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ANTHROPOLOGY OF SOUND IN THE TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF THE MONGOLIAN PEOPLES // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2021. Issue 3 (33). P. 118-126

This article examines the anthropology of sound in the context of studying the acoustic code and the sound picture of the world as a universal information model in the traditional culture of the Mongolian peoples. Such an information model is a differentiated system of sounds with its own grammatical and syntactic rules, which can not only convey the complexity of a person's ideas about the surrounding world, but also affect it, serving as a guarantee of preserving the world order. The sound of the human voice, which performs a communicative function and has a huge impact on nature and society, is considered in the context of an acoustic or sound code of the steppe culture of the Mongolian peoples. The acoustic code of traditional culture, characterizing the cultural and natural landscape, includes a wide range of sounds from natural to strictly organized verbal and musical texts and is characterized by polyfunctionality. Folk beliefs and legends, which reflect the mythological and religious ideas of the Mongolian peoples, testify to the magic of the sound of the human voice. The article examines the semantics of sound in the exclamatory chants and ritual long songs of the urtynduu Mongols, which represent a special “genetic code” and are an ethnic marker of their cultural tradition. The ritual long songs urtynduu, including chants performed during thunderstorms, melodic whistling or whistling, are closely related to the rite of invoking heavenly grace and the cult of ancestors. They are one of the important components of the integral ritual system, organizing the sound field of the traditional culture of the Mongolian peoples. In addition, the article presents the dotted line phenomenon of sound in the multidimensional space of the shamanic and Buddhist cosmos.

Keywords: sound, sound picture of the world, semantics, traditional culture, Mongolian peoples

The Cult of the Horse in the Traditional Culture of the Buryats // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2024. Issue 2 (44). P. 94-102

This article presents the cult of the horse in Buryat mythology, religion, traditional medicine, and culture for the first time. In the nomads’ habitat, the horse was man’s best friend and companion, accompanying him from early childhood to old age. In the ritual and ceremonial complex of the Mongolian peoples, the horse cult had a sacred meaning that began with the initiation rites of the three- and seven-year-old boys to become horsemen and hunters and ended with the funeral and burial rites. The semantics of the horse cult can be found in various contexts: in shamanic mythology, religion, rituals, traditional culture, the Buryat circle dance – ‘yehor,’ and the musical instruments of the Mongols and Buryats. Of particular importance is the study of the phenomenon of the horse cult in connection with the origin, construction, and sacredness of the Mongolian musical instrument morinhur, the analog of which is the Buryat musical instrument khur. The deep mythological and religious ideas of the Buryats and Mongols about the horse are reflected in legends, uligers, West Buryat funeral songs of Uhelei duunuud, the circle dance of yehor as well as in the examination of the semantics of morinhura/khura in the context of the sound image of the world as an information model of shamanic rituals. Dotted parallels reflect the horse cult in the traditional culture of the Turkic and Mongolian ethnic groups.

Keywords: horse cult, semantics,rituals, traditional culture, musical instruments, Buryats, Mongols