Valery Chernetsov’s archive: Mansi ethnography, folklore and linguistic perspective


2022. №5, 35-50

Olga Ryndina
Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; rynom_97@mail.tomsknet.ru
Daria Zhornik
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; daria.zhornik@yandex.ru
Evgeny Barsukov
Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; barsukovevg@mail.ru
Sofie Pokrovskaya
Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia; Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia; sofie.v.pokrovskaya@gmail.com

Abstract:

This article presents the main results of a multidisciplinary study aimed at a complex analysis of the ethnolinguistic identity of the Mansi people. The study encompasses ethnography, folklore studies and linguistics. It investigates the rich data gathered by Valery Chernetsov, a renowned researcher of the Ob-Ugric peoples. The archive is currently kept at the Vasily Florinsky Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography (Tomsk State University). Multiple tasks were performed within this study, such as analysis of the researcher’s methodology, linguistic analysis of Mansi texts, including the transcription system employed by Valery Chernetsov. We have highlighted the difficulties that arise during the interpretation of Mansi folklore texts, which are explained both by the process of language change and by the specific conditions of gathering data in the field in the early twentieth century. In conclusion, we present a brief characteristic of Mansi folklore genres, which were discerned during the analysis of Valery Chernetsov’s data.

For citation:

Ryndina O., Zhornik D., Barsukov E., Pokrovskaya S. V. Valery Chernetsov’s archive: Mansi ethnography, folklore and linguistic perspective. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2022, 5: 35–50.

Acknowledgements:

This research was supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation grant (project No. 19-18-00329 “Interpretation of linguistic and cultural history of the Mansi people: Ethnographic, folklore and linguistic data from Valery Chernetsov’s archive”). The authors would also like to thank Vladimir Plungian for his valuable comments on this paper.