Orality-Literacy Studies

Resumo Llamamos escritura popular, ordinaria o cotidiana a las cartas, diarios, memorias, cuadernos y todo testimonio personal escrito al margen de la alta cultura y la oficialidad. La atención que estos materiales han merecido por parte de los investigadores no es nueva, si bien desde los años ochenta del siglo pasado ha experimentado un crecimiento exponencial. Han sido sobre todo las ciencias sociales las que han capitalizado el interés por estos documentos-convertidos en fuentes excepcionales para una investigación más atenta a los sujetos-, aunque los estudios literarios y lingüísticos, entre las humanidades, no han permanecido ajenos a su atractivo. Así, los teóricos de la literatura vienen mostrando un renovado interés por la escritura autobiográfica, y ya no sólo la producida por escritores afamados, sino también por la de personas desconocidas, alejadas de los circuitos de la edición comercial. Y no pocos lingüistas han dado un giro a sus estudios "regresando" a la escritura, en cierta forma maldita desde la constitución como ciencia de la lingüística moderna. La tarea investigadora promovida por el Archivo de la Escritura Popular se ha desplegado en estos años siguiendo fundamentalmente estas líneas: 1. Teórica y metodológica: Con planteamientos que parten de la cultura escrita como práctica, antropología de la escritura, políticas de conservación y divulgación, criterios de edición… se han elaborado y publicado distintos trabajos. En la actualidad se está profundizando en esta línea incorporando las aportaciones de la semiología y la lingüística, concretamente la pragmática de la lengua escrita. 2. Historia social de la cultura escrita: En este marco disciplinar se han realizado someros acercamientos a documentos depositados en el AEP, especialmente la correspondencia. Con el apoyo de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia se han iniciado investigaciones en el ámbito de la emigración a partir de los testimonios recabados en los premios de memorialismo, estando pendiente aún abordar un estudio de conjunto de los mismos. Otro de los proyectos en marcha, subvencionado por el Instituto de Estudios Zamoranos, se centra en las autobiografías de trabajadores. 3. Etnográfica: Tomando como base la documentación que forma una de las secciones más nutridas del AEP, que incluye poemas, refranes, relaciones de costumbres, parodias, villancicos, etc., se está comenzando el estudio del sustrato escrito de la tradición oral.

The article aims at analysing the art of storytelling of eight personal anecdotes selected from the Chisiamo corpus of the University of Trento. The selection involves a restricted corpus of only students with perfect gender parity, four of whom are Italian L1 speakers and four international students who speak Italian L2. The narrated anecdotes are studied from an ethnolinguistic and cognitive perspective, within the framework of oral narrative analysis of personal experiences (oral narrative analysis) and conversation analysis (conversational analysis).

The revitalization of the Lakota language is hindered by the absence of a universally accepted orthographic standard. This thesis investigates how non-standard orthographies influence Lakota language acquisition, cultural preservation, and educational practices. Guided by qualitative methodologies, this research explores the diverse orthographies used within the Lakota-speaking community and their impacts on learners, educators, and cultural authenticity. Data were collected through surveys and interviews with students, educators, and community members, focusing on their experiences and perceptions of orthographic systems. Analysis revealed key themes, including the challenges posed by inconsistent orthographies, the cultural tensions arising from orthographic choices, and the need for systems that balance phonetic accuracy with cultural sensitivity. Findings indicate that while orthographic diversity reflects the community's linguistic heritage, it often complicates learning and teaching efforts. This study concludes that sustainable language revitalization requires a dual approach: adopting standardized orthographies to support literacy and educational consistency while respecting traditional oral practices and cultural values. Recommendations include developing flexible orthographic systems that cater to diverse learners, promoting community-led initiatives, and integrating technological resources to bridge gaps between tradition and modernity.

