Oral Traditions (Culture)

Nuuchahnulth grandparents, the naniiqsu, spoke in storied discourse when we lived with them. Cultural narrative was the logic with which they talked about living. Their terms of reference were their lives and doings as storywork. The bits and pieces of Nuuchahnulth stories about here or there in the territory were continuously part of their meaning making with us when I was a young parent. Of course, we needed to know the time of day, how to do laundry and fish and berries and the other instrumental knowings in the bicultural demands of reserve life. But…the narrative frame in which we lived was and continues to be storied with survivance stories. In the presentation, I will share a storywork framework based in research with Elders and how they worked stories, “as far as I know”.

This paper offers an introduction to 'multiforms' as associated systems of verbal elements that develop in the memory of an individual and are used in text production. It examines these in the highly conservative kalevalaic mythological poetry of Finns and Karelians, where such multiforms become are sufficiently conservative in social circulation that they can become referentially meaningful. This paper looks briefly at general variation in production, variation by dialect, variation by situation and also the meaningful application of kalevalaic epic multiforms in exceptional contexts to produce new meanings

This paper presents some of the same information in the Finnish language "Multiformit kalevalamittaisessa epiikassa" (2010), but it presents a more general introduction to the poetic system and does not open formal typologies of multiforms in this poetic system.

This thesis examines Hip Hop as a genre of oral literature. To begin this study, I examine a wide range of scholarship on orality, including what is considered the canonical work, Orality and Literature, by Walter Ong. This theorist’s conclusion draws a binary opposition between orality and writing. Hip Hop music encourages a broader definition of orality that approaches what African author Ngugi wa Thiong’o calls orature. I use Hip Hop to push back on Ong’s conclusions, and demonstrate how orality and writing can coexist in a culture. I found that there were three categories of Hip Hop songs that demonstrated the link between orality and writing. First, there are two types of Hip Hop songs that that form an intertextual relation with other songs through sampling. The first kind features a DJ that samples words and phrases to make it appear as if they are speaking over the beat. The second kind, reinterprets what the original speaker’s message was by sampling their music in a new song. Second, there is a group of Hip Hop songs that feature unique vocal styles that demonstrate how the artist intends to give an oral performance, even though they wrote the lyrics before performing them. Through these examples, my thesis examines how Hip Hop acts as orature, and broadens the definition of orality. Third, there are certain Hip Hop songs that play off of the traditional storytelling form of Western culture, demonstrating how oral culture can influence written and oral styles of storytelling.

Диссертация посвящена изучению народной традиции толкования сновидений в восточнославянской культуре. Основной материал исследования – рассказы о вещих снах, записанные автором в Полтавской области (2012–2018 гг.). Целью работы является выявление механизмов интерпретации сновидений, которые не отражены (или отражены слабо) в традиционных правилах толкования снов («устных сонниках»). Для этого описываются устойчивые нарративные схемы, характерные для рассказов о сновидениях, имеющих сходную логику интерпретации. Анализируя тексты, можно заключить, что сновидец обладает достаточно большой свободой при толковании сна. На осмысление сюжета сновидения влияют эмоционально-чувственная составляющая сновидческого опыта, индивидуальные ассоциации сновидца, а также контекст, в котором рассказывается и интерпретируется сон. Однако, несмотря на уникальность сновидений и обстоятельств, в рамках которых они получают интерпретацию, толкования снов отнюдь не произвольны и подчиняются закрепленным в традиции моделям, которые подробно рассмотрены в работе. Данные модели выводятся при анализе развернутых рассказов о снах, их невозможно выявить на материале толковательных текстов «если снится X – будет Y». Инвариантные структуры нарративов о вещих сновидениях коррелируют не столько c формулами «устного сонника», сколько с моделями, лежащими в основе фольклорных текстов других жанров (загадки, сказки, былички и др.).

Visual Poetry: Key Historic Figures from Flanders in an International Context

This paper compares historiographic and object-related definitions of visual and concrete poetry. An integrated definition is proposed, situating visual poetry in a semiosphere between fine arts, music and literature where verbal and non-verbal elements form a spatial-semiotic unity. Each element is a bearer and a signifier of meaning on its own, and in combination with the others. The work can only be reproduced via multimedia techniques, while an oral performance will never be its true representation. Finally, the materials, techniques and methods used provide the possibility to date the work and to recognize or identify its maker. This definition is then deconstructed and its separate elements are studied in detail. Methods from literature, art and communication sciences, and experimental/Gestalt psychology are combined in a new toolbox and research methodology, which are then used to analyse five visual poems from different generations from the beginning of the twentieth century till now.

