Preliterate

Preliterate refers to societies or communities that have not developed or adopted a system of writing for recording language. In anthropology and linguistic history, preliterate societies rely on oral transmission, memory, ritual recitation, song, and other non-written means to preserve language, history, law, and knowledge. The term describes a stage in cultural development rather than a judgment about intelligence or value, and it distinguishes those without a writing system from those with literacy.

Characteristics often include a strong emphasis on oral tradition, mnemonic devices, performance, and education passed through generations by speaking and listening. Record-keeping, if present, may rely on memory aids, symbolic objects, or other non-writing methods rather than full writing systems. Some communities may employ proto-writing or pictographs, but such devices are not equivalent to fully developed writing.

Transition to literacy typically occurs with the introduction or adoption of writing, often driven by contact with literate neighbors, administrative needs, trade, religion, or formal schooling. Writing systems enable durable archives, more complex administration, and the potential reshaping of social memory and power dynamics.

The term can be contested. Some scholars prefer descriptors such as nonliterate or partially literate, depending on whether writing exists in some domains. As a historical and comparative category, preliterate denotes a stage in the broader spectrum of human communication, rather than a fixed property of a culture.

See also: literacy, writing system, oral tradition, proto-writing.