Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Deborah Tannen. "Implications of the Oral/Literate Continuum for Cross-Cultural Communication." In Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1980. Ed. J. Alatis. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. pp. 326-47.

After a brief review of oral theory and its applications, she applies the research of such scholars as Lord, Havelock, and Ong to a study of communication between (a) natives of different countries, (b) compatriots of different cultural, ethnic, or geographic backgrounds, and (c) men and women. Suggests that "the key distinction is not between orality vs. literacy as such, but between strategies that have been associated with oral and literate tradition which can be employed in any mode" (p. 326), that is, that the most important distinction must be made between communication that assumes a shared, inexplicit traditional knowledge versus detached and decontextualized communication that downplays the speaker/audience interaction.
Area: TH