Ong primarily dealt with oral culture in his book. On this subject, he talked about oral culture and studies on this subject, starting from Aristotle's The Art of Rhetoric. The oral expression also exists without writing, as not every oral language is written; however, he stated that writing could never exist without oral expression. Saussure stated that even modern researchers on this subject stubbornly tend to regard written language as the basic language and that writing is not a method that changes the verbal expression of thought, but consists of an integral part of speech.
The author also mentions that since there is no record in an oral culture like written culture, the works of oral culture change every time they are told, and the same story is never told. At this point, he says that oral works make use of many repetitions and clichés to be more memorable. Generally, literate people are trained on the principle of never using stereotypes; but he adds that oral works, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, are composed of clichés and elements very similar to clichés. Even though the patterns and themes do not change, even the same poet/narrator rhapsodizes his works in a different way each time, under the influence of the audience's reaction, his mood, or the current social and spiritual elements.
Regarding the written culture, Ong; The article said that the singular invention changed the human consciousness the most. Writing has established a language, an autonomous discourse, which is characterized as context-free. Written discourse is separate from its author and is a discourse that cannot be questioned, as in speech. In addition to the inaccessibility of the author, the text cannot be directly refuted, even if it is refuted, its words do not change. For this reason, too many books have been burned in the past due to the perception that everything written is real.
When writing first appeared, famous thinkers such as Plato and Socrates thought that writing would weaken the mind and opposed it. In other words, they saw writing as an external, foreign technology, as many people today see the computer. Today, we have internalized writing so much that we do not see it as a technology like the printing press and computer, whereas writing is also a technology, says Ong regarding this issue. He mentions that utilizing technology enriches the human spirit, expands it, and intensifies inner life. The new tool both reinforces and replaces the old one, he says.
He also mentioned that the most common type of verbal expression that has continued from primary oral culture to advanced literacy and electronic information processing culture is narrative. He said that narrative, which forms the backbone of many art forms, including the most abstract art forms, is in a way the most important of all verbal art forms.
