Oral Traditions as Memory Systems

这项研究通过对人类记忆的研究， 研究记忆中不变形或不改变的材料; 它问的是什么性质使这些刺激物具有稳定性。 这样的知识不仅会推进理论， 就如何准备要收回的材料提供指导更多 准确，特别是在书面记忆的情况下使用， 艾滋病不能使用。 这项研究将集中在口头传统， 在没有文字或其他外部帮助的情况下， 记忆辅助 例如，目前在海岸上唱的民谣 而在北卡罗来纳州的山区， 来自于民俗学家在不列颠群岛收集的民谣 几百年前 这项研究将测试那些 不通过写下来来保持他们传统的稳定性， 古人云：“君子之道，焉可诬也？有始有卒者，其惟圣人乎！ 记忆中的民谣，并通过口头传播。 的 歌手们并不是以一种死记硬背的单调乏味的方式来学习民谣， 而是利用一首好民谣的规则和限制来缓解 记忆负荷。 总之，这项研究将以一种 在自然环境中，它似乎在接近最佳的情况下工作， 时尚. 这项研究将采用几种方法。 一是分析 从现有的北卡罗来纳州收集民谣和民间故事 和以前的研究中收集到的数据进行比较， 诗歌和音乐上的限制。 这些 约束将被用来研究的位置和种类 在历史上以及在一个 单身歌手或讲故事的人。 该研究将调查 对每个人的整体记忆稳定性的贡献 约束，单独或与其他约束结合 约束 那些对这些知识知之甚少或一无所知的本科生， 传统将被要求学习几首民谣，看看他们的 学习的技巧随着经验而提高。 如此则 发展学习新的、高度结构化的 材料将进行研究。 这项研究将探讨由于 口头制作的材料与书面制作的材料相反，两者都是为了 其理论和实践意义。 本科生将 被要求解释一个复杂的情况，无论是在讲话或在 在各种条件下写作，研究将分析 在句法、词汇选择和整体组织上的差异 在这两种情况下。 生产差异造成的 生产模式已被证明是实质性的。 的 一个研究项目将开始研究这些机制 差异

This research approaches the study of human memory through the study of materials that are not distorted or changed in memory; it asks what properties afford these stimuli their stability. Such knowledge will not only advance theory, but will also provide guidance on how to prepare materials to be recalled more accurately, especially for use in situations where written memory aids cannot be used. The research will focus on oral traditions which have been handed down for generations without the aid of writing or other external memory aids. For instance, ballads currently sung on the coast and in the mountains of North Carolina differ only in minor ways from the ballads folklorists collected in the British Isles hundreds of years ago. This research will test singers who do not maintain the stability of their tradition by writing down the old ballads and referring to them; rather, these singers keep the ballads in memory and transmit them by word of mouth. The singers do not learn the ballads in a rote tedious fashion, but rather use the rules and limitations of a good ballad to ease their memory load. In sum, this research will study memory in a natural context where it appears to be working in a near-optimal fashion. The research will employ several methods. One is analysis of ballads and folktales from existing North Carolina collections and those collected in previous research in terms of the meaning, poetic, and musical constraints operating on the songs. These constraints will be used to study the location and kind of changes that occur over historical time as well as within a single singer or story teller. The research will investigate the contribution to the overall stability of memory of each constraint, taken individually or in combination with other constraints. Undergraduates who know little or nothing of the tradition will be asked to learn several ballads to see how their skills at learning imporve with experience. In this way, the development of expertise in learning new, highly structured material will be studied. The research will explore differences that are due to the material being produced orally as opposed to in writing, both for their theoretical and practical importance. Undergraduates will be asked to explain a complex situation either in speech or in writing under various conditions, and the research will analyze differences in the syntax, word choice, and overall organization in these two situations. Differences in production caused by the mode of production have been demonstrated to be substantial. The research project will begin to look at mechanisms for these differences.