INSULARITY AS A FOUNDATION FOR THE MYTHOPOETIC MODEL OF THE WORLD OF SAKHALIN ISLAND NIVKHS

Abstract

The article examines insularity as a complex category that underlies the mythopoetic model of the world of the Nivkhs on Sakhalin Island. The research aim is to identify and describe the linguistic and poetic means of insularity verbalized in folklore texts. The subject of the research comprises the notional, figurative, and axiological components which form the structure of insularity within the mythopoetic model and which are verbalized in the language, i.e. which are expressed in the language through certain linguistic and poetic means. Based on the materials from dictionaries and folklore texts collected by L.Ya. Shternberg and V.M. Sangi, the study looked into the main linguistic and poetic means of verbalization of insularity in the Nivkh language and folklore. Special attention is given to the analysis of the motif functions of the island in Nivkh folklore and mythology. As a result of the analysis, it is noted that insularity is the center of the mythopoetic world model of the Nivkhs and it underpins its ontological and axiological foundation.