Baumann, G. 1986

Baumann, Gerd (editor). 1986.The written word: Literacy in transition. Oxford, England: Clarendon. 197 pages. Location: Dallas SIL Library 001.54 W956w. Interest level: academic.

Has seven contributors:

• Walter J. Ong
• Anna Morpurgo Davies
• Geza Vermes
• Keith Thomas
• Ione Lewis
• Adam Hodgkin
• Anthony Smith

In the introduction, Baumann presents and synthesizes varying viewpoints on the relationship between writing and cognitive development.

In the first chapter, Ong lists 14 ways writing, and specifically alphabetic writing, restructures thought. Concludes that alphabetic writing is the precursor of all

• linear
• sequential
• analytical
• cause-effect
• philosophical, and
• scientific thinking.

In subsequent chapters, Davies and others present arguments against Ong's thesis, drawing from a range of historical, linguistic, and sociolinguistic evidence. Topics discussed by several authors are as follows:

• The transition from primary orality to literacy to the secondary orality associated with nonprint media and new technologies
• Different forms of writing: pictographic, logographic, syllabic, and alphabetic
• Relationship between written and spoken word
• Oral preservation and its techniques
• Secondary orality
• Reductionism (consideration of the impact of literacy without simultaneous consideration of other cultural and historical factors)
• Greek alphabet versus other writing systems

• Bibliography module: Baumann, G. 1986
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): B
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 28 June 1999

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