Bible translation into indigenous languages has a wider social impact beyond its religious significance for Christian communities. This article discusses how traditional written Bible translation projects can impact the social situation of their contexts in terms of literacy and education and the preservation of cultural identity. In some instances, Bible translation endeavours to even work toward preserving languages themselves. Oral Bible translation will be considered a viable methodology for Bible translation that can have a wide social impact beyond its religious significance. Indeed, in predominantly oral contexts, oral Bible translation can empower communities in ways that traditional written Bible translations cannot. Oral Bible translation will be shown to empower communities, by preserving cultural identity through the presentation of examples from a Mozambican oral Bible translation project that preserves knowledge of the traditional numbering system of the indigenous language in its translation. By demonstrating how oral Bible translation can contribute to language preservation and community empowerment, this article also offers valuable insights for stakeholders engaged in language planning and minority language advocacy.

Cette étude stylistique explore les romans Maeva et Les nuages du passé de Fatou Fanny-Cissé, en analysant les techniques à travers le cadre théorique du féminisme et du postcolonialisme. L'objectif est de démontrer comment l'écrivain utilise les proverbes pour répondre aux préoccupations stylistiques et révéler sa conscience artistique. Les romans de Fatou Fanny-Cissé sont des exemples rares de la littérature francophone contemporaine qui abordent des sujets actuels dans un contexte marqué par le manque d'originalité et l'influence de comportements ailleurs. Cette étude se concentre sur l'identification de la représentation des proverbes et des techniques narratives spécifiques, telles que le flux de conscience et la narration peu fiable, pour dévoiler les couches de sens imbriquées dans les textes. L'analyse nous révèle comment la langue, la structure et la voix narrative se conjuguent pour créer une expérience de lecture riche et stimulante. Cette étude contribue à la compréhension de la littérature francophone contemporaine et à mettre en évidence l'importance de l'analyse stylistique pour apprécier la vision artistique de cette écrivaine ivoirienne. En fin, cette étude met en lumière la prouesse artistique de Fatou Fanny-Cissé, explorant comment elle utilise les proverbes pour sensibiliser les jeunes et décourager les comportements indésirables dans les sociétés africaines, promouvant ainsi un avenir prometteur pour les jeunes Africains grâce à son approche stylistique distinctive.

Enchiridion militis christiani by Desiderius Erasmus and Its Universe: Cultural Reflections on the Domański-Marcel Edition The article discusses the Enchiridion by Erasmus, its past and present audiences, and the symbolic universe through which it has been interpreted. Among its readers, Juliusz Domański and Raymond Marcel are given prominence. Both exemplify a generation that pioneered contemporary Erasmus studies during the 1960s and 1970s, characterised by scientific rigour and distinctive features. Their latest Polish edition of the Handbook (2025) opens a new chapter in the history of Enchiridion's interpretation. Rather than simply providing Erasmus's text with routine annotations, Domański and Marcel offer a specific and rather one-sided interpretative framework. Thus, it requires substantial additions. The article returns then to old but never settled questions about Erasmus' intellectual and religious identity, and the significance of the Enchiridion within his body of work and the history of Western Christianity. In both cases, the fixed categories of the Renaissance and the Reformation fail to provide adequate answers. The Enchiridion's relationship with Mediterranean culture runs deeper than the humanist movement and Neoplatonism; its metaphilosophical paths intersect with medieval scholasticism in surprising places, while its involvement in the crisis of Western Christianity reveals a multi-sensory dimension of early-modern culture that has been somewhat neglected until now.

L’articolo discute la definizione di protagonista femminile nella fiabistica
italiana a partire dalle Fiabe italiane di Calvino, prima raccolta completa di
fiabe in italiano. Negli studi sulla fiaba, ancora oggi influenzati da Propp e da Aarne - Thompson, il ruolo dei personaggi femminili è stato poco considerato: per Propp l’eroe ha un profilo unico, indipendente dal genere, e la figura femminile è ridotta a premio per le fatiche maschili. Tale schema non si adatta però alle fiabe con protagoniste, che richiedono inversioni o reinterpretazioni delle funzioni proppiane. Le Fiabe italiane, per la loro storia editoriale e il periodo in cui furono concepite, offrono un caso di studio privilegiato: il corpus di fiabe con protagonista femminile è ampio e variegato, e dall’analisi emerge un quadro complesso di motivi ricorrenti e attributi peculiari, utile a proporre una nuova lettura della protagonista nella fiaba italiana.

