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Overview
orality
Quick Reference
A communicative basis in speech rather than writing; often descriptive of oral cultures and contrasted with literacy. This communicative mode is widely romanticized (see phonocentrism). Ong distinguishes between the primary orality of preliterate societies and the secondary orality of literate societies in which electronic media extend the role of speech beyond face-to-face interaction, introducing, for instance, mass audiences.
Subjects: Literature
