Spellonyms as linguo-cultural onomastic units in indigenous folklore

Abstract

The undertaken research replenishes the pool of knowledge about folklore texts and the functions of spellonyms as signs saturated with national and cultural meanings. The study establishes and compares linguistic and cultural characteristics of spellonyms in the onomasticon of Australian and Nanaian aetiological tales. The authors proposed a typology of spellonyms which includes 5 thematic groups: nominations of deities of different nature; nominations of celestial bodies transformed from representatives of the tribe; nominations of objects of worship and magical rituals; nominations of magical natural phenomena; nominations of magical creatures. The results of the research demonstrate a significant prevalence in the number of deity nominations among Australian spellonyms, while the majority of Nanaian spellonyms refer to magical artefacts. The research has also proved the utmost significance of the water element in the folk worldview of Australian Aborigines and the equivalent importance of the water, land and air elements in the Nanai folk worldview. The obvious preference in both folklore traditions is given to nominations of native origin transcribed into the language of translation. The structural types of spellonyms vary from group to group, with the majority of monolexemic nominations.