FEATURES OF THE IMAGE-FORMING VERBS USING IN THE YAKUT AND ALTAI EPICS

The image-forming verbs represent a special lexico-semantic group of verbs, in the meaning of which the main function is performed by sensorial perception and action, and in many cases, the visual image appears. The article provides a study of image-forming verbs of the Yakut and Altai languages, which perform the function of epic expressive means and are often applicable in the speech of the narrator. The purpose of this study is the identification of the structural and semantic specifics of image-forming verbs of the Yakut and Altai languages, and establishment of the functional features of this verbs group in the epic text. Materials of research: Yakut olonkho “Bogatyr Köbyue Dzhagyl” of P. Khabarov and Altai epic “Altai Buuchay” of N. Ulagashev. The systematization of verbs was done based on the work of L. N. Kharitonov. Methods: continuous sampling method for collecting verbs from epic texts; component analysis, which considers the meaning of the word as consisting of elementary meanings (signs, components, seme); the method of contextual (distribution) analysis, which allows to identify various meanings and nuances of the meanings of the studied verbs by their function inside the text. Result: 17 verbs have been identified from the Yakut olonkho and 10 verbs – from the Altai epic; verbs are divided into groups: verbs of movement in a broad sense; verbs characterizing gait, body movement, body parts; verbs characterizing facial expressions, a person’s face; verbs characterizing light perception. Among the identified Yakut image-forming verbs borrowing of stems with Mongolian origin predominates, and for Altai verbs – the overwhelming majority of stems with Turkic origin. The function of image-forming verbs in olonkho is presented in the description of the terrain, wealth of the inhabitants and nature of the Middle World, also for characterizing positive and negative characters, revealing their well-being and appearance, and evaluating actions. In the Altai epic image-forming verbs are more involved in the description of characters. In addition, the analysis of these verbs shows that image-forming verbs in the Yakut and Altai epics serve as components of the widespread methods of imaginative description as comparison and parallelism. According to the author, the using of linguistic units as image-forming verbs can have common features and characteristics, despite the style of performance, skill and lexical resources of the narrator. To identify more specific general and distinctive functional features of image-forming verbs, it is necessary to conduct research with epic texts of large volumes.

epic language, verb, image-forming verbs, olonkho, Altai epic, functionality, comparative study, narrative, vocabulary of the narrator