E-mail: korvic@list. Tel.: +7 (831) 433-82-45
23, Gagarin av., Nizhny Novgorod, 603022, Russian Federation
DSc in Philology, Professor, Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N. I. Lobachevsky
A chastushka or ditty is a lyrical miniature. Its small form leads to a concentration of poetic content, the density of the poetic word. The phenomenon of a chastushka as a miniature at all levels of the genre has not yet been well comprehended. In this article the problem is considered at the level of vocabulary. The semantics of names in the chastushka is dictated by the lyrical nature of the genre and the fact that the chastushka often reflects the interpersonal relationships of young people in the premarital period of their lives.
The name designates not only a particular person but may also partially reflect his or her characteristics and emotional state. The methods of naming and grammatical means are determined by the small form of the genre. The name of a beloved character is expressed by a noun denoting a person, either semantically associated with the word “beloved” (liubimyi), or with a lexeme that does not have the semantics of a person but occasionally replaces one — a metaphor or metonymy and synecdoche, represented by nouns, most often substantivates. Metonymic substitutions always imply an ellipsis or truncation of the text. The author proposes a classification of these appellations by the way they reflect relationships between characters. In some cases, the identification of semantic groups allows one to make assumptions regarding their etymology.
Since the chastushka is predominantly a monologue, naming of the lyrical hero is not typical and is present only when the hero explicitly presents him or herself. Selfpresentation is expressed by the pronoun “I” although a chastushka is saturated with information about this person — about gender, age and social group, for which corresponding vocabulary of a particular style is used. Names having arisen outside the genre do not suggest additional information, and therefore, perhaps, give rise to the need for a large number of clarifications within the work. When using epithets, there is no economy of space; as with substantiation, the method of concentration of the content here is different. Minor characters are named in a similar manner.
Bernshtam T. A. (1988) Molodezh’ v obrya dovoi zhizni russkoi obshchiny XIX v. — nachala XX v.: polovozrastnoi aspekt traditsionnoi kul’tury [Youth in the Ritual Life of the Russian Community of the Nineteenth — Early Twentieth Century: Gender and Age in Traditional Culture]. Leningrad: Nauka. In Russian.
Galakhov V. K. (1978) “Ya matanyu polyubil...” [“I fell in love with matanya...”]. Russkaya rech’ [Russian Speech]. 1991. No. 3. Pp. 119–125. In Russian.
Gorelov A. A. (1965) Russkaya chastushka v zapisyakh sovetskogo vremeni [The Russian Chas tushka in Soviet-Era Recordings]. In: Chas tushka v zapisyakh sovetskogo vremeni [Chastushkain Soviet-era recordings]. Ed. by Z. I. Vlasova, A. A. Gorelov. Moscow; Leningrad: Nauka. Pp. 5–27. In Russian.
Gurskaya S. L. (2009) Imena sushchestvitel’nye obshchego roda, nazyvayushchie lyubimogo cheloveka v yaroslavskikh govorakh [Common Gender Nouns Naming a Loved One in Yaroslavl Dialects]. Yaroslavskii pedagogicheskii vestnik [Yaroslavl Pedagogical Bulletin]. 2009. No. 1. Pp. 171–175. In Russian.
Klimkova L. A. (2013) Nizhegorodskaya chastushka: leksicheskii aspekt [The Nizhny Novgorod Chastushka: The Lexical Aspect]. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N. I. Loba chev skogo [Bulletin of the Nizhny Novgorod University named after N. I. Lobachevsky]. 2013. No. 6 (2). Pp. 94–97. In Russian.
Klimkova L. A. (2013) Nizhegorodskie chas tushki: sil’nye tekstovye pozitsii [Nizhny Novgorod Chastushki: Strong Textual Positions]. Privolzhskii nauchnyi vestnik [Privolzhsky Scientific Bulletin]. 2013. Vol. 2. No. 8 (24). Pp. 28–36. In Russian.
Kolpakova N. P. (1966) Tipy narodnykh chastushek [Types of Folk Chastushki]. In: Spetsifika fol’klornykh zhanrov: Russkii fol’klor [The Specifics of Folklore Genres: Russian Folklore]. Vol. X. Moscow; Leningrad: Nauka. Pp. 266–288. In Russian.
Korepova K. E. (2010) Platok v krest’yanskoi molodezhnoi subkul’ture i chastushke [The Headscarf in Peasant Youth Subculture and Chastushka]. In: Trudy konferentsii “Pokrovskie dni” (N. Novgorod, 10–11 oktyabrya 2009 g.) [Proceedings of the Conference “Pokrovskie Days” (N. Novgorod, October 10–11, 2009)]. Iss. 1. N. Novgorod. Pp. 5–17. In Russian.
Kretova V. N. (1978) Kak nazyvayut lyubimykh [What Do You Call Your Loved Ones]. Russkaya rech’ [Russian Speech]. 1978. No. 4. Pp. 80–83. In Russian. Kulagina A. V. (2000) Poeticheskii mir chas tushki [The Poetic World of the Chastushka]. Moscow: Nauka. In Russian.
Kvyatkovskii A. (1962) Ritmologiya narodnoi chastushki [Rhythmology of the Folk Chastushka]. Russkaya literatura [Russian Literature]. 1962. No. 2. Pp. 92–116. In Russian. Lazutin S. G. (1960) Russkaya chastushka. Voprosy proiskhozhdeniya i formirovaniya zhanra [The Russian Chastushka. Questions of the Origin and Formation of the Genre]. Voronezh: Izd-vo Voronezhskogo universiteta. In Russian.
Lazutin S. G. (1981) Poetika russkogo fol’klora [Poetics of Russian Folklore]. Moscow: Vyssh. shkola. In Russian.
Nekrylova A. F. (2024) Pochemu “milyi” v chas tushkakh nazyvaetsya “yagodinochkoi” [Why Is “Darling” Called “Yagodinochka” in Chastushki]. Palimpsest. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal [Palimpsest. Literary Journal]. 2024. No. 4. Pp. 7–20. In Russian.
Prikhod’ko V. K. (2014) Semanticheskaya gruppa “lyubov’” v russkikh govorakh Priamur’ya [The Semantic Group “Love” in Russian Dialects of the Amur Region]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta [Bulletin of the Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University]. 2014. No. 8. Pp. 281–293. In Russian.
Skitova F. L. (1978) Slovo matanya v slovar nom zapase zhitelei Permi (K voprosu o vzaimo deistvii dialektnoi i obshcherusskoi leksiki) [The Word Matanya in the Vocabulary of Perm Residents (On the Interaction of Dialectal and Common Russian Vocabulary)]. In: Zhivoe slovo v russkoi rechi Prikam’ya. Mezhvuz. sb. nauch. trudov [The Living Word in Russian Speech of the Kama Region. Inter-University Collection of Scholarly Works]. Perm’: Permskii un-t. Pp. 3–12. In Russian.
Sudakov V. G. (2016) Nazvanie lyubimogo cheloveka v vologodskikh chastushkakh [The Name of a Loved One in Vologda Chastushki]. Vestnik Cherepovetskogo gosudarstvennogo univer siteta [Bulletin of Cherepovets State University]. 2016. No. 6. Pp. 111–120. In Russian.
Zyryanov I. V. (1974) Poetika russkoi chas tushki (Uchebnoe posobie) [Poetics of the Russian Chastushka (Textbook).]. Perm’: PGPI. In Russian.
Korepova K. E. The Naming of Characters in Chastushki. Traditional Culture. 2025. Vol. 26. No. 1. Pp. 11–26. In Russian.