Word of mouth or
viva voce, is the passing of
information from person to person by
oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day.
Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others a story about a real event or something made up.
Oral tradition is cultural material and traditions transmitted by word of mouth through successive generations. Storytelling and oral tradition are forms of word of mouth that play important roles in
folklore and
mythology. Another example of oral communication is
oral history—the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker.
Oral history preservation is the field that deals with the care and upkeep of oral history materials collected by word of mouth, whatever format they may be in.