Phenomenon Of Syncretism Research Articles

Semantic Syncretism as a Regulator of Dynamic Stability in the Lexical System of a Language

The article aims to describe the peculiarities of historical evolution in the lexical-and-semantic system of the Russian language stipulated by the development of the phenomenon of syncretism – formal substantive linguistic asymmetry, which is noted to be insufficiently studied. The linguistic nature of a special lexical-andsemantic category (syncretsemia) reflecting the "insoluble" semantic syncretism is demonstrated. Doubt is expressed in the correctness of the "straightforward" model of semantic evolution presented by language historians as an axiom. It is argued that syncretism predetermines the development of lexical meaning in a "spiralwise" direction: syncretism – its transformation/fragmentation – syncretism at a new level of language development. The author characterizes some major stages in the process of syncretic meaning modification. They occur simultaneously with the shifts in particular phases in the development of thinking. It is noted that in the most ancient period the original semantic syncretism was "compressed" to a flat state in the meaning of the etymon (syncretic word), indivisibly indicating a number of concepts. The transformation of semantic syncretism through the narrowing-concretization of the syncretic meaning is presented simultaneously with the expansion of its lexical expression with the help of minimal units of the Old Russian text (syncretemes) based on metonymy. The paper introduces the examples of original syncretism fragmentation through the intensive formation of derivatives from the invariant etymon and the gradual assigning them some components of the originally syncretic meaning. The cases of "stretching" the original syncretic syncretemes are considered. New types of semantic syncretism are shown to arise at the new level of language development. Furthermore, a modern transformation of syncretic units is observed. Syncretism is proved to be a fundamental ontological condition for the evolutionary stability in the lexical system of a language.

ФОЛЬКЛОРИСТИЧНИЙ ДИСКУРС НАУКОВОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ПАВЛА ЧУБИНСЬКОГО (ДО 185-РІЧЧЯ З ДНЯ НАРОДЖЕННЯ ВЧЕНОГО)

Background. The article examines the scientific rank of Pavlo Chubynskyi as a harbinger of the ideas of the ethno-national renaissance, updates the methodological principles of the processing of folklore material developed by the researcher, which allows in the future to carry out a comprehensive study of the folk culture of Ukraine and the functioning of Ukrainian folklore according to geographical, genre parameters in synchrony and diachrony. Methods. Pavlo Chubynskyi and representatives of the South-Western Department of the Russian Geographical Society in the 70th of the 19th century proposed a new methodology for the scientific research of folklore as a syncretic phenomenon that preserves ethnic information in its entirety. Within the framework of the systemic approach, new, compared to the previous stages of the development of scientific knowledge, models for explaining the content of folklore texts, customary law, and rites are being developed, based on the search for the integrity of the object and the identification of the typology of connections with other objects of folk culture. The analytical method contributes to the analysis of folklore meaning in the multifaceted forms of its manifestation. The scientific novelty of this research lies in the fact that until now the figure of Pavlo Chubynskyi as a folklorist has not received proper coverage and evaluation in the Ukrainian scientific discourse. Results. An attempt to systematically review the scientist's folkloristic work, clarify his worldview beliefs and methodological principles was made. Conclusions. Update the idea that Pavlo Chubynskyi became the father of Ukrainian Ethnocultural Studies, one of the first scientists who raised awareness of the need for a comprehensive approach to folklore and who viewed the realm of folk art as collective traditional knowledge that should be researched within its social and cultural context.

The Computations Underlying Religious Conversion: A Bayesian Decision Model

Abstract Inspired by recent Bayesian interpretations about the psychology underlying religion, the paper introduces a theory proposing that religious conversion is shaped by three factors: (i) novel relevant information, experienced in perceptual or in social form (e.g., following interaction with missionaries); (ii) changes in the utility (e.g., expressed in an opportunity to raise in social rank) associated with accepting a new religious creed; and (iii) prior beliefs, favouring religious faiths that, although new, still remain consistent with entrenched cultural views (resulting in the phenomenon of syncretism). From the theory, a multifactorial picture of conversion emerges. Based on which factor is primarily engaged in each case, a classification of different types of conversion can be derived, with a remarkable fit with empirical literature. The theory offers a description of the processes underlying religious conversion and, highlighting the links among apparently incompatible previous views, it reconciles these views within a unifying framework.

