Interest in oral traditions has benefitted the field of interpretation in two ways: a new emphasis on the social and cultural contexts of performance, and an expanded perspective on performance manifestations. In Richard Schechner's concept of "restored behavior," the interpreter engages in a reconstruction of living behavior independent of its causal systems. Faced with the linguistic and aesthetic problems that result when materials are taken out of their social and cultural contexts, the interpreter uses rehearsal to begin the process of restoration. The interpreter's goal, emic performance, is restored behavior built on discoveries of native categories of information and action. Audiences must also be taught new roles when responding to the emic performance. The final challenge for the interpreter of the oral tradition is defining the cultural role of the performer. This sort of interpretation requires a methodology based on deduction, drawn from multiple, intercultural observations of those restorations of behavior that are culturally defined, enjoyed, and created as verbal art. (JL)