Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics SAS
Topic
The Linguistic Image of The Border in Slovak Folklore in Comparison with Selected Slavic Cultures (Based on Folklore Material of Songs, Fairy Tales and Superstitious Texts)
PhD. program
Year of admission
2026
Name of the supervisor
Doc. Mgr. Katarína Žeňuchová, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa v Nitre
Annotation
The dissertation focuses on the research of the linguistic image of the border in Slovak folklore in comparison with selected Slavic cultures, using the material of folk songs, fairy tales and superstitious texts. The aim of the work is to identify the ways in which the concept of the border is linguistically and symbolically constructed in traditional culture, and to point out its universal and culturally specific features in the Slavic environment. The theoretical basis is the concept of the linguistic image of the world, cognitive linguistics and ethnolinguistics. The border is understood as a cultural and symbolic construct organizing traditional thinking in the oppositions of own - foreign, known - unknown or sacred - profane. The research focuses on the analysis of lexical means, metaphors, symbols and narrative schemes through which folklore models border spaces (e.g. forest, river, threshold), transitional situations (wedding, death, departure) and figures of mediators between worlds. The comparative approach allows us to identify common Slavic models of border conceptualization, as well as nationally specific elements conditioned by historical and cultural context. The work contributes to the development of Slavic ethnolinguistics and to a deeper understanding of the cultural meanings embedded in the language of folklore.