Martinez Dettinger: Melodic languages and oral traditions

 Music can act as a constraint to fix a verbatim oral narrative.

Ong, Walter J.. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (New Accents) (Kindle Location 1262). Taylor & Francis. Kindle Edition. 


Sitting and listening to Jewish Prayer being sung in Hebrew calls to mind a soulful and yearning song. Though the words themselves have no meaning for me, the way they are sung conveys a message that is beyond words. This made me think about the connection between sound in primary orality and how that is translated to written cultures. Specifically, other language that are not Semitic in origin have a similar musical quality. French, Italian, and Spanish seem to roll off of the tongue. There is nothing I can think of that would account for the musical quality these languages all share, so I can't help but to think that the connection might be the role that oral culture plays in forming these languages. Perhaps it is the close relation between these languages and orality that brings me to this conclusion. For example, poetry in french and Spanish, and italian song. These different aspects of vocal expression are largely important aspects of these languages' cultural history. Similarly, song and poetry is a large part of Hebrew culture as well, more so than say American English or German. I think this might be due to the influence of oral culture on the formation of these languages. I think relates also to why the influence of primary orality on the formation of religion has always held a magical role in rituals. If the language is formed based heavily on sounds and the surrounding environment, then it must take on an otherworldly quality that elicits strong emotion when connected to the idea of a divinity. 

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