What is oral tradition

While the differences among the many different cultural groups are great, there are commonalities as well among these orally based traditions. The following is a general overview of the Native American oral tradition which informs the works of contemporary Indian writers. Print Page. Report a problem. Login to LibApps. Oral traditions and expressions are used to pass on knowledge, cultural and social values and collective memory.

They play a crucial part in keeping cultures alive. Some types of oral expression are common and can be used by entire communities while others are limited to particular social groups, only men or women, perhaps, or only the elderly. In many societies, performing oral traditions is a highly specialized occupation and the community holds professional performers in the highest regard as guardians of collective memory. Such performers can be found in communities all over the world.

While poets and storytellers in non-Western societies such as the griots and dyelli from Africa are well known, there is also a rich oral tradition in Europe and North America. In Germany and the USA, for example, there are hundreds of professional storytellers. Because they are passed on by word of mouth, oral traditions and expressions often vary significantly in their telling. Stories are a combination — differing from genre to genre, from context to context and from performer to performer — of reproduction, improvisation and creation.

This combination makes them a vibrant and colourful form of expression, but also fragile, as their viability depends on an uninterrupted chain passing traditions from one generation of performers to the next. Although language underpins the intangible heritage of many communities, the protection and preservation of individual languages is beyond the scope of the Convention, though they are included in Article 2 as a means of transmitting intangible cultural heritage.

As an islander, there is always a sweet spot for your grandparents. Since the early s, uMama Gcina Mhlope has dedicated her life to encouraging young South Africans to read whilst preserving our history through the oral tradition of storytelling. Which of the following is an example of cultural knowledge that has been passed on through oral tradition? We've managed to survive, and I want to be a part of that tradition.

By tradition, the speaker of the House never participates in debates in the House and remains silent. The tradition has lasted ever since, being seen as a great natural hangover remedy throughout the world. AirAsia, on the other hand, is a relatively new carrier, an upstart in the tradition of Southwest Airlines in the United States. These oral inanities only served to make Lyn give me the benefit of a look of amused wonder.

But none of the orders given were more than oral, for the governor did not want them set on the records. In every colony the "starving time," even if it had ever existed, was now no more than an ancient tradition. Tradition alone preserves the memory of men and places across the ages and renders real to us what has long ceased to exist.

Oral evidence may be admitted to establish the location of monuments, and even hearsay evidence may be used for the purpose. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.