Folklore Textology Department

 The task of the Department is:

1. To deal with issues of the intangible oral culture of Armenian and neighboring peoples, and especially with the textual study of folklore, focusing in particular on the publication and study of original collections of Armenian folk tales (creation of a list of plot types of Armenian folk tales, typological comparison of international fairy tale plots, etc.).
2. From the temporal perspective - to deal with the material of the 19th–20th centuries.
3. To develop folklore textology in Armenia, contributing to the influx of relevant personnel and natural generational succession.
4. The Department carries out its work in the following forms of activity: field, archive/library, bibliography.
5. The output of the Department is measured by quality scientific publications (monographs, collections, articles), which must be relevant and innovative, using modern methods and laboratory analyses, events participated in and organized (conferences, seminars, etc.), field and laboratory work, effective development of international relations (attraction of foreign resources, access to laboratories, participation in international scientific conferences), personnel inflow, defense of theses, provision of professional opinions.

 

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The past and present of the Department

Introduction

Before foundation of  the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the RA NAS in 1959, the folklore heritage of the Armenian people was studied at the Department of Armenian Folklore of the Institute of Literature after Manuk Abeghyan. Since 1960, these works have been concentrated at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, where, as a result of extensive folklore collection work and the expansion of the field of folklore research, the need for their ethnographic, theoretical and textual research arose. For the developement and coordination of the rich archive of the Institute using the latest scientific methodology (according to Isidor Levin), scientifically developed clear programs and new young personnel were necessary. Therefore, 12 years later, in 1972, two equal Departments were created at the Institute, engaged in the research of Armenian folklore: the Theory and History of Folklore, which also included the group of musical folklore, and the textology of folklore. The first was headed by Sargis Harutyunyan, and the second one by Artashes Nazinyan.

The works dedicated to the life and philological activities of Tigran Navasardyan (performed by Svetlana Vardanyan) and Armenian fables and folk games (performed by Artashes Nazinyan), carried out using the method of quantitative analysis implemented by electronic computers (ECM), were the first initiatives on the basis of which the main catalog of the Institute's archive was to be compiled.

It is noteworthy that the enthusiasm with which the head of the Armenian Folklore Department, Artashes Nazinian, informed the director of the Institute, Babken Arakelyan, in his report on December 13, 1971, that 11 members of the working group of that Department (Artashes Nazinyan, Grigor Grigoryan, Sargis Harutyunyan, Verzhine Svazlyan, Arusyak Sahakyan, Svetlana Vardanyan, Alvard Ghaziyan, Tamar Gevorgyan, Vera Avagyan, Zhenya Khachatryan, Emma Petrosyan) had produced 15,000 analytical cards of folklore sources instead of the 8,000 cards planned for 1971.

From 1960 to 1972, the head of the Department of Armenian Folklore was Artashes Nazinyan (PhD in Philology), who continued to hold his position as head until 1999, already at the Department of Folklore Textology. He was replaced by Alvard Ghaziyan (PhD in Philology), who served until 2010. Since 2010, the Department of Folklore Textology has been headed by Tamar Hayrapetyan (PhD in Philology).

The folklore heritage of the Armenian people at the Department of Folklore Textology is being studied in the following main directions:

- Collection work: materials and researches,

- Compilation of scientific collections of Armenian folk tales in original manuscripts,

- Research of folklore genres,

- Systematization of international parallels of Armenian folk tales according to the Aarne-Thompson-Uther’s "Types of International Tales" index.

 

Folklore collection: materials and studies

Folklore collection was carried out in the form of regularly organized group scientific expeditions and individual business trips. A large number of materials of various folklore genres were recorded from all historical and literary regions of Armenia and Armenian-populated places outside Armenia, which replenished the folklore archive of the Institute, serving as a stable material basis for various types of folklore research. Since the first years of its establishment, through the efforts of several generations of the Department's scientific staff (Artashes Nazinyan, Grigor Grigoryan, Manik Mkrtchyan, Alvard Ghaziyan, Tamar Gevorgyan, Vera Avagyan, Hrachya Vardanyan, Eva Zakaryan, Tamar Hayrapetyan), a large number of primary sources necessary for the study of the Armenian intangible cultural heritage have been collected and annotated, various scientific issues have been investigated, around which scientific research has been conducted and dissertations have been defended. The Department's staff collectors were Araz Karapetyan and Mikayel Arakelyan.

