The use of modalities expressing national and cultural similarities in the Uzbek and French folk tales

Thisarticle studies the French and Uzbek folk tales, their peculiarities and national-cultural similarities which are expressed by the category of modality. Furthermore, the article offers a lingo-cognitive analysis of the introductory and concluding parts of the tales of both nations.

At present, in our country, linguistics is rapidly developing along with the other spheres. A great interest in learning foreign languages and scientific researches on the comparison of foreign languages with a state language should be especially observed. The decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan from 10.12.2012 “On the measures of enhancing the system of teaching and learning foreign languages” provides a powerful stimulus for the latter.

Every nation has its mode of life, values, culture, traditions and art; and the folk tales of every nation have their own peculiarities. People of different nations might be similar in their dreams and wishes, but they differ in the aspect of national spirit. For example, we can observe identities and, vice versa, differences between French and Uzbek folk tales. As is known, Uzbek tales usually begin with a traditional introduction “Bor ekanda, yuq ekan, och ekanda, tuq ekan…” (There was once, full or hungry…). Linguistic analysis of this expression shows that it differs from that of the introduction in French tales in structure, meaning and modal peculiarities. For example, the category of possessivity (existence) is expressed by means of the lexeme “bor” (there is) и “yuq”(there isn’t), the category of condition is presented by the words “och”(hungry) и ”tuq”(full). In the Uzbek language above-named categories are used with an imperfect form of the verb ekan (was, were) and make up an analytical form; particle -да serves to confirm that meaning in the sentence.

In the fairy tales of the French nation the traditional introduction is quite different, i.e., it is introduced by means of the word combination “Il etait une fois…” or “Il etait une fois un Roi et une Reine…” Here we can see that the tale introduction is given by an impersonal form of the verb Il etait and the word une fois, which indicates the quantity.

In the Uzbek folk tales the expression “Bir bor ekan, bir yuq ekan” (once there lived) is proceeded with the expression “Bir podsho bulgan ekan” (There was a Padishah), however, in the French tales, the word “un roi” (a king) or “une reine” (a queen) is used instead of the word “padishakh” (padishah). On the whole, though a starter formula coincides in the tales of both nations, it is expressed by different linguistic means.

The introductory part in Uzbek fairy tales differs from the French introductions in the following motives. Firstly, in the expression of the temporality significance: once, some time, formerly, in the past, these days, some centuries ago, very long ago… Secondly, in the introduction part of the Uzbek tales, a mysterious lexeme or number “one” indicating the quantity is effectively used: Bir bor ekan, bir yuq ekan, qadim zamonda bir podsho (dehqon, folchi, boy) bulgan ekan (Once upon a time there was one padishah (a peasant woman, a fortune-teller, a rich man)), kunlardan bir kun (once), bir kuni (one day), bir mergan (one shot), bir dehqon (one peasant), bir uspirin yigit (one youth), bir tentak (one fool)...

Above-mentioned linguistic units show that the level of the usage of the lexeme “one” is high in the Uzbek folk tales. Functionality of this lexeme is the reason for that, that is, in the introductory part of the tales the word “one” can be used iteratively and have different meanings (plurality, denial, affirmation, temporality) depending on the place and functions of this linguistic unit. And that means a consecutive usage of the lexeme “one” with a syntactical unit and the connection of the semantic peculiarities of this word with the words signifying those linguistic units.

As Urinbaeva D asserts, there is a variety of shades of meaning of the lexeme “one” and its semes of expression and functions are shown depending on the surroundings. The author identified 13 semes connected with the lexeme “one”. (Urinbaeva, 2010, 86–87)

Thirdly, toponyms, that is, names of places (cities, regions, and countries..) Turkmen, Bukhara Urgench, Khiva, Tashkent, Samarkand, Zomin, Kokand, Bagdad, Uzgan, Zabilistan, Chin and others.

