Linguosemiotic features of death signs in Khanty folk tales and legends

Abstract

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of death through Khanty folk tales, legends, and bailichkas. The necessity of characterizing the death phenomenon – the structure of death signs, their sources, their occurrence in texts – is substantiated, and a brief analysis of the scholarly literature on the subject in question is provided. Death is commonly addressed in folklore, except in children’s fairy tales, where death is portrayed more discreetly. The death signs are described within the classification of the American pecialist in semiotics, C. S. Pierce, also considering the experience of D. A. Pisarenko, who systematized the death signs in the Russian folk tales. Folklore texts feature the death theme when the protagonist encounters hostile spirits, fights enemies, or meets dead people. This theme has its specific place in various folklore genres, with its signs classified by certain plot types. Found in the texts are indirect signs of death not referring directly to death, but only hinting at it. The analysis of four bailichkas reveals the deeds of aggressive deceased persons representing the death signs together with the coffin, bones, a deserted camp, and cut hair. Four types of mixed death signs have been found: (1) “index + icon” signs associated with personal knowledge about biological death and reflecting the external death signs; (2) “index + symbol” signs associated with death through funeral rites; (3) “symbol + index” signs represented by one sign – “lower world” – reflecting the religious views of a person, (4) “symbol + index + icon” signs, most ancient and semantically ambiguous signs.