Jadwiga Jagiełło
"O języku folkloru", Jerzy Bartmiński,
Wrocław 1973 : [recenzja]
Literary Studies in Poland 8, 153-156
C o m p te s rendus de livres 153 areas new a n d u n k n o w n o r into c o n ta c t with folk n a rra tiv e s which c a p tiv a te d m e with their c h a rm . In this way there a ro se new experi m ents, the expression o f w hich w o u ld fill tw o m o re b o o k s , n am ely the selection o f ex e m p la ry folk tales o f P o la n d as well as the synthetic c h a racteristics o f o u r folk tale. Finally, the realizatio n o f this b o o k was possible o n ly because o f the lively a sso c ia tio n with it o f a score o f people who did n o t spare the a u t h o r assistance o f an y sh ap e o r form . If it were n o t fo r this m a n y - h a n d e d w o rk , the. realization o f p ro b le m s f o r m u la te d years ago w o u ld h ave been delayed for decades.
Sum . by Julian K r zy ż a n o w s k i
J e r z y B a r t m i n s k i : O j^zyku folkloru (On the Language o f Folklore), O s s o lin e u m , W ro c la w 1973, pp. 286.
Jerzy B a r tm in s k i’s b o o k is n o t the kind you c a n p u t b a c k o n the shelf o n ce y o u have finished re a d in g it. T h is is n o t o n ly due to the fact th a t it is the first a t t e m p t in Polish folklore studies at d escrib in g p a r tic u la r elem ents o f the lan g u ag e o f folklore. N o r is it because the b o o k c o n ta in s v alu ab le linguistic m a te ria ls w hich will be o f use in fu tu re c o m p a r a tiv e studies o n the lan g u ag e o f fo lk lo re o f o t h e r regions, b u t a b o v e all because its bo ld , p ro v o c a tiv e sta te m e n ts lead to the discovery o f new fields o f research. Jerzy B a r tm in s k i’s b o o k h as been reviewed a g reat m a n y tim es 1 a n d has p r o v o k e d a lively discussion c e n tre d r o u n d finding a definition o f the lan g u a g e o f fo lk lo re .2 T h is goes to sh o w t h a t the p r o b le m s e x a m in e d by the a u t h o r are o f c o n s id e ra b le im p o rta n c e . T h e p resen t review is a c o n tin u a tio n o f th at d iscu ssio n ; it develops so m e o f the ideas pu t fo r
1 See W .J . R z e p k a , Isto ta ję z y k a fo lk lo r u ( The E ssence o f the L angu age o f F o lk lo re), “ N u r t”, 1974. no 9; K. P i s a r k o w a , rev. in: “Język P o ls k i.” 1974, no 4; H. W a l i ń s k a . O ję z y k u fo lk lo ru — fo lk lo r y s ty c z n ie (S p e cific Q u a lities o f the L anguage o f Folklore), “ L iteratura L u d o w a ,” 1974. no. 4 /5 ; O . S i r o v a t k a , O ja zy k u lidove slo v esn o sti. " N a r o d o p isn e A k tu a lity ,” 1974, no 2; M. L e s i v , M o v a fo lk lo r u na p o l- sk o -u k ra in sk o m u p o g ra n y c h y . “ N a sh a K u ltu r a ,” 1974, no 4.
2 B artm in sk i’s b o o k w as d iscu ssed at a n a tio n a l sem in ar “W hat is the lan gu age o f fo lk lo r e ? ” (S y m p o siu m on fo lk lo r e in S łu p sk . 1974, presided by Prof. C z. H ernas).
154 B ook R eview s
w a rd by H . W alinska, how ev er they are co n sid e re d fr o m a different p o in t o f view, n am ely th a t o f “ the melic qualities o f th e lan g u a g e o f fo lk lo re .”
B artm in sk i m a k e s th ree p re lim in a ry s ta te m e n ts : 1) th e dialect is the n a tu r a l basis for the lan g u ag e o f folklore, 2) the melic q u a lity o f the realization o f texts is w h a t gives their la n g u a g e a specific c h a ra c ter, 3) the lan g u ag e o f fo lk lo re is a n artistic la n d o f dialect.
T h e study a n d d e sc rip tio n o f linguistic p h e n o m e n a a r e c o n d u c te d alo n g tw o m a in lines. Firstly, th e a u t h o r looks for the essence o f the language o f folklore in the dialect o f a c h o se n region. T h is alters the scope o f the c o m p a r a tiv e studies o n folklore w hich h ave been c o n d u c te d u p till now . H e in tro d u c e s a new o p p o s i t i o n : fo lk lo re — dialect, in place o f the fo rm e r o n e : folklore —literary lan g u ag e. Sec o ndly, he suggests th a t the featu res o f p oetical lan g u a g e w hich m a k e it differ fro m co llo q u ial lan g u a g e sh o u ld be lo o k e d fo r in e lem en ts n o t m o tiv a te d by the latter. ^
T h e study co n c e rn s the c o n t e m p o r a r y la n g u ag e o f fo lk lo re a n d the c o n t e m p o r a r y dialect o f the L u b lin r e g io n .4 T h e first is e x a m in e d in songs, riddles, sayings, fables a n d y a r n s ; the second in e v ery d ay n arrativ es a n d longer co n v e rsa tio n s, re c o rd e d by the a u t h o r o n tapes. T h e dialect o f the L ublin region is no t h o m o g e n e o u s . In the east it is infiltrated by U k r a in ia n , in the west by M a z o v ia n , in the s o u th by the dialect o f the C r a c o w region. T h e fact th a t the dialect is different in v ario u s a reas is very c o n v e n ie n t in th at we c a n lo o k at tendencies in the d e v e lo p m e n t o f b o t h lan g u ag es (i,e. the dialect a n d the language o f folklore) fro m m o r e th a n j u s t a reg io n al p o in t o f view.
