HISTORY
The article seeks to characterize some archival documents dealing with religion and Buddhist clergy of Mongolia and housed by the Central Archive of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia (Moscow) and Omsk Oblast FSB Department, which have remained unavailable for research till recently. Materials. The archival papers include special reports, coded telegrams, letters, communiques, reviews of political, economic, military and religious conditions in Mongolia. Quite a share of the documents examine different aspects of Mongolia’s religious affairs during the mentioned period. Those describe responses of the Buddhist clergy and clerical hierarchy to policies pursued by the Mongolian People’s Party and the national government, and aimed to restrict the influence of the Buddhist church, monasteries; also depicted are responses of the former to antigovernment sentiments, disturbances and revolts (1925, 1930, 1932, etc.). The work actually focuses on the latter documents. Results. The papers discovered display‑ the measures undertaken towards Mongolia’s religion and Buddhist clergy during the mentioned years. The repressions conducted by the MPP and government essentially undermined the leading positions of the latter. Punitive actions against religion and Buddhist priests would be launched throughout the 1930-1940s, and those were cruelest ones ever held in the country.
Studies of relations between the peoples of Russia at various stages of its statehood development remain much needed and relevant in contemporary historical science. The process of Russia’s historical development involved most different nations into the orbit of its domestic and foreign policies. So, the Russian government was constantly facing with the challenge of retaining them within the state. To facilitate that, it was essential to determine their places and roles in the state structure. However, not all nations had previously maintained peaceful relations with their new neighbors. The central and local Russian authorities had to search for ways to overcome the difficulties encountered in establishing peaceful coexistence of different peoples, employing vast military, administrative and diplomatic methods. The latter included retention and return of hostages or captives. Goals. The paper seeks to examine Kalmyk-Kazakh relations in the mid-18th century, identifying the Russian government’s role in establishing peaceful coexistence of the two steppe peoples within one state under the rule of Russian law; it also aims to investigate various aspects related to the role of captives in diplomatic contacts between the Russian establishment and representatives of steppe nobility. Results. The fact that in the 1730s Kazakhs of the Junior and Middle Zhuzes virtually became Russian citizens resulted a certain phenomenon: one state was then housing two steppe peoples relations between which were primarily reduced to mutual raids and hostilities. In the 1740s, Russian authorities made some efforts to facilitate peaceful coexistence of Kalmyks and Kazakhs under the rule of the Russian Empire. The diplomatic tool to have accompanied negotiation processes was the practice of voluntary return of captives. Conclusions. The analysis of the facts examined suggests that when it came to relations with the steppe peoples in the mid-18th century, the Russian authorities made extensive use of captives exchange to achieve wanted results in negotiation processes.
The article examines the history and transformation of zaysanism within traditional Tuvan society between the mid-18th and early 20th centuries, since the phenomenon remains one of the least investigated social institutions of Tuvan tribal structure. Goals. The work seeks to explore the history and transformation of zaysanism. Nowadays, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Tuvan People’s Republic — the official date marking the duration of Tuvan statehood — it is necessary to go back to historical roots and explore the institution of clan / tribal rulers. Methods. The study involves extensive ethnographic materials, documentary archival sources, and employs the problem-chronological, structural and historical-comparative methods to analyze the backgrounds and transformation of zaysanism in Tuva. Results. It is known that well before the defeat of Dzungaria and conquest of Tuva by the Qing Empire, the Tuvan ethnic groups already had a stable social structure characterized by an established administrative system — zaysans (Tuv. чейзен). Despite all innovations of the Manchu government, the institution of zaysanism — enforced by traditions and customs – survived in Tuva to the early 20th century. Moreover, the conquest lead to its further transformation into state authorities with certain hierarchy, functions and differentiation. Conclusions. Due to the specific geopolitical whereabouts, the transformation of the institution of zaysans in Tannu-Tuvan banners resulted in the emergence of a special administrative apparatus characterized by significant internal autonomy, well-defined structure, rigid hierarchy, and independence of local rulers.
