• English
  • Русский

The Taboo in the System of Speech and Folklore Genres

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0).

The research deals with the taboo as a traditional speech genre, which is a prominent part of the contem­porary system of speech genres. The taboo as a speech and partly folklore genre is based on the system of beliefs passed down from generation to generation, and ensures compliance with certain rules of behav­ior, first of all – preventing actions which, according to the traditional world view, can harm the violator. The motivation of the taboo is most often of irra­tional (mythological) character, the prescription sug­gests ways to neutralize the negative consequences of its violation. With the latter two components, the genre has a three­-part structure. The taboo is presented both in traditional culture and in modern discourse, in­cluding children’s discourse. This is a free­-structure genre, but it also includes elements of a cliché. In modern Russian discourse, the taboo is widely represented, which is evidenced by numerous examples from spoken language and fiction. On a number of grounds, the taboo differs from a close to it genre – omen. Syntactic constructions of taboo include, first of all, different types of polypredicative sentences with the semantics of cause, condition, consequence, pur­pose, mononuclear sentences of “generalized seman­tics”. Traditional motivations for the taboo are often metaphorical, archaic, contain demonological vocab­ulary, words with the sems “death”, “disease”, “deprivation”, etc. The source of the content of the taboo is not the subject, but the collective, so the verbaliza­tion of its text is not necessarily carried out by the addresser of a higher status. According to this param­eter, the speech genre of the taboo may be based on speech acts of prohibition or caution.

Author: 
Sidorenko
Alexey
Vladimirovich
,
Sterlitamak branch of the Bashkir State University
,
Sterlitamak
,
alexeysidorenkoff@gmail.com
Key words: 
taboo, children’s discourse, motivation, prescription, traditional culture, folklore, superstition, the contemporary system of speech genres
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.18500/2311-0740-2020-2-26-100-109
Bibliography
  1. Agapkina T. A., Belova O. V. Primeta [Omen]. Slavjanskie drevnosti : Jetnolingvisticheskij slovar’ : v 5 t. [N. I. Tolstoy, ed. Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary], Vol. 4. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 2009, pp. 279–280 (in Russian).
  2. Bakhtin M. M. Problema rechevykh zhanrov [The problem of speech genres]. Bakhtin M. M. Sobraniye sochinenii : v 5 t. T. 5 [Collected words : in 5 vols], Vol. 5. Moscow, Russkiye Slovari Publ., 1996, pp. 159– 206 (in Russian).
  3. Borisova I. N., Korh S. S. Pragmaticheskij potencial zhanra zagovora : cvetovoj kod [Pragmatic potential of the conspiracy genre : color code]. Zhanry rechi : sb. nauch. st. [Speech Genres : coll. of sci. art.]. Saratov, 2007, iss. 5, pp. 332–345 (in Russian).
  4. Borisov S. B. Russkoe detstvo XIX–XX vv. : kul’turno-antropologicheskij slovar’ : v 2 t. [Russian childhood of the XIX–XX centuries : cultural and anthropological dictionary : in 2 vols.], vol. 2. St. Petersburg, Dmitriy Bulanin, 2012. 829 p. (in Russian).
  5. Bulygina T. V., Shmelyov A. D. Kosvennoe vyrazhenie pobuzhdeniya : obshchekommunikativnye postulaty ili yazykovye konvencii? [Indirect imperative : general communicative postulates or language conventions?]. In: Funkcional’notipologicheskie aspekty analiza imperativa. Ch. 2. Semantika i pragmatika povelitel’nyh predlozhenij [eds. L. A. Birulin, V. S. Hrakovsky, Functional and typological aspects of the analysis of the imperative. Part 2. Semantics and the pragmatics of imperative sentences]. Moscow, In-t yazykoznaniya, Leningrad, Leningr. otd-nie, 1990, pp. 103–110 (in Russian).
