Tertiary Orality : The Presence of the Word in the Age of "New New Media"

Abstract

The historical progression of communication media is not a unilinear but a compound evolutionary process where the inter-relationship between media has become more complicated. The spoken word, as the oldest form of communication, has continued to exist as a residue or to transform, rather than to be replaced by the advent of new media. This study attempts to discuss the characteristics of new new media communication in the age of Web 2.0 through the notions of Walter Ongs primary orality, literacy, and the secondary orality. The communication modes of new new media, based on multimedia, interactive connectivity, and the user-generated micro-contents, can be construed as an extension of primary orality, literacy, and the secondary orality -with both similarities and differences. This study makes an effort to explore the modes of the presence of the word through the notion of tertiary orality. For this exploration, it examines the forms of words mediated via new new media, the sensory system, textuality, temporality, the I-you relationship, and interactivity, in relation to the existent communication modes. In addition, it focuses on the hybridized characteristics of speaking and listening via new new media, through which users move across media and become transliterate.