Key words: visual poetry, concrete poetry, semiotics, poesia visiva, vispo, asemic writing, glitch art, poetry, fine arts, music, oral tradition, noise, sound, experimental poetry, avant-garde, Paul van Ostaijen, Paul de Vree, Renaat Ramon, Luc Fierens, Helen White

We explore about fifty Australian Aboriginal accounts of lunar and solar eclipses to determine how Aboriginal groups understood this phenomenon. We summarise the literature on Aboriginal references to eclipses, showing that many Aboriginal groups viewed eclipses negatively, frequently associating them with bad omens, evil magic, disease, blood and death. In many communities, Elders or medicine men were believed to have the ability to control or avert eclipses by magical means, solidifying their role as provider and protector within the community. We also show that many Aboriginal groups understood the motions of the sun-earth-moon system, the connection between the lunar phases and tides, and acknowledged that solar eclipses were caused by the moon blocking the sun.

Scrutinizes a short Latin poem written in the first quarter of the eleventh century, and refutes Alan Dundes's dismissal of literary evidence and to underscore the pertinence of studying medieval literature in coming to grips with that beautiful and elusive phenomenon to which English-speakers give the name `fairy tale.' Egbert of Liege's `De puella a lupellis seruata'; The medieval background of `Little Red Riding Hood.'

Antonio Preciado: entre la ciudad letrada y las memorias ancestrales
Resumen
Este artículo indaga las tensiones entre la obra del poeta ecuatoriano Antonio Preciado, frente a ciertas categorizaciones en el análisis y la producción literaria de los hijos de la diáspora. El análisis persigue un posicionamiento para desarrollar herramientas teóricas orientadas en los procesos de descolonización de la interpretación literaria y de los saberes, cuyo valor tras- ciende lo particular y la estereotipación sobre lo “Afro”. Intenta, también, hacer una lectura que compare distintos posicionamientos históricos y teóricos, que permitan dialogar con la produc- ción poética de Preciado, en su negociación y entendimiento del ejercicio literario.
Palabras claves
Poesía, decolonialidad, canon literario.
Antonio Preciado: between the literate city and ancestral memories
Abstract
This article delves in the tensions in the work of the Ecuadorian poet Antonio Preciado facing certain categorizations in the analysis and the literary production of the children of the diaspora. The analysis pursues a position to develop guided theoretical tools in the processes of decoloni- zation of the literary interpretation and of knowledge, whose value transcend the particular and the stereotyping of the “Afro”. It also tries to make a reading that compares different historical and theoretical positions, allowing a dialogue with the poetic production of Preciado, in his nego- tiation and understanding of the literary exercise.
Keywords
Poetry, decoloniality, literary canon.
Antonio Preciado: entre la cité lettrée et les souvenirs ancestraux
Résumé
Cet article se penche sur les tensions dans le travail du poète équatorien Antonio Preciado face à certaines catégorisations dans l’analyse et la production littéraire des enfants de la diaspora. L’analyse poursuit une position pour développer des outils théoriques guidés dans les processus de décolonisation de l’interprétation littéraire et de la connaissance, dont la valeur transcende le particulier et le stéréotype de « l’afro ». Il essaie aussi de faire une lecture qui compare diffé- rentes positions historiques et théoriques, permettant un dialogue avec la production poétique de Preciado, dans sa négociation et sa compréhension de l›exercice littéraire.
Mots clés
Poésie, décolonialité, canon littéraire.
Antonio Preciado: entre a cidade literata e as memórias ancestrales
Resumo
Este artigo aprofunda as tensões no trabalho do poeta equatoriano Antonio Preciado enfrentando certas categorizações na análise e na produção literária dos filhos da diáspora. A análise persegue uma posição para desenvolver ferramentas teóricas guiadas nos processos de descolonização da interpretação literária e do conhecimento, cujo valor transcende o particular e o estereótipo do “Afro”. Também tenta fazer uma leitura que compara diferentes posições históricas e teóricas, permitindo um diálogo com a produção poética de Preciado, na sua negociação e compreensão do exercício literário.
212 // CALLE14 // volumen 13, número 23 // enero - junio de 2018
Palavras-chave
Poesia, descolonialidade, cânone literário.
Antonio Preciado, sug alpa luar suti puglu letrada i iuiaikuna antiwamandakaska
Maillallachiska:
Kai kilkaikunapi tapurimi sug runa ecuatoriano Antonio Peciado, chasa kawachhirispa i iuiarispa imasami mirarka kai tsabajukuna sug wambra suti diáspora. Chasaiatata iuiarimi imasami Tukui herramienta rurarirka i kai imasami sug kilkaskapi iachariska sapaia kagta sug “ianakuna” chasami kaiari rurangapa sug vircial kilkaskata antiwamanda i parlarimi kai sirsialkunamanda kai suti runa preciadomanda chasa mana nigpika i allilla kaskata ruraska kai imasami sug iura pangapi kilkaska.
Rimangapa Ministidukuna:
Virsiai, mana kai alpa kaskamanda, canon kilkaska.

