Zootropes in the book the Wonderful land of Vodla by A. S. Monakhova

The paper analyzes zootropes in the texts recorded from informants in the village of Vodla (Pudozhsky District of the Republic of Karelia) during expeditions that lasted for more than fifty years. The relevance of the study lies in the insufficient study of zootropes as a tool for creating imagery in the folklore tradition of the Russian North. The objectives of the study were to identify derivative and non-derivative zootropes and their functions in folklore texts, to determine their specific features in comparison with the units recorded in dictionaries, to analyze zoomorphic comparative constructions, and to determine the role of zootropes in lyrical folk songs, using the semantic and corpus methods. It is noted that the analyzed lexical units are included in the folklore text retold by the informants. No zootropes were found in the text where Vodla residents tell about their life, culture, and everyday household activities. A small number of lexemes used in figurative meaning in the analyzed texts are not represented in lexicographic sources. As the analysis shows, zootropes in these texts perform the function of nomination by the peculiarities of behavior: description of strength, dexterity, agility, and traits of character. Zoomorphic lexicon is used to reflect the external qualities of a person only in comparative constructions. In lyrical folk songs of Vodla, the images of animals are often used as symbols of men and women, which is due to the specifics of such songs. The results of the study suggest that zoomorphic vocabulary plays an important role in folklore tradition.