Sample in a Jar: Oral Culture in a Literate World
Date
2007
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
The number of languages spoken in the world today is estimated at nearly
7,000. The majority of those languages are not written, but asWestern Culture
spreads, more and more communities are making the transition to literacy.
This paper aims to explore the effects of this transition and the attitudes of
the people undergoing it. I begin with some background on literacy and a
review of literacy attitudes through history. I then take an in-depth look at
the attitudes and practices of the Cochiti of New Mexico, a group that rejected
writing and have had a successful language revitalization project. There is a
strong bias towards written language inWestern thought. Through my analysis
I attempt to dispel some of the assumptions about written language that are
widely held in both academia and the wider population. Spoken and written
forms of communication are very different, and neither is inherently superior.
I suggest that there is no one answer to the question of whether or not to adopt
a writing system. As with most decisions facing small or endangered language
communities, the decision to write or not write a language must be made by
the community, and only after careful examination of the relevant factors.