LOCAL SPECIFICITY OF HUTSUL RIDDLES

Abstract

Contemporary folklore studies require both new innovative approaches to the study of the modern genre of the Ukrainian folklore and comprehension, reprinting, as well as research of the works of folklorists of previous centuries. Given that riddles, as a genre of folklore, have attracted researchers’ attention within the context of studying other genre formations such as fairy tales, legends, folk lyrics, calendar customs, and family rituals, exploring the genre in various conceptual directions appears promising. Riddles were incorporated into compilations of the Ukrainian paroemias during the 1840s, often organized within distinct sections that typically lacked a formal classification framework. Scholarly exploration of the genre commenced in the latter half of the nineteenth century characterized by sporadic publications. The exploration of regional particularities in the formation of the riddle genre remains largely unexplored within the Ukrainian riddle studies predetermining comprehensive investigation. The article undertakes an examination of the texts extracted from the compilations of V. Shukhevych’s Hutsulshchyna (Vol. 5, 1908), H. Ilkevych’s Galician Proverbs and Riddles (1841), and M. Nomys’s Ukrainian Proverbs, Sayings, and so on (1864) aimed at discerning localized characteristics at the textual level excluding dialectal linguistic forms. The inquiry focuses on the analysis of congruences between the metaphorical components of textual questions in riddles documented in the Hutsul region and those found in riddles collected from other regions of Ukraine. The research yields the following conclusions. Riddles were prevalent across Ukraine exhibiting primarily universal elements alongside distinctive local traits. Consequently, the riddles documented in the Hutsul region manifest disparities across various dimensions, i.e. compositionally (via the original method of riddling involving the addition of a consistent opening to the text), lexically (through the use of dialectal expressions), and pertaining to a subject matter (notably encompassing riddles concerning indigenous flora, regional fauna denominations, tools, types of economic pursuits, and so forth).