Fourthly, 1) position, profession, character and emotional state of people start with number “one”: one king, one shot, one shoemaker, one fool, one bald, one niggard…; 2) names of animals, their character and tasks(functions) are used in the introductory part of the tales: Bor ekanda, yuq ekan, och ekanda, tuq ekan, buri bakovul ekan, tulki yasovul ekan, qarga qaqimchi ekan, chumchuq chaqimchi ekan, toshbaqa tarozibon ekan, tungiz qassob ekan, qurbaqa undan qarzdor ekan… (Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, when pigs were swine and dogs ate lime and monkeys chewed tobacco, when houses were thatched with pancakes, streets paved with plum pudding, and roasted pigs ran up and down the streets with knives and forks in their backs crying ‘come and eat me’!) (“Sohibjon and Ahmadjon”. Uzbek folk tales, volume 2, page 186)

It is found that, traditional introduction and conclusive parts differ in the tales of two unrelated languages. Analyzing the conclusion in the Uzbek folk tales from the lingo-cognitive point of view, we witness that a big part of the fairy tales have got a kind and happy ending. And we should note that, the conclusion mostly has got two subjects, that is, a wedding and a wish (Bizlar etaylik murodga, sizlar ham eting murodga, uqib eshitganlar ham etsin murodga, dushmanlar qolsin uyatga (And they all lived happily ever after)). If we analyze this text from the linguistic point of view, then etaylik murodga (Let us be happy)– means a wish, and verbal word combinationeting murodga(Be happy) — means a wish, exclamation and a command; linguistic unit etsin murodga(Let them be happy) expresses a wish and a command, whereas the word combination qolsin uyatga(a shame and a disgrace to them) is considered an axiological appeal to the negative personages of the tales.

On the assumption of analyses, we can divide the conclusive part of the Uzbek folk tales into the following semantic groups: 1) wedding descriptions, 2) wishes,“yaxshi etsin murodga, yomon qolsin uyatgaя” (let there be good to the kind and shame and disgrace to the evil), achieving the aims, 3) living a peaceful, happy life, 4) living in agreement with dear people, 5) improving the mode of life, and etc.

Example

As the examples show, in the conclusive part of the Uzbek fairy tales we can see many linguistic units including wedding motive (1, 2), hold a feast (3), releasing innocent people from the oppression and creating a beautiful life for them (4).

As the statistics show, 41 % of the Uzbek folk tales finish with a wedding subject.

In general the wedding motive is interpreted identically in both Uzbek and French folk tales. In the first and the second sentences tale conclusions are connected with the wedding motive and lexical units to bless, to marry reflect wedding motive; language means lived a happy life, lived a sweet life serve to express epistemic and axiological categories of modality; and syntactical unit served faithfully and humbly expresses loyalty and sincerity of the personage to his king and means axiological modality.

We should note that the motives of the folk tales play a big role in the disclosure of their inner meaning. Tale motives are the folklore units which appear not as units to classify folk tales’ structures, but as old archetypes, first in the legends and then in the folk tales. Motive is the smallest unit of the plot, image and the folklore, and an integral element of the text. In the Uzbek fairy tales there are literary motives, which, despite the small scope, keep a lot of information and the main idea of the tales. These motives differ from the tales of the other nations by the fact that there is a national peculiarity in them. Motives of wedding, wrestling (kurash), dream, Khizr (legendary prophet, as a mythological image), terms, a magic trunk, blood can be example of that.

It is known that one of the mostly used motives is testing the strength of the hero in the battle (“Kurash”). Uzbek folk tales like “Sabre Hero”, “Strong Rustam”, “Wrestler Gulom”, “Hero Olmos”, “Hero Hirsiddin”, “Strong man Bektemir” are some bright examples where the art of Kurash (wrestling), our national pride, is described.

In our country the history of origins of Kurash (type of sport) numbers about three and half thousand years. We should emphasize that folkloric works are a peculiar source to prove aforesaid fact. By fighting motives, elucidation of heroic images, depiction of strong men and fighters, we can easily recognize that kurash (wrestling) had developed in our land from the ancient times.

In the following examples we can see how wrestling motive is expressed:

Uzbek kurash acquired wide popularity on a world scale and today this sport became a property of the world sport. Such Uzbek words as “kurash” (wrestling), “halol” (honest), “chala” (incomplete), “tanbeh” (reprimand), “dakki” (remark), “girrom” (cheating), “tukhta” (stop), “yonbosh” (on one side) became popular worldwide, and we can say that they enriched the lexical stock of the Uzbek linguistics.

References:

1.                  Karimov I. A. Decree “About the measures of enhancing the system of teaching and learning foreign languages” (2012, December, 10)

2.                  Folk tale “Sohibjon and Ahmadjon”. Uzbek folk tales. Volume 2.-page.186

3.                  Urinbaeva D.Uzbek language and literature. 2010. № 5 — pages 86–8