Oral Transmission

Project leader: Louis Grijp

Research staff: Theo Meder, Martine de Bruin, Maarten van der Peet, Ellen van der Grijn, Marianne van Zuijlen

Finance: Meertens Institute

Short description:

In the process of oral transmission of both folksongs and folktales some elements change while others remain stable. This research project deals with the question which elements are prone to variation and which are stable. Another question is why descendants of an original tune or tale are still recognizable. Both structural and cognitive elements might explain the nature of variability and recognizability within variation.