An Experimental Review of the Knowledge System of Oral Literature Texts

This study examines whether oral literature can be considered as a knowledge system. In an oral society, oral literature not only serves a literary function but also serves as the only medium for accumulating and transmitting forms of traditional knowledge. However, after the invention of writing, the authority in literature and knowledge shifted to ‘writing’ and ‘the written’ and (individual creations rather than group transmissions; written records over oral records). Nevertheless, oral literature has continued to preserve the essence of the oral tradition. In this respect, the acceptance of the elite's literature and ideology, the ideology and morals of the ruling class', and oral text compositions can be understood in the context of oral tradition. Therefore, analyzing oral literature texts as knowledge and the diverse types of knowledge incorporated in their composition represents an academic attempt to comprehensively study oral literature. In relation to this, it seems possible to explain the knowledge system of oral literature texts from two perspectives. One is the text itself as traditional knowledge, which is related to the issue of how to interpret the traditional knowledge inherent in oral literature texts. Through this, it will be possible to systematize what ethical beliefs, religious beliefs, historical understanding, etc. the oral literature transmission group has. The other is traditional knowledge as a component within oral literature texts, and this is related to the question of how oral literature texts constitute various types of traditional knowledge. Through this, it will be possible to systematically explain how various types of knowledge, such as indigenous language knowledge, experiential knowledge, folk knowledge, religious knowledge, knowledge of elite literary culture, and knowledge as a dominant ideology, work to compose oral literature texts. In this way, examining oral literature from the perspective of a knowledge system can provide useful implications in delving into the essential properties and functions of oral literature.