Monday, February 9, 2015

Oral Culture: Additive Style and its subtle Symbolism

I have always noticed before I took this class there was always a certain something I would call a 'Theme' which seems to have some connection to the nation/country/continent it originated from but I never thought there was an actually name to call it. As I read through this chapter I realized Oral Culture, I found components that make me think about the we speak to one another, what they represent, and how we are able to understand. For example, how an Oral Culture has different styles. Additive uses the 'and' in a introductary to give great imagery as in the Book of Genesis 1:1-5 in the additive Hebrew Original

"And God said: Be light made. And Light was Made. And God saw the light that it was Good"

I have recently have got myself into Warhammer Fantasy and the origin story of Sigmar Heldenhammer, The God-Emperor of The Empire, is riddled with additive style and even in biblical style from Sigmar's birth after a battle, childhood, adulthood, rise to power, and mysterious disappearance to the east of the Mountains. For example is regard to Sigmar's birth

"The Babe Sigmar's head was wet with the blood of many Orcs, and a twin-tailed comet was seen in the skies"

The comet was an introduction of the symbols of the Empire, and following befriending the Dwarf race in his teens, an additive style was given to what would be his known weapon

"Mighty is Sigmar, who saves a Dwarf king from dishonour. How can I reward him? A hammer of war, a hammer of Iron, which fell from the sky with two tongues of fire. From the Forge of the Gods. Worked by Runesmiths, Ghal Maraz its name, the Splitter of Skulls."

The additive narrations uses 'a', 'is', 'who', 'and', in a simplistic but rich description as it was in Genesis, so it was in the tale of Sigmar The God King. 

Also to note this also has been done in many fantasy franchises, Lord Of The Rings, Conan The Barbarian, Willow, and a few others.

When I just reached additive I already seem to have swigged a rich amount of knowledge in regards to language, and I look forward to learning more

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