Profiles of Social Transformation and the Narratives from Syncretism to Conflict in The Mid-Seventeenth Century Mughal Bengal

The mid-seventeenth-century history of Mughal Bengal has hardly been visited in terms of the social aspects and counter identities of conflict. So many authors have widely worked in the field of medieval Bengal, but there has been no detailed study conducted on the aspect of social transformation and the phenomenon of syncretism to conflict in the last decade of Mughal Bengal because the primary sources of this period have not been carefully studied in terms of appropriate relevancy. That’s why the major evolution of a changing social perception remain unnoticed until the close of Mughal rule. The objective of this paper is to analysis the transformation that occurred in the diverse social profiles of mid-seventeenth-century Bengal, simultaneously, a discourse to observe the conflict of this century against the long-established historical model known as ‘syncretism’ in Medieval Indian history. This work is using qualitative method-based on contemporary accounts of foreign travellers, Persian, and Bengali sources and a few secondary sources in which the new findings are-firstly, the emerging characteristics of the mid-seventeenth century Bengal’s society like-the co-existence of Hindus-Muslims along with the newcomer Christians, the prevalence of folk beliefs and rituals, composite profiles in Pirism, and Distinctive caste identities; secondly, the modes of discrimination and violence.

Синкретизм как «измерение» научно-фантастического текста: опыт системного описания

The complex phenomenon of syncretism has been a subject of close academic scrutiny in various aspects of humanities, social and natural sciences. In this paper, the study of syncretic features of science fiction texts fits into broader sociocultural context and relates to increasing complexity of modern reality, science and fiction. Understanding a fictional text as a complex and multidimensional integral whole, the authors consider syncretism a typologically marked textual "dimension", produced by a complex system of interrelated and interactive heterogeneous characteristics, fused into a textual whole to realize the author's intention. To confirm the hypothesis, the authors explore the syncretic science fiction texts of the 20 th – 21 st centuries which create a unique fictional world to produce a blended model of the traditionally opposed ways of human cognition: rational and emotional. The authors give a brief overview of the specifics of understanding syncretism in different scientific disciplines; offer the definition of syncretism and the methodology of its description; distinguish three types of syncretism (syncretism of reality, of intention, and of language data); analyze heterogeneous textual characteristics as systemic manifestations of syncretism at different levels of textual organization: subject-and-thematic, lexical-and-semantic, and structural-and-syntactic. The mechanism of creating a syncretic text is connected with the deautomatization of a reader's perception and with higher cognitive activity of the interpreter.

ЖАНРОВІ ІННОВАЦІЇ В СУЧАСНИХ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ МАСМЕДІА

The article expertly comments on the trend of genre innovations in modern Ukrainian mass media. The author's argumentation is based on the functional evolution of the literary language, which is reflected in the change of the style's communicative nature, in particular, media. Logically also in his genre system. The situation of genre forms' modeling according to the criteria of syncretism, updated in time and space of modern Ukrainian-language communication, is commented on, which is connected with the need of recipients to perceive information from the media not linearly, but constructively – multifaceted and variable. It results in the active emergence of genre variants, actualized in the media space, which modify its functional and stylistic resource and potential. Genre innovations are interpreted in the context of a professional analysis of language show genre new for national media, which appears as a communicative invariant of intellect show and is synchronized with the style of the edutainment format. Language factology attests the conceptualization of the cultural and linguistic context of social communication in Ukrainian language, which is based on current rules, established tradition, and transitional forms that undergo communicative adaptation. Thus, the novelty of the genre is formulated, which consists in the intellectual understanding of the communicative nature of Ukrainian language in media space. The mass audience gets an objective opportunity to participate in the comprehension and understanding of the processes that indicate the dynamics of the literary language, its norms and exceptions. The thesis is proved that new for the media language show genre is a syncretic phenomenon in terms of functional and stylistic resource and genre nature, which is based on a communicatively motivated combination of information and entertainment functions. Information in this case relies on the cognitive context of verbalization, as it concerns the actualization of cognitive processes of the development of mass language consciousness, which is provided by the creolized resource of media entertainment.

