Written vs Oral- The Hittites

To go along with the Functions and Systems of Oral knowledge that we have been assigned to study I want to focus on ways that oral knowledge differs from written knowledge and how these distinctions make it unique.
We have talked in class how there is a hybrid between these two systems and that there's quite a large cross over, but in the same light there are also many things that make them both unique and important in their own ways.



Precision. This is something critical when it comes to the preservation passing along of language. In the culture that i'm researching at the moment, the Hittites, precision or the lack there of was actually something that was brought up. The actual process of writing things down didn't come till long after the language of the hittites was nothing more than a literary language. So when the time came to actually make written texts there were things lost or that couldn't be written in the form for which they transcribed things. That being cuneiform.

Phonetic signs of the Hittite Cuneiform

One point that I personally prefer about the oral system of Language is the ability to really grasp what is being spoken and sense emotion. It's understandable that this can also happen when it comes to written knowledge but it's not the same for me. There can be some extremely descriptive sentences but I feel like there's so much more that can be added when the same piece is performed orally. The speaker really has the power to create a picture in ones mind and portray some necessary feelings and emotions that we simply cannot get from text very easy. 
For example take this excerpt from the "Epic of Gilgamesh"

A engraving of the Epic of Gilgamesh

"And so they traveled until they reached Uruk.
There Gilgamesh the king said to the boatman:

“Study the brickwork, study the fortification;
climb the ancient staircase to the terrace;

study how it is made; from the terrace see
the planted and fallow fields, the ponds and orchards.

One league is the inner city, another league 
is orchards; still another the fields beyond;

over there is the precinct of the temple. . . . ,
Three leagues and the temple precinct of Ishtar.”

Measure Uruk, the city of Gilgamesh 
   —Tablet XI

After reading this excerpt and trying to imagine how it would have looked like or just picturing visually what was happening you can get some kind of an idea of how it might have been.

Interestingly, I found that when I listened to it being read out loud that I could imagine and picture things just that much better. Here is is what I listened to...it's not the greatest reading of it, but i think you'll see that it achieves it's purposes.

So I hope that you could see the advantages of listening to this orally and see the difference between it and the written text. Keep in mind that there were not gestures or visual parts to go along with this oral delivery which would only enhance the experience that much more. So just the way one presents this information can make a huge difference and there are many, many more examples just like this in regards to oral knowledge and what makes it unique.