Regilaul kui varieeruv süsteem. Suulise kultuuri toimemehhanismide modelleerimise võimalused
Runosong as a system of variability: Exploring possibilities for modelling the functional mechanisms of oral culture

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to highlight the value and potential of combining a large, well-organized collection of Finnic runosongs and computational research for obtaining new information on various aspects of the tradition and, more broadly, also for data-driven modelling of the general mechanisms underlying oral poetry. The article summarizes developments over the past five years as well as prospects for future research. Folkloric creativity differs in several respects from modern, authorship-based creativity. Rooted in oral cultures, folklore has evolved as a tool for long-term information storage. Hence, variability is an essential feature of folklore, enabling both the preservation of relevant information and adaptation to changing circumstances. As a central concept in folkloristics, variability and the dynamics of stability and innovation have been at the core of folkloristics throughout its history, but recent advancements in computational power and text analysis methodologies, as well as several research funding projects have led to significant progress in the field. Processing large collections of texts has improved our understanding of biases within the material, revealed the layered nature of variation, provided new insights into historical communication patterns and regional peculiarities of runosongs, opened fresh avenues for transdisciplinary research on the region’s past, and enabled data-driven exploration on the systematics of folkloric creativity. Understanding variability in runosongs offers insights into human creativity, memory, and the broader dynamics of oral tradition.

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