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nonliterate

nonliterate

1 8.2
A group of people with no way to write things down
  • adjective
  • /ˌnɒnˈlɪtərɪt/
: no alfabetizado
  • But in spite of being nonliterate, with aural help, they can still become excellent performing musicians.
  • nonliterate society
  • nonliterate culture
  • nonliterate people

Examples

  • In a society that still has sectors that are nonliterate, photographs and other visual material are particularly subject to scrutiny.

    Academic text (2005)
  • These could be taken as representatives of a highly exotic, nonliterate Other in the anthropological imagination.

    Academic text (2004)
  • In nonliterate societies, religious knowledge is gained by participating in rituals and by hearing myths and stories.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Or they may have been attempts by a largely nonliterate people to capture the magical protective powers attributed to Arabic writing.

    Academic text (2007)
  • I've spent significant time with the nonliterate remnant of a preliterate society.

    Blog text (32)
  • Guided reading has the potential to address nonliterate and semiliterate adolescent refugee students' print literacy gaps, while at the same time allowing them the time and space to realize that they are in charge of their literacies.

    Academic text (2015)
  • In effect, the diglossia or dialectical encounter between nonliterate and literate cultures partially "textualized" the oral culture.

    Academic text (1992)
  • While these instructional practices are valuable and serve many students, we have found that they do not adequately serve the needs of nonliterate and semiliterate adolescent SLIFE.

    Academic text (2015)
  • In nonliterate societies, storytelling plays a crucial role in passing down knowledge and traditions.

  • A nonliterate community often relies on oral histories to preserve their culture and beliefs.

Synonyms

preliterate
vsnonliterate
  • Specialized
1 9.3

A society or culture without a way of writing

is the same meaning but uses a negative prefix rather than a time related one

How Literate

literate
1 2.7
semiliterate
1 7.6
nonliterate
1 8.2
preliterate
  • Specialized
1 9.3

Surface Forms

nonliterate positive

Morphology

nonliterate = literate (transparent) = non + liter

The word is transparently derived from 'literate' with the prefix 'non-' indicating the absence of literacy.

Etymology

Nonliterate comes from the prefix non- meaning 'not' and literate, which is linked to 'letters' and 'writing', as in letter. So a nonliterate society is one that does 'not' have a system of writing and keeps stories and knowledge by speech and memory.