Peculiarities of the Phraseological Content of Perm Old Believer Dialects

Abstract

The article devoted to the underinvestigated problem of folk religious speech is addressed to the peculiarities of set expressions and word-combinations, their thematic stratification, figurativeness and symbolism recorded in the verbal communication of Old Believers of Perm Krai. Phraseological nominations of different forms of Old Believer ritual practice (names of prayer modes, kinds of religious texts, holidays, naming of attributes of religious ritualism, ritual clothes, etiquette formulae of food and behavioural prohibitions) are investigated. The aim of the description of the Old Believer phraseology is discovering its connection with categories and attributes of old Belief, its modern state characteristics. It has been stated that the significant part of Old Belief phraseology is imparted by the existential semantics and reflects dominating of the religious basis in everyday life typical of Old Believer culture. With the help of phraseological facts there have been noted specific features of sacral (wedding and funeral) tradition of Old Believer consents. The conclusion is drawn that the phraseological layer in question in content and ways of expression differs from the set component nominations of folk Orthodoxy. It has fixed phraseological units that discover the main faith dogmata (God, sin, salvation) and formulate ideological convictions of its followers. Phraseological units of Old Believer dialects can be considered to be the means of identification of a confessional group, as a source of knowledge about the clergy experience of tradition bearers and about the peculiarities of way of life of Old Believers. It has been stated that the functioning of phraseological units is characterized by the variety that is mainly determined by the oral being of this form of culture, by the presence of different Old Believer dissents in Perm Krai. The modern state of folk Old Believer phraseology is explained by the fact that many consents don’t have any worked out dogmatics and a rigid canonical form, it indicates gradual abolishing of tradition.