ORIGIN AND ROLE OF THE HILL MARI FOLK SIGNS WITH NEGATIVE PREDICTION

Irina V. Trubyanova¹*, Anna. L. Kolyago², Galina L. Sokolova³, Alla A. Fokina⁴ & Andrey V. Rychkov^5
1 Assoc. Prof., Mari State University, Russia, opleva@mail.ru
² Assoc. Prof., Mari State University, Russia, kolyago@yandex.ru
³ Assoc. Prof., Mari State University, Russia, askgalinasokol@mail.ru
⁴ Senior Lecturer, Mari State University, Russia, allafokina70@mail.ru
⁵ Assoc. Prof., Mari State University, Russia, rychkovandre@yandex.ru
*Corresponding author

Abstract
The article deals with one of the most numerous categories of folk signs in the Hill Mari language - these are signs that contain negative prediction. This category is subject to more fractional division. Inside the group, there are signs that warn of diseases; signs that predict death; signs, promising misfortune, poverty, quarrels; signs of unsuccessful marriage, unhappy family life, orphanhood, widowhood. According to lexical features of signs, consequences are made about the historical period of their origin, as a result of which ancient and modern signs are distinguished. The religion of the Hill Mari people, associated with certain epoch also tells about the origin of some signs, as it was originally paganism, later Christianity. The target of signs also plays an important role. In the course of the study, it was found out, that signs with negative prediction were used for the purposes of education, warning of dangers or informing about inevitable future events. One of the areas of the analyses is the syntactic structure of sentences expressing folk signs, which are made up of subordinate clauses. According to the meaning of the subordinate clause, there is a division into rational and irrational or superstitious meaning. Rational explanation is based on well-known, scientifically proven, logically-built facts, while a superstitious explanation defies logic, or pushes to the thought of unexplored, very subtle connections between phenomena. At the same time, a superstitious component reveals the connection between a part of the body or an object that performs an unintentional act and the punishment sent to that part of the body or object. The article notes the difficulties associated with determining the origin of signs due to modern technologies and means of communication. However, the role of collecting and analyzing of such material is of great importance for establishing peculiarities of life of the Mari people, since signs reflect the most important aspects of people’s life. Signs convey wisdom of people from generation to generation and characteristic features of the Hill Mari nation. Folk signs have linguistic, ethnographic, and historical significance.

Keywords: Hill Mari language, folk sign, groups of signs, negative prediction, role of signs, origin of signs, rational meaning of signs, irrational meaning of signs.