Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Bruce A. Rosenberg. "The Formula: New Directions?" Folklore Preprint Series (Indiana University), 6, iv:1-9.

Contends that the oral formula has been so variously defined that the concept has lost its comparative utility. Questions the automatic assumption of simultaneous performance and composition, citing exceptions to the Parry-Lord orthodoxy. Suggests a semiotic approach and attention to actual recorded oral performances, such as the folk-preaching described and analyzed in Rosenberg 1970a et seq.
Area: TH, FP, SC, CP