  6. Dal’ V. I. Poslovicy i pogovorki russkogo naroda : v 2 t. Izd. 2e. [Proverbs and sayings of the Russian people : in 2 vols]. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. St. Petersburg, Izd. M. O. Vol’fa, 1879. 685 + 638 р. (in Russian).
  7. Dementyev V. V. “Speech genre” theory and actual processes in contemporary speaking. Voprosy Yazykoznaniya, 2015, no. 6, pp. 78–107 (in Russian).
  8. Dementyev V. V. Teorija rechevyh zhanrov [Theory of speech genres]. Moscow, Znak Publ., 2010. 600 p. (in Russian).
  9. Dobrushina N. R. Grammatical forms and constructions with the meaning of apprehension and caution. Voprosy Yazykoznaniya, 2006, no. 2, pp. 28–67 (in Russian).
  10. Golovina E. D. Krajnij or poslednij? Russian speech, 2014, no. 4, pp. 59–64 (in Russian).
  11. Gura A. V. Pauk [Spider]. Slavjanskie drevnosti : Jetnolingvisticheskij slovar’ : v 5 t. [N. I. Tolstoy, ed. Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary], Vol. 3. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 2009, pp. 646–648 (in Russian).
  12. Hazova O. N. Neopredelenno-lichnye predlozheniya i vyrazhenie pobuzhdeniya v sovremennom russkom yazyke [Indefinitepersonal sentences and expression of imperative in contemporary Russian]. In: Funkcional’no-tipologicheskie aspekty analiza imperativa. Ch. 2. Semantika i pragmatika povelitel’nyh predlozhenij [eds. L. A. Birulin, V. S. Hrakovsky. Functional and typological aspects of the analysis of the imperative. Part 2. Semantics and the pragmatics of imperative sentences]. Moscow, In-t yazykoznaniya, Leningrad, Leningr. otd-nie, 1990, pp. 124–128 (in Russian).
  13. Konovalova N. I. Sakral’nyj tekst kak lingvokul’turnyj fenomen. 2e izd. [Sacred text as a linguocultural phenomenon. 2nd ed.]. Ekaterinburg, Ural’sky gos. ped. unt, 2007. 298 р. (in Russian).
  14. Krysin L. P. Ob odnoj lakune v sisteme funkcional’nyh stilej sovremennogo russkogo yazyka [On one lacuna in the system of functional styles of the modern Russian language]. Russkij yazyk v shkole [Russian language at school], Moscow, 1994, no. 3, pp. 69–71 (in Russian).
  15. Maslennikova L. A. Osnovanie imperativnogo vyskazyvaniya (na materiale anglijskogo i russkogo yazykov) [The basis of the imperative sentence (on the material of English and Russian languages)]. In: Funkcional’no-tipologicheskie aspekty analiza imperativa. Ch. 2. Semantika i pragmatika povelitel’nyh predlozhenij [eds. L. A. Birulin, V. S. Hrakovsky. Functional and typological aspects of the analysis of the imperative. Part 2. Semantics and the pragmatics of imperative sentences]. Moscow, In-t yazykoznaniya, Leningrad, Leningr. otd-nie, 1990, pp. 18–22 (in Russian).
  16. Najdich L. E. Imperativ v russkoj volshebnoj skazke [Imperative in Russian fairy tale]. In: Funkcional’notipologicheskie aspekty analiza imperativa. Ch. 2. Semantika i pragmatika povelitel’nyh predlozhenij [eds. L. A. Birulin, V. S. Hrakovsky. Functional and typological aspects of the analysis of the imperative. Part 2. Semantics and the pragmatics of imperative sentences]. Moscow, In-t yazykoznaniya, Leningrad, Leningr. otd-nie, 1990, pp. 49–53 (in Russian).
  17. Russinova T. V. Osobennosti funkcionirovaniya zapreta (na materiale russkogo i anglijskogo yazyka) [Features of the functioning of the prohibition (on the material of Russian and English)]. Thesis Diss. Cand. Sci. (Philol.). Saratov, 2006. 21 p. (in Russian).
