Word as Medium of Tradition. Essay on Theory of Orality

Abstract

Word as Medium of Tradition. Essay on Theory of Orality
The goal of the paper is to outline the concept of word as medium of intergenerational transfer of tradition in cultures of primary orality as formulated in the theory of orality since the 1960s. According to the classic anthropological approach, it emphasizes the orientation on tradition and stability of oral cultures. It also focuses on mechanisms of preserving fidelity and persistence of cultural patterns in the utterances/messages despite the lack of the written form. The basic mechanism here is to grasp messages in the form of epic poetry. Information (technical instruction and moral norms) is depicted in the narrative context, that is, descriptions of heroes’ activities as only by that the listeners’ emotions and – consequently – actions were stimulated. Combining poetry with music, singing, gestures and dancing were also used as mnemotechnical tools – messages affected listeners by rhyme, rhythm, and melody. On the verbal level, shaping messages according to mnemotechnical mechanisms have led to the origins of preservative language (elevated speech) that differed from flexible language used for everyday communication. Its main constitutive trait was dominance of formulas (formulative style) aimed at preserving those messages from critical analysis and being reshaped by the recipients. On the structural level of stories, formulas’ equivalent were typescenes and story-patterns. They were used to secure high fidelity of several performances (repetitions) of particular pieces. Other inherent traits of oral messages are: paratactic composition, redundancy, and Homeric epithets for descriptions of heroes.