CURSES IN THE LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOUR OF BYELORUSSINAS Cover Image

Проклятия в речевом поведении Белорусов
CURSES IN THE LINGUISTIC BEHAVIOUR OF BYELORUSSINAS

Author(s): Marija Konjuškevič
Subject(s): Anthropology, Language and Literature Studies, Applied Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej
Keywords: curses; the Byelorussian language; the characteristics of Byelorussian curses; the functions of curses; forms of defence

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt to describe contemporary Byelorussian curses (kleničy, praklën, kljac’ba, prakljacce). An analysis of rich language material from peasant dialects, the colloquial variety of Byelorussian and literature has revealed the most significant characteristics of Byelorussian curses. The curses are 1. commonly used, 2. more frequent in the speech of men than women, 3. spoken with peculiar protracted and monotonous intonation, 4. drastic in their content, 5. contradictory in nature to the traditional tolerance and amiability of Byelorussians, 6. stereotypical in their structure, 7. poetic, 8. correlated in their content with a specific situational stimulus.An attempt is made to answer the following questions: Why are curses so popular in the speech of Byelorussians? Is it because of the specificity of the genre or of the ethnic group? What is the naturę of the peculiarity of the curses? What are their functions in linguistic communication? Are these functions susceptible to historical change? Are they creative or merely reproduced texts? To what extent are they stereotyped?Having analyzed in detail the linguistic material from the semiotic, historical-cultural, sociological and pragmatic perspective, the author concludes that the specific nature of Byelorussian curses stems from historical-sociological conditioning. For a long time, Byelorussians were deprived of self-confidence and did not constitute a full-fledged nation. They had to cope with stronger and culturally more attractive neighbours. In accordance with the principle of ‘pain for pain’, curses began to serve as a peculiar reaction and a form of defence of the helpless and humiliated Byelorussian society.

  • Issue Year: 13/2001
  • Issue No: 13
  • Page Range: 155-168
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Russian