This article concerns the well-known case of storytelling brothers Neil and Duncan MacDonald from South Uist, Scotland. The impressive verbal consistency of their hero tales has been taken to indicate that some Gaelic storytellers could acquire, recite, and transmit their repertoire in a near verbatim fashion. However, by deploying plagiarism detection techniques across an electronic corpus of texts, the author reveals that previous observations about the brothers’ verbal conservativeness have been skewed by corrupt evidence.

The discussion of Uralic theonyms in this 2012 conference paper have been significantlu developed and discussed in more detail in "Language and Mythology" (2017): https://www.academia.edu/35369652/Language_and_Mythology_Semantic_Correlation_and_Disambiguation_of_Gods_as_Iconic_Signs

The discussion of internal developments in Finnic mythology are discussed with emphasis on the epic Sampo-Cycle in "Confluence, Continuity and Change in the Evolution of Mythology" (2012): https://www.academia.edu/3687105/Confluence_Continuity_and_Change_in_the_Evolution_of_Mythology_The_Case_of_the_Finno-Karelian_Sampo-Cycle
and with emphasis on the role of the ritual specialist in "Shamans, Christians and Things in between":
https://www.academia.edu/4049431/Shamans_Christians_and_Things_in_between_From_Finnic_Germanic_Contacts_to_the_Conversion_of_Karelia

This study applies phylogenetic software to motifs connected with the Pleiades as identified in Yuri Berezkin’s database, The Analytical Catalogue of World Mythology and Folklore. The aim of analysis is to determine which, if any, of the analysed motifs are likely to have spread in conjunction with the earliest migrations out of Africa and to the Americas. The Pleiades analysis is compared to an analysis of Orion motifs.

Song and dance are a traditional means of strengthening culture and passing knowledge to successive generations in the Torres Strait of northeastern Australia. Dances incorporate a range of apparatuses to enhance the performance, such as dance machines (Zamiyakal) and headdresses (Dhari). The dances, songs, headdresses and dance machines work together to transfer important knowledge about subsistence survival, social structure, and cultural continuity. This paper explores how celestial phenomena inspire and inform music and dance.

Bilgelik, öncelikli olarak insanlığın tefekkür sonucu ürettiği düşüncelerin saklanıp yayılabilmesi sayesinde mümkün olmuştur. Çünkü her kültür, devraldığı kültürel mirasın kavramları ve ayrımları aracılığıyla dünyayı kavramış, bu mirasa yeni zenginlikler katarak onu bir sonraki nesile aktarmıştır. İnsanlık tarihinin büyük bir bölümünde bu kültürel mirasın üretim ve iletimi ise sözlü kültür yoluyla sağlanmıştır. Ancak yazılı kültürün yaygınlaşmasıyla beraber, özellikle bu kültürü erken dönemde benimsemiş toplumlar tarafından, bilgeliğin ölçütü giderek bu alanda verilen yazılı ürünlere indirgenmiş ve bunun dışındaki bilgelikler, eldeki mevcut kıstaslara uymadığından çoğunlukla göz ardı edilmiştir. Ancak dünya üzerinde birbirinden farklı onlarca kadim geleneğin ürettiği bilgelik, sınırlı birkaç kriter üzerinden değerlendirilemeyecek kadar geniş bir çeşitliliğe sahiptir. Dolayısıyla her kültürün bilgeliği, öncelikli olarak o kültürün kavramları, tartışmaları ve araçları yoluyla anlaşılmalıdır. Bu çalışmada, bu yüzden öncelikli olarak, Anadolu’nun bilgelik ile olan ilişkisini doğru saptamak amacıyla, bilgeliğin bu coğrafyada nasıl alımlandığı, hangi kavramlar ve ayrımlar üzerinden ne şekilde ifade edildiği üzerinde durulmuş, onun yeşerdiği sözlü kültürün özellikleri ortaya konularak bilgeliğin yaygınlıkla işlenip aktarıldığı bu mecra incelenmiştir. Daha sonra özellikle bilgece söz olan kelâmı üretip dillendiren ozanın ve onun şiirinin sözlü kültür açısından önemine değinilerek, Anadolu’daki ‘bilge ozan’ temsili üzerinde durulmuştur. Buradan hareketle Anadolu bilgeliğinde ozanlar ve onların müzik eşliğinde dillendirdiği kelâmların oluşturduğu geleneğin oynadığı merkezi rol gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. Son olarak bu bilgeliğin oluşturduğu ve beslendiği kültürel miras olarak ‘irfan’ kavramına değinilmiş ve bu kültürel mirasın ozanlar tarafından bir okul olarak ele alındığının göstergesi olan ‘mekteb-i irfan’ nitelendirmesi üzerinde durulmuştur.

