The Tatar version of the archaic-heroic dastan about Tulyak and Susylu deeply reflects the worldviews of the Turkic peoples, while preserving the poetic significance of Tatar folk art in a peculiar way; contains laconism, heroism, adventure character; handwritten copies of Tulyak convey historical memory, the continuity of generations to the present day. The unexplored Tatar version of dastan as a source of the epic culture of the ethnic group determines the relevance of the stated topic.

The article systematizes all known variants of the national version of this folklore piece. The purpose of the article is to determine the originality of the Tatar version of the Tulyak dastan as a whole. As part of the description of the variants, the author gives a detailed description of the texts of the Tatar variants of the dastan, determines that to date only six variants of the Tatar Tulyak have been found; notes the lexical, stylistic, semantic differences between the variants, the time and place of rewriting, etc. features of the texts. He emphasizes that each variant of the Tulyak dastan is equally valuable and has great scientific significance. In addition, the author’s scientific interest includes clarifying the role of mythological and religious views of the ethnic group in the book version of the Tulyak dastan; revealing the specifics of Tatar variants of the dastan against the background of versions of other Turkic peoples, in particular, the Bashkir version. The article also notes the vitality of the plot not only in the form of a book version of the epic, but also in the oral work of the Tatars; using the example of the most complete texts, some mythological representations of the Tatars in this work are investigated; attention is drawn to the fact that in the texts, along with Muslim beliefs, traces of archaic elements of the traditional worldview of the ancient Turks are well preserved.

The scholarly novelty of the study consists in a comprehensive analysis of all known Tatar variants of the Tulyak dastan, focusing on the reflection of the ethnic worldview in the epic. The source of the study was the Tatar-language texts of the Tulyak dastan, found in different years in places of compact residence of the ethnic group. In the study, the author applied structural-descriptive, textual, and germanicistic research methods.

As a result, it is proved that the Tatar Tulyak dastan, expressing and transmitting the spiritual experience and creative consciousness of the people, has its rightful place in the continuous process of epic development. The potential of the topic for further study of the problem is very high.

Dedicated to the blessed memory of my Teacher – Professor Maya Cheremisina.

In this article, we presented our vision of the tasks, methods and prospects for studying texts of good wishes in the Khakas language, which are the most widespread, vibrant and ancient form of linguistic representation of the spiritual culture of the Khakas. While in folkloristic and ethnographic studies this folklore genre was considered in the system of ideological values and etiquette behavior of the ethnic group, its linguistic corpus remains an untouched area. However, the basic basis of traditional good wishes is its language – a special verbal form of manifestation of the ethnic mentality, therefore, it should receive scientific coverage at all linguistic levels: semantic, grammatical, syntactic, pragmatic, etc. For a more in-depth consideration in order to identify the system of traditional values and worldview of the ethnos complex linguo-folkloristic, ethno-, linguocultural methods are used.

The purpose of the article is to describe the methods, tasks and prospects for studying texts of good wishes. To achieve the goal, tasks related to the designation of texts of good wishes as an object of research are set and methods are proposed for a more in-depth comprehensive study of their plan of expression and plan of content. Thus, the study of complex problems of value categories of good wishes, pragmatic situations of their implementation and other forms of good wishes, reflected in the relationships of linguistic individuals, form an independent scientific direction.

The relevance of the study is due to the lack of research into the language of the textual structure of wellwishes and the need to develop their linguistic-folkloristic paradigm, as well as the formation of a new conceptual apparatus.

The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time texts of good wishes are becoming the subject of special research on linguistic parameters correlated with pragmatic, communicative, folkloristic and other characteristics.

The article identifies questions for potential research into texts of good wishes and describes methods for achieving these goals. This topic has good prospects for further research in interdisciplinary areas. In addition, the popularization of texts of traditional good wishes in the public environment, their spiritual and mental attitudes will make a certain contribution to the preservation and development of the Khakas language. First of all, the use of traditional expressions of good wishes in the modern discursive space allows us to expand the ontological function of the Khakas language.

The article is devoted to the study of folklore texts as a source for studying the ancient stages of Yakuts’ settlement in various landscape zones of Yakutia. The purpose and objectives are to systematize, analyze and interpret folklore materials about the aboriginals of Yakutia using data from linguistics, ethnography and archeology. To systematize folklore plots and classify characters, binary concepts of “ours” and “others” are used. The dominant role is given to the category of “other”, which implies the differentiation of concepts such as “wild”, “alien”, “different”. In the study, descriptive, comparative-correlative, historical-genetic, historicalsystemic and retrospective methods were used. The historical-geographical approach was involved in analyzing the historical-geographical periodization of folklore plots.

