Костенурката в бългapките нapoдни гатанки
The Tortoise in Bulgarian Folk Riddles

Summary/Abstract: From a grammatical point of view most of the riddles about tortoises a re constituted on the base of a one-compound nomination type construction. The analysis proves that the three-compound vertical structure, based on the oppositions “up—down—middle” could be regarded as a basic model generating the construction of riddle metaphors. The three-compound structure typical for riddles, as well as for other folklore narrations proves the cosmological etymology of the tortoise personage. The second spatial structure is based on the opposition “inside—outside” and could be considered to be a reduced variant of the basic model. The comparative analysis of the vocabulary of tortoise riddles reveals the use of a number of codes – anthropomorphic, zoological, object, alimentary-culinary, actional, spatial – closely related between them. The chtonic principle is manifested in the elements of the codes, i.e. through the system of equivalences, through the riddles homonymy, as well as through the tortoise names.

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