Textology of Altai and Teleut shamanic texts
dedicated to the deities of the Upper World

In the section Study of folklore
Textology of Altai and Teleut shamanic texts
dedicated to the deities of the Upper World
Авторы (текстом)
N. R. Oynotkinova
Institute of Philology SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
Ключевые слова
textual criticism, ritual folklore of Altaians, shamanic text, shamanism of Altaians and Teleuts, theonyms, sacred chronotope
Abstract

For the first time, the textual features of two shamanic texts dedicated to the deities of the
Upper World are considered. The purpose of the work was to compare these works and identify common syntagmatic (compositional, stylistic) and semantic (characters, sacred chronotope) elements. The main research method is the structural-semiotic method, which allows
considering these cultural texts as signs. Despite the fact that these texts differ greatly in their
volume and poetic language, they have common elements. Different shamans performed these
texts and at different times with the communicative aim to obtain the blessing of the light deities, the souls for the birth of children. Common elements are observed both in semantics (in
the organization of sacred space, in the time of rituals, in the system of characters) and
in syntagmatics and style. The addressees of the rituals were deities and spirits, and the acting
characters were people. The names of the deities of the Upper World embodied the personification of the sky and natural phenomena, characteristic of archaic mythologies. The syntagmatic structure of the texts is characterized by certain stability of the poetic structure of the
texts, supported by repeated episodes of the shamanic rite, common places, and poetic formulas. The presence of formulas indicates a common poetic shamanic tradition of the Altaians
and the Teleuts.

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Bibliographic reference
N. R. Oynotkinova Textology of Altai and Teleut shamanic texts
dedicated to the deities of the Upper World
// Сибирский филологический журнал. 2021. № 2. Pp. 18–30. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/75/2.