Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics SAS
Topic
Ornithomorphic Images and Symbols in Slovak and Slavic Cultures (ethnolinguistical aspect)
PhD. program
Name of the supervisor
Doc. Mgr. Katarína Žeňuchová, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Filozofická fakulta UKF
Annotation
Birds represent a distinctive group within the framework of symbolism in folk culture, where differentiation based on the opposition pure (good) – impure (evil) is applied more prominently than in other animals. Various functions and symbolism are attributed to some representatives of the bird kingdom (i.e. crow, raven, stork, owl, cuckoo....) in folk culture; some play a key role in mythological ideas. The methodological starting point for the work is the monography of the Russian slavist Alexander Gura Символика животных в славянской народной традиции, the dictionary Славянские древности, the Polish ethnolinguistic dictionary Slownik stereotypów i symboli ludowych and other numerous works in the scientific discourse of slavistics. Ideas about supposed relationships and magical connections between the world of birds and the world of man were applied in various layers of traditional culture - in family and calendar customs, in healing practices, fortune-telling, omens, superstitions, in narrative prose texts, in short genres of folklore prose, which will be the empirical starting point of the dissertation.