Sunday, 27 April 2014

what are the genres of oral literature?



                                           TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
v Concept of Oral Literature.
MAIN BODY
v The meaning of Oral Literature, and the content of Oral literature Genres.
CONCLUSSION
REFERENCES



                            
Oral literature or folk literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken (oral) word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do. The Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu introduced the term orature in an attempt to avoid an oxymoron, but oral literature remains more common both in academic and popular writing. Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions-such as folk epics, folklore, proverbs and folksong-that effectively constitute an oral literature. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such as folklorists and paremiographers, the result is still often referred to as "oral literature". Literate societies may continue an oral tradition - particularly within the family or informal social structures. The telling of urban legends may be considered an example of oral literature. History of the oral literature concept is seen in societies with vigorous oral conveyance practices to be a general term inclusive of oral literature. Thus even where no phrase in local language which exactly translates "oral literature" is used, what constitutes "oral literature" as understood today is already understood to be part or all of the lore media with which a society conducts profound and common cultural affairs among its members, orally. In this sense, oral lore is an ancient practice and concept natural to the earliest storied communications and transmissions of bodies of knowledge and culture in verbal form near the dawn of language-based human societies, and 'oral literature' thus understood was putatively recognized in times prior to recordings of history in non-oral media including painting and writing. However, claims that oral literature is frequently memorized and passed down without any variation are not plausible. For example, the great oral Sundiata, the great oral epic from Mali is known to exist in three versions, including both prose and verse.
The Oral Literature genres include the follows;
Folklore, consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs included in the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It also includes the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. Folklore is the renderings of a culture which have been passed down orally from generation to generation. It includes stories of many kinds and other pertinent information regarding a culture-folk recipes and remedies. Folklore is relevant to children’s literature because the stories that were told as entertainments for adults in past centuries have been passed on to children. The study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics, and people who study folklore are sometimes referred to as "folklorists". Folklore can be divide into four areas of study: artifacts (such as voodoo dolls), describable and transmissible entity (oral tradition), culture, behavior (rituals). "Folktales" is a general term for different varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. Even the forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture, and comparative studies of themes and narrative ways have been successful in showing these relationships. Also it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody. On the other hand, folklore can be used to accurately describe a figurative narrative, which has no sacred or religious content.
Myths are the stories of a culture that attempt to explain the natural world including that of human behavior. These are serious stories which cultures create to answer questions such as why does the sun move across the sky every day? There are nature myths, creation myths and hero myths that appear in books for children. An example of a nature myth is the Greek story of Demeter and Persephone which explains the occurrence of the four seasons.
Poetry, is a form of literary art which uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of  language-such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre-to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotle's Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on features such as repetition, verse form and rhyme, and emphasized the aesthetics which distinguish poetry from more objectively-informative, prosaic forms of writing. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, or to evoke emotive responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of speech such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images-a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to particular cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes.
A fable, is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized (given human qualities such as verbal communication), and that illustrates or leads to an interpretation of a moral lesson (a "moral"), which may at the end be added explicitly in a pithy maxim. Fables, these are short, didactic stories which typically use animals to portray human behavior. They usually include a stated moral.  A fable differs from a parable in that the latter excludes animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as actors that assume speech and other powers of humankind. Usage has not always been so clearly distinguished. In the King James Version of the New Testament, was rendered by the translators as "fable" in First and Second Timothy, in Titus and in First Peter.  A person who writes fables is a fabulist.
A saying is any concisely written or spoken linguistic expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning. There are a number of specific types of sayings: Aphorism, a saying that contains a general, observational truth; "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth". Adage, proverb, or saw, a widely-known or popular aphorism that has gained its credibility by virtue of long use, Apophthegm, an edgy, more cynical aphorism; such as, 'Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children, Cliche or bromide, an unoriginal and overused saying, Platitude, a cliche unsuccessfully presented as though it were truly meaningful, original, or effective, Epigram, a clever and often poetic written saying that comments on a particular person, idea, or thing, Epitaph, a saying in honor of a dead person, often engraved on a headstone or plaque, Epithet, descriptive word or saying already widely associated with a particular person, idea, or thing, Idiom, a non-literal saying; an expression whose meaning can't be derived simply by hearing it, such as 'Kick the bucket, Mantra – A religious, mystical, or other spiritual saying that is repeated over and over, for example, in meditation, Maxim or gnome, a instructional saying about a general principle or rule for behavior; or, simply, an aphorism, Motto, a saying used frequently by an individual person or group to concisely state their general outlook or intentions, Quip, a clever or funny saying based on an observation and Witticism, saying that is clever, and also usually funny, notable for its form or style just as much as (or more than) it’s content.
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundra, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. For example my house is very small but lives large number of people( means match box), I left my smooth and nice stick on the footpath( means A snake) and my son cries whenever he eats( means a radio).
A proverb, is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. For example stiff water runs deep, a friend indeed is a friend in need, and better let than never.
This oral literature may include terminologies and taxonomies like myth, legend, lyric, poem, folklore, fables, poetry, orature, orality, proverbs, riddles, idioms and songs which have functions like skills development, social control, explanations, entertainment, educating and language development.










REFERENCES
Finnegan, R. (2012). Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: the technologizing of the word. New York: Methuen
                 Press.
Vans, J. ( 1961), Oral Tradition. A Study in Historical Methodology. Chicago and London:
Aldine and Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Vansina, J. (1978). Oral Tradition, Oral History: Achievements and Perspectives. Milan:
                    Franco Angeli.



                                               

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