Situational parallels involving the components ‟cattle” and ‟people” in the texts of Khakas heroic epics

The aim of our study is to identify the ways in which the syntactic parallelisms мал “cattle” and чон “people” function in the text and the semantic loads they embody through an analysis of their components. To achieve this goal, we discuss three key concepts that reflect national worldviews: parallelism, the place, and/or role of background characters such as мал “cattle” and чон “people” in Khakas heroic tales. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that for the first time, background fragments of situational parallels with the components мал “cattle” and чон “people” are highlighted for scholarly discussion, symbolizing the khan's property and greatness. The widespread presence of these linguistic resources in Khakas heroic tales necessitates in-depth analysis and a thorough exploration of their semantic, substantive, and functional aspects, confirming the relevance of our study. Textual parallels with the basic lexemes мал “cattle” and чон “people” are examined using the following methods: a) a functional-semantic approach, which allows us to identify the semantic types of epic discourse of these lexemes; b) a componential analysis allows us to identify specific features of their conceptualization in the text, characteristic of the khan's property; c) using a descriptive method, we can determine the place and significance of the conceptual parallels мал “cattle” and чон “people” in the linguistic and folkloristic space.

The analysis revealed 13 thematic cycles of use of these lexemes, reflecting the strong conceptual connections between the khan and the people – the tributary and the cattle as objects of ownership. The implementation of these parallels formed specific linguistic patterns. The lexeme мал “cattle” most often appears with the epithet хадарған / хадарғанда “grazing”; in certain contexts, the adjective чахсы “good” or pronouns with the personal-possessive affix минiӊ / синiӊ “my / yours” are added. The lexeme чон “people” is found with the epithets албат / албатхы / илбеткi “подданный”, хара пастығ “black-headed”, харағы сiлiг “with beautiful eyes”, халых “people”, and ил “people”. The traditional use of these lexemes – parallels symbolizing the wealth and greatness of the khan – in most plot-organizing parts of heroic tales demonstrates our ancestors' special attitude toward material property as one of the most important resources in life.

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