The primary distinction between folklore and oral literature is how the literature is documented and passed down from generation to generation. The former is written or documented, whereas the latter is transmitted orally. However there are many similarities between these types of documents that include similarities in content, style, and purpose.
Folklore is information preserved by individuals within a culture about their shared experiences of the world, such as myths, legends, jokes, anecdotes, proverbs, songs, etc. This information is usually not written down; instead it is remembered by its listeners or readers.
Oral tradition is the process by which stories are passed on from one generation to another by word of mouth. It may also be called "orality" or "the oral tradition."
Unlike folklore which is generally undocumented, oral tradition can be found written down in books, journals, and newspapers. These writings are often referred to as "oral histories" because they document the memories of living people rather than simply recording facts. Oral history can also be found in tapes, video films, or digital media such as MP3 files.
These narratives are often based on interviews with surviving family members or friends.
Oral literature, often known as folk literature, is literature that is said or sung rather than written, but much oral literature has been recorded. It comprises oral stories, folklore, and history passed down through generations. Oral tradition is the only way many people around the world can add new material to the story canon because writing was not common practice in ancient times.
In addition to being transmitted orally, oral literature requires physical preservation in some form for it to be able to be read or heard by future generations. This might be done explicitly by recording words or music on a medium such as paper or vinyl, or implicitly by storing copies of photos, drawings, and posters that represent the story elements.
Oral literature has had an enormous impact on how we think about storytelling across cultures. Because it can't be written down, it can't be controlled experimentally: there's no way to know if what's been passed down is accurate or not. But this lack of control makes oral literature unique -- unlike other forms of art or entertainment -- it can never be completely forgotten.
Furthermore, because it can't be written down, it can't be owned. Stories were told from one person to another, not sold to readers. This means that they lacked the protection of law, which only writing offers.
Folklore is often passed down orally rather than written down in literature (although sometimes people write down collections of folklore in order to preserve the stories of a particular community). This means that certain elements of folklore can become lost over time if there is no one available to tell the story from generation to generation.
People may choose to pass on folklore for various reasons. Sometimes it is done as a joke or in mockery of someone. Often times this is done to embarrass someone publically. There are many examples of this in football folklore. For example, it is said that Athletic Bilbao's nickname, "the White Lions", came about because during the Franco dictatorship years they would invite photographers from French newspaper Le Parisien to their games dressed up as lions (because they were based in Paris). At the end of the season, when they finished last and didn't qualify for the next season's top flight, they would laugh at the photographers outside the stadium and say "the white lions have no fur!".
Other times people may choose to pass on folklore to show off their intelligence or to get attention. For example, it is said that manager José Ángel Irazusta used to sing songs while he was training with Athletic Bilbao's youth teams so that everyone would listen to him play music.
The distinction between folklore and folktale as nouns is that folklore is the tales, traditions, and superstitions of a certain ethnic community, whereas a folktale is a tale or story that is part of a people's or a place's oral heritage. Folklore can be found in many cultures around the world; by contrast, only some countries have their own unique collection of folktales known as folk literature. The term "folktale" was first used by the German scholar Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 to describe the stories that they collected from various sources including children at home and at school. Their aim was to provide evidence for the existence of a common European tradition of storytelling which had been lost over time.
In modern times, the word "folklore" has been adopted by scholars to describe the body of knowledge about society's most important institutions (such as religion, politics, and economics) that is preserved in stories. This knowledge is often referred to as "tradition", but it is not necessarily transmitted from one generation to the next orally. Rather, it may be written down by individuals who are either members of these institutions or who seek to understand them by studying the words and actions of those who represent them within society. Examples of such writers include George Orwell, Albert Camus, and Richard Nixon.
Literature from precolonial times LITERATURE OF FOLK Oral History FOLKLORE: The term "folklore" literally means "lore" or "knowledge of the folk" or "people." It mostly related to oral information kept among the illiterate masses abroad, as well as the oral literature of all people, whether or not they had written knowledge. 1. Categorization of ethnic literature: 1. A distinction was made between national and foreign folklore. 2. Foreign folklore was further divided into European and Asiatic.
3. National folklore was classified according to the region where it was kept. 4. Foreign folklore was collected from travelers and immigrants and stored in libraries. 5. Folklore was also collected during mass gatherings such as fairs and festivals.
6. Prizes were offered for information on how to collect folklore. 7. Some collectors relied solely on word of mouth to gather material. Others used note-taking tools such as pen and paper to record stories they heard. Still others used symbolic currency such as dolls or pictures instead. 8. Ethnologists study the folklore of different cultures to learn more about them and their interactions with each other. 9. Folklorists attempt to document, classify, and analyze this material with the aim of preserving it for future generations.
10. Folktales are one type of folklore. They tell us about real people who lived in the past like Robin Hood, Jack Sparrow, and Peter Pan. But they also use symbols and myths that help us understand our world today.