@ Jag: Interesting quotation from Sharp. Do we have to consider his use of the word 'educated' in the context of his discussion of the illiterate and the unlettered? On G Born: was that the paper that mentioned ANT theory? I'll go back and see. Never felt much inclined to get involved with ANT theory, always had sneaking suspicion it was some kind of post-modernist playful academic joke. Probably just me. @ Jim. The comments you make about Lloyd's more expansive "waffle" are not pertinent to the question of whether he believed that there was a pure oral tradition once literacy had been established. I cannot be bothered just now to plough through his book to find the quotation I want, but I know it is there. At one point he says he thinks literate people write better songs than non-literate people. I suspect he might have been thinking of his own 'improved' versions. "your theory that English people didn't (or couldn't) make their own songs". Yet another example of the misrepresentation of what posters say.
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