The relevance of addressing the issue of land management by peasant migrants in the national peripheries of the Russian Empire is associated not only with the need to take into account interethnic and religious relations in the regions and provide a detailed analysis of external and internal migration flows, but also with insufficient study of the topic. Land relations were especially difficult in all Russia’s regions with prevailing nomadic populations: Semirechye (Zhetysu), Lower Volga region, Ciscaucasian steppes, etc. The greatest contribution to the study of the question was made by pre-revolutionary researchers who, as a rule, were government officials obliged to deal with the resettlement (Rumyantsev P. P., Kaufman A. A., Palen K. K., etc.). In the Soviet period, the topic was examined in detail by N. E. Bekmakhanova. Currently, the study of the problem has become actual due to the need to clarify and reassess some of the established past views. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze the legal status of migrant peasants in the region inhabited by nomadic peoples and their land management practices. Materials and Methods. The work involves a wide range of legislative and statistical sources, eyewitness accounts and materials from central archives of Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, revealing the complex nature of legal land system definitions of immigrant peasants. Results. During the government-initiated and spontaneous colonization of Semirechye in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various types of rural peasant settlements ― old-timed, newly emerged and self-willed ones ― were established, which required legal land management regulation. Since administrative agencies in many cases found it difficult to determine legal statuses of peasant lands in Semirechye, the migrants had to solve the problem of land use on their own entering into negotiations with nomadic communities, directly renting land from the latter under different conditions. This made it even more difficult to finally resolve the issue of legal regulation of land tenure and land use. Conclusions. Local administrations – due to the complexity of land relations between immigrants and nomads, poor vision of a complete picture of land management in the region, lack of land for the growing population and the difficulty of conducting Stolypin land management – were able to start collecting information about land management in Semirechye and actually conduct land allocation only in the beginning of the 20th century. The outbreak of World War I and subsequent social upheavals made it impossible to complete the determination of legal foundations of resettlement land management in Semirechye in the pre-revolutionary period.
The creation of Kalmyk national autonomy has been examined in many works. However, some its aspects still remain unexplored. Among the latter is the issue of the Don (Salsk) Kalmyks that never joined Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast in 1920, having constituted a community of their own within Don Oblast. Goals and Objectives.. The article seeks to understand why the mentioned group preferred to stay back in Salsk Okrug. To facilitate this, the paper examines the circumstances of the 1st Congress of Salsk Kalmyks and its outcomes; describes attempts of the Kalmyk Central Executive Committee (Rus. TsIK) to integrate Salsk Kalmyks back into the Kalmyk autonomy; analyzes reasons for the failure of Kalmyk leadership. Materials and Methods. The article analyzes documents of Don Oblast Executive Committee housed by the State Archive of Rostov Oblast. The study also employs other historical and historiographic sources. The investigation of sources involves the use of comparative-historical, problem-chronological, and source criticism methods. Results. Initially, it was planned to unite all Kalmyks into one administrative unit – Autonomous Oblast of the Kalmyk Working People as part of the RSFSR. The 1st All-Kalmyk Congress of the Kalmyk Working People approved this decision, but the Salsk Kalmyks stayed back in Don Oblast. That was caused by disagreements within the new Kalmyk party-and-state elites, as well as by controversies between the Kalmyk TsIK and Salsk Okrug Executive Committee. Those indicate certain travails in the interaction between various Soviet authorities in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. In the early 1920s, many Don Kalmyks resettled to Bolshederbetovsky Ulus of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. The remaining Kalmyks joined Zimovnikovsky District (since 1928 – Kalmytsky District) of Salsk Okrug of North-Caucasus Krai.
ARCHEOLOGY
The article analyzes and interprets two specific body postures typical for mound Scytho-Sarmatian burials of Eurasian steppes. The postures were traced among ones buried face up in a horizontal position, being distinguished by straddled legs (‘dancing pose’) or one leg placed aside (‘pose of attack’). Materials. The specific postures are not a mass phenomenon, and tend to characterize burials of nomadic nobility. Some earlier works provide different hypotheses interpreting the mentioned fact. The study is based on V. Obelchenko’s assumption — regarding 2nd-1st century BC Sogdian mounds — the straddled legs posture resulted from that dead individuals used to be delivered to their graves mounted on horsebacks. The ritual of delivering the dead mounted on horsebacks in Eurasian steppes is evidenced by a gold plaque from the Siberian Collection of Peter I depicting three corpses mounted onto saddles: one sitting supported up and two others with their heads lying on the horses’ shoulders. The ‘pose of attack’ is evidenced by the 2nd-3rd century Bakhchysarai Stela believed to be a Sarmatian trace in the Crimean peninsula. The width of the bottom of the Siberian Ice Maiden’s skirt might also attest to that as a noble woman she could have mounted sideward on solemn occasions, and is likely to have been delivered to the burial site in a similar position. Additional arguments have been borrowed from funeral rites of the Turko-Mongols directly and indirectly indicating horse mounted transportation of the dead. The one side legs seat is illustrated by present-day women’s donkey mounting in southern regions (Uzbekistan, Turkey) and a 17th-cenury European artist’s canvas depicting a peasant woman on a donkey. Conclusions. So, the paper concludes the ‘dancing’ and ‘attacking’ poses of the buried are associated with horse (saddle) mounted transportation of the dead pursuant to the ancient tradition of Eurasian nomads that survived till historical times.