B artm inski has e m p lo y ed tw o m a in research m e t h o d s —the dialec- tological a n d the statistic m e th o d . T h e first en ab les him to p re se n t a n d describe the qualitative differences b etw een certa in e le m e n ts o f
' T he au th or refers to : R. J a k o b s o n . O sootn osh en ii m ezlulu p e se n n o i i ro zg o - vornoi rechyu. " V op rosy Y a zy k o zn a n iy a " . 1962. no 3: J. K u r y ł o w i c z . J ę z y k p o e ty c k i ze sta n o w isk a lin g w istyc zn eg o ( P o e tic a l Language f r o m the L in gu istic P oin t of V iew y “ S p raw ozdania W rocław sk iego T o w arzystw a N a u k o w eg o " . 1974.
4 T he au th or uses the w ord " fo lk lo re” in a d o u b le m ean ing: I) in a b road er sense it refers to folk art as a w h o le, as a c o m b in a tio n o f w ords, m usic, m im e, g estu re, d a n ce; 2) the narrow er m ean ing refers to the art o f w ord s —to folk literature.
C o m p t e s rendus de livres 155
the la n g u a g e o f folklore a n d o f the dialect o n the ph o n etic, m o r p h o logical a n d lexical levels. H e uses the second m e th o d to determ in e the freq u en cy o f o c c u rre n ce o f certain elem ents in b o th languages. S o m e elem ents o f the dialect can be detected in folklore n o t only because o f a ch an g e o f form o r fu n ctio n , b u t also in p r o p o r tio n to th e frequency o f their o ccurrence. W hen the frequency o f a given elem ent is greater in folklore th a n in the dialect, a n d show s a te n dency to increase by o v er 2 % ) —the elem eni beco m es a featu re o f the lan g u ag e o f folklore. We o b ta in the best results if b o th m e th o d s are used together. We can then see that the f o r m a tio n o f the language o f fo lklore, as o p p o s e d to the dialect, is a c o n t i n u o u s process in w hich te ndencies are tr a n s f o r m e d into rules.
F o r c o m p a r a tiv e reaso n s the a u t h o r lo o k s at the p ro b le m in term s o f fo lk lo re: in b o th cases we are dealing with o ral texts. T h is a p p r o a c h allows him to a ssu m e that certain v\ell-known p h e n o m e n a o f the o rg a n iz a tio n o f folklore texts sh o u ld also p e rta in to dialect texts. T hese issues are discussed with a view to creatin g a m e th o d ic a lly s o u n d basis for fu rth e r investigations! T h e following p ro b le m s have been discussed at length !) the ellipsis, which takes place in b o th dialect a n d folklore texts in a c c o rd a n c e with w ell-know n syntactic p a tte r n s ; 2) the c o n ta m in a tio n intersection) o f fra g m e n ts o f at least two different oral texts, a n d joining them up into a w'hole by m e a n s o f a m o tif; 3) the use o f re a d y -m a d e expressions, o f set p h ra se s; 4) repetitions, which a p p e a r in folklore a n d in the dialect as an elem ent o f the c o m p o s itio n a n d in an intensifying-im pressive f u n c tio n ; 5) incipient f e a t u r e s - t h e use o f a limited re p e rto ire o f c o n v e n tio n a l o p e n in g w o rd s in b o th folklore a n d dialect : 6) the d ia lo gue f o r m - t h i s is p articu larly c h a racteristic of the dialect, w hereas folklore tak es the fo rm o f a m o n o lo g u e o r a series o f m o n o lo g u e s tas in the fo lk lo re o f rituals). T h e results o f this study led Bartmiriski to the follow ing co n clu sio n s: 1) the language o f folklore an d o f the dialect b o th h ave the sam e s tr u c tu r e ; '’) they are b o th varieties o f living speech; 3) for this reason their ch aracteristic features are: a simplified ch o ice o f m e a n s o f expression a n d a sim ilar c o n s tru c tio n o f the text. W h a t m akes the language o f folklore dilfer from dialect a re certain p h o n e tic , m o rp h o lo g ic a l a n d lexical features, which are not m o tiv ated by the dialect, bu t result from the fact th at the la n g uage o f fo lk lo re has special melic. rh y th m ic and sem antic functions.
156 Book R e view s
In the m ain p a rt o f the b o o k (ch ap ters 3 — 5), the a u t h o r e n d e a v o u rs to p ro v e th a t the lan g u ag e o f folklore is a n artistic kind o f dialect, a n d th a t music is the m e c h a n is m which shapes this dialect.
T h e ch aracteristic feature o f folk p oetry is the fact that, con trary to other k inds o f poetry, it is clo sely linked w ith m usic, that it is m elic poetry in the full sense o f the w ord. T h e co n n e c tio n betw een the w ord s and m usic is n ot o n ly superficial, as in m ost literary texts for w hich m usic has been c o m p o se d , but it is present deep d o w n in the very structure o f the text, and exerts a very stro n g influence o n it. All the structural layers o f the text, from the p h o n etic layer right up to syntax, havt d efinite m elic fe a tu r e s5.
Sum . by J ad w ig a J agielio T ransl. by A g n ie szk a K uku lska
