Parallelism in Karelian Laments

Abstract

Parallelism in Karelian Laments Eila Stepanova (bio) Introduction Karelian lament poetry integrates a variety of forms of parallelism—different types of what Roman Jakobson (1981 [1966]:98) described as "recurrent returns"—that are both organizing principles for the poetic discourse and also rhetorical resources that a lamenter can draw on and manipulate in performance. Parallelism operates at the phonic level of sounds, both recurrent sounds in alliteration and recurrent melodic structures. It works in different ways at the level of individual words and formulaic expressions within a phrase. Parallelism is also prominent at the level of larger structural and thematic units. The types of parallelism in Karelian laments work complementarily with one another, and in several respects may also differ from their uses in other traditions. The integrated combination of all these types of parallelism produces Karelian lament as a distinctive form of verbal art. In this opening section of this essay, I introduce the Karelian lament tradition and features of lament performance and poetics. The second section offers an overview of the different types of parallelism at work in Karelian laments. This survey begins with the phonic parallelism of alliteration and parallelism at the level of words and formulae, continues with semantic parallelism of larger units in composition, and finally considers parallelism between the language of laments and the environment where laments are performed. The third section discusses the rhetorical functions of parallelism in laments. Forms of semantic parallelism are shown to be potentially meaningful in themselves. The potential for semantic parallelism between larger units of expression is shown to allow flexibility that makes it a resource for organizing extended sequences of lament poetry. The fourth section turns to the question of how parallelism as a structuring principle of lament can penetrate into a lamenter's way of speaking about laments so that the metadiscourse becomes organized on the same principle. The conclusion considers how all the different levels of parallelism and their flexibility make Karelian lament a dynamic resource for personal expression. Karelians and Karelia Karelians belong to a Finnic linguistic-cultural group with a distinctive language, culture, and ethnic identity. They are historically associated with the transnational territory of Karelia, situated on both sides of today's Finnish-Russian border, which extends from the Gulf of Finland to the White Sea (see Fig. 1). Before the 1930s approximately, the majority population was Karelian. However, the territories of Karelia were greatly disrupted through political conflicts and evacuation, especially during World War II. Today the large area of Karelia is populated by multiple ethnic groups, which include Finns, Russians, Ukrainians, and Karelians. Although Karelian and Russian languages and cultures were markedly different from one another, Karelians in Russia have now been largely assimilated into Russian culture. Karelian language and culture were relatively close to that of Finns; in Finland modernization and mobility have led to a significant degree of assimilation of both those previously residing within today's national borders as well as those who were evacuated to Finland during World War II. Currently, Karelians are a minority in the Republic of Karelia of the Russian Federation as well as in Finland. Among Finnic languages, Karelian is closely related to Finnish, Ižorian, and Vepsian, and more distantly to Estonian, Votic, and Seto. Degrees of similarity in culture and traditions can also be viewed along these lines. At the same time, there is a division between eastern and western Finnic areas. The Finnic cultural areas became divided between East and West, with Russian influence and the Orthodox Church dominant among Karelians, Ižorians, Votes, and Setos, while the Scandinavian influence, the Catholic and later the Lutheran Church were dominant among Finns and Estonians. Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 1. Finnic linguistic-cultural areas, copyright belongs to author. Karelian Lament Poetry Laments—also called dirges, wailing, weeping, or elegies—have been known all over the world and are still found in some contemporary cultures (see Wilce 2009). In most cultures, laments are performed by women, although men also perform them in some exceptional circumstances.1 Scholars generally agree that laments belong to the primordial varieties of folklore, with roots in the cult of the dead (Honko 1974...