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06616_Field_TCUM T181.txt
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1996-04-10
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understand the effects of the phonetic alphabet in creating
many of his basic patterns of culture. To begin now to examine
the question may, therefore, seem too late.
Suppose that, instead of displaying the Stars and Stripes,
we were to write the words “American flag” across a piece of
cloth and to display that. While the symbols would convey the
same meaning, the effect would be quite different. To translate
the rich visual mosaic of the Stars and Stripes into written form
would be to deprive it of most of its qualities of corporate
image and of experience, yet the abstract literal bond would
remain much the same. Perhaps this illustration will serve to
suggest the change the tribal man experiences when he
becomes literate. Nearly all the emotional and corporate family
feeling is eliminated from his relationship with his social group.
He is emotionally free to separate from the tribe and to become