Oral traditions and expressions are very significant aspects of intangible linguistic and cultural heritage. They are the collective memory of a community. They also play a crucial role in keeping languages and cultures alive.

Oral traditions and expressions come in a huge variety of spoken forms: folk songs, stories, riddles, tales, legends, myths, poems, epics, chants, charms, romances and other types of folk literature and dramatic performances. Certain types of oral traditions are highly specialized occupations, but they are commonly performed by lay members of the community who transmit their skills, the communal knowledge, and artistic values from generation to generation. Oral traditions are, however, highly fragile and their viability rests chiefly on this transmission.

Languages live and prosper in oral traditions – folk songs and stories – and other forms of intangible cultural heritage. The protection and preservation of indigenous languages are, therefore, closely related to the transmission of oral traditions and expressions. When languages are threatened and   become extinct, oral traditions and expressions are also permanently lost. Documenting and safeguarding oral traditions are, therefore, significant ways of protecting and preserving languages; they are important complements to such activities as writing dictionaries and creating grammars and databases.

Recent research trends in documentary and descriptive linguistics have underscored the value of oral traditions and expressions and they encourage the use of methodologies which include recording, transcribing and translating oral traditions and expressions. This is compounded by an increasing global awareness of the alarming number of languages which continue to disappear, together with their oral literature and cultural lore, and the threat that their extinction may entail for the future of humankind.

The 28th conference of the Foundation of Endangered Languages (FELXXVIII) will provide a forum for the examination of the intricate relationship between endangered languages and oral traditions and expressions. The Conference will encourage scholarship on the role that vivid oral traditions/expressions may play in the preservation and revitalization of endangered languages and, similarly, on the impact that language revitalization may have on the maintenance, development and flourishing of oral traditions.

The conference will explore sustainable ways of preserving and protecting oral traditions and expressions and ensuring their transmissions to future generations.