This paper presents a case study on formula selection and variation in eddic poetry. It includes a general discussion of approaches to formulae in eddic poetry, problems with these, and offers a new model for addressing the relative fixity of formulaic expressions.  Although focused on Old Norse poetry, this discussion has a broad relevance to approaching other oral-poetic traditions through limited medieval sources or their relationships.

The paper analyzes the thirteen formulaic stanzas in Alvíssmál which ascribe poetic synonyms to different types of mythic being. The formula is approached through linguistics rather than directly from Oral-Formulaic Theory. Meter and alliteration are discussed as conditioning and determinant factors. The ‘alliterative rank’ of terms is correlated with their formulaic use to accomplish alliteration. An inclination to non-variation is demonstrated for the poem - i.e. variation in the use of formulae is avoided rather than tapping its potential.  The concentration on a single text takes this discussion into detail, including e.g. observing indicators of some form of interruption in the documentation process evident through changes in use of manuscript abbreviations correlated with peculiarities in formula use. Binary models of ‘improvization’–‘memorization’ are shown to be insufficient to describe actual variation. ‘Crystallization’ is proposed as an alternative. Comparison with stanzas quoted in Snorri Sturluson’s Edda suggest that a formula and its variable element were inclined to crystallize as a whole-line unit in memory, and that constraints of alliteration, semantics and syllabic rhythm within a line limited variation as a process of social negotiation in transmission. The hypothesis of whole-line crystallization is tested elsewhere in the eddic corpus, drawing examples from Vǫluspá, Skírnismál and Þrymskviða, where it offers an explanation for grammatical peculiarities or inconsistencies associated with repeating lines.

This paper examines the concept of the blason populaire in a corpus of Irish-language proverbial material covering the period 1858-1952. It will demonstrate that the focus of these blasons populaires is primarily regional, as opposed to national or ethnic, and, furthermore, that such proverbs are usually jocular, descriptive, and benign, rarely exhibiting ethnic or racial slurs. The study identifies and analyses the most salient stereotypical characterizations, and the proverbial forms in which they appear.

Descriptions of cosmic impacts and meteorite falls are found throughout Australian Aboriginal oral traditions. In some cases, these texts describe the impact event in detail, sometimes citing the location, suggesting that the events were witnessed. We explore whether cosmic impacts and meteorite falls may have been witnessed by Aboriginal Australians and incorporated into their oral traditions. We discuss the complications and bias in recording and analysing oral texts but suggest that these texts may be used both to locate new impact structures or meteorites and model observed impact events. We find that, while detailed Aboriginal descriptions of cosmic impacts are abundant in the literature, there is currently no physical evidence connecting these accounts to impact events currently known to Western science.

The myth or tale of the theft of the thunder-instrument from the thunder-god by his adversary (ATU 1148b) is encountered almost exclusively in the Circum-Baltic.  It is found in Germanic, Sámic, Finnic and Baltic cultures.  It is otherwise only encountered in one early Greek source of questionable cultural provenance.  This paper reviews the evidence of the tradition in different cultures, with a critical reassessment of the Germanic traditions, which have often been given priority.  ATU 1148b will be addressed as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon.  The paper approaches the distinct forms of ATU 1148b in each culture’s traditions in relation as reflecting socio-historical processes.  Emphasis is given to patterns of social use and how these are conditioned by relationships to other traditions and conceptions in each cultural milieu.  The evolution of the tradition into its various forms is considered the result of a long and dynamic process of interaction between cultures.  This development makes it unreasonable to attribute the Circum-Baltic traditions and forms exclusively to either Finno-Ugric or Indo-European traditions.  It is proposed that ATU 1148b is best approached as a Circum-Baltic phenomenon and representative of a Circum-Baltic mythology which is dependent on historical processes of linguistic-cultural interaction and exchange.  It is proposed that the concentration of ATU 1148b across diverse cultures in the Circum-Baltic is at least partially attributable to the maintenance of corresponding mythic narratives in adjacent cultures.  This explanation would find parallels in the persistence and form of genres (e.g. oral epic in Northern Europe) and stylistic priorities (e.g. alliteration in Northern Europe), which also appear to exhibit isoglosses related to cultural contact.

