I presume someone can give evidence for the transmission which is so important to its claims of vitality?

Oral Transmission is the life and soul of any musical genre; it happens billions of times a second in the ever changing flux of musical action on Planet Earth, and quite possibly elsewhere in the universe too, for where there is sentient life, there will be culture, language, technology and, of course, music. That said, I doubt we can call the Ancient Tradition of Triple-Anus Singing of the Blind Moon Priests of the Planet Qwertyuiop Folk Music just because it fits the letter of the 1954 Definition. All music does that, even so-called Folk Music, so best we ditch The 1954 with the Dead Horse and look at other factors instead - such as the usual cultural, aesthetical, musicological factors we would use to figure out what any particular Musical Tradition is all about.

The 2011 Definition of the 1954 Definition - an insane credo the exact meaning of which might only be understood with reference to the conditions of class condescension and social apartheid in which it was conceived. One that implies that The Folk are in every sense inferior to the enlightened scholarly minds that produced it. One that insists that Folk Music can never be understood by The Folk themselves because if ever they do educate themselves, they are no longer Proper Folk. A product of outdated and outmoded paternalism of an outdated and outmoded bourgeoisie / intelligentsia. The credo of a handful of reactionary conservatives for whom Folk Music has the appeal of a religious comfort blanket instead of a living, breathing, joyful, vital and infinitely diverse creative musical universe populated by people who do it because they love it, much like any other musical universe, be it Jazz, Hip Hop or the Ancient Tradition of Triple-Anus Singing of the Blind Moon Priests of the Planet Qwertyuiop.