Zoomorphic metaphor in a Russian folk riddle

Abstract

Metaphor is a unique phenomenon both from the point of view of language and culture, for it preserves unique relic forms of the surrounding reality perception. At present, when modern conditions of people’s lives are transformed, metaphor, as a way of realization of hidden comparison, undergoes a number of qualitative changes. In this regard, it will be relevant to turn to metaphor functioning in folklore texts, because due to its conservatism we can identify archetypal images underlying the hidden comparison. This article examines the features of zoomorphic metaphor in Russian folk riddles. The zoomorphic code is interesting for us, since the images of animals, actualized through metaphor, allow identifying national values. In riddles containing images of animals, there is a certain similarity between the image of the animal and the denotat in question; accordingly, this similarity is reflected in the metaphor, usually through a description of the action and appearance of the animal. Analyzing metaphor in the Russian folk riddle, we identify zoomorphic codes, which retain archetypal coding, expressed in the context of the whole riddle and in its correspondence to mythological ideas about the given animal. In this case, we are talking about the image of a horse, a bull. At the same time, the corpus of folk riddles reveals such zoomorphic metaphorical formations, which do not show any connection with archetypal coding. Thus, the image of a bear is deprived of mythological subtext and is used only as a means of secondary nomination of the denotation.