Why does Helen call herself “chilling,” “horrid,” and “dog-faced,” in situations where no one is blaming her? Why does Agamemnon accuse Odysseus of greed and enjoyment of wine without an apparent reason? Why do warriors in the Iliad exchange long lines of reciprocal accusations before fighting, instead of concentrating on the battle? Why is Paris called “archer” as an insult, while other characters of the Iliad are praised for their prowess with the bow? These long-standing issues can be solved only if seen as part of the larger question of what role insults play in Homer’s world.
This book concentrates on the various words that are used as insults in the two poems, with particular attention to the context in which they are used, not only in order to determine their individual meaning, but also to investigate the spoken and unspoken rules of Homeric society.
The result is a new portrait of the Homeric man (and woman), his values, his priorities, his sense of chivalry, as well as of the audience the poems were composed for and the society in which they lived.

Branje šaša i njegov oplet koji se primjenjuje na boci Maraschina za Zadar ima identitetski značaj koji je usporediv sa značajem paške čipke za grad Pag. Ipak, ova boca i rukotvorstvo koje ju oblikuje još nisu doživjeli pravo vrednovanje. Gotovo je nepoznato i to da se oplet izrađuje iskuljučivo od jedne vrste šaša koji se bere na prsotoru Baranje. Budući da je ova dogogodišnja tradicija počela gubiti svoj značaj i danas se ovakve ručno opletene boce izrađuju u skromnim serijama, osjetila sam potrebu obići živuće pletilje i berače šaša. Priča o istraživanju popraćena je odličnim fotografijama Marka Lorenza Blaslova i objavljena u časopisu Meridijani.

This study is based on the dynamics of Nigerian politics as portray in the two selected post-colonial works of Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie. The research considers the role of identity in the post-colonial era and narrows it down to the Nigerian Biafra civil war of 1967-1970. It sets out to reveal the problem of identity that was prevalent in Nigeria during the civil war and the state of Nigeria's politics during the period of the war. The study is based on different research materials such as internet sources, journals, textbooks and interviews. Achebe's book is the most accurate, recent and comprehensive prose that has discussed the past, present and the possible future of Nigerian politics. Adichie, though never experience the war, skillfully constructs a tragic story that depicts accurately the event of the civil war. The findings of this research is based on the fact that, if the political leaders of the country will be able to compromise their diverse identities and the ethnic groups in the country come together to believe in a common identity, then the strife and disagreement will be in its best minimum. Finally, conclusion are drawn on how to address the problems of national disunity and selfish politics in Nigeria.

Uno dei problemi che si trova ad affrontare chi vuole studiare le scritture d'avanguardia e ricerca, è la disponibilità dei testi. A maggior ragione nel caso della poesia performativa, per il cui studio è necessaria la presenza di supporti audiovisivi e la consapevolezza di essere al cospetto di un dispositivo in cui elementi diversi-linguistici, sonori, gestuali, visivi, ambientali-si integrano e si trasformano reciprocamente. Si tratta della rete di connessioni che comprende il rapporto performer-macchina-contesto esterno e il dialogo con altri autori, testi, tendenze. Ne deriva la necessità, per la critica che si occupa di queste poetiche, di lavorare non solo sui singoli autori e opere, ma sulla ricostruzione di mappature, genealogie, rapporti che indagano la relazione con le varie vicende dell'avanguardia attuale e del secolo scorso. Considerandola non un residuato cui guardare con nostalgia, magari sostituito da una generica propensione alla ricerca depurata dei tratti del conflitto tipici dell'avanguardia, ma ad una condizione permanente della produzione creativa in grado di sparire e ricomparire nei contesti più impensati, assumendo di volta in volta sembianze che riprendono linguaggi e soluzioni precedenti. Si pensi all'importanza del lettrismo per la poesia asemica, al Nouveau Roman e al language poetry americano degli anni '70 e '80 per gli attuali neo oggettuali italiani, al dadaismo e all'idea di arte totale per poeti come Spatola, Pignotti, Sarenco, Fontana. L'avanguardia non ha data di scadenza, in virtù del suo codice proteiforme e della necessità ancora avvertita di una contraddizione all'ordine delle lettere esistenti. Né si comprende la ragione per cui solo in letteratura ci si dovrebbe rassegnare al pensiero unico di una produzione normalizzata alle categorie del gradevole, declinato nel segno dell'ottimismo in poesia e di intrattenimento nel romanzo, mentre nelle arti visive la normalizzazione è ben lungi dal prevalere. Tutto ciò ci serve come premessa per parlare della conversazione 1 tra José 1 Culturas Sonoras: «Giovanni Fontana»; José Iges: selección de contenidos y presentación. Pedro López: edicción y producción. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNE49Uf6b4g, 22 novembre 2025.

