Chapter 3

It is  in this chapter we get a list of the characteristics of the way people of "primary oral"  culture think and express themselves through narrative and discuss them in the light of memory.  The things we memorized, his 9 characteristics:

1. Expression is additive rather than subordinative

2. it is aggregative rather than analytic

3. redundant and copious

4. Even conservative

5. it is close to the human life world

6. It is antagonistically toned

7. Empathetic and participatory

8. Its Homeostatic

9. situational rather than abstract

All of these contribute to the salency and enhance the memorability of an utterance. Ong explained that this would be especially important to those who were silly enough to memorize a poem because, people from a literate society can always refer back to a written text, those from an oral society must  be able to process bits of the spoken language.  Utterances which fit the above description would tend to leave a strong impression on the hearer and facilitate recollection.