Article

Name: Zoomorphic code in the mythological and ritual tradition of Altaians

Authors: N. R. Oynotkinova

Institute of Philology of the SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Обрядовый фольклор

Abstract: The article reveals the peculiarities of the zoomorphic cultural code implementation in the mythology and rituals of the Altai people. Folklore texts of different genres: myths, legends, historical legends, tales, and ritual works of Altaians were studied using the descriptive method, the method of semantic reconstruction, and the method of motivational analysis used in ethnolinguistics. The concept of “double coding” serves as a methodological basis for studying the zoomorphic code in the mythological picture of the world of the Altaians. The culture code is understood as a way of expressing meaning when describing the material and spiritual world in the cultural space by native speakers, as well as a linguistic way of conceptualizing the surrounding world. Cultural codes in mythological texts are enclosed in lexical representatives-mythemes denoting various objects of the material and spiritual world and united by a theme. The author concludes that the zoomorphic code is one of the main ones involved in the coding of conceptual cultural meanings in the language picture of the world. The mythological interpretation of certain mythemes as zoomorphic entities in the mythological and ritual culture of Altaians provided one of the means of coding and reflecting the world picture. The zoomorphic code plays a role in the conceptualization and formation of various myths: theonyms, demonyms, names of cult objects, cosmonyms, and chrononyms. In addition, motivational models of mytheme formation are identified.

Keywords: folklore of Altaians, mythology of Altaians, zoomorphization, zoomorphic code in the mythology of Altaians, theonyms, demonims, chrononyms, cosmonyms

Bibliography:

Anokhin A. V. Materialy po shamanstvu u altaytsev [Materials on shamanism among Altaians]. Gorno-Altaysk, Ak Chechek, 1994, 152 p. A reprinted edition: Anokhin A. V. Materialy po shamanstvu u altaytsev (Sobrannye vo vremya puteshestviy po Altayu v 1910–1912 gg. po porucheniyu Russkogo Komiteta dlya izucheniya Sredney i Vostochnoy Azii) [Materials on shamanism among Altaians (collected during travels in 1910–1912 in Altai on behalf of the Russian Committee for the Study of Central and East Asia)]. S. E. Malov (Pref.). Leningrad, 1924). (In Russ., in Altai).

Bartminʼskiy Ye. Yazykovoy obraz mira: ocherki po etnolingvistike [Language image of the world: essays on ethnolinguistics]. Moscow, Indrik, 2005, 528 p. (In Russ.).

Baskakov N. A., Yaimova N. A. Shamanskiye misterii Gornogo Altaya [Shamanic mysteries of Gorny Altai]. Gorno-Altaysk, Respubl. tip., 1993, 123 p. (In Russ., in Altai).

Bolʼshoy tolkovyy slovarʼ po kulʼturologii [Big explanatory dictionary of cultural studies]. B. I. Kononenko (Ed.). Moscow, Veche, AST, 2003, 511 p. (In Russ.).

Dyrenkova N. P. Materialy po shamanstvu u teleutov [Materials on shamanism among Teleuts]. In: Sbornik Muzeya antropologii i etnografii [Coll. of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1949, vol. 10, pp. 107–190. (In Russ.).

Enchinov E. V. Traditsii i innovatsii v narodnom kalendare altaytsev v kontse 20 – nachale 21 vv. [Traditions and innovations in the folk calendar of Altaians in the late 20th – early 21st centuries]. Studia culturae. 2013, no. 18, pp. 187–196. (In Russ.).

Gudkov D. B. Edinitsy kodov kul’tury: problemy semantiki [Units of cultural codes: problems of semantics]. In: Yazyk, soznaniye, kommunikatsiya: Sb. statey [Language, consciousness, communication: coll. of art.]. Moscow, 2004, iss. 26, pp. 39–50. (In Russ.).

Gudkov D. B. Mifologicheskaya osnova kodov kulʼtury [Mythological basis of culture codes]. In: Yazyk, soznaniye, kommunikatsiya: Sb. statey [Language, consciousness, communication: coll. of art.]. V. V. Krasnykh, A. I. Izotov (Eds.). Moscow, MAKS Press, 2018, iss. 60, pp. 44–50. (In Russ.).

Neskazochnaya proza altaytsev [Non-fairytale prose of Altaians]. N. R. Oynotkinova, I. B. Shinzhin, K. V. Yadanova, E. E. Yamayeva (Comps.). Novosibirsk, Nauka, 2011, 576 p. (Pamyatniki folʼklora narodov Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka; T. 30 [Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East; Vol. 30]). (In Russ., in Altai).

Lelekov L. A. Karshiptar. In: Mify narodov mira [Myths of the Peoples of the World]. Moscow, Sov. entsikl., 1987, p. 625. (In Russ.).

Levi-Stross K. Struktura i forma [Structure and form]. In: Semiotika [Semiotics]. Moscow, Raduga, 1983, pp. 400–428. (In Russ.).

Oynotkinova N. R. Mifologicheskaya kartina mira altaytsev: kontsepty, motivy, syuzhety [The mythological picture of the world of Altaians: concepts, motives, plots]. Novosibirsk, NSU Publishing and Printing Center, 2021, 622 p. (In Russ.).

Potanin G. N. Ocherki Severo-Zapadnoy Mongolii [Essays on Northwest Mongolia]. St. Petersburg, Pub. house of V. Kirshbaum, 1883, iss. 4, 944 p. (In Russ.).

Potapov L. P. Obryad ozhivleniya shamanskogo bubna u tyurkoyazychnykh plemon Altaya [The rite of reviving the shaman drum among the Turkic-speaking tribes of Altai]. In: Trudy Instituta etnografii AN SSSR [Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences]. Moscow, Leningrad, 1947, vol. 1, pp. 139–183. (In Russ.).

Satlayev F. A. Kumandintsy: istoriko-etnograficheskiy ocherk 19 – pervoy chetverti 20 veka [Kumandins: historical and ethnographic essay of the 19th – first quarter of the 20th century]. Gorno-Altaysk, Altayskoye kn. izd., 1974, 200 p. (In Russ.).

Tolstaya S. M. Motivatsionnyye semanticheskiye modeli i kartina mira [Motivational semantic models and the picture of the world]. Russian Language and Linguistic Theory. 2002, no. 1 (3), pp. 112–127. (In Russ.).

Tubalova I. V. Polifonicheskiy tekst v ustnykh lichnostno-oriyentirovannykh diskursakh [Polyphonic text in oral personality-oriented discourses]. Tomsk, TSU Publ., 2016, 370 p. (In Russ.).