Tomsk Folklore Corpus: From idea to implementation

The article discusses the current problem of preserving and systematizing folklore material in the digital age. An overview of the existing electronic folklore corpora created and being created in Russia is presented. Despite the growing interest in corpus linguistics, electronic folklore corpora have not yet become widespread, especially in a regional context. The aim of the article is to present the concept of creating the electronic Tomsk Folklore Corpus based on the materials of the annual summer folklore practice of students of the Faculty of Philology of Tomsk State University. The expeditions took place in 1960-2010 in villages of Tomsk, Kemerovo and Novosibirsk Oblasts, as well as in Khakasia, Krasnoyarsk and Altai Krais. Following the results of the expeditions, the students prepared diaries and handwritten notebooks, in which they noted the place and time of collecting the material, indicated information about the collectors and informants, and wrote down texts with the designation of genres. The notebooks are stored in the TSU Laboratory of General and Siberian Lexicography. A total of 756 notebooks (5 of them contain diaries) and 51 expedition diaries have been preserved. The article substantiates the need to create such a resource, emphasizes the importance of preserving and cataloging folklore materials as an important part of traditional spiritual culture. The main stages of work on the corpus are described, including creating a catalog, digitizing handwritten notebooks, typing and checking texts, developing a markup system and building an information search system. Special attention is paid to the principles of marking up folklore texts, which should enable a multidimensional analysis of the material. The types of markup considered are: the year and place of collection of the material, the gender of the informant, language, genre, subject, the presence of a media file (photos and audio and video recordings for future expeditions). It is assumed that the search in the corpus will also be possible by word or combination of words. The development of the Tomsk Folklore Corpus is a continuation of the traditions of Tomsk Dialectological School and is aimed at preserving and popularizing the unique folklore heritage of Siberia. The article describes the potential uses of the corpus, including scientific (and lexicographical), educational, and cultural. The Tomsk Folklore Corpus will be accessible to a wide range of users, including researchers, teachers, students, and anyone interested in folklore, including folklore groups. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

Keywords

Authors

References