Olson's "The World on Paper" (Ch 1 -5)

I was quite interested in Olson’s argument that writing accelerated metalinguistic ability and developing new concepts through enabling accumulation of knowledge, interpretation, and categorizing process. Furthermore, writing as well as printing press played an important role in development of our consciousness, ideas about argument, and new ways of thinking. I agreed with him in this sense that writing contributed to development of human thinking skills. However, as I read Bauman and Briggs (1990) and Louis (2005) last week, I found that oral performance have similar roles in human consciousness. That was both oral performance, or story telling, and writing can allow a person to reflect his/her own thoughts. I do not argue that we human beings would have been able to accumulate the same vast amount of knowledge as we have now. However, my point is that writing and oral language cannot not be considered two totally different parts of a language serving two different totally different functions and purposes. To me, writing and oral language share their roles at some extent.