Hundreds of Scythian graves are known in the Northwestern Black Sea region, and the bulk of them were investigated in Soviet times. Currently, the increase in scholarly sources is extremely slow. The publication of new materials seems relevant, in this regard, since it is important for further research of the Scythian culture across the entire Northern Black Sea region. Materials. For the first time, the work publishes data obtained in 2018 during the excavation of Scythian barrow 10 of the Vodovod (‘Sluiceway’) Group near Glinoe village, Slobodzeya District, on the left bank of the Lower Dniester. Data Analysis. The materials obtained during the examination of the mound are distinguished by a number of elements of funeral rites and material culture, such as a combination of main catacombs and secondary pits under one mound, practice of constructing cenotaphs, division of the space of the burial structure into two zones, placing farewell gifts on the overlap, etc. Some findings indicate that the Scythian material culture of the of the Northwestern Black Sea region was noticeably influenced by the Thracian one. Dating of the Complex. The discovered cup-kanfaros and fibulae of the Thracian type date the mound and all burials to the second quarter of the 4th century BC. Conclusion. The materials from barrow Glinoe/Sluiceway 10 located on the left bank of the Lower Dniester and their analogies from the left-bank Prut region, left-bank Danube region and Danube-Dniester interfluve show that the Scythian culture of the Northwestern Black Sea region is much more homogenous than it was believed before.
The paper analyzes materials from Biktimirovo burial ground (3rd – 2nd centuries BC) of the Kara-Abyz culture traced within the southern Cis-Urals. Goals and Objectives. The work seeks to comprehensively investigate the funeral rites and reconstruct the social structure of the ancient population. Materials and Methods. Burials and related attributes serve a most informative source to reconstruct social structures of ancient communities. The study examines 85 burials investigated by K. Salnikov and A. Pshenichnyuk in the 1960s. Results. The paper summarizes the funeral rites and analyzes age-sex groups of the ancient population. Burials of men are characterized by the presence of weapons, those of women — by garment elements. Bead necklaces and spindle whorls mark women’s tombs, sharpening stones mark those of men’s. The qualitative and quantitative compositions of burial attributes proved instrumental in dividing the whole of the buried community into 5 categories, such as the ‘wealthy’, ‘rich’, ‘regular’, ‘poor’ and ‘poorest’. Statistics of the ‘rich’ and ‘wealthy’ makes it possible to suggest that woman enjoyed a higher status in society. Conclusions. The research results show that notwithstanding income inequality most tribesmen had equal social positions.
The article deals with imported glazed ceramics discovered in the town of Majar during archeological excavations of various years. The first classification of Majar-discovered glazed ceramics was made in the 1970s by O. Dudko who analyzed materials of V. Gorodtsov’s excavations (1907) and those of the 1955 North-Caucasian Expedition. The researcher discovered both local glazed pottery and ones imported from Middle Asia, Transcaucasia and the Volga Region. The late 20th and early 21st centuries have witnessed a significant increase in numbers of imported glazed ceramics from Majar, so the paper seeks to re-address the issue since the newly collected extensive data require proper description, analysis and systematization. Sources and Methods. The study examines imported glazed ceramics collected in Majar during various years. It employs a number of methods, such as the visual-and-descriptive, statistic, typological, technological ones, those of comparative analysis and analogy. Results. The work reveals residents of Majar maintained wide trade relations vividly illustrated by findings of imported glazed ceramics that played somewhat major role there. The latter cluster into categories as follows: kashi pottery from the Volga Region, Iran, Middle Asia (Khwarazm), red-clay glazed ceramics from the Lower Volga Region, Azaq (Azov), Eastern Crimea, supposedly from the Black Sea Region, Mediterranean and Balkans; Shirvan ceramics, Cizhou ceramics (China), Chinese celadon, Chinese white-blue porcelain (Qinghua), Byzantine ceramics. Conclusions. The analysis of morphological and technological features of imported glazed ceramics of Madjar reveals the following groups: glazed red-clay, kashi, Cizhou, Qinghua, Shirvan, and Byzantine ceramics. The bulk of the samples are dated to the 14th century AD. Proportions between the groups indicate that Majar maintained most intensive trade relations with China, capital cities of the Golden Horde, and eastern Crimea. Contacts with Azaq, Khwarazm, Shirvan, Persia, Mediterranean cities and the Balkans were far weaker.
