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ORAL-FORMULAIC THEORY (overview (the common sense view (long tales/songs…

- - - - communal/spontaneous
      - inherited
        
        learn & remember
      - TN in terms of words - literary bias
    - - different parts in different ways
      - dialogue and cliches vary less
      - human memory is active, not passive
  - - - composer, length, performance
      - oral traditions before being transcribed
      - Parry
        
        parts repeated - repetitive and unecessary
        
        perfectly conform to hexameter
        
        building blocks indicate oral composition
  - - - epic song in yugoslavia
        
        recite over 10,000 lines fluently
        
        same epithets/stock phrases as homer
      - fluent & uninterrupted delivery
        
        this style necessary and suitable
    - - whole study of oral composition
- - - - beowolf, kalevalic, gaelic walking songs, african oral poetry
    - - indicated they're conventionalised
      - part of the register of linguistic storytelling
      - then can acquire different meanings
    - - give storyteller a rest
      - impress listeners with ornate language
      - activate associative knowledge
  - - - repeated invocation
        
        signifiers of context
        
        c.f. Morphological-Functional Theory
      - analyse purpose in narrative & in culture
    - - difficult to argue against
        
        applicability marked (Lamb - Gaidhealtachd)
        
        storytellers DO draw on common stock
        
        produce with impressive consistency
        
        learnt during enculturation
  - - - oral or literary focus?
      - grounded in poetry or prose?
      - how short, long, complex or simple 'must' it be?
    - - Finnegan - reality more complex than monolithic theory
      - also between individual composers in one tradition
      - difficulties in certain cultures
        
        Gaelic morphemes protean - don't fit into formulas easily
- - - - O'Nolan - preserve identity to be transferred
      - Davies - stereotyped forms of expression
    - - few scholars examine prose
        
        profoundly important (e.g. Gaelic runs)
      - Parry & Lord influential definition
        
        'meter'
    - - Wray - sequence of words/elements pre-fabricated and recounted
      - Lamb - research in other fields demonstrate formulaic language
        
        Parry & Lord effectively ignore prose
  - - - multiple authorship
    - - use them to create
      - simultaneously composes and perfoms