 

The scientific collection of Armenian folk tales in the original manuscripts

The multi-volume scientific publication of Armenian folk tales began in 1959 under the general editorship of Academician Hovsep Orbeli, whose goal was to compile and publish the complete and systematic printed and unprinted heritage of one of the oldest and most beloved genres of folk folklore - the fairy tales. Initially, the main textual work - the compilation of volumes, the preparation of the publication, and the scientific prefaces - was largely carried out by the philologist Artashes Nazinyan, who was a skilled organizer of the publication of Armenian fairy tales.

The scientific publication of the tales was carried out on the principle of grouping and distribution of topographic-ethnographic features, and developing unified textual rules.

Between 1959 and 2016, 18 volumes of the "Armenian Folk Tales" series were published. Due to the distribution of the volumes and the preparation of the publication, the sequence of publication numbers of some volumes is broken.

I, II - Airarat (preparation and preface by Artashes Nazinyan, 1959)

III - Airarat (preparation and preface by Artashes Nazinyan, 1962)

IV - Shirak (preparation and preface by Manik Mkrtchyan, 1963)

V - Artsakh (preparation of the original and annotations by Artashes Nazinyan and Margarit Grigoryan-Spandaryan, preface by Artashes Nazinyan, 1966)

VI - Artsakh-Utik (preparation of the original, preface, annotations, vocabulary and lists by Artashes Nazinyan and Verzhine Svazlyan, 1973)

VII - Artsakh-Syunik (preparation by Artashes Nazinyan and Mikayel Arakelyan, 1979)

VIII - Gugark-Lori (preparation of the original, preface, annotations, vocabulary and lists by Artashes Nazinian and Roza Grigoryan, 1977)

IX - Bagrevand, Alashkert, Manazkert, Baghesh (preparation and preface by Manik Mkrtchyan, 1968)

X - Turuberan-Mush-Bulanykh (compilation and annotatations by Soghomon Tarontsi, 1967)

XI - Turuberan-Hark (compilation and annotatations by Manik Mkrtchyan, 1980)

XII - Turuberan-Mush (compilation and preparation for printing by Verzhine Svazlyan, 1984)

XIII - Turuberan-Mush-Taron (compilation and annotatations by Alvard Ghaziyan, 1985)

XIV - Van-Vaspurakan (compilation and preparation for printing by Alvard Ghaziyan, 1999)

XV - Van-Vaspurakan (preparation for printing and annotations by Verzhine Svazlyan, 1998)

XVI - Van-Vaspurakan, Khlat, Bulanikh, Bznunik: Khnus, Archesh, Artske, Charsanjag (preparation, annotatations by Alvard Ghaziyan, 2009)

XVII - Moks (compilation, preface and preparation for publication by Tamar Hayrapetyan, 2012)

XVIII - Parskahayk (compilation, preface and preparation for publication by Tamar Gevorgyan, 2016)

XIX - Shatakh (compilation, preface and preparation for publication by Tamar Hayrapetyan, 2023).

The vocabulary, footnotes, lists of subject, place names, and personal names of volumes XVI-XVIII were compiled by the Department's researchers Lilit Mkrtumyan, Kristina Ayvazyan, Hasmik Galstyan, and Siranuysh Arakelyan.

Currently, fairy tales from the Rshtunik and Bulanikh provinces are being prepared for publication. Artashes Nazinyan, co-authored with Prof. Isidor Levin, presented the Armenian fairy tale in an extensive article in the German "Encyclopedia of Fairy Tales" (Berlin, 1976). He also compiled and published collections of Armenian folk tales in Russian.

 

Research on Folklore genres

The Department prepares separate researches dedicated to the study of Armenian folk tales and novel-historical genres for publication. Fairy tales are studied in parallel comparison with epics, myths, novel songs, proverbs and sayings.

