Oral+Tradition+vs.+Written+Tradition


 * Oral Tradition**
 * Words spoken and heard
 * Transmitted by vocal arts: singing, chanting, whispering, shouting, humming, sighing, clicking, trilling, moaning, groaning, and talking
 * Fluid, flexible, improvisational, never exactly the same way twice- only the formulas or cliches are the same. Formulas were groups of words arranged in a certain meter that were always used to orally express a particular thing
 * Full of repetition in style. It is the repetition that drives the information into your head and feeling into your body
 * Simple structure using episodes
 * Flat characters
 * Composing takes place during transmission
 * Tale is more celebrated than teller
 * The "oral" can exist without writing and did so for many centuries
 * Oral story does not exist after it is told
 * Knowledge transmitted in oral culture by apprenticeship
 * In oral culture, the knowledge is stored in the memory


 * Written Tradition**
 * Words written and seen
 * Transmitted by printed page or electronic media
 * Fixed, static, set, and always the same way
 * Full of variety in style and generally opposed to repetition, cliches, and tired phrases
 * Complicated structure using plot lines
 * Round characters
 * Composing takes place before transmission
 * Teller can be more celebrated than the tale
 * The "written" cannot exist without the "oral" since it is a development from the oral
 * Written story does sill exist "on the page", or film after it it read or shown
 * Knowledge transmitted in written culture by "study"
 * In written culture, knowledge is stored on the page or in electronic files