Oral literature corresponds in the sphere of the spoken word to literature as literature operates in the domain of the written word. It thus forms a generally more fundamental component of culture, but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do. The Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu introduced the term orature in an attempt to avoid an oxymoron, but oral literature remains more common both in academic and popular writing. Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions—such as folk epics, folklore and folksong—that effectively constitute an oral literature.

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