Culture preserved and transmitted through speech or song
This article is about oral tradition in general. For the gospel tradition in Christianity, see Oral gospel traditions. For the journal, see Oral Tradition (journal).
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.[1][2][3] 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,[4] 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.[5][6][7] Sub-Saharan African societies have broadly been labelled as "oral civilisations", contrasted with "literate civilisations", due to the emphasis placed on oral tradition and the important place it has in their cultures.[8][9]
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, as in those cases the source's information has not been inherited or received orally.[1][10] In a general sense, "oral tradition" refers to the recall and transmission of a specific, preserved textual and cultural knowledge through vocal utterance.[2][11] As an academic discipline, it refers both to a set of objects of study and the method by which they are studied.[12]
The study of oral tradition is distinct from the academic discipline of oral history,[10] which is the recording of personal memories and histories of those who experienced historical eras or events.[13] 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.[14] A folklore is a type of oral tradition, but knowledge other than folklore has been orally transmitted and thus preserved in human history.[15][16]
^ abVansina, Jan: Oral Tradition as History (1985), reported statements from present generation which "specifies that the message must be oral statements spoken, sung or called out on musical instruments only"; "There must be transmission by word of mouth over at least a generation". He points out, "Our definition is a working definition for the use of historians. Sociologists, linguists or scholars of the verbal arts propose their own, which in, e.g., sociology, stresses common knowledge. In linguistics, features that distinguish the language from common dialogue (linguists), and in the verbal arts features of form and content that define art (folklorists)."
^ abOral Tradition Archived 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, Encyclopædia Britannica, John Miles Foley
^Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: "Methodology and African Prehistory", 1990, UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa; James Currey Publishers, ISBN 0-85255-091-X, 9780852550915; see Ch. 7; "Oral tradition and its methodology" at pages 54-61; at page 54: "Oral tradition may be defined as being a testimony transmitted verbally from one generation to another. Its special characteristics are that it is verbal and the manner in which it is transmitted."
^"Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Transmission of Divine Revelation". www.vatican.va. Archived from the original on 27 October 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
^Jack Goody (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. pp. 110–121. ISBN 978-0-521-33794-6.
^Cite error: The named reference witzel68 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Donald S. Lopez Jr. (1995). "Authority and Orality in the Mahāyāna" (PDF). Numen. 42 (1). Brill Academic: 21–47. doi:10.1163/1568527952598800. hdl:2027.42/43799. JSTOR 3270278. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 January 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
^Vansina, Jan (1971). "Once upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa". Daedalus. 100 (2). MIT Press: 442–468. JSTOR 20024011.
^Hama, Boubou; Ki-Zerbo, Joseph (1981). "The place of history in African society". General History of Africa: Volume 1. UNESCO Publishing.
^ abHenige, David (1988). "Oral, but Oral What? : The Nomenclatures of Orality and Their Implications". Oral Tradition. 3 (1–2): 229–238. hdl:10355/64090.
^Cite error: The named reference MacKay1999p1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Dundes, Alan, "Editor's Introduction" to The Theory of Oral Composition, John Miles Foley. Bloomington, IUP, 1988, pp. ix-xii
^"Oral History". Archived from the original on 20 August 2011.
^Ong, Walter, S.J., Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982 p 12
^Degh, Linda. American Folklore and the Mass Media. Bloomington: IUP, 1994, p. 31
^Folklore in the Oral Tradition, Fairytales, Fables and Folk-legend Archived 2016-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, Julie Carthy (1984), The Oral Tradition, Volume IV, Yale University, Quote: "Folklore is said to be in the oral tradition. Dundes states that the most common criterion for a definition of folklore is its means of transmission that is, orally. He clarifies however that materials other than folklore are also orally conveyed. Therefore oral transmission itself is not sufficient to distinguish folklore from non-folklore."
Oraltradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted...
Oral gospel traditions is the hypothetical first stage in the formation of the written gospels as information was passed by word of mouth. These oral...
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity National epic Oral poetry Oral history Oral Literature and Research Programme OraltraditionOral-formulaic...
developmental psychology Oraltradition, cultural material and tradition transmitted orally from one generation to another Oralism, the education of deaf...
civil claims and damages. According to Rabbinic Jewish tradition, the Oral Torah was passed down orally in an unbroken chain from generation to generation...
depended completely or partially on an oraltradition, across various cultures: The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European...
rich history of oraltradition in Africa - Right for Education". 4 July 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2023. "Importance of OralTradition in Nigeria's History"...
phrase "according to tradition", or "by tradition", usually means that whatever information follows is known only by oraltradition, but is not supported...
up. Oraltradition is cultural material and traditions transmitted by word of mouth through successive generations. Storytelling and oraltradition are...
architectural elements. Minangkabau culture has a long history of oraltraditions. One is the pidato adat (ceremonial orations) which are performed by...
"secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oraltraditions that are known as the Oral Torah. It is also the first major work of rabbinic literature...
subculture. This includes oraltraditions such as tales, myths, legends, proverbs, poems, jokes, and other oraltraditions. This also includes material...
study of oraltradition or traditional oral history due to the source receiving the information aurally. It is believed that the term oral history originates...
elaborate oraltradition, foreign to today's literate cultures, is typical of epic poetry in an exclusively oral culture. The crucial words here are "oral" and...
preserved orally through many generations often takes on a more narrative-based or mythological form over time, an example being the oraltraditions of the...
sagas include both incidental poetry and the biographies of poets. The oraltradition is the predecessor of essentially all other modern forms of communication...
telling of Hadza's oral history divides their past into four epochs, each inhabited by a different culture. According to this tradition, at the beginning...
composition. Rather, given the implications of the theory of oral-formulaic composition and oraltradition, the question concerns how the poem is to be understood...
tradition to their descendants in the form of songs, and sang it in their war chants and also told it during moonlit nights in story form. This oral tradition...
"Informed Controlled OralTradition and the Synoptic Gospels", Asia Journal of Theology [1991], 34–54. Compare Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy. Gottschalk...
ruler of the Mali Empire. In oraltradition and the Timbuktu Chronicles, Musa is further known as Kanku Musa. In Mandé tradition, it was common for one's...
tassels and roping in black, white and red variations. Today, the oral poetic tradition of the Jbala is known among outsiders under the generic term ayta...
Hawaiian) have been historically used as a method of communication, a tradition that is still observed in parts of modern life in Hawai'i. The Moche people...
phrase meaning time extending beyond the reach of memory, record, or tradition, indefinitely ancient, "ancient beyond memory or record". The phrase is...
most of the population. The study of orality is closely allied to the study of oraltradition. The term "orality" has been used in a variety of ways,...
Humanity as its first entries. UNESCO defines oral and intangible heritage as "the totality of tradition-based creations of a cultural community expressed...