Folklore and the analysis of folk discourse: cultural connotation and oral tradition in communicative events

• Main Author: Butler, Gary
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto 1984
• Subjects: Folklore; folk discourse; l'Anse-a-Canards; Fuller; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://twpl.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/twpl/article/view/6414

This paper examines the ways in which folklore and discourse analysis may be combined to yield a fuller understanding of the role of traditional knowledge in everyday conversation. It introduces the concept of 'folk discourse' and demonstrates how the technique of expansion (i.e. proceeding beyond what is actually said to discover what is actually meant) provides insight into the functions of folklore in non-performance contexts of social interaction. These points are illustrated with examples drawn from the author's field research in the French-Newfoundland community of L'Anse-à-Canards, Port-au-Port Peninsula.