Man and nature, man and history in metaphors of Aipin’s historical novel

Abstract

The problem under study is up-to-date as it is necessary to research culture and literature of small-numbered people, stylistics and worldview that the authors representing small-numbered people demonstrate in their works. Literary scholars, working in the sphere of Ugric studies, tried to study literary techniques of Ye.D. Aipin, but his works have not been described from the point of view of Cognitive Linguistics, nonconventional metaphors used in his historical novels have not been studied yet. This paper studies Aipin’s style and metaphors, characteristic of his historical novels. The objects of the research are anthropomorphic, sociomorphic, artifactual metaphors and metaphors of nature used by Yeremey Aipin in his books (Mother of God in Bloody Red Snows, By the Fading Fire, the Khanty, or the Morning Star). The objective is to study anthropomorphic, sociomorphic, artifactual metaphors and metaphors of nature used by Yeremey Aipin, describe the main ideas of the Ostyaks’ worldview, conceptual domains transmitted through metaphors mentioned above, the formulas of Aipin’s metaphoric variations. The following methods were used in the article: the method of semantic definition, the method of observing linguistic phenomena, the descriptive method, the elements of interpretation, contextual analysis, the quantitative statistical analysis. Theoretical studies in Cognitive Linguistics make a foundation for the research, which helps to analyze the author’s style and works in a more complex way. The research gives a systematic quantitative analysis of metaphors. The materials and results can be used in the sphere of Ugric studies (literary and cultural) and Cognitive Stylistics.