Lexicographic complexes of Onega epics as a basis for studying the epic narrator's idiolect

The article discusses one of the problems of linguo-folklore studies - the problem of idiolect. Although folk art, oriented on tradition, does not favour the manifestation of individuality, collectors and researchers of folklore language have repeatedly drawn attention to the peculiarity of the lexicons of epic narrators. Kursk linguofolklorists use different vocabulary materials to reveal the idiolect specificity of bylina singers. The article talks about the idea of creating lexicographic complexes of the language of individual bylina narrators. The aim of this publication is to reveal the research possibilities of a lexicographic complex for studying the idiolect of epic singers. The structure of one complex, created on the basis of texts recorded by A.F. Gilferding from the famous Kizh narrator V.P. Schegolenok in the 19th century, is characterised. The choice was conditioned by the personality of the singer, whose performing talent was appreciated by the collector, as well as by the sufficient number of texts to analyse. The rich factual material reveals the research value of each component of the complex, including folklore megatext, alphabetic-frequency dictionary, frequency dictionary and concordance. The complete dictionary gives a visual representation of the lexicon of the bylina singer and allows paying attention to individual lexemes and word constructions characteristic for this or that narrator. The frequency dictionary makes it is possible to identify both the most frequently used lexemes and single lexemes, which account for more than half of the vocabulary. Special attention is paid to the concordance, which contains all the contexts in which each lexeme is used. It is suggested that the lexicographic complex provides an objective basis for studying the idiolect of a particular narrator, whose distinctive performance style can be discussed only against the background of the lexicons of other narrators living in the same territory at the same time. For this purpose, a series of electronic complexes of bylinas of several Onega singers is being prepared. Materials of the complex ‘Ryabininin' are used for comparison in the article. It is noted that dictionaries, frequency dictionaries and concordances allow identifying common features due to the unity of the genre and the territory of the narrators' residence. However, there are also differences related to the choice of specific linguistic units and their combination in the bylina text, which makes it possible to talk about different types of asymmetry: quantitative, lexical, word-formation, and syntagmatic. It is concluded that further preparation of a series of complexes of bylinas of different narrators will not only confirm the conclusions about the uniqueness of their idiolects, which are influenced by different factors, but will also be a significant contribution to solving the theoretical problem of idiolects in Russian folklore. The author declares no conflict of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References