According to the folklore, the aboriginal tribes of Yakutia can be divided into groups of “wild” (chuchuna, mulen), “alien” (hairy giants, tiny foreigners, long-headed sakhalar), and “different” (kara sagyl, foreigners omuk, sleeping in winter, tumats, sortols). At the initial stage of settlement, the territory is perceived as an unexplored “other”, and its inhabitants as part of the “wild” nature. As the area becomes inhabited, the image of the natives acquires real anthropomorphic features, although it retains some anatomical anomalies as a mark of the “alien” peripheral world. The author pays special attention to the transformation of ideas about chuchuna: from “halfpeople–half-animals” causing primitive fear, then to marginal “thin spirits”, then to “wild people” on whom they sometimes hunt, and finally to Chukchi chuchunas who kidnap women. It is suggested that under the image of mysterious chuchunas of the ethnographic time there were so-called “wanderers” – groups of young Chukchi, inspired by the desire to “see the world”, as described by V. G. Bogoraz.

At the final stage of settlement, despite their “different” customs and traditions, the aborigines enter the field of active socio-cultural interaction with the descendants of immigrants and eventually assimilate into their ranks. This is evidenced by both archaeological monuments and toponyms and ethnonyms (omuk, tumat, sortol).

A motif as one of the most important elements of a plot is always interesting to folklore researchers. The Ossetian epic folklore consists of Narts Sagas, Legends of Tsartsyata and Legends of Daredzanta. The purpose of this study is to analyze the vulnerability motif in Ossetian folklore. The relevance of the study is substantiated by the understudied nature of the motif of the vulnerable place on the invulnerable body of the epic, which is frequent in the Ossetian epic.

The novelty of the research lies in the complex consideration of epic folklore, including three known cycles, as well as in the discovery of not only major but also minor plots containing the mentioned motif. The following tasks are being solved in order to achieve this goal: identification of plots containing the motif in question; classification of varieties of vulnerability in Ossetian folklore; attraction of data from some Caucasian national versions of the Narts epic for a more structured analysis; gradation of universal and specific features of the motif’s functioning.

The study revealed various types of epic hero’s vulnerability, noted their connection to the plot in accordance with the performing tradition and variation of the folklore text; revealed the connection of the motif of a vulnerable place on the body of an invulnerable hero with the somatic code of culture. The most vivid examples here are the images of Soslan and Batraz, and the above motif is connected with the plots of birth, hardening and death of heroes. Vulnerability from their own weapons is characteristic of both the Narts and their enemies. At the same time, in Ossetian Narts Sagas there are heroes whose soul is thought to be outside the body, which corresponds to ancient animalistic ideas. This type of vulnerability reveals an Indo-European tripartite nature. The invulnerability achieved by the heroes through miraculous military equipment and armour is conventional and is associated with the armour / chain mail of Tserek (Tserechy zğær) and the helmet of Bidas (Bidasy taka). In the Ossetian epic, in addition to the vulnerability of the physical body, there is a vulnerability of a psychosomatic nature, peculiar to a certain kind of heroes and found in the story of the marriage of Nart Khamyts.

Cross-genre analysis of the vulnerability motif in Ossetian folklore as a whole, as well as its comparative study in all Caucasian versions of the Narts epic is promising.