SOURCE STUDY
The combination of two rules — temporal and religious ones — is typical for Classical Mongolian ‘twofold’ didactic compositions. Buddhist ethics is a specific moral system represented by a corpus of reputable texts compiled by monastic elites in accordance with their beliefs. Even if some of the works do not focus on religious precepts as such, certain ultimate objectives of the former are explained from the perspective of the Buddhist teaching. And one such didactic composition is The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan. Its Oirat translation bears different titles, including ones mentioning those are precepts of the Tibetan King Tri Ralpachen (Oir. Usun Debeskertu Khan). The text is compiled from versified homilies that are essentially close enough to oral aphoristic poetry, though distinguished by an explicit form. It covers all spheres of human life and structurally oppose virtuous deeds to sinful ones. The homilies primarily sought to advocate behavioral patterns that would meet socially accepted religious norms. As for instructions dealing with religious practice, those are few enough. However, the bulk of formal temporal guidelines — one way or another — contain religious aspects. Goals and Objectives. The paper aims to introduce into scientific discourse the Oirat text of The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan and analyze its didactic contents. It is also essential to determine the religious impact and reveal the Buddhist elements. Methods. The article basically employs the historic-philosophical and comparative methods. Research novelty. Despite the wide distribution of the Buddhist ethical text in manuscript copies, its contents have never been analyzed scholarly. Results. The study shows that Buddhist ethics as a system of moral norms is manifested in different texts elaborated by monastic elites pursuant to the Buddhadharma. The composition examined emphasizes no religious aspects, though seeking to guide its readers towards the Buddhist path of salvation. Conclusions. The analysis conducted reveals the religious essence of the homilies, Buddhist ethics constituting the actual background of the formal narrative.
The article examines a manuscript from Ts. Damdinsuren Memorial House (Ulaanbaatar) which contains precious biographical data about Ravjaa (1803–1856), a renowned Mongolian poet and clergyman. Materials. The manuscript outlines biographies of seven Khalkha Noyon Khutagt incarnations ― including that of Ravjaa ― and provides an new insight into the life of Ravjaa’s immediate predecessor whose activities had resulted in that any further reincarnations within the tulku line were officially banned. Results. The paper makes assumptions regarding circumstances that accompanied the creation of the historical and literary monument. Despite the text is short enough, the manuscript may be of great interest to researchers of Mongolian literature, history and religion. The work transliterates and translates the text, publishes a facsimile copy of the original manuscript, thus, introducing the latter into scientific discourse. The document seems to have served as a source the Academician Ts. Damdinsuren had made use of when writing his famous article ‘About the Moon Cuckoo Play’. For a long time the latter remained the only text available dealing with Khalkha Noyon Khutagts, and now there is an opportunity to examine its original source materials.
ETHNOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGY
Confessional ties between the Kalmyks and Tibetan monasteries began during the shaping of the Kalmyk nation from diverse Oirat groups – Torghuts, Dorbets, Khoshuts, etc. Goals. The paper seeks to analyze peculiarities of how identity of the Kalmyks was mirrored in documents of the Buddhists compiled at different times – as compared to documents of the Russian government. Materials. The work investigates the Kalmyk identity in relation to analyses and publications of respective documents housed by the National Archive of Kalmykia, letters and credentials of the 5th Dalai Lama (late 17th century), 7th Dalai Lama (1700s – 1730s) and 13th Dalai Lama (early 20th century) housed by St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the RAS (a Russian translation of the letter confirming Tseren-Donduk as Khan of the Kalmyks), Russian State Historical Archive (Kalmyk Clear Script translations and Russian texts of two credentials awarded by the 5th Dalai Lama to Yogozur-Tsorji in 1681 and by the 13th Dalai Lama to monk Agvan Sandzhi affiliated to Bogdo Dalai-Lamin Khurul of Maloderbetovsky District in 1903), the original of the letter housed by a Kalmykia-based rural Buddhist temple (a letter submitted by the 13th Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso to Kalmyk monk Samtan Rakbe from Rashi Phuntsok-Ling Monastery). Results. The analysis shows that the Kalmyk Khanate established in the 17th century was identified by the religious hierarch authorized to bestow ‘power credentials’ as Torghut Khanate, by the name of the largest Oirat ethnic group that constituted the bulk of the nation and gave rise to the ruling dynasty of Khans (ethnic Torghuts of the Kereit clan). Identity of the Kalmyks was perceived by the Tibetan hierarchs – both in the 20th century and in the 17th century when the Kalmyk people were being compiled from different Oirat groups — as Torghut, which is caused by the actual dominance of the largest ethnic group during the khanship era (mid-17th century – 1771), and by ties between Tibetan monasteries and Kalmyk clergy that often represented the ruling elites as such. The formula ’49 Mongolian banners, 7 banners of Khalkha, Dzungars, Torghuts and others’ applied by the 13th Dalai Lama in the early 20th century delineates kea areas inhabited by Mongolic peoples: Inner and Outer Mongolia, Oirat and Kalmyk territories, the Kalmyks being designated by the term ‘Torghuts’. Thus, the only survived credential of the 13th Dalai Lama names the Kalmyk monastery represented by gelong Samtan Rakba — ‘Northern Torghut Tashi Phuntsok-Ling Monastery’.
The article examines the structure of the collection compiled by V. P. Yermolaev (1892–1982), the first director of Tuva’s National Museum, expert in local history, photographer. Goals. The work seeks to investigate the structure of V. P. Yermolaev’s collection, systematize it thematically and analyze problems of its attribution (define the chronological framework). Materials. The paper describes the development of V. P. Yermolaev’s collection, its subject, structure and chronological framework. The collection of photo documents by V. P. Yermolaev comprises photographs and negatives (glass and film ones) numbering over 4,000 storage items. Results. The article systematizes the collection thematically. The history of receipt and formation of the collection is paid special attention to. Conclusions. The study reveals that the formation of the collection was gradual and lasted over several decades. The insight into museum records and photo documents as such concludes that V. P. Yermolaev’s collection of photo documents comprises not only negatives but also albums with control prints and photographs largely supplemented with the author’s own comments. The analysis allows concluding that V. P. Yermolaev was one of the first researchers to have used photography as a key method of data collection and research of Tuva’s sociocultural development.
The article analyzes the materials of observations made in May–June 2019 during a scientific trip to seven districts of the republic, namely: Iki-Burulsky, Ketchenerovsky, Priyutnensky, Sarpinsky, Tselinny, Yustinsky, and Yashaltinsky ones. The researchers interviewed dwellers of 30 rural settlements differing in climatic conditions, statuses, sizes (district centers, small villages), and certain social problems examined in the article. The sociological research conducted by specialists of Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS was assigned by government. Goals. The paper seeks to introduce results of the qualitative sociological surveys (observation, in-depth interviewing) into scientific circulation. Results. The article analyzes materials of observations, interviews, and shows the actual changes in villages and villagers of Kalmykia. The material resources of rural residents are assessed visually. The higher the income, the better the living conditions, households, and technical equipment of a family. Many social problems (water supply, unemployment, material security of educational and cultural institutions, etc.) of villages have not been solved, which aggravates the situation of villagers, increases their migration activities.
