Traditional Referentiality as a Secret Code in Oral Transmissions

Abstract

Orality not only preserves and safeguards a threatened culture’s history from distortion by colonizers and those in power, but also offers political advantages by avoiding incriminating written records. Its capacity to maintain secrecy, along with collective memory and identity, helps explain why the Copts—descendants of the ancient Egyptians, one of the earliest and most literate civilizations credited with inventing writing—have historically turned to oral transmission. By narrating their past through established oral traditions, the Copts retained authority over their historical narrative and ensured continued access to it..

This paper uses The Vision of Theophilus to examine how traditional formulaic phraseology in its narration functions as both an economical and secretive code language among the Copts. Through oral tradition, they retain control over their history, preserving and transmitting it on their own terms rather than as shaped by their oppressors in power.