholar. The institute bridges policy, research and practice to prompt action and deepen public understanding of literacy as a national asset. 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. Orality, literacy, and medieval textualization walter j. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact, isbn 9780415538374 buy the orality and literacy. The issue draws on contributions to a series of events on the theme that took place in london. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ongs autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and. Ong, sj, was university professor emeritus at saint louis university, where, prior to this appointment in 1984, he was william e. 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. Early literacy in context article pdf available in sage open 51 january 2015 with 3,719 reads how we measure reads.
Ania loomba and martin orkin reading television john fiske and john hartley the semiotics of theatre and drama keir elam sexualtextual politics. It is eminently assignable for undergraduate courses professor john ahernno comparable work on this important subject exists. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new. He considers the impact of orality literacy studies not only on literary criticism and theory but on our very understanding of what it is to be a human. Ongs book orality and literacy 1982 is likely the most widely read, cited, and translated conceptualization of orality over the last 30 years. 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.
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. Walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new learning. There are oral productions that are very literary in. The former has no knowledge of the written language whereas the latter is rooted from the oral culture and is dominated by writing and print cultures. Ong s classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electronic technologies, and their impact, isbn 9780415538374 buy the orality and literacy. Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, printed and electr. Orality and literacy download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. Ongs extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural. 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. Sep 02, 2009 walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. Professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j.
Some psychodynamics of orality in the book orality and literacy, walter ong examines primary oral cultures. Read orality and literacy 30th anniversary edition by walter j. 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. The technologizing of the word, john hartley orality and literary. Reacting to walter ong by way of a critic of the book orality and literacy, emevwo a. Buy orality and literacy new accents 3 by ong, walter j. In the book orality and literacy, walter ong mentions a primary oral culture and a chirographic culture. As i read ong, i kept having what i will call ongmoments. Tuman words, tools, and technologycriticizes ong says ong gives sense that literacy offers vast improvement over earlier ways for storing verbal meaning. Ong does not waste ink in praise of reading and writing. 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. Jul 24, 2009 walter ong, a jesuit priest who was based largely at harvard university, died in 2003, aged 91.
As he says, to call writing artificial is not to condemn it, but to. I have styled primary orality, the orality of cultures with no knowl edge at all of. Ong collection web site serves as a portal to provide scholars, students, and researchers with information about the walter j. It explores the changes in consciousness that have been wrought by the introduction of literacy and then print into human culture. Ong works continue reading walter ong on orality and literacy. Orality and literacy 25 years later scholar commons santa. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures. Wright sussex are coediting orality and literacy, a special issue of 19. Ong manuscript collection, to host a digital repository of collection materials, and to serve as a comprehensive resource on the life and works of walter j. Walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
For oral cultures, words are only represented as sounds. Haren professor of english and professor of humanities in psychiatry in the school of medicine. In 1978 ong served as elected president of the modern language association. This post is the first in a series of notes on walter ongs book orality and literacy. The cognitive correlates of print exposure keith e. Secondary orality and secondary visualism walter j. Rejecting the universalist and ethnocentric claims implicit in ong s autonomous model of orality and literacy, cultural anthropologists and. 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. Walter ong, writing is a technology that restructures thought. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the.
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