The aim of this monograph is an attempt to examine the relationship between collective memory and oral texts. The material basis for this presentation consists of folklore oral texts, both prosaic and poetic, different as regards their genres (fairy tales, fables, recollections, traditions, legends, proverbs, and songs) as well as texts that are fragments of spontaneous interviews. The monograph consists of five main parts devoted to the following themes: theoretical considerations, the relation between memory and language, text memory, genre memory, and the relation between memory and the folk artistic style.

Table of Contents:
Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 17 Part I: Theoretical issues I Collective memory: definitions, types, functions ................... 21 1 Memory: collective or social? .............................................................. 21 2 Collective memory: literal or metaphorical? ..................................... 23 3 Collective memory: a sum total of individual memories, or a supraindividual construct? ................................................................... 25 4 Memory vs. history: relational possibilities ....................................... 26 4.1 Memory versus history: disintegrating approaches ................... 27 4.2 Memory versus history: integrating approaches ........................ 32 5 Collective memory: definitions and attributes .................................. 35 6 Collective memory: typological attempts .......................................... 40 7 Collective memory: functions ............................................................. 54 II Cultural heritage – memory – texts of culture .......................... 57 1 Memory as a carrier vs. memory carriers: preliminary remarks ........ 57 2 UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage: definition and scope ............................................. 58 3 Cultural heritage as a building material of memory ......................... 59 4 Memory as a carrier of cultural heritage ............................................ 60 5 Text of culture as a manifestation of cultural heritage ..................... 63 5.1 Text of culture: what is it? ............................................................. 63 5.2 Text of culture: a survey of definitions ........................................ 64 5.3 Text of culture as a structure ........................................................ 65 5.4 Text of culture as a process ........................................................... 66 5.5 Linguistic (oral) text as a prototypical text of culture ............... 69 5.5.1 Texts of culture: an analogy to natural language ......... 72 5.5.2 Texts of culture as an amalgam of codes ....................... 72 5.5.3 Intersemiotic translation of texts of culture into natural language: selected issues .................................... 73 6 Cultural heritage ・ memory ・ texts of culture: research and analytical perspectives .......................................................................... 75 Part II: Memory in language – language-embedded III Memory depicted in linguistic metaphors .................................. 83 1 ‘Metaphor bridges reason and imagination’ ...................................... 83 2 Memory in linguistic metaphors: a state of research ........................ 85 3 Memory as a structure and a process: specific elaborations ............ 86 4 Is memory a language-like entity? ...................................................... 98 IV Proper names as carriers of collective memory ..................... 103 1 Cooking as language and memory .................................................... 104 2 Names of dishes as carriers of declarative memory ........................ 106 3 Functions of dish names ..................................................................... 113 Part III: Memory and text – text memory V Oral text structure as a reflection of memory structure ..... 119 1 Oral text vis-a-vis oral memory ......................................................... 119 2 Text as a memory aid: recalling a text from memory ..................... 123 3 Text as a memory mirror: textual ways of expressing memory .... 125 3.1 Text structure based on intertextual memory .......................... 127 3.1.1 Intertextual memory: procedural dimension ............. 127 3.1.2 Intertextual memory: the structural dimension ........ 130 3.2 Text structure based on associative memory (keywords) ...... 131 3.3 Text structure based on intertextuality-cum-association memory ......................................................................................... 139 VI Text variation as information about the collective memory functioning of a text ......................................................... 149 1 The double nature of a folklore text as collective memory information .......................................................................................... 149 2 Folklore text variation: from structure of a text to picture of an object ................................................................................................ 150 3 Morphological analysis as an examination of an oral text circulation in collective memory ....................................................... 154 4 Text in a social group’s memory: circulation of an oral text .......... 155 5 Folklorism: from cultural to intercultural memory or dialogue with tradition and traditional ways of apprehending folklore .................................................................................................. 174 VII Memory figures versus memory aspects in oral texts .......... 199 1 Memory figures in a research perspective ........................................ 199 2 Memory in a functional perspective ................................................. 200 2.1 Time ・ narration ・ memory ....................................................... 200 2.1.1 Time vis-a-vis order of discourse ................................. 202 2.1.2 Time vis-a-vis order of events ...................................... 205 2.1.2.1 Creating the world of a narrative ................ 211 2.1.2.2 Time in creating a protagonist .................... 213 2.2 Space ・ narrative ・ memory ....................................................... 216 2.2.1 Space vis-a-vis order of discourse ................................ 217 2.2.2 Space vis-a-vis order of events ..................................... 218 3 Reconstructivism as an objective aspect of memory ...................... 231 3.1 Mythological reconstructivism .................................................. 232 3.2 Belief-oriented reconstructivism ............................................... 244 3.3 Apocryphal reconstructivism ..................................................... 247 3.4 Historical reconstructivism ........................................................ 251 3.5 Family-personal reconstructivism ............................................. 259 3.6 Ritual reconstructivism ............................................................... 261 4 Subjective aspect of memory: reference to a social group ............. 270 4.1 The addresser of a text ................................................................. 270 4.2 The addressee ............................................................................... 294 5 Functions of memory figures ............................................................. 298 Part IV: Memory and text genre – genre memory and genre non-memory VIII Memory types versus genre differentiation in folklore texts ............................................................................................................. 305 1 Genres of collective memory and non-memory ............................. 305 2 Folklore genre as a factor of collective memory and non-memory ........................................................................................ 306 3 Memory as a criterion of typologising folklore genres: mnemonic typology of texts of folklore .............................. 309 3.1 The Criteria of folklore genre differentiation ........................... 309 3.2 The memorates-fabulates distinction versus mnemonic typology of folklore genres ......................................................... 312 3.3 Features of memory figures versus genre differentiation of folklore texts ............................................................................. 313 3.4 Traditional and modern folklore genres in a memory theory perspective ........................................................................ 314 4. Transformations of folklore text genres: from communicative to cultural memories ........................................................................... 322 Part V: Memory and linguistic style – style memory IX Memory as a distinguishing value of folk artistic style ....... 331 1 Collective memory style ..................................................................... 331 2 Folk artistic style in a folklorist perspective .................................... 332 3 Memory as a worldview category ...................................................... 333 3.1 Memory as a source of collectivity ............................................ 335 3.2 Memory as support of orality ..................................................... 337 4 Formula as a main exponent of memory ......................................... 338 5 Memory as a treasure of folklore, folklore as a narrative about memory ................................................................................................ 340 Bibliography ....................................................................................................... 343 Sources .................................................................................................................. 367 List of Diagrams ............................................................................................... 369 List of Tables ....................................................................................................... 371