Extensive works dedicated to various genres and issues of Armenian folklore have been published. Grigor Grigoryan published the monograph “Soviet Armenian epic poem and historical song Folklore” («Սովետահայ վիպերգերն ու պատմական երգային բանահյուսությունը», 1965), the educational manual “Armenian Folk Folklore” («Հայ ժողովրդական բանահյուսություն», 1967), “Armenian folk epic songs and Historical song Folklore” (Book one: 1972, Book two: 1981). Manik Mkrtchyan published the collection “Armenian folk exile songs” («Հայ ժողովրդական պանդխտության երգեր», 1961). In the early 1970s, Grigor and Vahagn Grigoryans recorded 8 new versions of the heroic novel “Sasna Tsrer” (Sasuntsi Davit, 1977).

In 1970 the scientific book series “Armenian Ethnography and Folklore” (hereinafter referred to as the AEF) was founded. It has played a major role in the organized publication and study of folkloristic and ethnographic materials. 26 volumes have been published so far. Of the volumes of the AEF series published so far, the following are of a folklore orientation: “Artsakh” (AEF 15, 1983) by Alvard Ghaziyan, “Lori” (AEF 20, 1999) by Tamar Gevorgyan, and “Konstandin Melik-Shahnazaryan (Tmblachi Khachan). Life and Work” (AEF 24, 2007) by Tamar Hayrapetyan.

The original texts of Alvard Ghaziyan's monograph "Armenian folk military and soldier songs" («Հայ ժողովրդական ռազմի և զինվորի երգեր», 1989) include songs created around the Armenian national liberation struggle, and the introduction discusses the genre features, ideological content, and artistic means of war and soldier songs. The collection "Armenian folklore of Baku" («Բաքվի հայոց բանահյուսությունը», 2004) contains rich ethnographic materials, which is presented to the reader with complete content and relatively flawless folklore rare samples from a genre artistic point of view. The collective study "Armenians" published in Moscow (2012), in which Alvard Ghaziyan participated, is dedicated to important issues of research into Armenian ethnography and folklore studies.

In addition to the collection of folklore and textual critisism, the Department's scientific staff have published dozens of articles and defended dissertations. The myth of illness and healing in Armenian fairy tales was the subject of Eva Zakaryan's PhD dissertation defended in 2011, which was published in a separate book (2016). Tamar Hayrapetyan's doctoral dissertation defended in 2014 was dedicated to the study of the symbolic indicators of Armenian fairy tales and our old and new epics, which was published as a monograph under the title "Archetypal connections in Armenian fairy tales and novel-historical folklore" («Արքետիպային հարակցումները հայկական հրաշապատում հեքիաթներում և վիպապատմական բանահյուսության մեջ», 2016).

Hasmik Galstyan, a researcher of the Department, participated in the compilation of the biography published on the occasion of Alvard Ghaziyan's 85th anniversary (2016).

 The Armenian studies journal "Revue des Études Arméniennes" published in Paris translated into French and published 2 chapters of T. Hayrapetyan's monograph "Archetypal Connections in Armenian fairy tales and novel-historical folklore" (2018-2019). Translation work is in progress (translator: Levon Ketchyan, scientific advisor: Jean-Pierre Mahet).

 

International parallels of Armenian folk tales according to the Aarne-Thompson-Utter "Types of international tales" index

In addition to scientific collections and collections of local folklore, which have textual value, an important direction is also the classification of the themes and motifs of Armenian fairy tales based on the historical-geographical method developed by the Finnish school.

In 1910, Antti Aarne, a representative of the historical-geographical method of the Finnish School, published his work "Verzeichnis der Märchentypen" (“List of fairy tale types”), in which for the first time in the world the international plots and motifs of fairy tales were brought together. The prominent American philologist Steve Thompson translated Antti Aarne's aforementioned "List of fairy tale types " into English, supplemented it with new materials, and published it as a philological guide under the title "The Types of the Folktale", which is still known in scientific circles as the Aarne-Thompson (Aarne-Thompson 1928).

Antti Aarne did not know about Armenian fairy tales, and Steve Thompson, in the introduction to his glossary, touches on Armenian fairy tales very briefly due to a lack of sufficient material. Using this glossary as an example, philologists from different countries compile their glossaries of fairy tale types, plots, and motifs.

