tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810514527237098008.post8316801969893011378..comments2023-10-16T06:52:23.061-04:00Comments on Notes From The Outside: Orality and LiteracyBrandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12704525078859327898noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810514527237098008.post-6314687940316407902011-10-31T19:05:36.971-04:002011-10-31T19:05:36.971-04:00The relationship of oral and visual is interesting...The relationship of oral and visual is interesting in study of Chinese character development and spoken Chinese dialects. People who can't understand what is said, can understand the written character (if they are literate)...which ultimately was picture-based.baroness radonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14593108634484542286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810514527237098008.post-12920199745392735802011-10-31T16:29:17.139-04:002011-10-31T16:29:17.139-04:00Cym, Plato felt the same way about writing, though...Cym, Plato felt the same way about writing, thought it would ruin memory. <br /><br />Also, studies with audiotapes show that oral cultures cannot acheive verbatim recitations, even when they swear that it's the exact same. And, reading used to always be aloud, and a communal thing. One person read and others listened; silent reading came much later as part of the interiorization process. <br /><br />The story is the same, overall. But the idea of language changes from oral to visual. Oral people know nothing of "looking up" a word or reference, for example. The think in quantitatively and qualitatively different ways, which Ong discusses. I dunno, this book is extremely fascinating to me, and I can't recommend it enough.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12704525078859327898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810514527237098008.post-33630821286329672842011-10-30T23:51:51.253-04:002011-10-30T23:51:51.253-04:00I'd like to read that book too.
One thing I ...I'd like to read that book too. <br /><br />One thing I do to make the words come more alive, is I often read them out loud. Actually this is how I compose most of my posts, I read what I write out loud, trying to recreate a normal conversational flow; I don't always succeed, mostly if I'm in a hurry or less focused, but this is something I often do. <br /><br />I think of the written word as serving a type of memory function; which often becomes a substitute for using your own memory. If you memorize a story, and pass it along as an oral tradition, not writing it down, but verbalizing it nonetheless, how do you suppose that differs from reading the same story out a book? <br /><br />I suppose the idea is that perhaps the stories would be different; that as soon as you write something down, it alters your perception of events, or your retelling them. Maybe. Either way, the written word is a significant aid to memory; or is it? I wrote about this topic before, on a deleted blog, I'll have to try and find it, it was relevant to this discussion. <br /><br />But Isn't that ironic, I wrote about it years ago, and quoted some famous philosopher on the topic, but I can't remember it exactly. A perfect example of how the written word can become a substitute for memory, and a substitute for thinking. Kind of like putting your trust in a spell checker, that indicates a word is wrong, and changing it even though you know it was right.Cymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04465389888585291447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3810514527237098008.post-2668637725523283822011-10-29T22:26:44.462-04:002011-10-29T22:26:44.462-04:00I'm adding this book on my Amazon wish list, a...I'm adding this book on my Amazon wish list, along with the Tibetan singing bowl I am craving.baroness radonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14593108634484542286noreply@blogger.com