Transmission of direct speech of characters in the Yakut heroic epic Olonkho

Abstract

The relevance of the research is determined by the fact that the study of the ways of introducing direct speech of the characters in the Yakut heroic epic would allow us to identify characteristic formulas, representativeness of the style, peculiarities of local traditions, stability or changes in time, originality of textological techniques in fixing olonkho, etc., which is important for understanding the originality of the poetics of the folklore text. The aim of the work is to identify the peculiarities of the transmission of the direct speech of the characters in olonkho. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were set: to define direct speech as an element of Olonkho narrative; to study the structure and lexical features of the introduction of direct speech by characters in Olonkho; to characterise characters in formulaic constructions that precede direct speech. Structural, lexical analysis, comparative method, system analysis of Yakut epic poetics were used. It is found that the presentation of direct speech has its own structure, consisting mainly of constructions with verbs of speech, common places, typical expressions, which can be before direct speech, within direct speech and after direct speech. The Olonkho mainly use constructions before and after direct speech. We have discovered an abundance of epic formulae, verbs that characterise the speech and singing of the heroes. In addition, there are sometimes verbs not related to 'speaking' and constructions without a verb. The dialogues of the Olonkho characters by D.A. Tomskaya from the Verkhoyansk region are characterised by simplified repetitions of a single verb. In some cases, while recording the text, the collectors were able to introduce sentences of their own, in which the name of the character and his action are indicated. It turned out that the formulaic constructions that precede direct speech contain character descriptions: first of all, this applies to the abasy bogatyr, female images, shamans, shamanesses, a child, zoomorphic images.