TV program “Svit navyvorit” as a project in Ukrainian travel-journalism form

Unlike the last century journalism, the modern one greatly simplifies the communication between the author and his recipient by using the ability to travel and to transmit the information the last user, the recipient, very quickly. Besides technologies, the format chosen by the author of the information message contributes to this. The main objective of the study and the subject of the research is the TV program “Svit navyvorit”. It is a sample of media tourism, which represents distant and little-known cultures and the population of different countries for the Ukrainian recipient in reportage issues. This is popular and relevant for the modern recipient type of media product. This thesis is proved according to the information provided in the study for the number of views by the project in the Internet. The scientific problem is to clarify the format of transmission in today conditions of the widespread phenomenon of genre syncretism. The aim of the article is to define the genre characteristics of “Svit navyvorit”, to find a classification niche for the format. Therefore, the article pays attention to the analysis of features and characteristics of the project, which is manifested in the examples of different series by the program. This is the novelty of the study. With the help of reflections caused by these features, the article attempts to find out what the “Svit navyvorit” is: a travel show, a report, a review, a road story, etc. The format of the program, which has no analogues in the Ukrainian media space, can be defined as an original travel show, a syncretic phenomenon in the genre aspect. This is confirmed by the following features and peculiarities: reports from the scene, eyewitness comments, author’s remarks and direct impressions, communication, drama, eventfulness, contrast, the acquisition of signs of news discourse, lifestyle journalism. The array of seasons and issues of the program “Svit navyvorit” considered in the article combines the features of informativeness, journalism, analytics, art and entertainment. The following general scientific methods are used in the article: comparative, descriptive, comparative-typological, historical-functional, and systemic; method of analysis, synthesis. The prospect of further research is to develop ways to study the paradigm of the format of Ukrainian travel journalism with mandatory rating control based on the number of views.

Активные процессы в синтаксисе современной русской речи в свете лингвосемиотической и лингвокогнитивной интерпретации

The paper examines the ways of implementation and syntactic organization of the discourse of the Russian segment of the Internet as a syncretic phenomenon that organically combines the principles of actualizing oral and written forms of communication. The methods of linguosemiotic and linguo-cognitive analysis of discourse as an information flow, based on the ideas of Yu. S. Stepanov, V. Z. Demyankov, U. Chafe and others are applied in the work. The research material is text data extracted from the Russian National Corpus and obtained by the method of continuous sampling based on the results of the author’s own Internet monitoring. The study shows that the syntax of Internet speech is not reduced to the process of hybridization of traditionally existing oral and written forms of language existence. In the usus of the information environment of the informal Internet, their own norms are developed, which are organic for the conditions of communication offered in this environment. The specific role of syntactic models of parcelling, segmentation, stringing techniques, graphic abbreviations, and other paraverbal means in informal Internet communication is analyzed. Also, special attention is paid to the originality of the punctuation design of speech on the Internet, the emergence of new punctuation norms. The author came at a conclusion that the Internet discourse is a new equal third form of language existence, along with the traditionally distinguished oral and written forms.

Synkretyczny charakter pojęcia wyobraźni poetyckiej i jej odmiany

The objective of this article, which belongs to the field of literary research, is an attempt at showing the notion of poetic imagination as a syncretic phenomenon deeply rooted in the tradition of poetry. The author treats poetry as an art of meanings and a way of verbalisation of the objective world or the world dominated by fantasy and imagination. Imagination is an extremely complex notion, with extensive, often distinct content, which the author of the article strives to illustrate with an example of the work by K.I. Gałczyński, one of the most illustrious creators of poetic imagination.

Factors of formation and specific aspects of syncretic processes in Meroe religion