The late medieval Icelandic romance Samsons saga fagra (‘The Saga of Samson the Fair’) is one of very few texts in which Old Norse myth openly meets Arthurian legend. Previous scholarship has identified the saga’s clear borrowings from the French fabliau Le mantel mautaillié (‘The Ill-Fitting Mantle’) via the fabliau’s Norse translation, Möttuls saga (‘The Saga of the Mantle’), primarily with regard to the chastity-testing mantle. What has escaped scholars’ notice so far, however, is the fact that Samsons saga does not simply borrow the Arthurian chastity mantle with minor adaptation. In addition to repurposing the mantle for a non-Arthurian setting and retaining its chastity-testing function while turning it into the object of a retrieval quest, Samsons saga also notably embeds the motif within the narrative context of a prominent Norse myth, namely the wedding-feast of Þrymr, best known from the eddic poem Þrymskviða (‘The Lay of Þrymr’), but also attested in the fifteenth-century set of rímur known as Þrymlur, whose composition was roughly contemporary with that of the saga. This chapter examines the fusion of these two traditions – the giant’s wedding-feast and the chastity-testing mantle – to explore how the thematic resonances and confluences between the mythological tale and the Arthurian motif allow for the combinative reappropriation of both within a romance context. In so doing, it provides insight into the understudied question of the influence of Norse myth on later medieval Icelandic romance.

This article explores the deep historical, political, and aesthetic affinities that Haitian intellectual Jacques Stephen Alexis maintained with Cuba and its prominent literary figures during the mid-20th century. By tracing the shared networks connecting Jacques Roumain, Alexis, Nicolás Guillén, and Alejo Carpentier, the study highlights how these cross-cultural Caribbean dynamics shaped Alexis's ideological outlook, Marxist commitments, and his specific literary formulation of magic realism (réalisme merveilleux).

This paper examines the digital environment through the history and theory of memory. Beginning from Merlin Donald’s account of mimetic, mythic, and theoretic culture, it considers digital media as a new form of external symbolic storage, rooted in earlier visions such as Vannevar Bush’s Memex. The paper then contrasts the memory practices of oral, literate, and electronic cultures through Walter Ong, Eric Havelock, Marshall McLuhan, and the medieval art of memory. Against both technological rationalism and electronic mythic immersion, it argues that digital media retrieve the ancient and medieval problem of recollection with new intensity. Because digital systems now store, associate, and return the contents of human thought and behavior, they force renewed attention to memory not merely as storage, but as an art of ordering the soul toward reality.

The present chapter retraces the continuous legal developments that connect the laws first formulated in the Hebrew Bible to the Prophet’s biblically oriented amendments to pagan Arabian law, as evidenced by the Qur'an. Perhaps surprisingly to many, these developments pass through the New Testament and Christian legal culture much more so than through the Jewish tradition as formulated in the Talmudic literatures of Palestine and Babylonia, and attention to this point is important for a proper understanding of Qur'anic law.