Public speaking in the system of traditional forms of arts of the Abkhazians

The focus of research is on the art of public speaking among Abkhazians, considered comprehensively in the system of other traditional forms of performing arts. The purpose of the work is to analyze the characteristic features of speaking in public considered on a par with other forms of collective and individual creative genres. The scope of the research includes the analysis of the relationship between musical, song, dance folklore and traditional public speech considering their interchange and influence of other forms of performing skills. According to the author’s hypothesis, the song choreographic and oratory traditions of the Abkhazians are very similar since they were formed in the context of other cultural patterns, which is emphasized by the common features of performing etiquette and composition. In the culture of public speaking of the Abkhazians, the speaker performs the role of a “soloist guide”, bringing out the main “melody” of the narrative, and the audience, like a choir, interacts with the speaker reflecting and giving the certain reaction. Moreover, the meaning of “singing along” is not just in supporting the “soloist”, but in the spiritual fusion of the speaker and the audience, in (co)communication, (co)creation of the meaning. In this constant contact with the audience, the speaker’s social function is traced as an intermediary in the broadest sense, the voice of the people’s will. The peculiarity of the Abkhazian public speaking style consists in loyalty to the traditions formed over the centuries, while striving for improvisation and demonstration of individuality. The study revealed structural parallels in oratory traditions with those of singing and dance. A special feature of Abkhazian public speeches is a question and answer style with elements of collective reflection, which is characteristic of the ethnomentality and emotional temperament of the people. Such a dialogue with the obligatory interaction of the speaker and the audience is a distinctive feature of the oratory style of many peoples who have preserved archaic features, including the Abkhazians.