The author explores specific manifestations of the phenomenon of syncretism in theMeroereligion, as well as the factors, which did significantly contribute to it. She traces these factors on a wide time scale starting from the early archaeological cultures of theNileValleyto the Hellenistic time. The main subject of research is the cult of the gods, as well as the myths and rituals, which did accompany worship. The article deals with concepts of ‘unity and multitude’, which were instrumental for creation of local concepts of Egyptian deities. According to the author, this was the beginning of syncretism. Both the subsequent adaptation and acculturation can be seen in rethinking and creating images that retained many primordial Egyptian features. The Meroe ‘friend or foe’ concept could be traced on specific forms of adaptation of ‘enemy’ images to the Meroitic culture and the subsequent perception of them as “own” or “local”. One can identify this process as “inversion”, which run in two directions: the “alien”, i.e. Egyptian gods in fullness of time became “own” gods inMeroe, the gods ofKush, in their turn became part of the Egyptian pantheon. The results of the process, which culminated in creation of a syncretic culture can be seen in emergence of new hitherto unknown deities, which were distinguished by combination of various Greek, Egyptian and Meroitic features. The Hellenistic features ofMeroedeities came to this culture viaEgypt. The formation of the syncreticMeroereligion up to the beginning of the Christian era was marked by the mutual influence and coexistence of “borrowed” deities as well as those, which came into being in course of the process of “borrowing”. The phenomenon of syncretism was spread through many aspects of religious life covering not just individual images of deities or various ritual practices, but also the whole theological system ofEgypt. In the history of the world religions this was the first recorded spread of religious teaching beyond its historical borders and the subsequent adaptation to an “alien”, Sudanese culture.

Twilights of Greek and Roman Religions: Afterlives and Transformations—A Response

This essay theorises the mythographic historiography that goes by the phrase “Christianisation of the Roman Empire.” It considers the work of Eusebius, and some direction-setting contemporary authors, as examples of historiography that, in essence, replicates the perspectives of the Christian sources themselves. The essay investigates the theme of the Christianisation of the Roman Empire as a discourse. The theme is studied through the lenses of mediaeval anthropology and hybridity or syncretism as normal modes of constructions of religious discourses in relation to religious change. It is normally taken as fact that Greek and Roman cults and religions became extinct after the so-called Constantinian Revolution. However, the evidence of religious history is more complex. Christianity/-ies is, one can say, an epiphenomenon of a multitude of processes of cultural shifts and demographic changes affecting the circum-Mediterranean world. The “old religions” did not suddenly cease to exist but continued to shape nascent Christian discourses and practices. This process was not an even one, it differed in pace and shape from one geographic locale to the other—therefore the plural, twilights. Reading the evidence from outside the triumphalist framework characterising early Christian writers, one is left with the unavoidable impression of the interpenetration of “paganism” and Christianity. Christianity was born as a syncretic phenomenon in a process of cultural bricolage. This has some implications, not only for how we conceive of the origins of Christianity, but also for how we conceive of religion as object of theoretical reflection.

Representation of Wēś in early Kushan coinage: Royal or local cult?

The religious significance of Wēś is a widely debated topic in the historical and numismatic study of Central Asia, including contributions from several scholars who claimed that the representation of Wēś in early Kushan coinage, particularly in the coins of Vima Kadphises (ca. ce 113–127), was an allusion to the conversion of the king to Shivaism. This paper contests the claim that the certain attributes depicted with Wēś should not be construed as belonging to the Indian god Śiva or the Greek god Heracles. The royal portrait on the obverse of the coinage of Vima Kadphises shows the king taking part in the Iranian practice of sacrificing at a fire altar, which further supports the claim that the depiction on the reverse is of the Iranian god Wēś. This paper also challenges recent studies, which suggest that the representation of Wēś may have served only as a royal cult or merely to announce the personal faith of the king. Therefore, this account seeks to remedy this misconception by pointing to the absence of other types of coins used for normal transactions by ordinary people which could have likewise represented their religious cults. Consequently, this article shows that Wēś was a religiously syncretic phenomenon that displays the religious practice of all levels of Kushan society including both the king and the locals who were mostly Bactrian-Iranian during the early Kushan period rather than Indian.

Kult Trzygława w Szczecinie lat 20. XII stulecia. Między monolatrią a „dwuwiarą”

The cult of Triglav in the Polabian-Pomeranian territory in the 12th century confirms an evolution of the religious system of the local Slavic communities towards monolatry, largely affected by confrontation as well as a cultural dialogue with the Christian culture. At first, at the time of the Pomeranian missions of Saint Otto of Bamberg in the 1120s, attempts at suppressing the cult did not bring about long-term effects. However, a wave of the so-called pagan reaction led to some sort of a compromise made in Szczecin, leading to official coexistence of the cult of Triglav and the newly introduced cult of Jesus Christ. From the point of view of mythology, the competences of the two divine figures turn out to be convergent and universal, yet still, as part of the Szczecin “religious dualism”, no attempt was made to identify them (following the rule of interpretatio Slavica of the elements of Christianity). The belief in the autonomy of Triglav and Christ (“A German God”) was confirmed in Szczecin in the course of Otto’s evangelization which resulted in a Christian community in the city. The phenomenon of syncretism, present there until Otto’s second mission (1128), was therefore an attempt at maintaining unity in a religiously divided society following the first mission of the Apostle of Pomeranians (1124-1125).

