Chapter 5 Print Language, Literate Culture
Written Language, textual culture Historical perspective on how technology affected the relationship bet language & culture: Invention of writing (3000 BC) Oral tradition textual tradition Chinese scribal culture/ passing wisdom & truths Text’s meaning/ social prestige ‘literate education’ Clip (24) Respect to textual authority was imp to early religious traditions/ study of sacred texts revelation / to recover the original truths passed orally By God, angels and prophets. The absurdity of the quest of one ‘true’ meaning/ multiple meanings/ legal documents ‘re-interpreted’
Print & Power Institutional power ensuring cultural continuity medieval times/ monks & scribes… gate keepers & interpreters of tradition against cultural change. Print culture: no need to hand copy Religious authority decline Translation of Bible meanings & truth accessible to all Church monopoly replaced by secular power Traditional academic practice imposed its own context of interpretation/ emphasized form over meaning/ interpretation should be independent of reader’s response/ ‘bad student’
Social Construction of Literacy Recent types of literacies linked to various genres: Literary literacy/ press/ instructional manuals/ scientific/ marketing/ novels & poems To be literate to understand & manipulate social & cultural meanings of print language in thoughts, feelings and actions. Children from different social backgrounds different types of literacies. (e.g. narrative style)
Text and Discourse Written language can be looked at as either text (fixed and stable) or discourse (interactive and inferential) Text: A stretch of written language as the product of intention has a fixed & stable relation to its context of culture Discourse: (A) via coherence e.g. deictic “this” in poem/ either demonstrative ‘cohesive device’/ or discourse indicative ‘factor of coherence’ (B) via internal cohesion e.g. Aspirin label considering ‘corporate culture’/ commercial & legal interests must be included when interpreting text/ coherent discourse (C) Cultural coherence e.g. ‘American independence’/ most difficult for foreign readers/ drawing on reader’s cultural knowledge
Literacy event, prior text, point of view The interaction of the reader with the text within a social context. Defined by (common social practices with written texts/ common ways of interpretation) Includes situational & cultural dimensions Situational context Events Audience Purpose Text’s register Its key Prior text Point of view Discourse clip
Genre Genre: In general ( a class or category of art (or any other field) having a particular form, content, or technique. e.g, the genre of ‘epic poetry’) A socially approved type of communicative event, either spoken or printed. Dependent on specific context of situation or culture. Related to text type & language choice/ e.g. ‘sermon’ register Clip
Summary