The Interface between the Written and the Oral

Essays on the complex relationship between oral and literate modes of communication.

Jack Goody (Author)

9780521337946, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 9 July 1987

352 pages
21.5 x 13.8 x 2.6 cm, 0.5 kg

Whilst the fundamental significance of the spoken language for human interaction is widely acknowledged, that of writing is less well known, and in this wide-ranging series of essays Jack Goody examines in depth the complex and often confused relationship between oral and literate modes of communication. He considers the interface between the written and the oral in three cultures or societies with and without writing, and that within the linguistic life of an individual. Specific analyses of the sequence of historical change within writing systems, the historic impact of writing upon Eurasian cultures, and the interaction between distinct oral and literate cultures in West Africa, precede an extensive concluding examination of contemporary issues in the investigation, whether sociological or psychological, of literacy. A substantial corpus of anthropological, historical and linguistic evidence is produced in support of Goody's findings, which form a natural complement to his own recently published study of The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society.

List of figures and tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part I. Writing and the Alphabet: 1. The historical development of writing
Part II. The Influence of Early Forms of Writing: 2. Literacy and achievement in the Ancient World
3. Africa, Greece and oral poetry
4. Oral composition and oral transmission: the case of the Vedas
Part III. Written and Oral Cultures in West Africa: 5. The impact of Islamic writing on oral cultures
6. Literacy and the non-literate: the impact of European schooling
7. Alternative paths to knowledge in oral and literate cultures
8. Memory and learning in oral and literate cultures: the reproduction of the Bagre
9. Writing and formal operations: a case study among the Vai
Part IV. Writing and its Impact on Individuals in Society: 10. The interface between the sociological and psychological analysis of literacy
11. Language and writing
12. Recapitulations
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM]