Монголоведение (Nov 2020)
Functioning of the Lexeme tsag ‘Time’ Revisited: a Case Study of the Kalmyk Heroic Epic of Jangar
Abstract
The paper continues a series of works that test materials of the Kalmyk Heroic Jangar Epic Explanatory Dictionary. Goals. The work seeks to examine the role and functions, provide a definition analysis of the lexeme цаг ‘time’ included in the wordlist of the Explanatory Dictionary. Materials. The paper analyzes a total of 28 temporally different Kalmyk Jangar epic texts. Results. The analysis of epic texts concludes the lexeme may be defined as core one, or hyperonym of Jangar epic temporal vocabulary, and is most frequently used throughout the narrative. Epic texts give rise to eleven meanings of the header word цаг within the Explanatory Dictionary, basically in set expressions, including when paired with other temporal lexemes. The word цаг is characterized by extensive co-occurrence with lexemes related to different parts of speech that gain new meanings within set expressions. In the epic narrative, the lexeme цаг appears in such set expressions as арзин сүүр бәрх цаг ‘feast time’; дәәни цаг ‘war time’, both being linguocultural concepts. It also pairs with other elements of time-denoting microfields, namely: natural time (зун ‘summer’, намр ‘autumn’); calendar time (сар ‘month’, җил ‘year’); time of day (хонг ’24-hour period’, өрүн ‘morning’, сө ‘night’, үд ‘noon’). The lexeme цаг is also used in set expressions that include temporal adverbs denoting ― duration of length or process (оньдин ‘constantly, always’); remoteness of action (кезәнә ‘long ago, in ancient times’); certain period (маңһдур ‘tomorrow’). In most cases the lexeme цаг co-occurs with verbs of motion, action, state, and auxiliary verbs. Frequent enough are цаг-stemmed expressions that denote age periods or other periods in lives of epic heroes or war horses.
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