The socio-cultural and environmental shifts that have taken place in southern Italy over the last 30 years can usefully be traced by their impact on folkloric texts which present modifications that tend to emerge progressively over time. An analysis of such modifications to a body of southern Italian folkloric texts – as used in practice over the last three decades – finds that these reflect and are driven by changes in the people's living environment denoting a cultural dilution and a growing distance between people and the natural world, particularly the land. These modifications also expose a shift of emphasis from ends (e.g. food) to means (e.g. money), indicating increased commercial dependence driven by socio-economic changes. These changes are also reflected in folkloric texts which demonstrate a decline of direct, physical experience of some aspects of the natural world while including references relating to the local environment. Understanding these processes allows us to gauge the extent to which verbal folklore connects contemporary societies to past knowledge.

过去 30 年来意大利南部发生的社会文化和环境变化可以通过它们对民俗文本的影响来有效地追踪，这些文本呈现出随着时间的推移逐渐出现的变化。对意大利南部民俗文本的此类修改（如过去 30 年在实践中使用的）的分析发现，这些修改反映了人们生活环境的变化，并受其驱动，这些变化表明文化稀释和人与人之间的距离越来越远。自然世界，尤其是陆地。这些修改还揭示了重点从目的（例如食物）到手段（例如金钱）的转变，表明社会经济变化推动了商业依赖的增加。这些变化也反映在民俗文本中，表明直接、自然世界某些方面的物理体验，同时包括与当地环境有关的参考资料。了解这些过程使我们能够衡量口头民间传说在多大程度上将当代社会与过去的知识联系起来。