Literacy, Orality, and Cognition: An Overview - an essay by Mark Willis. Literacy, Orality, and Cognition: An Overview an essay by Mark Willis (1994) Literacy often is discussed in contrast to opposite conditions, illiteracy and orality. There is no consensus for a single definition of literacy. At the root of most definitions are the abilities to read and write. The etymology of the word, derived from the Latin littera (letter), implies the ability to read and write using an alphabetic writing system. Despite the emphasis on mechanical skills, common definitions of literacy also imply social, educational, or intellectual status. While Heath (1992) emphasizes that literacy is a social condition, she notes that it is tested or measured through the private activities of individuals. Pairing literacy in conceptual frameworks with illiteracy or orality denotes that literacy is not an absolute condition; rather, it is a continuum of conditions with many gradations.
"Speech makes us human and literacy makes us civilized" (Olson, 1988, p. 175). Bendor-Samuel, D. News from Cambridge UK. In-Press-Paper-Future-of-Written-Culture.pdf (application/pdf Object) OralPrintHandoutforORA.pdf (application/pdf Object) Oral to Early Print Culture. Oral Culture to Early Print Culture: Memory Machines, Information Design, Economics of Media Systems Some Features of Oral Cultural Transmission:Oral Tradition as Memory Machine Beowulf and Homer's epics: manuscript/scribal culture represents an oral poet: The oral poet keeps "deep history" in memory: Beowulf (original Old English) The voice of the oral poet as oracle: poet authenticated by divine inspiration: Homer's Iliad I and Odyssey I (Greek: "andra moi ennepe musa... "). The Bible as memory machine: basic oral memory features: parallelism and repetition: see online versions of the Bible (Genesis, Psalms).
Oral culture meets literate, manuscript culture: the Beowulf manuscript: folio 129r, the first leaf of the manuscript. Copied c.1000 in England. In Old English. Plato, Writing, Memory, and Computers: After Ong, Chapter 4 Speech, voice, writing, and technological interventions: alphabetic writing systems. Problems in "Oral Culture" Theory The Rise of the Codex Book Martin Irvine, 1999.