LINGUISTICS / LITERATURE STUDIES
Mongolisms in Turkic languages and Turcisms in Mongolic ones have constantly been objects of research interest. The whole of common Turko-Mongolic vocabulary is usually divided into two groups: the first one is believed to have stemmed from a most ancient non-graphic language, and the second one supposedly resulted from mutual political, economic and cultural contacts between diverse Mongolic and Turkic populations primarily in the Middle Ages. Mongolic (Kalmyk) borrowings in the Kyrgyz language are interesting enough. As is known, Mongolian toponyms had penetrated into Kyrgyzstan either during the 13-century Mongolian expansion, or during the Kyrgyz migrations from South Siberia and Central Asia to the Tian Shan accompanied by inflows of Mongolian toponyms and appellative place names. It is also believed by many that the toponyms retain traces of Kyrgyz-Mongolian language contacts (evidently those of the Dzungar period). Goals and Objectives. As a result of historical and geographical affinities between Turkic and Mongolic populations, the Turko-Mongolian ethnic perception of Central Asian geolocation had established close and largely identical approaches to the system of nomination that would change pursuant to migration processes. And those are toponyms that constitute a most conservative (rigid) lexical cluster. Materials and Methods. The paper examines common Turko-Mongolian (Kalmyk, Kyrgyz, Mongolian) toponyms, their areal distribution, semantics and etymology; analyzes Kyrgyz place names that stem from appellatives of genetically related languages and Mongolian toponyms that emerged during language contacts. The study involves lexical analysis of some legends and tales. The materials investigated can be further used in areal linguistics, comparative historical and typological studies, general and special linguistics. The work employs the method of parallel semantic analysis of toponyms from related and closely related languages. Results. Ethnic worldviews of Turko-Mongols are based on common historical and economic experiences, visual memories that indicate close ties and interactions. The paper focuses on Kalmyk and Kyrgyz toponyms that form most rigid lexical clusters. As is shown, Mongolisms are most frequent in Northern Kyrgyzstan place names but are get rarer towards the southwestern territories. The examined regional toponymy illustrates historical / chronological periods inherent to the language toponymic systems closely associated with landscapes, terms and onyms of certain localities. The whole of the Eurasian onomastic space is characterized by abundance of similar Turko-Mongolian place names. The investigated geolocation of Turkic and Mongolic regions of Kyrgyzstan manifest stable parallels it terms of toponyms and respective appellatives employed.
Currently, an urgent task in Tuvan linguistics is the study of dialect vocabulary, description of its thematic groups. Since the early 2000s, monographs have investigated terms of kinship and in-law relations, vocabulary of livestock breeding, shamanism, and musical terminology. There are articles examining separate groups of words. The choice of the present topic is caused by that hunting vocabulary — both in the Tuvan language and its dialects — remains understudied. Goals. The paper primarily aims is to describe one lexical and semantic group within the hunting vocabulary of the Mongun-Taiga subdialect (western Tuvan dialect) — words denoting Tarbagan marmots. To facilitate this, the study seeks to collect and systematize Tarbagan-related onyms, identify a complete list of such words, classify them by some differentiated features, and explain origins of the dialectisms. Materials and Methods. The actual research materials were collected ‘in the field’ during research expeditions organized in 2015-2016 and funded by Russian Humanities Foundation, project name ‘Hunting and Fishing Vocabulary of the Tuvan Language in Comparison with Speech Patterns of Mongolia’s Ethnic Tuvans’. The work employs the comparative and descriptive methods; uses techniques of linguistic statistics, and includes various types of field activities. Results. For many years the indigenous population of Mongun-Taiginsky District of the Tyva Republic — along with livestock breeding — was economically engaged in commercial Tarbagan hunting. The article describes words denoting Tarbagan marmots used in speech patterns of the local population. The described lexical-thematic group includes a wide variety of names distinguished by sex and age, color, physical and ‘labor’ characteristics. The paper introduces into scientific circulation some previously unpublished materials that show the investigated dialect is abundant in ethnographic dialectisms. Nowadays, Tarbagan marmots are an endangered species listed in the Red Book of Russia. The established ban might result in that vocabulary associated with Tarbagan hunting gradually disappear. The research project shall further collect, systematize and analyze other Tarbagan-related lexical and semantic clusters for the compilation of dialectological and terminological dictionaries.
The work attempts to structurally classify Mongolian analytical word forms (‘analytical constructions’) in a quantitative aspect. Materials and Methods. Heuristically, it is the ‘wide’ approach to analytical constructions represented in the so called ‘grammaticalization’ or ‘grammatization’ theory which is viewed as the most efficient one, but it must also be supplemented with quantitative methods developed by corpus linguistics. The paper analyzes materials contained in the General Corpus of the Mongolian Language and, namely, some most widely used structural classes of Mongolian analytical constructions. Results. The analytical constructions are arranged in alphabetical order of synthetical grammatemes included in analytical grammatemes, and inside the structure – in direct alphabetical order of structural analytical diagrams, and further – in order of frequency. The paper lists most widely used analytical contructions with absolute frequencies over 10 entries and relative ones – 9 ipm, the General Corpus of the Mongolian Language numbering a total of 1 818 such patterns.
