oral culture
Knowledge through speech
A society or community that transmits knowledge, history, and traditions primarily through spoken word rather than written texts.
Stories, songs, rituals, and memorized formulas preserve collective memory across generations: Homer's epics emerged from an oral culture.
The term often contrasts with literate or print cultures, highlighting different ways of organizing thought and maintaining social bonds.
- mnemonic devicesTechniques aiding recall
- folktalesTraditional oral narratives
- speechOral communication ability
- recitationOral delivery from memory
- singingVocal music-making
tribal gatherings · memory aids · myths · rhetoric · griots · legends · chanting · mentorship · call-and-response · spoken word · collective identity · epics · parables · passing down · elder wisdom · tribal elders · laments · improvisation
- culturesmulticultural, underground, bohemian, intercultural, enculturation
- Dental Examsdental x-rays, bitewing, cavity check, dental probe, dental mirror
- McLuhanglobal village, tetrad, visual space, retrieval, obsolescence
oral, culture, orally, cultural, culturally, cultured, uncultured, cultures, acculturation