Stable comparisons describing the size of objects in Altai, Khakas and Tuvan heroic tales are considered in comparative terms. Their semantic models are revealed, the components are analyzed: parameter (“size”), standards and objects of comparison. Most of the models (twelve) refer to the large size designation. Only two models of comparisons were identified, indicating the small size of objects. Comparisons with the reference objects of the landscape, mountain and plain describe the size of the most important characters of the epic – the hero and his horse. By comparing the size of animals, the size of objects is determined, which is mainly characteristic of the Tuvan epic. Household items serve as standards for describing both large and small objects; human or animal body parts are mostly small-sized standards. An abstract concept can also be the subject of comparison with the aspects of the “small” and “thin” parameter. The general and specific features of the meaningful structure of comparisons in these languages are determined. Thus, comparisons with components naming objects of the mountain landscape are especially common in the Tuvan epic, they are characteristic of describing the voluminous, rounded muscles of the hero. In the Altai and Khakas legends, on the contrary, the characteristic of the width of the body parts of the hero prevails, and comparisons are used for this, including the names of objects of the plain landscape. The width in the Tuvan epic is described by comparing it with a lake. In Khakas legends, a comparison of the thickness of body parts with trees is noted. A characteristic feature of the Tuvan epic is the numerous comparisons with the standards: the sex and age names of animals. This is also noted in the Yakut epic and is most likely a Mongolian influence. In the languages under consideration, large and small size standards are distinguished in comparisons, which generally belong to the same thematic groups, and the same patterns of determining the size of objects are found. However, the epic of each nation is characterized in many ways by its own set of comparisons.

The article examines the archaic cult of the god of iron and the patron saint of metal Tlepsh, the emergence of metallurgy, the creation of the first weapons and armor made of metal, which are reflected in the Adyghe heroic epic Narts. The relevance of the article is due to the fact that the heroic epic Narts is almost not considered in the scientific literature as a source of information for the study of objects and tools, the creation of the first weapon, the addition of a complex of weapons and armor of horsemen. The purpose of the study is to compare the weapons of the heroes of the Nart epic, endowed with magical properties, having certain qualitative characteristics, technological features of manufacture, with the materials of archaeological sites of the Northwestern Caucasus. To achieve these goals, a comparative historical research method was used to determine the features of the origin and composition of various types of offensive and defensive weapons, reflecting the stages of development of blacksmithing and weapons production in a historical context.

The transformation of the Chthonic «fire» god into the patron saint of iron and blacksmithing of the nart Tlepsha translates in the legends of the Nart epic the historical and economic prerequisites for the origin of metalworking in the Early Iron Age, the creation of the first tools and weapons of the sleds, which became models for creating the best defensive and offensive weapons in Eurasia. The archaeological sites of the Northwestern Caucasus confirm the continuous development of metallurgy and metalworking since ancient times and the creation of highly artistic bronze, gold, and silver products.

The initiated research on this topic has a long–term perspective and requires continued work on the study of the original texts of the Adyghe heroic epic «Narts» for comparison with archaeological artifacts found in the Northwestern Caucasus.

The language of the Baraba Tatars, an indigenous small Turkic-speaking ethnic group living in the Novosibirsk Region, is considered to be severely endangered. Its levels are extremely poorly understood. The purpose of this article is to study the ways of expressing comparativity based on the material of this idiom and such study is being conducted for the first time. To achieve this goal, folklore texts presented mainly by dastans, i. e. heroic tales, published in two works: V. V. Radlova “Samples of folk literature of Turkic tribes living in Southern Siberia and the Dzungarian steppe” and L. V. Dmitrieva “The language of the Baraba Tatars” were analyzed. An approach developed in the Sector of Languages of the Peoples of Siberia at the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was used to analyze the linguistic material.

In the course of the study, the following ways of transmitting comparativity were identified: 1) the equivalence is expressed by affixes =taw / =täw; =lai / =läi and =layin / =läyin; predicates of similarity osha= ʻto be similarʼ, oqsha= ʻto be similarʼ; analytical index bolyp; parametric name sorlugu ʻthe same size asʼ; and other means – words shägällü ʻsimilarʼ, käbäk ʻsimilar, alikeʼ, tagynnajyn ʻthe same wayʼ; 2) differentiation of the compared objects is achieved both by lexical means – the words artyk ʻbetter, best ʼ, eng ʻthe mostʼ, otary ʻmore and more ʼ, kichӓ, kichyӓ ʻlessʼ, and with the help of the affix of comparison =rak / =rӓk. In most cases, the parameter and/ or comparison standard is expressed implicitly and is deduced from the context.

Examples from each group are represented by an uneven number of units. On the one hand, this may indicate a different frequency of use of certain ways of expressing comparison, on the other hand, genre features may have imposed restrictions on usage. In general, the considered comparisons have analogues in other Turkic languages, but also have a certain uniqueness, which can be accounted for by the transitional nature of the language of the Baraba Tatars – from the South Siberian Turkic languages to the languages of the Urals and the Volga region, as well as Central Asia.