The issue of agglutinative affixing order is topical enough both from theoretical and practical (applied) perspectives. In theory, the order mirrors the sequence of how certain separate or auxiliary language units became affixes, and to an extent the revealed patterns may serve to determine some chronology of grammaticalization processes. Goals. The paper examines the modal particle биз ‘probably, possibly, likely, evidently’ that expresses doubt regarding the articulated narrative. Materials. The work analyzes texts of Kalmyk National Corpus (http://kalmcorpora.ru) containing 9 million tokens and approximately 7 million word usages. Examples with the analyzed particle биз ‘probably, possibly, likely, evidently’ were selected through the continuous sampling method. Results. The article investigates etymology of the modal particle, its linear position within verbal word forms, and distributive properties. The particle was developed from two other particles: бү (büi) ‘not’ + җе (ǯe) ‘all right, so well’. It largely clusters with the so called ending particles that strictly follow the predicate expressed by either a verbal word form (future, past and repeated present participles) or a nominal part of speech (adjective of noun); it can also be used in incomplete sentences without predicates. In other words, it serves as a predicate marker. Though the traced co-occurrence of the particle биз is extensive enough, it is not limited to predicates only and can also follow subordinate parts of the sentence. However, the research materials contain no examples when the particle would follow the subject, which attests to that it is not a subject indicator and, moreover, it can be viewed as a marker of rheme within an expression. The suggested sequence order of a typical биз pattern is as follows: ‘principal’ word + (auxiliary verb / postposition / conjunction) + (negative particle) + (concessive particle) + биз + (personal predicative particle / emphatic particle). The brackets enclose optional elements. The research materials show that the particle биз is not followed by interrogative particles despite there are no such semantic restrictions; and it can serve a pragmatic marker of turning to the listener for the latter to confirm the speaker’s proposition.
FOLKLORE STUDIES
Introduction. The issues of typology are becoming increasingly significant in the context of expanding interethnic communicative ties, such as folklore, cultural, social ones, etc. Many fairy-tale plots, motifs – moving from one tradition, country to another, from people to people, developing more and more versions, changing their artistic appearances depending on new environments of their existence – retain their nuclear bases, which facilitates the formation of certain plot types. At the same time, these key elements do not function quite typically in fairy-tale traditions of different nations. Goals. The article contains a comparative study of motives for the expulsion of a hero who has broken with the past and taken up arms against his zoomorphic parent, but during the socialization faces certain difficulties that force him to leave the community. The paper analyzes twelve fairy-tale samples of Turko-Mongolic peoples with the typical plot ‘son of the bear’, determines the ‘reasons’ and ‘goals’ of exiling the hero from society, traces the essential variability, ‘inconstancy’, and ‘instability’ of motives as an element of the fairy tale plot. Methods. The work employs the structural-typological method of V. Propp, turns to key comparative research positions that make it possible to identify analogies and differences in various national traditions, uses certain techniques of the structural-semantic methodology developed by B. Kerbelite. Conclusions. The ‘inconstancy’, ‘fuzziness’, and variability of motives are manifested in details of the hero’s actions, reflecting the national specificity and confirming the law of ‘mobility’ of peripheral elements of the motif.
Superstitious signs are a stable and very common micro-genre in the structure of Bashkir folklore, significantly represented both quantitatively and semantically. Goals. The paper seeks to characterize superstitious signs as a separate micro-genre in the system of Bashkir folk art genres, identify their main classification features, and show the thematic diversity of superstitions. Materials and Methods. The work provides a genre-structural analysis of about 800 Bashkir superstitious signs traced in various sources, including multivolume books on Bashkir folklore, published expeditionary folklore materials, and the authors’ field data. Results. The study of existing definitions of superstitious omens results in a most appropriate definition for the genre, clarifies the reasons for the emergence of superstitions, delineates some key features of the folklore micro-genre that distinguish it from other minor folklore genres. Superstitious signs are classified thematically, with due regard of their reflection in the spiritual culture of the Bashkir people. Conclusions. The study of genre characteristics results in the conclusion that superstitious signs constitute a separate micro-genre in the structure of Bashkir folklore. The emergence of some superstitious signs is caused by the mythological thinking of man, a desire to connect the unknown with mysterious forces of nature. Others are based on observations of the people, on the determination of generalized cause-and-effect links between phenomena of surrounding reality. The main functions of superstitions are didactic, educational ones, since they ensure the observance of moral principles of society. The prognostic functions of household superstitions are reduced to warnings, meteorological ones – to informative warnings about changes in weather conditions. The superstitious signs are dominated by anthropological ones that regulate human behavior in everyday life.
ISSN 2619-1008 (Online)
