Ever-shifting oral and literature traditions

The societal consequences of literacy are based on the experiences of the people have with written language and their oral interpretation of it. A litterate society differs significantly at the cognitive level from that of a culture of oral tradition. Shirley Brice Heath cites research done by Goody and Watt, Ong, and Havelock to support her assertion of the extreme differences between oral and litterate societies. The differnces don't give one supperiority over te other and Heath uses research from Dodd to explain "Certain discourse forms, such as the parable or proverb are formulaic uses of language which convey meanings without direct explanation."(443) Heath goes on to state that "truth lies in experience and is verified by the experience of listners."(443) Oral tradition are especially prevelant in societies where access to written language is restricted or prohibited. Heath utilizes her own research to decribe the "Literacy Event" Heath says this occurance "is any occasion in which a piece of writing is integral to the nature of participants interactions and their interpretive processes.(Heath 1978)"(445)
The oral expression of te written language is an important dynamic in Heath's research, she goes t great length to explain the paralell evolution btween the traditions of what's spoken vs. what's written. She examines the art of story telling as a literary device and an extension of written language and an expression of personal involvement. A story given orally must have all of the same elements that a written story has to be successfull, and a written story is always attempting to invoke the human emotion that comes naturally to stories in te oral tradition. During her breakdown of the differences and similarities between written and oral traditions Heath raises an important question; written improves oral, what is the oral impact on written language?