  18. Russkaya grammatika. T. 2. Sintaksis [ed. N. Yu. Shvedova. Russian grammar. Vol. 2. Syntax]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1980. 714 p. (in Russian).
  19. Senichkina E. P. Slovar’ evfemizmov russkogo yazyka [Dictionary of Russian euphemisms]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2016. 460 p.
  20. Shmeleva T. V. Model’ rechevogo zhanra [Model of the speech genre]. Zhanry rechi : sb. nauch. st. [Speech Genres : coll. of sci. art.]. Saratov, GosUNTs “Kolledzh”, 1997, iss. 1, pp. 88–98 (in Russian).
  21. Sidorenko A. V. Children’s oath in the soviet era : speech genre characteristics. Speech Genres, 2016, no. 2 (14), pp. 73–79. DOI: 10.18500/231107402016 2147278 (in Russian).
  22. Slyshkin G. G. Rechevoj zhanr : perspektivy konceptologicheskogo analiza [Speech genre : perspectives of conceptual analysis]. Zhanry rechi : sb. nauch. st.. [Speech Genres : coll. of sci. art.]. Saratov, ITs “Nauka”, 2005, iss. 4, pp. 34–49 (in Russian).
  23. Smirnov Yu. P. Peredacha, ispolnenie i zapominanie zagovorov na russkom severe [Transfer, execution and memorization of spell in the Russian north]. In: Etnolingvistika teksta. Semiotika malyh form fol’klora. I. Tezisy i predvaritel’nye materialy k simpoziumu [Ethnolinguistic of text. Semiotics of small forms of folklore. I. Abstracts and preliminary materials for the symposium]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, pp. 53–55 (in Russian).
  24. Suhih O. A. Kategoriya imperativnosti v rechevom obshchenii [Imperative category in speech communication]. In: Funkcional’no-tipologicheskie aspekty analiza imperativa. Ch. 2. Semantika i pragmatika povelitel’nyh predlozhenijo [eds. L. A. Birulin, V. S. Hrakovsky. Functional and typological aspects of the analysis of the imperative. Part 2. Semantics and the pragmatics of imperative sentences]. Moscow, In-t yazykoznaniya, Leningrad, Leningr. otd-nie, 1990, pp. 27–31 (in Russian).
  25. Tolstaya S. M. Semanticheskie kategorii yazyka kul’tury : Ocherki po slavyanskoj etnolingvistike [Semantic categories of culture language : Essays on Slavic ethnolinguistics]. Moscow, Librokom Publ., 2010. 368 p. (in Russian).
  26. Tolstaya S. M. Smert’ [Death]. Slavjanskie drevnosti : Jetnolingvisticheskij slovar’ : v 5 t. [N. I. Tolstoy, ed. Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary], Vol. 5. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 2012, pp. 58–71 (in Russian).
  27. Tolstaya S. M. Speech acts and speech genres in folklore. Living antiquity, 2015, no. 4, pp. 20–23 (in Russian).
  28. Tolstaya S. M. Zagovor [Spell]. Slavjanskie drevnosti : Jetnolingvisticheskij slovar’ : v 5 t. [N. I. Tolstoy, ed. Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary], vol. 2. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya Publ., 1999, pp. 239–244 (in Russian).
  29. Vinogradova L. N., Tolstaya S. M. Zaprety (tabu) [Taboo]. Slavjanskie drevnosti : Jetnolingvisticheskij slovar’ : v 5 t. [N. I. Tolstoy, ed. Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary], vol. 2, Moscow, Mezhdunar odnye otnosheniya Publ., 1999, pp. 269–273 (in Russian).
Journal issue: 
№ 2 (26), 2020, 
Heading: 
Studies of individual genres
Full Text (PDF):
download
(downloads: 151)