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Oral Culture

Oral Culture. Team Presentation 1: Laura Ahumada, Nick Cerretti, Brian Hall, Kara McDermott, Yasmine Sareini. History of Orality. 40,000 yrs ago: records show the beginnings of oral traditions 6,000 yrs ago: Chirographic culture begins

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Oral Culture

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  1. Oral Culture Team Presentation 1: Laura Ahumada, Nick Cerretti, Brian Hall, Kara McDermott, Yasmine Sareini

  2. History of Orality • 40,000 yrs ago: records show the beginnings of oral traditions • 6,000 yrs ago: Chirographic culture begins • Ancient Greece: first significant move from a primarily oral

  3. Ancient Greece • First significant move from a primarily oral culture • Greek vowels appeared in the 4th cent. BC • Allowed for a closer representation of the sounds of spoken language

  4. Western World • In the last 1000 years or so, oral culture has been mostly replaced by a literate culture • The invention of the printing press marks the end of oral culture • Orality still exists in some forms within the literate culture

  5. Roles in an Oral Culture • “Poet”- very important member of society • Responsible for knowing all the vocabulary, history, and traditions of a society and passing them down to the next generation

  6. Secondary Orality • Orality still important in gathering history (e.g. experiences in wars) • Sustained by telephone, radio, TV, internet • These forms create the same collaboration found in oral culture • Characteristics: • Deplotted fictions • “Hollowed-out” characters • Post-Modernism

  7. Characteristics of Orality • Additive vs. subordinate • Aggressive vs. Analytic • Redundant • Conservative • Thought is concrete • Agonistically intoned • Sympathetic vs. distanced • Homeostatic • Situational vs. abstract

  8. Aspects of an Oral Culture • Superstitions • Music • Dance

  9. Development in an Oral Culture • Evolution of human speech capabilities

  10. How Orality is seen in our texts • Emphasis on stress and alliterative long line used as a mnemonic device • Reinforcement of values • E.g. Loyalty and bravery in the Battle of Maldon • Makes Christian themes accessible • Entertainment • As seen in the riddles, which could be passed from person to person as a game

  11. Advantages of an Oral Culture • Flexibility • Personal • Emphasis on memory • Focus on community

  12. Works Cited • Biakolo, Emevwo. “On the Theoretical Foundations of Orality and Literacy.” Research in African Literatures. Austin: Summer 1999. vol. 30, Iss. 2; pg. 42. Accessed from Proquest on 3 October 2006. • Dolan, Molly. “Orality in Relation to Computer-Mediated Communication.” The Implications of Technology on the Perception of Community. http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~univ302/StudentWork/S96/Dolan/orality.html • Wolman, David Chewing Over the Evolution of Speech, Science and Spirit Magazine 2002. • Fitch, W. T. (2000) The evolution of speech: a comparative review. Trends in cognitive sciences, 4(7):258--267. • The Evolution of Speech, in: Brown, K (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics 2nd edition, Elsevier.

  13. Works Cited • Comparative Vocal Production and the Evolution of Speech:Reinterpreting the Descent of the Larynx, W. Tecumseh Fitch (in press in: The Transition to Language (A. Wray, Ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press. • “Descent of the larynx in chimpanzee infants” by Takeshi Nishimura, Akichika Mikami, Juri Suzuki, and Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Published online 05 29 03, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA , 10.1073/pnas.1231107100 • http://www.ucalgary.ca/~bakardji/Orality/orality_characteristics.html • http://www.engl.nin.edu/wac/ong_rvw.html

  14. Works Cited • Bingham, Art. “Review of Walter J. Ong's Orality and Literacy.” • <http://www.engl.niu.edu/wac/ong_rvw.html> • The Computer Culture. < http://www.units.muohio.edu/englishtech/eng49501/ • moscakj/essay.htm>. • Charlton, Thomas L, Lois E. Myers, and Rebecca Sharpless. Handbook of Oral History. • Altamira: New York, 2006. • December, John. “Characteristics of Oral Culture in Discourse on the Net.” 1993. • http://www.december.com/john/papers/pscrc93.txt

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