Oral tradition

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This page Oral tradition is part of the linguistics series.
Illustration: a close-up of a mouth in the film The Big Swallow (1901)

"The popular ballads, or cantilènes, as French writers have styled them, where the exploits of the great Charles were sung and handed down from his own to later days, formed at once the basis of the longer chansons de geste and of such spurious relations as Turpin's Chronicle. Wholly distinct from sober history, as recorded in works such as Eginhart's "Memoir of Charlemagne," written in Latin, and therefore accessible to but few, they were composed in the language of the people, uncommitted to writing, and consequently subject to all the diversifying and differentiating influences of oral tradition."--History of Fiction (1814) by John Colin Dunlop

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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 transmission is through speech or song and may include folktales, ballads, chants, prose or poetry. In this way, 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 from one generation to the next.

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. A folklore is a type of oral tradition, but knowledge other than folklore has been orally transmitted and thus preserved in human history.

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+[[Image:The Big Swallow.jpg|thumb|right|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[linguistics]] series.<br>
+<small>Illustration: a close-up of a [[mouth]] in the film ''[[The Big Swallow]]'' (1901)</small>]]
 {| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
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-"The popular [[ballads]], or [[cantilenes]], as French writers have styled them, where the exploits of the great [[Charles]] were sung and handed down from his own to later days, formed at once the basis of the longer ''[[chansons de geste]]'' and of such spurious relations as [[Turpin's Chronicle]]. Wholly distinct from sober history, as recorded in works such as [[Eginhart]]'s "Memoir of Charlemagne," written in Latin, and therefore accessible to but few, they were composed in the language of the people, uncommitted to writing, and consequently subject to all the diversifying and differentiating influences of [[oral tradition]]."--''[[History of Fiction (John Colin Dunlop)|History of Fiction]]'' (1814) by John Colin Dunlop
+"The popular [[ballads]], or [[cantilènes]], as French writers have styled them, where the exploits of the great [[Charles]] were sung and handed down from his own to later days, formed at once the basis of the longer ''[[chansons de geste]]'' and of such spurious relations as [[Turpin's Chronicle]]. Wholly distinct from sober history, as recorded in works such as [[Eginhart]]'s "Memoir of Charlemagne," written in Latin, and therefore accessible to but few, they were composed in the language of the people, uncommitted to writing, and consequently subject to all the diversifying and differentiating influences of [[oral tradition]]."--''[[History of Fiction (John Colin Dunlop)|History of Fiction]]'' (1814) by John Colin Dunlop
 |}
 {{Template}}
-'''Oral tradition''' or '''oral culture''' is a way of transmitting [[oral history|history]], [[orature|literature]] or [[oral law|law]] from one [[generation]] to the next in a [[civilization]] without a [[writing system]].
+'''Oral tradition''', or '''oral lore''', is a form of [[human communication]] wherein knowledge, art, ideas and [[Culture|cultural]] material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. The transmission is through [[speech]] or song and may include [[Folklore|folktale]]s, [[ballad]]s, [[chant]]s, [[prose]] or [[poetry]]. In this way, 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 [[Religious text|scriptures]], [[ritual]]s, [[hymn]]s and mythologies from one generation to the next.
-It can be contrasted to [[print culture]] and [[visual culture]] in the visible realm and [[sound culture]] in the invisible realm.
+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.
-An example that combined aspects of [[oral literature]] and [[oral history]], before eventually being set down in writing, is the [[Homer|Homeric]] [[epic poetry]] of the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''. In a general sense, "oral tradition" refers to the transmission of [[culture|cultural]] material through vocal utterance, and was long held to be a key descriptor of [[folklore]] (a criterion no longer rigidly held by all folklorists). As an [[academic discipline]], it refers both to a [[Scientific method|method]] and the objects studied by the method.  (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.)
+As an [[academic discipline]], it refers both to a set of objects of study and the method by which they are studied.
-==See also==
-:''[[sound culture]], [[visual culture]]''
+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.
-* [[Intangible culture]]
-* [[Oral law]]
-* [[Oral literature]]
-* [[Oral-formulaic composition]]
-* [[Oral Torah]]
-* [[Orality]]
-* [[Secondary orality]]
-* [[Traditional knowledge]]
-* [[Patha]], [[Śrauta]]
-* [[Parampara]]
-*''[[Understanding Media]]''
 ==See also==
-{{col div|colwidth=25em}}
 * [[American Indian elder]]
 * [[Folk process]]
 * [[Oral law]]
 * [[Oral Torah]]
-* [[Oral Tradition (journal)|Oral Tradition Journal]]
 * [[Oral-formulaic composition]]
 * [[Orality]]
 * [[Traditional knowledge]]
 * [[Understanding Media]]
-* [[World Oral Literature Project]]
-{{colend}}
 {{GFDL}}

Oral tradition

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