During 1996-1999, the thematic group engaged in the textual study of Armenian folklore began to abridge (large and short abstracts) the versions of Armenian fairy tales extracted from printed sources and classify them according to the plots and types of Aarne-Thompson's international classification "Types of Folk Tales" (head-coordinator: Artashes Nazinyan, performers: Alvard Ghaziyan, Tamar Gevorgyan, Yeva Zakaryan).

Initially, Armenian fairy tales began to be abridged from the academic volumes of "Armenian Folk Tales" (19 volumes have been published to date), then from the volumes of the "Armenian Ethnography and Folklore" series (we have 26 volumes), from the volumes of Yervand Lalayan's "Ethnographic journal" (their number also reaches 26 books), from the fairy tales published in the old journals of those times: "Byurakn", "Handes amsorya", etc.

Fairy tales written down from different historical and ethnographic periods of Armenia have variants. All variants of the same plot are called fairy tale groups, or types. Armenian fairy tales were abridged and classified according to plots and types, placing them under the corresponding numbers of the international index. These numbers are unchanged for fairy tales of any people with the same plot. This was the first stage of compiling the classification of the Armenian fairy tale.

The second stage of compiling the classification was in 2000-2009, when the works of creating a common scheme for each of the fairy tale groups were added to the abstracts of fairy tales (head-coordinator: Alvard Ghaziyan, performers: Tamar Hayrapetyan, Yeva Zakaryan, Gohar Stepanyan (1999-2007), Nvard Vardanyan (2005-2008). During this period, the works of compiling the index of Armenian fairy tales were delayed both due to the complex and laborious process, and especially due to well-known socio-economic problems.

The most regrettable thing is that in 2004 a new three-volume international index for the classification of fairy tales was published - the Hans-Jörg Utter index, which is a new, more improved version of the Aarne-Thompson index. The thematic group of the Institute was not even aware of that during the “dark and cold” years (1992-1995). In fact, from 1996 to 2011, for 15 years, Armenian fairy tales were indexed according to the Aarne-Thompson index, which was already considered obsolete.

In 2011, this index was republished in Helsinki in English. In the same year, the Department of Folklore Textology acquired Hans-Jörg Utter's new three-volume index of fairy tales as a permanent methodological tool for conducting accurate folklore research.

Since 2010, the Armenian Fairy Tale Guide has been edited, revised, supplemented, annotated, and prepared for publication, already according to Aarne-Thompson-Uther's " The Types of International Folktales", which currently includes about 300 numbers, based on 1,447 printed samples of the preliminary version of the index (head-coordinator: Tamar Hayrapetyan, performers: Lilit Mkrtumyan, Gohar Melikyan). This is the 3rd, final stage of compiling the international index of Armenian fairy tales.

In the list compiled by the Department, according to current data, fairy tales about animals are presented under numbers 1-294 and make 86 types, fairy tales about miracles - under numbers 301-850 and make 99 types, fairy tales presenting real life - under numbers 854-1651 and make 79 types, religious tales - under numbers 750D-AFT779 and make 10 types.

Part of the Armenian fairy tale heritage does not have corresponding numbers in the international catalog, which, most likely, are part of the national fairy tale catalog that has its own characteristics and, instead of Aarne-Thompson-Uther, bear the AFT abbreviation (Armenian Folk Tales). However, that does not mean that the above-mentioned groups of tales does not exist in the international list. That means that theese types of tales recorded from different historical and ethnographic periods of Armenia demonstrate ethnocultural peculiarities in the Armenian folklore heritage at the level of motifs.

The work is ongoing, as the publication of the scientific multi-volume "Armenian Folk Tales," which began in 1959, has not yet been completed. After being published, the tales from those volumes should also be added to the catalog.

The compilation of an international index of Armenian fairy tales and their publication in English and Armenian are important issues. For comparison, let us note that the Baltic peoples, our neighboring Georgians and Turks have international index of fairy tales. Hans-Jörg Utter's three-part index "Types of International Fairy Tales" is a revised and supplemented version of Aarne-Thompson's international index of "List of fairy tales types", which is currently considered an effective means accepted and used in international fairy tale studies, by which Armenian folk tales are now being systematized in Armenia, putting the vast heritage of our people's oral tradition into scientific circulation.