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Walter Ong's major argument that such Homeric oral
traditions asas repetitive phraseology and formulas are
universal in all oral culturesaround the globe needs our
examination. It is important to note thatnot all oral
literatures are composed in the form of poetry; therefore,Ong's
Homeric criterion fails to cover the phenomenon of some
otheroral cultures. By focusing on some various versions of
three Bunun legends,we shall investigate the possible way the
Bunun oral traditions, which are apparentlydifferent from the
Homeric ones, work. In this thesis, two concepts about the
working of oralitywill be brought forward. They are the
narrative focus and the motif focus.The narrative focus is the
framework of the narrative whereas the motif focus serves as the
bridge connecting different stories with a similar or the same
theme.The narrative focus is a generalized outline of a story
stripped of details. Different versions of the same story grow
with different details.The motif focus is classified into two
categories: the major theme as the motif focus and the sub-theme
as the motif focus.The major theme as the narrative focus will
bring together the stories with a similar or the same subject
matter.The sub-theme as the motif focus helps Story A to
incorporate into it Story B which bears the idea that happens to
be the sub-theme of Story A.At last, we shall also explore the
historical changes which the people of oral traditions have gone
through.By examining the working of the narrative and motif foci
of different versions of a story created in different
generations,we see that these historical changes are usually
reflected in story-telling.
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