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<p class="MsoNormal">Hello ILAT,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Here is K. David Harrison' s reply to the ILAT thread on the NatGeo News article. Below, he discusses the "literacy makes you lazy" debate, his thoughts on embedded cognition, literacy, orality, etc. It is clear to me that our current reliance on technology for data retrieval is
relatively new compared to oral traditions, which have existed for many
thousands of years. The fact that they are disappearing is all the more reason
to celebrate them and conserve the knowledge embedded in them. - Anna Luisa D.<span style></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>From Dr. Harrison: <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Thank you to ILAT
readers for the attention and thoughtful comments to the </span><span style>NGNews blog post</span><span style> by Brian Howard. To put things a bit in
context, this post was based on a co-presentation I made with National
Geographic photographer Lynn Johnson at the recent </span><span style>Aspen Environmental Forum, on the the subject
of language revitalization in Tuva, and among the Seri, Koro Aka and Hruso
Aka peoples. </span><span style></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The headline
"Literacy makes you lazy" (somewhat provocative, and since changed)
arose out of a comment I made during the Q & A, </span><span style>in response to a question about the role of
missionary-introduced literacy. I mentioned that I think people in oral
cultures may have cognitive advantages/capacities that people in literate
cultures lack (or have lost, or failed to develop). As a specific example, I
mentioned the case of Mr. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha1dFpiVe58"><span style="color:blue">Shoydak-ool Khovalyg</span></a>, a Tuvan epic tale teller
who had memorized thousands of lines of a tale strictly from oral transmission,
never seeing the tale in print, and whom I worked closely with in 1997-2002.
(Though professional actors also memorize many lines of plays, I think those
actors rely on seeing printed text in order to memorize it.) So, the Tuvan case
is a feat of memory that I don't think people in literate cultures possess
(except perhaps some exceptional savants with photographic memories). Alexander
King pointed out that there are extra cognitive skills one acquires by using
literacy, and I fully agree. I did not address the possible advantages of
literacy, because I was making the point to my audience of environmental
conservationists that in our literate cultures we tend automatically to think of
literacy as superior, and fail to see any advantages of orality (I've called
this our "literacy bias"). </span><span style></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>The idea that we
outsource many cognitive tasks (like memorization) onto the environment
(including written text, recording devices, etc.) comes from Andy Clark's
excellent work on embedded cognition. Once we have outsourced these tasks, our
ability to do them declines/atrophies, and we come to rely on the external
technology (hence my example of myself no longer memorizing phone numbers, now
that I can store them in my cell phone's memory). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>Little did I know
this Q & A comment would be blogged (though I think the article is good) or
that the writer would choose to frame it with a sensationalistic headline. I've
discussed this with the journalist, Brian Howard, and he was very thorough and
professional in making some factual edits. He also changed the headline to a
much more fitting one, a quote from Karuk elder Mr. Charlie Thom. I would like
to commend Brian on both the original article, and his willingness to make
edits after posting.</span><span style></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>I wrote a chapter
about orality and literacy in my 2007 book When Languages Die, in which I
considered the unheralded cognitive advantages of orality. Now that I've been
introduced to the term "technological determinism", I can go back and
look at these ideas with a fresh lens. I would very much welcome any further
thoughts, suggestions, or discussion, on the balance and interplay between
orality, literacy, cognition and culture, especially as it relates to endangered
languages.</span><span style></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style>K. David Harrison<br>
Associate Professor & Chair<br>
Linguistics Department<br>
Swarthmore College<br>
<br>
Fellow, National Geographic Society<br>
<br>
Director of Research,<br>
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Evan Gardner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:evan@whereareyourkeys.org" target="_blank">evan@whereareyourkeys.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p>You just missed it! It was last weekend!</p>
<p>Every Wednesday night at the health clinic they play a huge game. 30 people come!</p><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jun 26, 2012 10:57 AM, "Maya Tracy Borhani" <<a href="mailto:gmcmaya@gmail.com" target="_blank">gmcmaya@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
he-he! Evan from Where are your keys?<br>
<br>
Hesasaka, Maya from Mtn. Maidu country!<br>
<br>
good to know we're both on the list: will try to get Farrell CUnningham to come to the upcoming WHere Are YOur Keys workshop<br>
would you actually mind re-sending me that info?<br>
WITH THANK!<br>
<br>
Maya<br>
<br>
On Jun 26, 2012, at 10:44 AM, Evan Gardner wrote:<br>
<br>
> Hello All,<br>
><br>
> Evan from "Where Are Your Keys?"<br>
><br>
> We have a technique called "speak to remember, write to forget".<br>
><br>
> It is a pretty general way of saying your language will live if it is spoken... so speak it.<br>
><br>
> If the same amount of time were spent creating speakers then we wouldn't have to write anything down. We would just speak and live. Knowledge would just live within individuals and communities.<br>
><br>
> I am in no way against writing. I have just seen that writing is not the easiest point of entry for two year olds. If adults learn by writing then they will try to teach by writing. Why not teach in the same way you would want the adults teaching the children. Train the adults to teach children by teaching the adults to speak.<br>
><br>
> It does seam like a bit of work to get speaking but with clever curriculum organization speaking can happen in minutes. Then no one has to memorize anything. Language flows through the mind and into the community.<br>
><br>
> My 2 cents<br>
><br>
> I am enjoying the conversation as usual.<br>
><br>
> Thanks<br>
</blockquote></div>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><font color="#888888">Anna Luisa Daigneault, M.Sc<br>Latin America Projects Coordinator & Organizational Fellow<br><a href="http://www.livingtongues.org" target="_blank">Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages</a><br>
<a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/" target="_blank">Enduring Voices Project</a></font><a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/enduring-voices/" target="_blank"><font color="#888888"><br>
</font></a><font color="#888888"><a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/livingtongues" target="_blank">@livingtongues</a></font><font color="#888888"><br><br>The Yanesha Oral History Archives <br>Arr Añño'tena Poeñotenaxhno Yanesha<br>
<a href="http://www.yanesha.com" target="_blank">www.yanesha.com</a><br><br><br></font><br>