Fedor N. Dvinyatin, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya Embankment, 7/9, 199034, St Petersburg, Russia. ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7111-0133
The article analyzes two ways to describe and classify the themes and semantics (lexemes, images, motives) of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign. T.M. Nikolaeva based her approach on identifying the most important binary semantic oppositions (6 or 7). B.M. Gasparov identifies the “motives” of the monument: repeating images, predicates, symbols, and microplots. The first approach goes back to the research practice of C. Levi-Strauss and its adoption in Russian Slavic studies; the second is more general and less localized. The first approach identifies global dominants of the text, while the second focuses on local ones. Close attention to repetitions is characteristic of both researchers, but T.M. Nikolaeva considers the most expressive repetitions separately from the analysis of thematic fields, while B.M. Gasparov considers literal repetitions and thematic motives as elements of the same repetitions-and-motives texture. Both approaches match in many ways, and their contribution to the study of the semantics and poetics of the monument is equally major.
“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; semantics; binary semantic oppositions; motive analysis; repetitions; T.M. Nikolaeva; B.M. Gasparov.
10.05.2025
06.06.2025
Dvinyatin, F.N. “Two Approaches to Semantic Markup of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. Literaturovedcheskii zhurnal, no. 3(69), 2025, pp. 18–33. (In Russ.)
1. Gasparov, B.M. Poehtika “Slova o polku Igoreve” [Poetics of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”]. Wien, Wiener Slawistischer Almanach Publ., 1984, 405 p. (In Russ.)
2. Gasparov, M.L. “‘Snova tuchi nado mnoyu…’. Metodika analiza” [“‘Again the Clouds Above Me…’. Methods of Analysis”]. Izbrannye trudy. T. 2: O stikhakh [Selected Works. Vol. 2: About Poems]. Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kul’tury Publ., 1997, pp. 9–20. (In Russ.)
3. Dvinyatin, F.N. “Semanticheskie oppozitsii v Torzhestvennykh slovakh Kirilla Turovskogo: Bog / chelovek v Slove o rasslablennom” [“Semantic Oppositions in the Solemn Words of Kirill of Turov: God / man in the Word about the Paralytic”]. Kirill of Turov: Bishop, Preacher, Hymnographer. Bergen, University of Bergen Publ., 2000, pp. 76–102. (In Russ.)
4. Demkova, N.S. “Povtory v Slove o polku Igoreve: (K izucheniyu kompozitsii pamyatnika)” [“Repetitions in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign: (Towards the Study of the Composition of the Monument)”]. Russkaya i gruzinskaya srednevekovye literatury [Russian and Georgian Medieval Literatures]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1979, pp. 59–73. (In Russ.)
5. Ivanov, Vyach. Vs., Toporov, V.N. Slavyanskie yazykovye modeliruyushchie semioticheskie sistemy (Drevnii period) [Slavic Language Modeling Semiotic Systems (Ancient Period)]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1965, 247 p. (In Russ.)
6. Lotman, Yu. M. Analiz poehticheskogo teksta [Analysis of the Poetic Text]. Moscow, Prosveshchenie Publ., 1972, 270 p. (In Russ.)
7. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Nekotorye priemy lingvistiki teksta v Slove o polku Igoreve i ikh funktsional’naya nagruzka” [“Some Techniques of Text Linguistics in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign and Their Functional Load”]. Struktura teksta – 81. Tezisy simpoziuma [Text Structure – 81. Theses of the Symposium]. Moscow, Institut slavyanovedeniya i balkanistiki AN SSSR Publ., 1981, pp. 142–147. (In Russ.)
8. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Lingvotekstologicheskie sredstva v Slove o polku Igoreve: Pole proshlogo – nastoyashchego i glubinnye smyslovye oppozitsii” [“Linguistic Textual Means in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign: The Field of the Past – Present and the Deep Semantic Oppositions”]. Scando-Slavica, vol. 28, 1983, pp. 225–237. (In Russ.)
9. Nikolaeva, T.M. “‘Slovo o polku Igoreve’. Lingvotekstologicheskii dialog: russkie – polovtsy” [“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign. Linguistic Textual Dialogue: Russians – Polovtsians”]. Trudy po znakovym sistemam, vol. 17, 1984, pp. 68–83. (In Russ.)
10. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Oppozitsii tuga – veselie i t’ma – svet v Slove o polku Igoreve” [“Oppositions ‘sorrow – joy’ and ‘darkness – light’ in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”]. Problemy strukturnoi lingvistiki. 1982 [Problems of Structural Linguistics, 1982]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1984, pp. 121–134. (In Russ.)
11. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Edinitsy yazyka i teoriya teksta” [“Units of Language and Theory of Text”]. Issledovaniya po strukture teksta [Studies in the Structure of Text]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1987, pp. 27–57. (In Russ.)
12. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Funktsional’no-smyslovaya struktura antitez i povtorov v Slove o polku Igoreve” [“Functional and Semantic Structure of Antitheses and Repetitions in The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”]. “Slovo o polku Igoreve”. Kompleksnye issledovaniya [“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. Comprehensive Studies]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, pp. 103–124. (In Russ.)
13. Nikolaeva, T.M. “Slovo o polku Igoreve”. Poehtika i lingvistika teksta; “Slovo o polku Igoreve” i pushkinskie teksty [“The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. Poetics and Linguistics of the Text; “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” and Pushkin’s Texts]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 1997, 336 p. (In Russ.)
14. Ranchin, A.M. “O novoi knige A.N. Uzhankova i o problemakh izucheniya Slova o polku Igoreve” [“On the New Book by A.N. Uzhankov and the Study of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”]. Literaturnyi fakt, no. 4, 2017, pp. 358–376. (In Russ.)
15. Rudnev, V.P. “Strukturnaya poehtika i motivnyi analiz” [“Structural Poetics and Motive Analysis”]. Daugava, no. 1, 1990, pp. 99–101. (In Russ.)
16. Slovar’-spravochnik “Slova o polku Igoreve” [Dictionary and Reference Book of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”]: in 6 issues, comp. V.L. Vinogradova. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1965–1984. (In Russ.)
17. Toporov, V.N. “Model’ mira” [“Model of the World”]. Mify narodov mira [Myths of the Peoples of the World]: in 2 vols. Moscow, Sovetskaya ehntsiklopediya Publ.,
1982, Vol. 2, pp. 161–164. (In Russ.)