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Literacy
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Inscription dating to the 1st millennium bce
Painting of a person with a headscarf reading a newspaper, with blue and white text overlaid reading: How the middle class learned to read.
Linear B Ancient Egyptian illustration from the Book of the Dead showing Anubis weighing the soul of the scribe Ani, with gods seated above and hieroglyphic text throughout. Magnificat
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Inscription dating to the 1st millennium bce
Inscription dating to the 1st millennium bce Stone inscribed with ancient Brahmi script, the forerunner of most Indian scripts, 1st millennium bce; Kanheri Caves, Maharashtra, India.

Literacy

education
Written by
John Miles Foley
Professor of English and Classical Studies and Director of the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.
John Miles Foley
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

Literacy, capacity to communicate using inscribed, printed, or electronic signs or symbols for representing language. Literacy is customarily contrasted with orality (oral tradition), which encompasses a broad set of strategies for communicating through oral and aural media. In real world situations, however, literate and oral modes of communication coexist and interact, not only within the same culture but also within the very same individual. (For additional information on the history, forms, and uses of writing...

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