Figurative comparative constructions in Epic (based on the Yakut Epic Olonkho “D’ulurujar Njurgun Bootur” and the Altai Heroic Epic “Maadaj-Kara”)

Nikolay Nikolaevich Efremov; Ayyana Alekseevna Ozonova; Alena Kirillovna Prokopieva

Nikolay Nikolaevich Efremov Institute of Humanities and Problems of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Yakutsk, Russia
Ayyana Alekseevna Ozonova Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Novosibirsk, Russia
Alena Kirillovna Prokopieva Institute of Languages and Cultures of Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation, M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk, Russia.

Keywords: Yakut heroic epic Olonkho, Altai epic, contacts, figurativeness, comparative construction, polypredicativeness, comparison standard, comparison indicator.

Abstract

The paper analyzes structure and semantics of figurative comparative constructions describing appearance of main characters in the Yakut epic Olonkho “D’ulurujar Njurgun Bootur” written by a classic Yakut writer P.A. Ojunskij as compared to the Altai heroic epic “Maadaj-Kara”. It has been found that, comparative polypredicative constructions with figurative meaning play a leading role in description of those characters in the Yakut Olonkho while in the Altai epic monopredicative constructions are found in similar cases. In the analyzed descriptions with comparative polypredicative constructions, the predicate of the subordinate predicative unit used as a comparison standard is formed by analytic-synthetic structures – attribute participles combined with the postposition курдук. In the Altai epic as opposed to the Yakut Olonkho, the major means to describe characters are noun constructions with the affix –дый and constructions with the syntactic words кептÿ ‘like, as if’, кеберлÿ ‘like, as if’, чилеп ‘like, as if’, ушкуш / ошкош ‘like’, тÿҥей ‘alike’. Comparative polypredicative constructions with the participle form –гандый as a predicate of the subordinate predicative unit are used much less. Active functioning of comparative polypredicative constructions in the Yakut Olonkho results from extensive and intensive use of syntactic means of figurativeness of various levels in the Olonkho.

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Author Biographies

Nikolay Nikolaevich Efremov, Institute of Humanities and Problems of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Yakutsk, Russia

Doctor of Philology Chief research scientist Institute of Humanities and Problems of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Yakutsk, Russia

Ayyana Alekseevna Ozonova, Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Novosibirsk, Russia

Candidate of Philology Senior researcher Institute of Philology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. Novosibirsk, Russia

Alena Kirillovna Prokopieva, Institute of Languages and Cultures of Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation, M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk, Russia.

Candidate of Philology. Associate professor Yakut language Department, Institute of Languages and Cultures of Peoples of the North-East of the Russian Federation, M. K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University Yakutsk, Russia.

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