Preview

SibScript

Advanced search

Polycoded Aspect of Russian Spoken Charms

https://doi.org/10.21603/sibscript-2025-27-4-621-630

Abstract

Russian spoken charms represent a unique genre of traditional verbal folklore with its own remarkable polycoded structure. The issue belongs to a wide circle of contemporary linguistic problematics, which includes cultural linguistics, multimodal communication, polycoded texts, verbal semiotics, performative language, speech influence, and the discourse vs. text dilemma. The authors applied the method of systemic description to Russian spoken charms to identify and describe their polycoded structure, as well as their lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic  verbal code, non-verbal code patterns, and major cultural codes in their interaction. A combination of discursive, semiotic, linguistic, and pragmatic analyses was applied to 1,800 charms from 17th – early 20th centuries. A spoken charm proved to be an integrative system of intertwined verbal formulae, ritual actions, and cultural background. It owed its holistic multimodal effect to the specific features of each code and the mechanisms of their synergy. The polycoded nature of the Russian spoken charm proved to be the key to its adequate interpretation. 

About the Authors

Andrey G. Fomin
Kemerovo State University
Russian Federation

 Scopus Author ID: 57204806354 

 Kemerovo 


Competing Interests:

The authors declared no potential conflict of interests regarding the research, authorship, and / or publication of this article. 



Boris L. Ianitskii
Kemerovo State University
Russian Federation

 Kemerovo 


Competing Interests:

The authors declared no potential conflict of interests regarding the research, authorship, and / or publication of this article. 



References

1. Agapkina T. A., Berezovich E. L., Surikova O. D. Toponyms in the charms of the Russian North. II: Lands. Mountains. Islands. Cities. Voprosy Onomastiki, 2018, 15(2): 28–69. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15826/vopr_onom.2018.15.2.014

2. Baranov A. N. Magical discursive practices in Russian public discourse. Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie, 2024, 23(3): 17–28. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2024.3.2

3. Berezovich E. L., Malkova Ya. V. "Tense" sounds in ritualism and magic (based on materials of cultural and linguistic tradition of Kostroma region). Ural'skij Istoriceskij Vestnik, 2024, (2): 24–33. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.30759/1728-9718-2024-2(83)-24-33

4. Glukhova N. N. Common and distinctive features of Russian and Mari Charms. Ryabinin Readings 2015: Proc. VII Conf. on Cultural Heritage of Russian North, Petrozavodsk, 7–11 Sep 2015. Petrozavodsk: Kizhi State Open Air Museum, 2015, 274–276. (In Russ.)

5. Goncharova E. S. Magic discourse as suggestive type of communication. Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie, 2012, (2): 167–170. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/puapvx

6. Zavyalova M. V. Balto-Slavic charm text: Linguistic analysis and world model. Moscow: Nauka, 2006, 562. (In Russ.)

7. Charms from the archival sources (the 18th – the first third of the 20th centuries). Vol. 1. European Russia, comp. Agapkina T. A. Moscow: Indrik, 2023, 512. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31168/91674-721-8

8. Charms from the archival sources (the 18th – the first third of the 20th centuries). Vol. 2. Siberia. The Urals. European North, comps. Ippolitova A. B., Toporkov A. L. Moscow: Indrik, 2024, 536. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31168/91674-722-5

9. Kulikovskaya E. N. Semi-performative verbs in Russian charms: Criteria and argumentation for selection. Art Logos, 2021, (2): 160–167. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.35231/25419803_2021_2_160

10. Moskvina V. A. The semantic field of wood ritual objects in the Russian spell rite. Ethnic Culture, 2024, 6(1): 25–30. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31483/r-109022

11. Skorik K. V. Semiotic status of objects and their functioning in the anglo-saxon and Russian charms. Litera, 2021, (4): 204–210. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25136/2409-8698.2021.4.35272

12. Russian charms in manuscripts of 17th – First Half of 19th Century, comp. Toporkov A. L. Moscow: Indrik, 2010, 832. (In Russ.) https://elibrary.ru/qponsn

13. Toporkov A. L. Problems of publishing and commenting on Russian magical folklore. Fol'klor: Struktura, Tipologiia, Semiotika, 2024, 7(2): 81–108. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2658-5294-2024-7-2-81-108

14. Austin J. L. How to do things with words. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962, 167.

15. Conrad J. L. Russian ritual incantations: Tradition, diversity, and continuity. The Slavic and East European Journal, 1989, 33(3): 422–444. https://doi.org/10.2307/308729

16. Ezzy D. New age witchcraft? Popular spell books and the re-enchantment of everyday life. Culture and Religion, 2003, 4(1): 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/01438300302813

17. Forrester S. Russian village magic in the late Soviet period: One woman’s repertoire of Zagovory. Russian History, 2013, 40(3-4): 540–558. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763316-04004017

18. Fujiwara J. Rediscovery of the ‘reality’ of magic: The revival of magic in post-socialist Russia. Inner Asia, 2010, 12(1): 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1163/146481710792710273

19. Ioffe D. East-European critical thought myth, religion, and magic versus literature, sign and narrative. Religions, 2021, 12(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12090717

20. Ippolitova A. B. Sacred and profane: Tabooing in Russian magical manuscripts of the 17th–18th centuries (incantations and herbal manuals). Religions, 2021, 12(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070482

21. Khristoforova O. B. "We live in the country of the Victorious Kafka": Witchcraft and magic in present-day Russia. Martor. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant Anthropology Review, 2023, (28): 31–55.

22. Krasheninnikova Iu. Charms and incantational magic of the Northern Russians (in records of the early twenty-first century). FOLKLORICA – Journal of the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association, 2009, 14: 31–48. https://doi.org/10.17161/folklorica.v14i0.3816

23. Krivenko E. Performativity in French, English and Russian voice and silent charms. The European Proceedings of Social & Behavioural Sciences (EpSBS), Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, 1–3 Apr 2021, vol. 118, 360–367. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs(2357-1330).2021.12.1

24. Kulikovskaya E. N. Intentionality and addressness of performative verbs in Russian charm texts. Incantatio, 2022, (10): 71–83. https://doi.org/10.7592/Incantatio2022_10_Kulikovskaya

25. Language, Culture, and Society: Key topics in linguistic anthropology, eds. Jourdan C., Tuite K. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 364.

26. Tavárez D. E. Ritual language. The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology, eds. Enfield N. J., Kockelman P., Sidnell J. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, 516–536. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139342872.024

27. Yudin A. V. Christian saints in Russian incantations: Onomasticon and functions. Religions, 2021, 12(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080556


Review

For citations:


Fomin A.G., Ianitskii B.L. Polycoded Aspect of Russian Spoken Charms. SibScript. 2025;27(4):621-630. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/sibscript-2025-27-4-621-630

Views: 10


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2949-2122 (Print)
ISSN 2949-2092 (Online)