oral tradition

American  

noun

1. a community's cultural and historical traditions passed down by word of mouth or example from one generation to another without written instruction.

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Usage

What is oral tradition? Oral tradition is the cultural knowledge and information that has been passed down through speech from one generation to the next. Oral tradition can also refer to this mode of communication.Tradition means something that is handed down from generation to generation. Oral means transmitted by speech, and it is used in the term oral tradition to specifically distinguish information passed down through speech, song, or demonstration, as opposed to writing.Despite widespread literacy and modern electronic recordkeeping, oral tradition is still the most widely used form of communication in the world.

Example Sentences

Novels are long divorced from the oral tradition; few are designed to last beyond their reading.

From The Wall Street Journal

Our history was not preserved beyond oral tradition and written memory.

From Salon

In upholding the sanctity of the spoken word, Fugard took his place in the oral tradition of Homer.

From Los Angeles Times

Through previous projects, Armstrong became aware of oral traditions that told of how ancient humans cultivated beaked hazelnut.

From Science Daily

His community’s oral traditions record knowledge of such burning, tracing back to the first people who arrived in the region.

From Science Magazine