Human communication evolved from oral traditions such as cave paintings and pictograms to the development of written symbols around 30,000 years ago. The invention of writing systems allowed information to be preserved and disseminated more widely. Oral traditions remained important for passing knowledge between generations in societies without writing. The printing press was a major innovation that led to the evolution of mass media like newspapers.

1. History of Media
BA

2. UNIT – I
 Evolution of Communication – Oral Traditions – Cave Paintings – Petroglyphs – Pictograms -
 Ideograms- Written communication
UNIT – II
 Invention of the Printing Press – Evolution of newspapers- penny press – Press in India: Newspapers
in Bengal, Bombay and Madras. PRB act and Vernacular Press Act – Press during Independence
Movement- Press in post-independence India

3. Evolution of Communication
 Communication refers to the exchange of messages through some channel and in
some medium.
 Communication theorists usually classify communication into modes, that is, different
ways of exchanging messages.
 Examples: gestural (hand-based communication); vocal (voice-based communication);
visual (picture-based communication); signaling (bodily based communication); and so
on. When pluralized (communications), the term refers to media systems or
technologies of communication.

4. How did Human Communication evolve?
 Communication can range from very subtle processes of exchange, to full conversations and
mass communication. Human communication was revolutionized with the origin of speech.
Symbols were developed about 30,000 years ago. The imperfection of speech, which
nonetheless allowed easier dissemination of ideas and eventually resulted in the creation of new
forms of communications, improving both the range at which people could communicate and
the longevity of the information. All of those inventions were based on the key concept of the
symbol.

5.  The oldest known symbols created for the purpose of communication were cave paintings, a form
of rock art, dating to the Upper Paleolithic age. The oldest known cave painting is located within
Chauvet Cave, France. These paintings contained increasing amounts of information. The
connection between drawing and writing is further shown by linguistics; in Ancient Egypt and
Ancient Greece the concepts and words of drawing and writing were one and the same.

6.  The most significant step was the evolution of human speech. The origin of speech refers to the
origin of language in the context of the physiological development of the human speech organs
such as the tongue, lips and vocal organs used to produce phonological units in all human
languages. Primates, that is the group of animals including monkeys, apes and humans, have
evolved specialized mechanisms for producing sound for purposes of social communication. On the
other hand, no monkey or ape uses its tongue, lips and other movable (vocal) parts for speech the
way humans do, making its evolutionary emergence an intriguing topic in the eyes of many
scholars. Speaking is the default modality for language in all cultures. Humans' first recourse is to
encode thoughts in sound — a method which depends on sophisticated capacities for controlling
the lips, tongue and other components of the vocal apparatus.

7.  Little is known about the timing of language's emergence in the human species. Unlike writing,
speech leaves no material trace, making it archaeologically invisible. Lacking direct linguistic
evidence, specialists in human origins have resorted to the study of anatomical features and genes
arguably associated with speech production.

8.  Oral Traditions

 Oral tradition, also called orality, the first and still most widespread mode of human
communication. Far more than “just talking,” oral tradition refers to a dynamic and highly diverse
oral-aural medium for evolving, storing, and transmitting knowledge, art, and ideas. It is typically
contrasted with literacy, with which it can and does interact in myriad ways, and also with
which it dwarfs in size, diversity, and social function.


9.  For millennia prior to the invention of writing, which is a very recent phenomenon in the history of
humankind, oral tradition served as the sole means of communication available for forming and
maintaining societies and their institutions. Moreover, numerous studies—conducted on six
continents—have illustrated that oral tradition remains the dominant mode of communication in
the 21st century, despite increasing rates of literacy. An oral tradition is the vehicle by which
information is passed from one generation to the next in the absence of writing or a recording
medium. In the days before near-universal literacy, bards would sing or chant their people's stories.
They employed various (mnemonic) techniques to aid in their own memory and to help their
listeners keep track of the story. This oral tradition was a way to keep the history or culture of the
people alive, and since it was a form of story-telling, it was a popular entertainment.


10.  Contemporary understanding of oral tradition depends not on documents—which are at best
written reflections of oral traditions—but on experience gained through firsthand study of societies
that depend upon oral tradition as a major means of communication. Anthropologists, folklorists,
and other ethnographers have worked directly with such societies to learn how this textless
communication operates. Their research has offered insight into oral traditions from the ancient,
medieval, and pre-modern worlds.


11.  Notwithstanding their tremendous diversity, oral traditions share certain characteristics across time
and space. Most notably, they are rule-governed. They use special languages and performance
arenas while employing flexible patterns and structures that aid composition, retention, and
performance. In addition, they assume an active role for the audience and fulfill a clear and
important function for the societies that maintain them. Oral traditions also embody an expressive
power that derives from their ability to respond to different performance settings and
circumstances.

12.  Oral cultures are cultures in which information and traditions are passed on from one generation to
the next by storytellers. The forms of oral culture include poetry, folktales, and proverbs as well as
magical spells, religious incantations, and stories of the past. The prevalence of radio, television,
and newspapers in Western culture has led to the decline of oral traditions, though some survive,
especially during childhood, when rhymes, stories, and songs are recounted orally.

13.  Oral tradition represents a vital and multifunctional means of verbal communication that supports
diverse activities in diverse cultures. As humankind’s first and still most ubiquitous mode of
communication, it bears a striking resemblance to one of the newest communication technologies,
the Internet. Both the Internet and oral tradition operate via navigation through webs of options;
both depend upon multiple, distributed authorship; both work through rule-governed processes
rather than fossilized texts; and both ultimately derive their strength from their ability to change
and adapt.