The thesis investigates the folk tradition of dream interpretation in the eastern Slavic culture. Essential materials for the research are narratives about prophetic dreams recorded by the author in the Poltava region (2012–2018 years). The work aims at describing the ways of dream interpretation, which are (almost) not reflected in the “oral dream books” (commentaries of informants accompanying the story about a prophetic dream, and other explanatory narratives). For this purpose, the author describes invariant narrative schemes that are common for narratives about prophetic dreams containing the similar logic of interpretation. Analyzing the texts, we can conclude that a dreamer has pretty much freedom in attributing interpretations to dreams. Interpretation of a dream plot depends on emotional and sensual components of dream experience, individual associations of a dreamer, and a context in which a dream is told and interpreted. In spite of the singularity of every dream and dreamer, the traditional interpretations of dream plots are not arbitrary: they come down to the models, which are revealed in the work. These invariant narrative structures (“interpretation models”) can be derived from the prophetic dream narratives, but not from brief formulae “if you see in the dream X, it predicts Y in reality”. The common structures of dream plots (which have similar “prophetic meaning”) correlate with the narrative schemas underlying the folklore texts of other genres (riddles, fairy tales, belief narratives and so on).

Edited by John Miles Foley, 1986  As scholars discover the extent to which oral composition and transmission lie behind such works as the Bible, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Anglo- Saxon Beowulf, the medieval Spanish Poem of the Cid, the Old French Song of Roland, the Middle English Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and many others, it has become crucial that we develop methods for reinterpreting these works. In this ground-breaking collection of essays, a group of eminent scholars, including Walter Ong and Albert Lord, takes up the challenge of reinterpreting these and other works in the light of what has lately been learned about their origins in oral tradition, pondering questions that are becoming increasingly important to the study of world literature. How do we “read” works of literature whose roots are firmly planted in oral tradition? What difference does a work’s orality make to its effective criticism, explanation, and study? By exploring these questions, the six essays included in this volume recapture essential meaning in our most cherished religious and literary works, looking at them in contexts that have been lost for centuries, reinvigorating the works with their original verbal energy. (This book was made available at the following website: https://www.pdfdrive.com/oral-tradition-in-literature-interpretation-in-context-d187560171.html)

In any society, communicative activities are organized into models of conduct that differentiate specific social practices from each other and enable people to communicate with each other in ways distinctive to those practices. The articles in this volume investigate a series of locale-specific models of communicative conduct, or registers of communication, through which persons organize their participation in varied social practices, including practices of politics, religion, schooling, migration, trade, media, verbal art, and ceremonial ritual. Drawing on research traditions on both sides of the Atlantic, the authors of these articles bring together insights from a variety of scholarly disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, folklore, literary studies, and philology. They describe register models associated with a great many forms of interpersonal behavior, and, through their own multi-year and multi-disciplinary collaborative efforts, bring register phenomena into focus as features of social life in the lived experience of people in societies around the world.

Of all the West African societies, the Kingdom of Benin is the one most mentioned in contemporary European literature. Since the end of the 15th century, a great deal of material about Benin has been supplied by sailors, traders, etc., returning to Europe. However, information on the Edo people before this date is very difficult to obtain, as there was no written record and the oral record is at best rather fragmentary. Thus, there is a shortage of information on the early days of the migration and settling down of the Edo in their present-day home. At the same time, a re-investigation of sources dealing with the early history of Benin showed that some information has not been fully exploited yet, although there remain gaps in our knowledge which may never be filled.

Çalışmanın konusunu Fahri Bilge’nin şu an Millî Kütüphane’nin İbni Sina Yazmaları bölümünde bulunan Yz. FB 430 Halk Bilim Derlemeleri, Yz. FB 513 Avsar Âdetleri ve Yz. FB 582 Avsar Boyunun Beyânındadır adlı defterlerindeki Halk Bilimi derlemelerinin okunması ve tasnifi oluşturmaktadır. Derlemelerin hepsi Fahri Bilge’ye aittir.
Çalısmada öncelikle Fahri Bilge ve onun derleyici kimliginden bahsedilmistir. Daha sonra ise Prof. Dr. Dursun Yıldırım’ın köy, kasaba, kent monografisi çalışma planından yararlanarak, Fahri Bilge’nin derlemeleri tasnif edilip incelenmiştir. Bu defterlerdeki derlemeler genel olarak Afşarlarla ilgilidir. Defterlerdeki konuşma ve şiirlerin transliterasyonu yapılmıştır.
Çalışmanın önemli yönlerinden bir diğeri de Fahri Bilge’nin yaptığı derlemeleri oldukça profesyonel bir şekilde ve derlemeleri geleneğin hâlen yaşatıldığı yerlerde yapmasıdır.
Metinlerin içinde Afşar sözlü tarihinin yer alması ise dikkat çekici noktalardan biridir.

"The oldest records indicate that the performance of poetry in Gaelic Ireland was normally accompanied by music, providing a point of continuity with past tradition while bolstering a sense of community in the present. Music would also offer, particularly for poets writing in English from the eighteenth century onwards, a perceived authenticity, a connection with an older tradition perceived as being untarnished by linguistic and cultural division.

