Linguistic Multiforms in Kalevalaic Epic: Toward a Typology (original) (raw)
Related papers
Multiforms and Meaning: Playing with Referentiality in Kalevalaic Epic
Laulu kulttuurisena kommunikaationa – Song and Singing as Cultural Communication – Песня как средство культурной коммуникации. Ed. P. Huttu-Hiltunen, J. Seppänen, E. Stepanova, Frog & R. Nevalainen. Juminkeko Julkaisuja 87. Runolaulu-Akatemian Julkaisuja 16. Kuhmo: Juminkeko. Pp. 49–63., 2011
This paper offers an introduction to 'multiforms' as associated systems of verbal elements that develop in the memory of an individual and are used in text production. It examines these in the highly conservative kalevalaic mythological poetry of Finns and Karelians, where such multiforms become are sufficiently conservative in social circulation that they can become referentially meaningful. This paper looks briefly at general variation in production, variation by dialect, variation by situation and also the meaningful application of kalevalaic epic multiforms in exceptional contexts to produce new meanings This paper presents some of the same information in the Finnish language "Multiformit kalevalamittaisessa epiikassa" (2010), but it presents a more general introduction to the poetic system and does not open formal typologies of multiforms in this poetic system.
Linguistic Multiforms: Advancing Oral-Formulaic Theory
2016
This paper offers an accessible introduction to the theory of linguistic multiforms. Linguistic multiforms are verbal systems that are distinguishable from formulae and can provide frameworks for longer sequences of text. They provide an intermediate unit between the linguistic formula and theme as a unit of narrative content of Oral-Formulaic Theory (OFT). They also provide an approach to shorter poetic forms that are more verbally stable in social circulation than the long epics on which Classic OFT was developed. In addition, certain types of lexical variation only become understandable when multiforms are acknowledged. Integrating multiform theory into OFT allows a broader range of verbal art to be analyzed within a unified framework. Multiform theory was initially developed for the analysis of the flexibility of length of text sequences in long epics, following which it has been developed and refined. Focus in this article is on shorter forms of oral poetry that have not been conducive for analysis through Classic OFT owing to greater textual regularity in reproduction. Multiforms of different formal types are illustrated through examples from Finno-Karelian kalevalaic poetry, Old Norse eddic and skaldic poetries, and North Russian bylina poetry. The broader theoretical framework is nevertheless concerned with a general phenomenon of language that is also relevant to forms of discourse that are not poetically organized.
Interperformative Relationships in Ingrian Oral Poetry
Oral Tradition 25(2), s. 391–427. http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/25ii/kallio, 2010
Kalevala-metric oral poetry comprises various genres, from epic and lyric to ritual poetry, dancing songs, and lullabies. These poems were performed in diverse ways and applied to various social situations. The present article highlights the complexity of performance, referentiality, and local genres in Ingria. This complexity makes it crucial to take into account various analytical levels of the poem, from the content and meter to the melodies, refrains, and vocal style.
"As the South Slavic oral epic originated in a primary oral culture – a culture that is unaffected by literacy – and as it is composed through repertorial formulas and themes, it may find itself subject to misunderstanding by literary minds, particularly through accusations of mechanical composition. This paper aims to argue that an idea of “fixity,” with regards to the South Slavic oral epic’s formulas and themes, is flawed when one considers the culture from whence it came. I examine the necessity of formulaic repetition in the South Slavic oral culture of the 1930s-1950s, arguing that, without literacy and the possibility of record making, repetition was the only method through which their history and culture could be preserved. Drawing from Albert Lord’s study of the South Slavic oral epic, this paper establishes that while still existing in a primary oral culture, South Slavic poets interiorize formulas and themes until they are synonymous with reflexive speech. In order to demonstrate this, this paper explores the way in which a South Slavic boy learns to perform. I examine John Miles Foley’s delineation of the South Slavic decameter, which the South Slavic boy must learn as the foundation of all future lines of verse. I also demonstrate the efficiency of this foundation by studying substitution systems in epic verse; the mastery of substitution results in an instantaneous composition of song that is only possible through the interiorization of its elements. This paper then considers the term homeostasis, which in the case of this verse, refers to the obsolescence of irrelevant cultural matter. Using a case study, I analyze a singer’s substitution of obsolete themes and formulas with ones of then-contemporary relevance, arguing that the formulas easily adapt to change. The South Slavic oral epic is thus not mechanical, but a naturalized art form."
2021
In the present article, a new approach to historical-comparative studies of IndoEuropean poetic is suggested. It combines traditional etymological methods with corpus approach. Thus, to reconstruct the core thesaurus of Common Slavic epic poetic cliches, five independent corpora of Slavic epics were studied (Russian byliny, Ukrainian dumy, Bulgrian, Serbian and Croatian, as well as Slovenian herois songs). Each of the traditions have a certain range of core formulas which share the common clausula (line’s ending). The clausula words are the most important part of folklore vocabulary as they tend to be the most stable. Their stability over time is enforced by the recurrent metric patterns of the singing that accumulate at the line’s end. Previously, it has been proved that clausule words constitute the core of formulaic expressions inside one tradition (B. Lord), eventually, Levinton showed that such comparison may be made between several cognate traditions, like Serbian, Croation an...
M. Díaz de Cerio Díez, C. Cabrillana & C. Criado (eds.), Ancient Epic. Literary and Linguistic Essays, New Castle Upon Tyne, Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4438-7421-2., 2015
This book adopts a broad and multifaceted approach to that most preeminent of classical literature genres: the Epic. Set in the ancient world, from archaic Greece to imperial Rome, the scope of interest here extends, for comparative purposes, to Vedic and Sanskrit poetry, as well as the Medieval epic. This collection of papers by classicists from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, embraces key themes in recent scholarship, such as the character of the hero, defined in terms of the conflict of power central to the epos, the metapoetic function of the bard as a literary reflection of epic style, and the manipulation of epic myth to fulfil new functions, such as retelling contemporary history and conveying mystic symbology. Topics rooted in archaic poetry, such as the reutilisation of the ogre character embodied in the Cyclops and the journey into the Underworld, are also explored in great detail. In all these studies, the intertextual nature of ancient writing is consistently addressed through discussions of the revisiting of Homeric poetry by authors such as the Greek tragedians, Empedocles, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Lucan, and Valerius Flaccus. The analysis of the heroic narrative offered in this volume includes both literary phenomena and the language of the epic itself; the reader is thus afforded the widest possible view of current critical perspectives in classical literature and linguistics. Such a comprehensive treatment of the most important genre in the ancient world grants the reader powerful insights into the way in which ancient literature was composed. This collection of studies, while making a substantial contribution to scholarship in this field, will also appeal to a varied academic readership, including researchers in classical literature and linguistics, as well as students of literary theory.
The Function and Significance of Formula in Serbian Decasyllabic Epic Poetry
The subject of this paper is application range of Parry-Lord's definition of epic formula within the Serbian decasyllabic epic poetiy criticism. Advocating the thesis that "Homeric question" is not the most desirable research context for epic poetiy in short meter (decasyllabic) and only by exception longer than 1000 verses, the author offers eight elementary prepositions as a start point for discussion on possibilities and problems connected with definition of epic formula in general.