Symbolism in the English and Russian fairy tale folklore: comparative analysis
The subject of this research is the symbolism in the English and Russian fairytale tradition. The object is the texts of the Russian and English fairy tales. Analysis of the texts reveals the typical functions performed by symbols in both folklore traditions. The author provides the examples of symbols and offers the interpretation of objects-symbols, symbols-zoonyms, color and number symbols, time and space symbols. Comparative study of folklore heritage of non-cognate languages reveals the fundamental commonness of a particular folk genre of different peoples in their perspective upon reality, methods of depiction, and ideological interpretations. The scientific novelty consists in conclusions obtained in the comparative study of the symbolism of fairy tale texts in the Russian and British folklore, which is important for determination of linguistic, semiological and cultural universals. The comparative study of folklore material of two traditions in the sphere of the poetics of folklore reveals the traditional universals and unique features on the level of symbolism of the fairy tale genre. Within the framework of the article, the author analyzes the functionality of thematic, animalistic, color, spatial-temporal, and numerical symbols. The acquired results are underpinned by a large number of text examples.