Similarities and Differences between the Yakut Olonkho and the Buryat Uliger: Plot Composition and Motives

Abstract

The article is devoted to the identification of typological similarities and differences in epic plots and motives in the texts of the Yakut olonkho and the Buryat uliger. The relevance of the stated problem is due to the purpose of obtaining additional materials to confirm the results of earlier studies on establishing the genetic origins and typological connections of the epic creativity of the Yakut and Buryat peoples. A brief review of the study of the problem in the works of domestic folklorists, who developed the theory of the comparative study of the peoples of the world epics; Yakut epic scholars, who considered in their works the historical and typological connections of the Yakut olonkho with the epics of the Sayan-Altai, Mongol-Buryat peoples; Buryat scientists who turn in their research to the processes of historical and cultural mutual influences of the epic heritage of the Yakuts and Mongol-Buryats. Scientific methods of typological, structural-comparative and textological analysis are used. The similarity of the plots and plot motives of the olonkho “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift” by K. Orosin and the uliger “Abai Geser Mighty” by M. Imegenov, which is due to the principles of typological repetition in folklore and cultural and historical contacts of the Yakut and Buryat peoples at different stages of development of the Proto-Turkic peoples inhabiting the territory of Central Asia and South Siberia.

Keywords

• yakut olonkho
• buryat uliger
• plot
• motives
• typological similarities
• features