Visual perception of the epic world picture: the case of the olonkho Nurgun Bootur the Swift by Platon Oyunsky

Abstract

The article highlights the problem of visual perception of the epic picture of the world in the text of the olonkho Nurgun Botur the Swift by Platon Oyunsky. The relevance of the study is justified by the insufficient study of the problem of visual perception based on the analysis of epic tales. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time an attempt was made to interpret the functional and semantic features of verbs with the meaning of visual perception on the material of this epic text. The aim is to identify and describe the linguistic means of objectifying visual perception as a sensory process from the point of view of their functioning in the epic world picture. To achieve the goal, a set of techniques was used: the continuous sampling method for collecting practical material from the text, component and definitional types of semantic analysis, which involve the analysis of words meanings through the allocation of the main components – semes, contextual analysis to study the functional specificity of a language unit depending on the context. The actual material was 115 fragments of contextual use of visual perception verbs, while the verbs of vision are analyzed not only from the position of the main character as an observer, but also other characters. As a result of the study, it was revealed that the representation of visual perception is carried out by 4 verbal units (ker-, oduulaa-, olootoo-, kharakhtaa-), which demonstrate the differential features of the semantics of this class of verbs of vision, of which the verb ker- is distinguished by frequency – to look, to see, which accounts for the largest number of examples. Due to the format of the article, an important semantic component remained unexplored – kharakh ‘eye/eyes’, which, according to researchers, are referred to as a tool or instrument of visual perception. There is a certain number of scientific papers devoted to the study of the features of the conceptual interpretation of the concept of “eye/eyes”. We believe that the conducted research will be continued with the involvement of material on this issue.