While providing an innovative analysis of theoretical work in music and literary studies, this book examines how traditional Irish music, including the related song tradition (primarily in Irish), has influenced, and is apparent in, the work of Irish poets. While looking generally at where this influence is evident historically and in contemporary Irish poetry, this work focuses primarily on the work of six poets, three who write in English and three who write primarily in the Irish language: Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Heaney, Ciaran Carson, Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Cathal Ó Searcaigh."

The study discusses numerous variants of Serbian and South Slavic folk songs and legends about the hero who came late to the Kosovo Battle 1389 and died in a heroic way (Stefan Musich, Vasojevich, Radich etc.). Songs and legends are interconnected on thematic, structural and ideological plan, and they are analyzed as intratext in relation to intertext of the Kosovo legend as a whole. Legends outline topical identity of the belated hero, they refer to accounts of particular sites, they create realms of memory (les lieux de mémoire), or construct legendary familial ties with belated heroes who are proclaimed to be originators of a line of descent. Songs add different sorts of intertextual relations, connotations, allusions and poetic ornaments which enrich the meaning. Special attention is paid to elucidating various layers of tradition and their meaning, poetic devices, cultural and ideological functions.

Geçmişten günümüze bir gelenek içerisinde varlığını sürdüren anlatılar, insanlık bilincinin ortak mirası olarak kabul edilirler ve insanoğlunun iç dünyasından izler taşır. Bu izler anlatılarda birer motif olarak kendilerini belli eder. Motifler, yapıları gereği bir anlatının çatısını oluşturur. Onlar sayesinde anlatılar bir organizma gibi varlıklarını devam ettirir, yeni anlatıların yaratılmasında birinci dereceden etkin rol oynar. İnsanoğlunun yeryüzüne egemen olma sürecine paralel olarak anlatılar gitgide birbirine benzememeye başlamıştır. Her ne kadar bu anlatıların temaları farklı ve kahramanları çeşitli olsa bile motifler, anlatıcının anlatıyı oluşturmasında birer yapı taşı görevi üstlendiğinden her zaman aynı kalmayı başarır. İşte bu gibi nedenlerden dolayı bir anlatının iyi bir şekilde çözümlenebilmesi için en başta motiflerinin tespit edilmesi gerekir. Bir anlatının motiflerini tespit etmek bir halkbilimci için oldukça kolay bir iş sayılabilir. Ancak anlatılardaki motiflerin belirli bir kurama göre tespit edilmemesi daha sonraki çalışmalar için birtakım zorlukları beraberinde getirmektedir. Bu problemin farkına varan halkbilimci Stith Thompson, Motif-Index Of Folk-Literature (MIFL) isimli eserinde sistematik bir şekilde motifleri tasniflemek için oldukça kullanışlı bir metot geliştirmiştir. Bu eserde kullanılan metot birçok motif araştırıcısı tarafından kabul edilmiş ve daha sonrasında yapılan benzer çalışmalarda kullanılmıştır. Ancak bu metodu uygulama aşamasında araştırıcılar “motifleri metin içerisinde en uygun yerde pratik bir şekilde gösterme, bulunan yeni bir motifi MIFL’daki tematik sıraya göre yerleştirerek bu devasa motif atlasına katkıda bulunma, inceleme sonucunda tespit edilen motifleri kullanışlı bir şekilde anlatı sonunda verme ve çalışma sonunda dizinleme” gibi sorunlarla karşılaşabilmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, bu gibi problemlere çözüm getirmek ve MIFL’a yeni motifler ekleyerek yeni motiflerin de araştırmacılar tarafından görülebilir olması yolunu kolaylaştırmaktır. Çalışmada ilk önce Thompson tarafından geliştirilen, motifleri alfabetik sıraya göre 23 ana başlık altında tasnifleme ve bu tasnifi yaparken de genelden özele doğru motifleri bir sayısal düzen içerisinde kodlama metodunun temel çalışma ilkesi hakkında bilgi verilmiştir. Daha sonra eldeki verilerden hareketle metodun artıları ve eksileri üzerinde durulmuş, özellikle Türk anlatıları için bu metodun uygulanabilirlik durumu hakkında görüş bildirilmiş, bu metodun uygulanmasında karşılaşılan bazı sorunlara çözüm önerileri getirilmiştir. Öneriler, bir yönerge biçiminde 7 madde altında toplanmıştır: 1. Motiflerin anlatı içerisinde kullanıldıkları yerde MIFL’daki kod numaralarıyla gösterilmesi. 2. MIFL’da yer almayan bir motifin yeni bir motif olduğunun belirtilerek gösterilmesi. 3. MIFL esasında motif incelemesi yapılan anlatıda onda bulunmayan benzer motifleri tasniflemek için üst madde açılması. 4. Anlatıda birden fazla kullanılan motifin en belirgin şekilde geçtiği yerde gösterilmesi. 5. Anlatıda motiflerin durağan olarak isminin geçtiği yerde değil, özelliği gereği harekete geçtiği veya gücünü kullandığı yerde gösterilmesi. 6. Motif incelemesi yapılan anlatı veya anlatılar için dizin oluşturulması. 7. Dizin kısmında toplu olarak verilen motif bulgularının motif sıklık çalışmalarında kullanılması. Bu maddelerle ilgili bilgilerden sonra örnek değerlendirmeler her maddenin altında uygulamalı olarak gösterilmiştir. Çalışma sonunda da bu metodun uygulamasında önerilen düzenleme ve eklerin işleyişi, tam bir masal metni üzerinde gösterilerek uygulama yapılmıştır.

