An Experiment in Oral Transmission

Description

Postgraduate study of the changes that occur in the process of the oral transmission of a shaggy-dog story, a children's joke, a contemporary legend, a local legend from Whitby and a ghost story. The five examples chosen were selected by the collector from a number of items collected over a two-month period in 1976. The experiment entailed the collector narrating the items to informants from three age groups (children, young adults, mature adults), who would in turn orally transmit their recall to their groups. From two to three weeks later, the collector asked the informants for a recall all of the items, recording the information in a field notebook or on audiotape. The main body of the study comprises transcriptions of these interviews (carried out in 1976), with analysis of the content by the collector. A concluding section offers thoughts on the success or otherwise of the experiment.

Metadata

Identifier cht9zf7t
IRN 409970
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/1/074
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/cht9zf7t
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Postgraduate Theses and Dissertations
Creator(s) Latham-Thorpe, Jane Elizabeth
Date 1976
Size and Medium 130 unbound typed leaves.

Related Records