In the future, it is planned to consider the use of comparative concepts based on the material of the colloquial speech of the Barabians.

The relevance of this topic is due to the need for a more detailed, systematic study of the structure, semantics and function of the images and plots of olonkho, in particular little-studied magical objects and means with different layers in genesis. The novelty of the study is that for the first time magical objects and means in the Yakut epic are studied in detail. The purpose of the work is to identify and study the semantics, structure, function of magical objects and means in olonkho. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were set: identifying the types of magical means and objects in olonkho; structural-semantic, functional analysis of magical objects; establishing parallels in the epics of other related peoples. The following research methods are used: continuous sampling method, structural-semantic analysis, structural-functional analysis, comparative-contrastive method. Various types of magical means and objects have been identified in the Yakut heroic epic: living and dead water, divine moisture ilge, book of destinies/heavenly archive, arrow, magical grass, comb, needle, flint, axe, spear, wooden palm, whip, rope, iron cradle, iron box, tambourine, etc. It has been established that many of them (living water, book of destinies, arrow, magical grass, etc.) are similar to magical objects of the epics of the TurkicMongolian peoples, are common in the olonkho of all ethno-local groups of the Yakuts, from the Kolyma to the Yessey, separated by several thousand kilometers, which shows their archaism. At the same time, there are also late borrowings from the fairy tale tradition associated with household items (comb, needle, flint, axe); shamanic culture is also reflected (tambourine). Magical objects perform various auxiliary functions, thanks to which the heroes come to life, are healed after a mortal wound, acquire strength and power to defeat the enemy, are cleansed from the negative impact of evil forces, learn their fate, resolve disputes, preserve their souls, arrange obstacles for pursuers, etc. All this contributes to the development, dramatization of the plot, the disclosure of the character of the hero, enhances fantasy, arouses interest in listeners. The introduction of magic objects into the plot also serves as a compositional motivation aimed at “economy and expediency of motives”. The prospect of this study is seen in the further study of miraculous assistants in the Yakut epic.

It is believed that the recording and publication of the Kazakh lyrical epic Kyz Zhibek took place at the end of the 19th century. The beginning of the collection, study and scientific research of numerous versions of the poem, including by foreign scientists, dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.

The relevance of this work is seen against the background of unresolved problems of folkloristics of the past period concerning the genesis of the lyrical epic work Kyz Zhibek, which became common to a number of Turkic peoples. The novelty of the research is that for the first time a comparison was made of the main national versions of the poem in the Kazakh and Nogai languages, as well as their translations into other Turkic languages. 

The purpose of this article is an attempt to attract the attention of industry specialists and to submit for scientific discussion the hypothesis of reception and transformation of onomastic terminology of the main variants of the Kyz Zhibek epic in the context of existing ethnolinguistic issues.

The main objective of the work is to compare the main epic objects: the ethnonym Zhagalbaily from the Kazakh versions of the epic and the toponym Yagalybaily, found in its Nogai versions.

In a comparative analysis of the content of the text of various versions of the epic in Kazakh (Kyz Zhibek, Kyz Zhibek hikayasi Kissa) and Nogai (Kyz-Yibek, Tolegen men Kyz-Yibek) languages, as well as their translations into Kyrgyz (Kyz Jibek), Russian (Kyz Jibek), Turkish (Kizcibek Destani, Kız Jibek Destanı) and Uzbek (Kizzhibak, Qiz jibek and Qiz-Jibek) languages were used comparatively historical method.

As a result of the conducted research, it was found that if in the Kazakh versions of the epic Zhagalbaily is the name of the Kazakh tribe, then in its Nogai versions Yagalybaily is the name of the area. At the same time, in the national versions of the epic of both peoples, they look like interchangeable terms. It is noteworthy that the events described in both cases take place on the Black Sea coast. Excerpts from the text of the epics, which contain Zhagalbaily and Yagalybaily, look like a calculated translation.

In our opinion, further research to establish the etymological ambiguity of the onyms Zhagalbaily and Yagalybaily seems promising. It is of scientific interest to establish the factors of amplification and contamination that influenced the processes of plot composition of national versions of the Kyz Zhibek epic. It is proposed to discuss the possibility and expediency of conducting further research aimed at studying the considered synonyms in relation to each other from the point of view of the theory of binary oppositions (ethnonym – toponym; toponym – ethnonym) and from the point of view of the concept of etymological nests.