The narratives that exist in a tradition from the past to the present are regarded as the common heritage of human consciousness and carry traces from the inner world of human beings. These traces manifest themselves as motifs in narratives. Motifs make up the roof of a narrative by their nature. Thanks to them, narratives continue their existence as an organism and play an active role in the creation of new narratives. In parallel with the process of mankind's domination on earth, narratives have become increasingly unlike each other. Although the themes and heroes of these narratives are different, the motifs always remain the same as they serve as building block in the creation of the narrative by the narrator. Thus, the motifs of the narrative must first be determined in order to be able to analyze a narrative properly. Determining the motifs of a narrative can be a very easy task for a folklorist. However, the fact that the motifs in narratives are not determined according to a certain theory brings along some difficulties for later studies. Recognizing this problem, the folklorist Stith Thompson has developed a pretty useful method in his work titled Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (MIFL) in order to classify the motifs in a systematic way. The method, employed in this work, has been accepted by many motif researchers and has been used in similar studies done afterwards. However, in the implementation phase of this method, researchers may encounter some problems such as "showing the motifs in a practical way in the most appropriate place within the text, contributing to this huge motif atlas by placing the motifs in accordance with the thematic order in the MIFL, presenting the motifs identified as a result of the review adequately at the end of the narrative, and indexing them at the end of the study". The aim of this study is to find solutions to such problems and add new motifs to MIFL to facilitate the way that new motifs can be seen by the researchers. This study first introduces the basic working principle of the method developed by Thompson, which is used to classify motifs under 23 headings in alphabetical order and code them from general to specific in numerals. Then, on the basis of the available data, the pros and cons of the method were emphasized, an opinion was presented about the applicability of this method especially for the Turkish narratives, and solutions were proposed to some problems encountered in the implementation of this method. These suggestions are listed under 7 items in the form of a guideline: 1. Featuring motifs with their code numbers in MIFL, where they are used within the narrative. 2. Demonstrating that a motif not included in the MIFL is a new motif. 3. Opening an additional item to classify similar motifs not found in the narrative subject to MIFL based motif analysis. 4. Displaying the motifs used more than once in the narrative in the most appropriate place within the text. 5. Showing motifs where they act or use their power in the narrative rather than where they are stationarily mentioned. 6. Creating an index for the narrative or narratives subject to the motif analysis. 7. Using the motif findings presented in the index part collectively in motif frequency studies. After giving information on these items, the sample evaluations are demonstrated in practice under each item. At the end of the study, the proposed arrangement in the implementation of this method and the functioning of the additional motifs were shown on a full folktale text.

"This is one of the documents submitted for the author's habilitation qualification (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) in the field of humanities, which took place 29th June 2006 at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. He traces out his research career, beginning with fieldwork undertaken in Tuareg country from 1976 to 1990. He sets out to show how he increasingly came to view anthropology as a historical science, whose concepts, intimately linked with the scriptural context in which they arise, can not be transposed without distortion or isolated without simplification. This means that anthropologists, like other social science practitioners, can only work at a fairly low level of abstraction.
The author's current research, which is then described, consists first of all in the development of a general perspective on oral literature in connection with the process of writing. Within this framework, by means of a critical analysis of Milman Parry and Albert Lord, he considers the issue of Homeric authorship. He is also anxious to show how the themes of courtly poetry – whether it be of Tuareg, Arabian or Occitan origin – are closely connected to its conditions of production and reception. The author has also been concerned with first contacts between the Tuareg and the French."

This paper addresses variation in lexical semantics by oral-poetic register and genre, including semantic variation in formulaic language.  It reviews uses of the Old Norse term þurs (commonly translated 'ogre') in verse contexts, including runic inscriptions.  It argues that the semantics of this term varied in relation to the genre in which it was used, including uses with reference to mythological giants (jötnar) in mythological narratives, agents of illness in charms, and as a vague synonym for 'monster' in death-songs more like the prose narratives in which these appear.  It proposes that variation by genre includes genres embedded in narrative as speech acts, approaching these as 'registral irruptions' in mertical narrative.

It shows that, especially in the fornyrðislag meter, use of this term was highly formulaic and considers the question of whether it may have indexed excessive or inappropriate sexuality.

