Orality isthought and verbal expression insocieties, distinct from the technologies ofliteracy (especially writing and print). The study of orality is closely allied to the study oforal tradition.

The term "orality" has been used in a variety of ways, often to describe, in a generalised fashion, the structures of consciousness found in cultures that do not employ, or employ minimally, the technologies ofwriting.

Walter J. Ong's work was foundational for the study of orality, and exemplifies the fact that despite the striking success and subsequent power of writtenlanguage, the vast majority of languages are never written, and the basic orality of language is permanent.^[1]

In his later publications Ong distinguishes between two forms of orality: 'primary orality' and 'secondary orality'. Primary orality refers to thought and expression un-touched by the culture of writing of print; secondary orality is explained by Ong as oral culture defined (implicitly influenced) by the written and printed word, and includes oral culture made possible by technology such as anewscaster reading a news report on television.

In addition, 'residual orality' is also defined – it is the remnants, legacy, or influence of a predominantly oral culture carried over into the written realm – an example might include the use ofdialogue as a philosophical or didactic tool in written literature, such as used by the Greek thinkerPlato.

Before writing became a way for manycultures, there was already orality. Unfortunately much of the retained orality has been lost or drastically changed. Those that were able to be preserved give us insight into past cultures and the scale of societal changes throughout history.^[2] InOrality and Literacy (2nd ed.Ong 2002), Ong sums up his own work over the previous three decades as well as the work of numerous other scholars. With regard to oral tradition and primary orality he draws on pioneering work byMilman Parry,Albert B. Lord, andEric A. Havelock.Marshall McLuhan was among the first to fully appreciate the significance of the Ong's earlier work about print culture and the written and printed word as atechnology. In his work,The Gutenberg GalaxyMcLuhan 1962, McLuhan quotes and discusses works by Ong in the 1950s regarding print culture.^[3]

'Primary orality' refers to thought and its verbal expression within cultures "totally untouched by any knowledge ofwriting orprint."^[4] Ong argues that the immediacy of sound, and the longevity of writing, correspond to the intrinsically different ways in which oral and literate societies and people function.^[5]

In his studies of theHomeric Question,Milman Parry was able to show that the poetic metre found in theIliad and theOdyssey had been 'packaged' by oralGreek society to meet its information management needs. These insights first opened the door to a wider appreciation of the sophistication oforal traditions, and their various methods of managing information.^[6] Later, ancient and medieval mnemonic tools were extensively documented byFrances Yates in her bookThe Art of Memory (Yates 1966).

‘Residual orality’ refers to thought and its verbal expression in cultures that have been exposed to writing and print, but have not fully ‘interiorized’ (in McLuhan's term) the use of these technologies in their daily lives. As a culture interiorizes the technologies of literacy, the ‘oral residue’ diminishes.

It has been a habit of literate cultures to view oral cultures simply in terms of their lack of the technologies of writing. This habit, argues Ong, is dangerously misled. Oral cultures are living cultures in their own right. While literacy extends human possibilities in both thought and action, all literate technologies ultimately depend on the ability of humans to learn oral languages and then translate sound into symbolic imagery.

Drawing on hundreds of studies fromanthropology,linguistics and the study oforal tradition, Ong summarizes ten key aspects of the 'psychodynamics of orality', including the following. These are subject to continuing debate.

• Formulaic styling: Information is expressed through common and repeated structures, for ease of memorization.
• Additive rather than subordinative: Oral cultures tend to avoid complex clause structures in sentences, rather opting for simpler and more sequential ones.
• Aggregative rather than analytic: Oral expression is characterized by habitual stock phrases which are used unaltered.
• Redundant or 'copious': A speaker may repeat concepts for emphasis and reconsideration throughout a story or discussion.
• Conservative or traditionalist: Because oral societies have no effective access to writing and print technologies, they must invest considerable energy in basicinformation management. To qualify for storage, information must usually concern matters of immediate practical concern, or familiarity to most members of the society.
• Situational rather than abstract: Concepts are used in a way that minimizes abstraction, focusing to the greatest extent possible on objects and situations directly known by the speaker.

• Cronin, Nessa; Crosson, Seán; Eastlake, John, eds. (2009).Anáil an Bhéil Bheo: Orality and Modern Irish Culture. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Goody, Jack; Watt, Ian (1968). Goody, Jack (ed.). "The Consequences of Literacy".Literacy in Traditional Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Jousse, Marcel (1978). "Le Parlant, la parole, et le souffle".L'Anthropologie du Geste.3. Gallimard, Paris: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.
• McLuhan, Marshal (1962).The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
• Ong, Walter J. (2002) [1982].Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
• Yates, Frances A. (1966).The Art of Memory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

• Goody, Jack (1987).The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Havelock, Eric A. (1986).The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Innis, Harold A. (1951).The Bias of Communication. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.ISBN 9780802060273.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Martin, Henri-Jean (1994).The History and Power of Writing. Translated by Cochrane, Lydia G. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN 0-226-50835-8.
• Misztal, Barbara (2003).Theories of Social Remembering. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
• Ong, Walter J. (1967).The Presence of the Word. New Haven: Yale University Press..

• Oral tradition
• Cultural anthropology
• Linguistics
• Rural community development
• Educational psychology

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