Lore and Language

Lore and Language

Founded in 1969, primarily as a newsletter and discussion forum for fieldworkers, correspondents and others interested in the Survey of (English) Language and Folklore, Lore and Language was published once or twice a year for thirty years. The final issue, Vol. 17, Nos 1-2, appeared in 1999, and includes an editorial summarising the history and development of the journal and of its parent organisation, the Centre for English Cultural Tradition and Language, which became the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition in 1997. The Centre, since 1984 the only such institution in higher education in England, was based in the Department of English Language and Linguistics at the University of Sheffield from 1964 until its closure in 2011.

This interdisciplinary journal includes articles on all aspects of cultural tradition and welcomed contributions from the fields of folklore, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, popular culture, psychology, history (especially oral history) and literary studies, among others. It regards all such disciplines as making their distinctive contribution to a holistic description and analysis of culture, particularly in their mediation through language.

Modern approaches to the study of folklore and cultural tradition, whether theoretical or applied, are emphasised, and the recognition of the importance of urban folklore is central to the aims of the journal. It has a special interest in English folklore, dialectology, sociolinguistics, and British culture, but also published articles in English from many other cultures and languages; material on African folklore, language, and literature, for example, is strongly represented. A substantial proportion of the journal is devoted to reviews of publications across the very wide field of interest concerned. A Notes and Queries section maintains the discussion forum which was an important feature from the outset.

The journal also actively encouraged contributions from young writers entering the disciplines concerned. It sought to promote the work of these scholars, especially those in England and other parts of the British Isles where the academic study of English cultural tradition has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the second half of the twentieth century.