The correlation between faith and self-esteem with shamans and supernatural power

This research aims to provide empirical data about the relation between faith and self-esteem with shamans and their supernatural power among the tribal-based religious community in North Sumatra. The main issue this research tackles is that in this modern society, there are those who still trust and use shamans and their supernatural power termed “Begu Ganjang”. Despite this, the development of the global economy can often cause difficulty, and as such, humans must possess the ability to survive and to overcome problems, in a term known as the “Adversity Quotient” (AQ). However, instead of using their AQ, some individuals with low self-esteem tend to place more faith in shamans and supernatural powers. This study uses a quantitative approach in the form of a questionnaire. By using either a Purposive or Judgmental Sampling method, from 600 people asked, there were answers from a total of 100 respondents (50 men and 50 women) from each of the following tribes in North Sumatra: Batak Toba, Mandailing, Pakpak, Simalungun, Karo, and Nias. The study applied SEM to analyze the relationship between endogenous variables of faith and self-esteem with the shaman and Begu Ganjang. The study found that the relation of faith to shamans = 0.19, and faith to Begu Ganjang = 0.00. This means that there is a small relation between faith and shaman, while there is no relation between faith and Begu Ganjang. Furthermore, the relation of self-esteem to shaman = - 0.13, and self-esteem to Begu Ganjang = - 0.06. The result of this study shows the following: 1) There is a correlation between the growth of the respondent’s faith and their trust in the shaman, and 2) The decrease of trust in shamans and Begu Ganjang will occur only if the respondent’s self-esteem increases. Finally, the results of this study may act as a point of reference for other studies that will examine the phenomenon of syncretism in Indonesia.

Pluralism With Syncretism: A Perspective From Latin American Religious Diversity

Abstract The aim of this paper is to defend a type of pluralistic philosophical theory that addresses the specific characteristics of Latin American religious diversity. In order to do this, I will first try to show how, from a Latin American perspective, the discussion of religious diversity necessarily imposes the concept of syncretism and how this concept can be understood within the debate about diversity. After that, I will defend an understanding of religiosity that takes syncretism as something natural, given the functioning of our systems of practices and beliefs in general. Finally I will defend the advantages of a pluralistic philosophical perspective of religion that considers the phenomenon of syncretism and how it is necessary for an understanding of Latin American religiosity.

POLITICAL DISCOURSE vs POLITICAL INTERNET DISCOURSE: SIMILARITIES AND DISTINCTIONS (COGNITIVE ASPECT)

The study of political communication in the current international situation is in the focus of the interests of many sciences, including psycholinguistics. The article is devoted to the study of modern political Internet discourse as a specific form of communication. The general approaches to the phenomenon of discourse in modern linguistics are covered. The concepts of "political discourse" and "political Internet discourse", their similarities and differences are clarified and analyzed from the point of view of system-forming features and cognitive-discursive activity of communication participants. The peculiarities of nominative metaphors used for naming political events participants and their potential for speech impact in conditions of "information warfare" are investigated. The author stresses the fact that the correctly chosen method of speech influence can significantly affect the political views of the addressee. The article concludes that political Internet discourse is a syncretic phenomenon that modernizes and transforms the functions of political communication through the possibilities of the Internet. The dominant role of the factor of noninstitutionality, informativeness, emotionality, semantic uncertainty and theatricality of the political Internet discourse is emphasized by the functioning of political metaphors reflecting the specific characteristics of the object and having a psychological effect on the recipient. The specific characteristics of communication and the peculiarities of cognitive-discursive activity of political event participants allows us to distinguish the political Internet discourse as a separate type of dis-course.

