"Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas, and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another."
The study of verbal storytelling and other forms of communication within traditional societies, often including myth, legend, and history as transmitted through generations.
Oral Traditions: Oral traditions refer to the customs, beliefs, and historical accounts that are passed down through generations of a community through word of mouth, rather than through written records.
Ethnohistory: Ethnohistory is the study of historical events and developments from the perspective of the people and communities involved.
Indigenous narratives: Indigenous narratives are the stories and accounts created by Indigenous peoples that describe their experiences, traditions, and values.
Folklore: Folklore is the traditional stories, myths, legends, and ballads that are passed down through the generations of a community.
Proverbs: Proverbs are sayings or adages that express a common truth or wisdom and provide cultural insight and understanding.
Poetics: Poetics is the study of the language, creativity, and aesthetics of oral traditions, including the use of rhyme, rhythm, and metaphor.
Performance: Performance refers to the act of presenting oral traditions to an audience through various mediums, such as storytelling, song, dance, and drama.
Memory: Memory is the process by which oral traditions are preserved and transmitted from person to person within a community.
Tradition and change: Oral traditions are not static and are constantly evolving and adapting to changing circumstances and contexts.
Gender and power: The way in which gender roles and power dynamics are reflected and defined in oral traditions varies from culture to culture and may impact the interpretation and transmission of these traditions.
Mythologies: These are traditional stories about gods, heroes, and other supernatural beings that serve to explain the origin of the world or some aspect of it.
Epics: These are lengthy narratives that describe the heroic deeds of historical or mythical figures. They are often used to celebrate a community's cultural heritage.
Folktales: These are short stories that contain fantastical elements and are passed down orally. They often teach a moral lesson or entertain the listener.
Proverbs: These are short sayings that reflect the wisdom and values of a culture. They are often used to teach lessons and offer guidance.
Riddles: These are brief, often humorous, questions or statements that require the listener to solve a puzzle or think creatively.
Rituals: These are symbolic actions performed by a community to mark a significant event or occasion. They often reflect the group's religious beliefs or cultural practices.
Songs and chants: These are musical compositions that are often used to celebrate or commemorate an event or to convey a message.
Legends: These are stories that are more grounded in reality than myths, but still contain elements of the supernatural or miraculous.
Creation stories: These are stories that explain how the world or some aspect of it came into being. They often reflect a culture's beliefs about the origins of the universe.
Histories: These are oral accounts of historical events, often passed down through generations. They often reflect a community's memories of its past and its struggles.
"The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or poetry."
"It is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law, and other knowledge across generations without a writing system, or in parallel to a writing system."
"Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Jainism, for example, have used an oral tradition, in parallel to a writing system, to transmit their canonical scriptures, rituals, hymns, and mythologies."
"Oral tradition is information, memories, and knowledge held in common by a group of people, over many generations; it is not the same as testimony or oral history."
"In a general sense, 'oral tradition' refers to the recall and transmission of a specific, preserved textual and cultural knowledge through vocal utterance."
"The study of oral tradition is distinct from the academic discipline of oral history, which is the recording of personal memories and histories of those who experienced historical eras or events."
"Oral tradition is also distinct from the study of orality, defined as thought and its verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (especially writing and print) are unfamiliar to most of the population."
"A folklore is a type of oral tradition, but knowledge other than folklore has been orally transmitted and thus preserved in human history."
"Knowledge, art, ideas, and cultural material" are transmitted through oral tradition.
"It is possible for a society to transmit oral history, oral literature, oral law, and other knowledge across generations without a writing system, or in parallel to a writing system."
"Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Jainism, for example, have used an oral tradition, in parallel to a writing system, to transmit their canonical scriptures, rituals, hymns, and mythologies."
"Oral tradition is information, memories, and knowledge held in common by a group of people, over many generations; it is not the same as testimony or oral history."
"As an academic discipline, it refers both to a set of objects of study and the method by which they are studied."
"The study of oral tradition is distinct from the academic discipline of oral history, which is the recording of personal memories and histories of those who experienced historical eras or events."
"Oral tradition is also distinct from the study of orality, defined as thought and its verbal expression in societies where the technologies of literacy (especially writing and print) are unfamiliar to most of the population."
"Knowledge other than folklore has been orally transmitted and thus preserved in human history."
"The transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or poetry."
"Religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, and Jainism (...) have used an oral tradition, in parallel to a writing system, to transmit their canonical scriptures, rituals, hymns, and mythologies."
"Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas, and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another."