1 Introduction: scope and terminology 1.1 Preview 1.2 'Language', 'speech' and 'text': some initial questions 1.3 Some central terms-accepted and disputed 1.4 'Text(s)': a special case 1.5 The interest of the problems 2 Theoretical perspectives 2.1 The role of theory 2.2 Continuing methodological tensions 2.3 Background to studies of oral tradition and verbal art 2.4 Influential methodologies and theories 2.5 Current trends 3 Some prior issues and practicalities 3.1 Some strategic questions 3.2 Background preparation 3.3 Recording equipment 3.4 Relevance for archive research 4 Collecting, recording and creating texts: preliminaries and mechanics 4.1 Some initial techniques and provisos 4.2 The settings for collecting and recording 4.3 Making and keeping records 4.4 Preliminary processing 5 Observing and analysing performance 5.1 Concepts of 'performance' and their significance 5.2 Audiences, performers, participants 5.3 Other components of performances 6 Production, functions and ideas 6.1 Composition, transmission and memory 6.2 Social and economic position of participants 6.3 Verbal art, oral tradition and functions 6.4 Local aesthetics and thought 7 Genres and boundaries 7.1 Approaches to classification 7.2 Some crucial boundaries: or are they? 7.3 Differentiating and studying genres 7.4 Some common genre terms and controversies 7.5 Cross-cutting themes 7.6 Final points 8 Analysing and comparing texts: style, structure and Content 8.1 Textual analysis: problems and opportunities 8.2 Variation, typology and comparison 8.3 Structure and structuralist methods 8.4 Stylistic features and problems 8.5 Relevance of literary analysis and written literature 8.6 Specialist techniques: counting, content and computers 8.7 The quest for 'meaning' 9 Texts in process: translation, transcription and Presentation 9.1 Translating 19.2 Transcription and representation 9.3 The presentation and dissemination of texts and performances 9.4 Conclusion 10 Ethics