The syncretism of the symmetric complex sentences with a pronominal-correlative clause

Background. There is no special research dealing with the analysis of syncretic semantic-syntactic relations in the structure of symmetric complex sentences with a pronominal-correlative clause in the Ukrainian linguistics. The conditions of the syncretism’s appearance are not studied out, and the types of the syncretic complex sentences with a pronominal-correlative clause are not described.Purpose. The purpose of the analysis is to find out the main types of symmetric complex sentences with a pronominal-correlative clause expressing the syncretic semantic-syntactic relations.Methods. The main methods of this research are complete sentence analysis on the formal-syntactic and semantic-syntactic levels, constituent analysis, analysis by the terms of dependence.Results. The principal causes of the syncretism in the scope of the symmetric complex sentence with a pronominal-correlative clause are as follows: 1) the semantics of the superordinate deictic pronominal words in the main clause; 2) the particularity of the correlative couples; 3) the interaction of the different types of syntactic connections, namely co-word-correlative syntactic connection and determinant syntactic connection. The co-word-correlative syntactic connection causes the main sentence semantics, such as predicative, substantive (subject or object), attributive and adverbial. The determinant syntactic connection causes the additional adverbial meanings.Discussion. The perspective of our study is to research the phenomenon of syncretism in the scope of the asymmetric complex sentence with a pronominal-correlative clause.

The roles of Isis in Roman domestic cults: A study of the “Isis-Fortuna” bronze statuettes from the Vesuvian area 37

Abstract Among the material evidence related to the Isiac cults, the so-called “Isis- Fortuna” bronze statuettes are well attested throughout the Roman world. These objects were mainly discovered in domestic contexts with other divine figurines. Based on a survey of the archaeological and iconographic evidence for “Isis-Fortuna” from the Vesuvian area, this paper aims at examining the contexts of production and the geographical distribution of the bronze statuettes. In view of the information already published, we need to provide new answers by analysing how these images were created, transformed and/or adapted in specific contexts or geographical areas. Insofar as the images of Isis were commonly combined with elements borrowed from other deities, the iconographic type of “Isis-Fortuna” raises serious questions about terminology, typology and the so-called “syncretic phenomenon”. These questions will be discussed in the light of the preliminary results of our research, trying to frame the historico-religious background that conditioned the role(s) of Isis in Roman domestic cults.

The Myth of Sayyidina Ali’s “Illegitimate Child” Crocodile: The Phenomenon of Syncretism Among Coastal Communities in West Kalimantan

West Kalimantan has various local cultural treasures in the form of ritual traditions, arts as well as oral traditions in the form of pantun, abstinence, legends, and myths. The cultural treasures spread throughout the West Kalimantan regions, one of which is found in the coastal area of the Province. The treasure that attracts the attention of the researchers is the oral tradition of the myth found in coastal areas of Kubu and Teluk Pakedai. The myth is the crocodile of anak kampang Sayyidina Ali (Sayyidina Ali‘s “illegitimate child“). This myth contains many dimensions, ranging from the dimensions of local culture and religious views to syncretism. The researchers also assume that the myth contains a negative stereotype against Shi’a. This research attempts to reconstruct the culture of the myth in various spectra. This research uses ethnography method. It reveals some interesting aspects such as euhemerism of the figure of Imam Ali. The myth also contains a very strong syncretic content, thus arising a paradox of the existing character, between glorifying and degrading. It arises because of a thorough understanding of the history of Islam on the one hand, and the strong style of local tradition held by the community on the other. However, the myth is quite functional for society, because it indirectly instills awareness about nature conservation. Finally, in relation to the allegations of political motives in myth, the researchers found no sufficient data, but the academic suspicion of the researchers had a strong belief in it.

Semiotization of Time in Virtual Narrative

This paper is dedicated to the analysis of the phenomenon of virtual narrative and its connection to the phenomenon of Internet of things. Modern virtual narrative is a complex, syncretic phenomenon, alludes to the different cultural, historical and even mythological subjects and objects. But with the development of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things, virtual narrative became to be some kind of independent phenomenon. Moreover, the Internet of things (which is not clerly identified phenomen itself from the philosophic point of view) uses the virtual narrative as one of the components, for example applaying some methond of virtual narrative in creating advertisments, creating messages in musiams, exposititions etc. So, in our paper we will analyze this both phenomena, their connections and the way of its development.