Comparisons with the parameter “size” in the heroic epic of the Turks of Southern Siberia

Abstract

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.

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