NUMERICAL QUANTIFICATION IN THE FOLKLORE LANGUAGE: THE EXPERIENCE OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparative description of numerical quantification in the folklore languagewithin the framework of linguocentric, textocentric, anthropocentric approaches. Folklore numerals – the numbersof the first ten, since they make up the initial series of natural numbers, are compared on the material of Kazakh andRussian magic, folk tales. The article analyzes the numbers of various contexts with the use of the numerals one,two, three, which express various quantifications and sacred meanings that go back to the foundations of the universeand the mythopoetic tradition. Differences in the expression of quantitative meanings indicate the uniqueness of thefolklore picture of the world, an integral part of which are numbers that act as a quantitative parameter in determiningthe qualitative structure of the world. Special attention is paid to the expression of space-time values in which eventsunfold and the actions of fairy-tale characters take place. The authors come to the conclusion that folklore numeralsrepresent a single microsystem, which is subordinated to a common poetic system and consists of single numerals,counting, associative series. Numbers in oral folk art are mainly either a proper definition, including an epithet, oran integral component of complex definitional constructions. Quantification as a quantitative characteristic of realitydetermines the uniqueness and multiplicity of calculable objects.