This article for the first time gauges traces of orality in the 13th- and 14th-century Frisian law texts with the help of Ong's nine features. Ample attention is also paid to riddles,  wise men, proverbial wisdom, remembrancers, performance, ritual, teaching the law, communal traditions, appealing to the past and identity.

1.Orality, Writing and History: The literature of the Bugis and Makasar of South Sulawesi (Introduction to Special Issue), by Stephen C. Druce

2.Christian Pelras and His Work, by Campbell Macknight

3.Orality and Writing among the Bugis (trans. Campbell Macknight), by Christian Pelras

4.The Media of Bugis Literature: A Coda to Pelras, by Campbell Macknight

5.Transmitting the past in South Sulawesi: The hikajat Sawitto and other Bugis and Makasar Historical Works, by Stephen C. Druce

6.Family Matters: Bugis Genealogies and their Contribution to Austronesian Studies, by Ian Caldwell and Kathryn Wellen

7.The Inside View on Makassar's Sixteenth to Seventeenth Century History: Changing Marital Alliances and Settlement Patterns, by David Bulbeck

8.The Pau-paunna Indale Patara: Sufism and the Bugis Adaption and Transformation of the hikayat Indra Putera, by Nurhayati Rahman

9.Narratives of Sexuality in Bugis and Makasar Manuscripts, by Muhlis Hadrawi

An article about Ketils saga hængs, Gríms saga loðinkinna, Örvar-Odds saga and Áns saga bogsveigis and their connections to one another in light of oral theory. It also argues that Áns saga bogsveigis is a genuine member of the group of sagas about the men of Hrafnista, and has not merely been superficially pulled in via intertextual references, as some have argued.

The eighteen articles of Approaching Methodology open broadly international and cross-disciplinary discussions on different aspects of methods and methodology. This volume brings many complementary perspectives on approaching and analyzing aspects of culture and cultural expression into dialogue, especially from fields of folklore studies, ethnology, philology, medieval studies, linguistics and semiotics. The introcuction will be valuable for students and young scholars who are trying to orient themselves amid the questions, challenges and potentials associated with methods and methodologies.


CONTENTS


Introduction 

Ulrika Wolf-Knuts:
The Omnipresent Method

Part I: Method in Practice

Frog (in collaboration with Pauliina Latvala)
Opening Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue: A Virtual Workshop on Methodology 

Espen Suenson:
Method and Fieldwork in a Hermeneutical Perspective 

Jill Bradley:
Building a Visual Vocabulary: The Methodology of ‘Reading’ Images in Context

Frog:
The Parallax Approach: Situating Traditions in Long-Term Perspective 

Sonja Peterson-Lewis:
The Ghost of Methodologies Past: untangling Methods, Methodologies, and Methodologists in Black Studies 
 
Part II: Constructing Data 

Francisco Martínez Ibarra:
Qualitative Research and the Study of Language Use and Attitudes

Venla Sykäri:
Dialogic Methodology and the Dialogic Space Created after an Interview

Erin Michelle Goeres:
Editing Skaldic Verse and the Problem of Prosimetra 

Dani Schrire:
Ethnographic Questionnaires: After Method, after Question 

Part III: Culturally Sensitive Reading         

Rebecca M. C. Fisher:
The Anglo-Saxon Charms: Texts in Context

Pauliina Latvala & Kirsi Laurén:
The Sensitive Interpretation of Emotions: Methodological Perspective on Studying Meanings in Oral History Texts 

Thelma Lazo-Flores:
Design Poiesis: An Inquiry on Outcomes in the Use of Method and Methodology 

Helen F. Leslie:
Younger Icelandic Manuscripts and Old Norse Studies 

Fjodor Uspenskij:
Ferocious Beast (óarga dýr) between North and East 

Part IV: Function, structure and statistics 

Emily Osborne:
Categorising Christ within an Age-öld Paradigm: The ‘kenning System’ and Shifting Cultural Referents 

Haukur Þorgeirsson:
Poetic Formulas in Late Medieval Icelandic Folk Poetry: The Case of Vambarljóð

Mathias Nordvig:
A Method for Analyzing World-Models in Scandinavian Mythology 

Vladimir Glukhov (†) & Natalia Glukhova:
A System of Techniques and Stratagems for Outlining a Traditional Ethnic Identity

The article deals with the most shadowy (though very significant) episode of the Benin Kingdom’s history. Scanty and unreliable sources still seem to give some reasons to suppose that the interregnum between two originally Ife dynasties saw a finally unsuccessful attempt of the pre-Bini first-settlers of the land, the Efa, to get rid of the Bini's dominance by abolishing the institution of monarchy. This attempt was the outcome of an explosion of the populace's political traditionalism combined with the titled chiefs’ political reaction.