Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Literacy and orality
(4,916 words)

1. Definition and characteristics

Literacy denotes all forms of the use of writing, and the production and reading of printed and unprinted texts. Orality includes all forms of spoken communication, which are also characterized by fundamental qualities and potentials.

A former paradigm of cultural anthropology held that the knowledge of the past, the secure storage of information and knowledge (see below, 4.), full-fledge…

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Zimmermann, Clemens, Hiller, Marion and Gierl, Martin, “Literacy and orality”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 28 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_027223>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20190801



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