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Orality and Literacy by Walter J Ong
Walter Ong
Mr Walter J Ong introduces us to the understanding of oral language and literacy and its differences. He reminds us that language is an oral phenomenon in which we communicate in numerous ways, like the senses of touch, taste, smell and hearing.
Oral literature in primary oral cultures has a great wisdom. It is a pure expression of a primitive culture. They don’t have dictionaries and their language is like our minds. They haven’t been touched by writing or print. Oral culture has always existed but writing has never existed without orality. Oral cultures define their words as concepts that are very close to the every day aspects of life. The author refers to this as situational thinking or experience. They have their words that define the every day life.
The oral culture needs to have poems in order to memorize. The only way they can retain thoughts is through verses that are highly rhythmic. This rhythmic process is linked with breathing gestures. Just take a look at the Homeric Greece when the public speaker uses repetition. Proverbs and riddles are also use to engage others. Primary Oral culture repeats over and over and tells stories of the day of old in order to keep history alive. They must do so to conceptualize their knowledge. Oral literature is a vague concept which is not supported as a literature by the scholars. At the end everything is written in words.
Homer argues that Hebrew culture is superior to ancient Greek because it knew writing. Robert Wood believes that Homer was Illiterate and was the power of memory which enabled him to produce poetry. Others believe that the Odyssey and Iliad are the result of a well structured and organized structure that needs to be the creation of one man and not the result of a combinations of different poems. The homer texts were explained as language generated over the years. In an oral culture knowledge needs to be repeated or it will be lost. Early poetry is the result of oral performance.
Written text is related with sound and speech is inseparable from our consciousness. Without writing, words have no visual presence, they are sounds. Writing is the result of an oral traditionWords lock oral tradition in an image forever. One of the first things that literates study is language itself and its uses. For literates, language needs to have control.
Without writing, human consciousness cannot achieve its fully potential. For this purpose orality is destined to produce writing. Literacy is necessary for the maturity of history, philosophy etc. Even though literacy destroys memory, it’s also adjustable. This is why literacy can also be implemented in new technologies
We can conclude with the phrase, “the medium is the message”. This explains the importance of the shift from orality trough literacy and print to electronic.