The World Oral Literature Project, a collaboration between the University of Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and Yale University, is a recent initiative to document and preserve oral literature around the world. Between 2009 and 2013, project researchers worked with communities around the world to collect oral literature in a number of endangered languages. Oral literature, as the website explains, is "a broad term which may include ritual texts, curative chants, epic poems, musical genres, folk tales, creation tales, songs, myths, spells, legends, proverbs, riddles, tongue-twisters, word games, recitations, life histories or historical narratives." Visitors may explore the complete World Oral Literature Project collection - as well as a number of donated collections - via the Collections list (organized by head researcher, title, and date) or by using the Map, which charts each project by geographic area. In addition to audio recordings, there are videos, photographs, and more relating to over 30 languages and the communities that speak them. The World Oral Literature Project focuses specifically on languages spoken in Asia and the Pacific; however, the collection also includes languages spoken in other regions, including Sierra Leone, Egypt, and Greenland.
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