Vocal and Verbal Arts Archives ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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genres documented by
VOVA researchers
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Affairs of Elders • Anecdotes • Anthems • Baby Chatter • Ballads • Bedtime Stories •
Boasting • Calamity Songs • Complaints • Counting Verses • Curing Chants • Curses • Diatribe • Divination • Family Histories • Epics • Epithalium • Exhortation • Fables • Fairy Tales • Flirting • Folktales • Funeral Dirges • Ghost Stories • Gossip • Greetings • Heroic Tales • Hidden Verse • Hunting Songs • Hymns • Jokes • Jousts • Legends • Love Songs • Lullabies • Magical Chants • Masquerade Poems • Mock Heroic • Mourning Songs • Myths • Odes • Origin Narratives • Parables • Personal Narratives • Praise Poems • Prayers • Protest Songs • Proverbs • Provocation • Puns • Rambling • Reprimands • Return Songs • Riddles • Scatting • Slam Poetry • Small Talk • Tall Tales • Taunting Songs • Teasing • Tongue Twisters • War Songs • Weeping Rites • Wishes • Work Songs •

 VOVA's primary mission is to preserve endangered indigenous languages and other vocal and verbal art traditions through digital documentation of community performances. The materials collected may be used for research and for developing teaching tools for communities seeking to revitalize their native languages. They may also serve as resources in language classes at all levels. More broadly, VOVA seeks to strengthen appreciation of cultural expressions and values of communities so often ignored in today’s world.

العربية • cherokee • 中文 • chinuk wawa • english • español • filipino • français • 日本語 • português
• swahili


Pakouene François Goïta, Bwa story-teller, recorded by Irénée Diarra, disc-jockey and program entertainer at Radio Parana, in San, Mali, 2005. To Mr. Goïta's left, Tan'ian Dembélé and Wurowe Keïta, community recognized storytellers. Photo taken by Prof. Cécile Leguy.
VOVA partners
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American Indian Center
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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American Indian Studies Research Institute
Indiana University
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Languages, Musics, Societies
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Institut des sciences de la communication CNRS
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Maison de la recherche en sciences humaines
Université de Caen, Basse-Normandie
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Centre de Recherche Inter-langues sur la Signification en Contexte
Université de Caen, Basse-Normandie
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Center for Studies in Oral Tradition
University of Missouri, Columbia
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related links
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UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People
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UNESCO World Report on Cultural Diversity
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UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger