Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Cowlishaw, Bridget

Abstract

The differences between orality and literacy have been explored by theorists who have focused mainly on the differences in the nature of communication once writing is introduced. However, other theorists have challenged the theory that those characteristics are separate and independent, and there is an argument that the relationship between oral and written communication is not a dichotomy, but a continuum when elements of both can coexist. This idea leads to theory of secondary orality, which describes communication that encompasses both oral and literate elements. Two modern novels, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Alice Walker's The Color Purple, are exemplary of how secondary orality can be created in literature to help shape the theme and purpose of a novel.

Extent

73 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2001.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT12742

Format

pdf

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