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. This dissertation seeks to create a vision for virtuality culture through a theoretical expansion of walter ongs literacy and orality culture model. 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. He believes that individuals and cultures can be fundamentally divided between those that are primary oral have never known writing and those that are literate. Ong 19122003 is highly regarded within the universal view camp. 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. Full text of ong walter, orality and literacy internet archive. Chapter 3 orality and literacy revisited by gilles gravelle. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy influenced culture and changed human consciousness. John hartley is an educator, author, researcher and commentator on the history and cultural. The literacy part, not so much, although the transition from orality to literacy is very interesting.
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. Ong 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. Walter ong celebrates orality in a way most thinkers overlook in his book, orality and literacy. Also available as a printed book see title verso for isbn details orality and literacy professor walter ongs book explores some of the profound changes in our. Profound changes in thought processes and in personality and social structures were brought about by the invention of writing and the transformation from one stage of consciousness to. With regard to oral tradition and primary orality he draws on pioneering work by milman parry, albert b. 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. Wright, marked the thirtieth anniversary of walter ongs influential orality and literacy. It is possible to generalize somewhat about the psychodynamics of primary oral cultures, that is, of oral cultures untouched by writing. It explores the changes in consciousness that have been wrought by the introduction of literacy and then print into human culture. Orality and literacy two crucial pathways into written language. Pdf on the theoretical foundations of orality and literacy. 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.
Walter ong characterises the main differences between the languages of oral and literate cultures in these terms. Communication theoryorality and literacy wikibooks, open. Orality and literacy 25 years later semantic scholar. This search has taken place at the macro level with walter ong and jack. This is a topic that i had never thought about and it is truly fascinating. 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.
One of the best and most challenging books ive read in recent months is walter j. His many publications have been highly influential for studies in the evolution of consciousness. His account has more than just historical interest, however, as there remain in the world today many cultures that are primarily oral. Ong i style the orality of a culture totally untouched by any knowledge or writing or print, primary orality. Topics orality collection opensource language english. 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. Orality, literacy, and modern media walter oug walter ong was, until his recent retirement, professorofhumanities atsaint ljuis university.
The series of events in 2012, coconvened by james emmott and tom f. The book, so far, is a corker, and looks to have significant implications for any discussion of markets as conversations and the like. The orality and literacy issue revisited oral tradition journal. His major interest was in exploring how the transition from orality to literacy.
Ongs classic work provides a fascinating insight into the social effects of oral, written, orality and literacy. Orality and literacy 1982 walter ong the orality of language verbal language is paramount no other type of language can exist without it grapholect. Soukup 2004 noted that the process of interpretation summarized much of ongs thoughts about communication. This post is the first in a series of notes on walter ongs book orality and literacy. Oral culture is so far removed from contemporary society that we have. Orality, literacy, and modern media in davdcrowlyanaul heyer, communication in history. Walter ong s 1988 book orality and literacy was a landmark in communication theory, articulating many of the central concerns of the toronto school about the relationship between technologies of. Walter ongs psychodynamics of orality and the reader. 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 offers fascinating insights into oral genres across the globe and through time, and examines the rise of abstract philosophical and scientific thinking. As walter ong observes in orality and literacy, the way we communicate whether it be through voice, writing, or print changes how we think and behave. 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. 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. And he projects his analysis further into the age of mass electronic communications. Writing, in the strict sense of the word, the technology which has shaped and powered the intellectual activity of modern man, was a very late development in human history. Ong s extraordinary orality and literacy which documents the invention of writing and its effect on culture. Ong 2002, ong sums up his own work over the previous three decades as well as the work of numerous other scholars. In 1978 ong served as elected president of the modern language association. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new.
His chapter entitled some psychodynamics of orality has been particularly. Sep 24, 2017 with the advent of technology there is a culture of new orality that is sustained by phones, radio and television. The changes, according to ong, have been momentous. 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. 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. Ongs 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 book was republished in 2002 and again on its 30 th anniversary in 2012, showing enduring interest in ongs scholarship and ideas. This thirtieth anniversary edition coinciding with ongs centenary year reproduces his bestknown and most influential book in full and brings it up. Jan 23, 2007 professor mindy mcadamss presentation about some of the key ideas from walter j. Walter ong believes that writing is the single most important technology created by man, because it has had the greatest effect in shaping human consciousness. Ong on the differences between orality and literacy new learning. As i read ong, i kept having what i will call ongmoments.
However, while the contrastive procedure in orality and literacy etched in. Orality and literacy biblical studies oxford bibliographies. Thirtythree years ago walter ong published his lifes work in orality and literacy. It investigates the ubiquitous and multimodal nature of the virtuality cultural phenomenon that is. 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. Sep 02, 2009 walter ongs orality and literacy is something of a classic. The term literature is used to describe oral cultures despite the fact that oral narrative is often never touched by writing.
Ong does not waste ink in praise of reading and writing. Orality and literacy the technologizing of the word pdf. The first volume appeared at a time when people were. Like primary orality, secondary orality has generated a strong group sense, for listening to spoken words forms hearers into a group, a true audience, just as reading written or printed texts turns individuals into themselves. Expanding walter ongs theory of orality and literacy through a. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. Ong, 9780415538381, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. The technologizing of the word 25 years ago, in 1982. This has to do with everything, particularly in dealing with orality, literacy, secondary orality, and digital communication. In the book orality and literacy, walter ong mentions a primary oral culture and a chirographic culture. Secondary orality is both remarkably like and remarkably unlike primary orality. 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. Lastmentioned is the pristine orality of mankind untouched by writing or print.
1278 1450 514 967 122 1509 790 1433 482 1128 665 1364 751 834 520 178 1303 102 803 749 1264 894 456 140 941 822 1074 1114 1073 243 231 791 1349 1429 336 608 413 1148 310 950 1469 827 763 1233 1084