Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 48 (3) 2020   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.3.134-142

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Verbal Restrictions on the Communication of Turko-Mongols
of Inner Asia

M.M. Sodnompilova

Kalmyk Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, I.K. Ilishkina 8, Elista, 358000, Russia

Verbal restrictions common among the Turko-Mongol peoples of Inner Asia and Siberia are analyzed on the basis of folkloric and ethnographic sources. Their principal forms are silence, circumlocution, and whisper. The socio-cultural context of these restrictions is reconstructed. They are seen in various domains of culture, in particular relating to social norms, and are believed to reflect fear of human life and the well-being of man and society in the communication with nature represented by deities and spirits. This is a natural reaction that has evolved under the harsh environmental and climatic conditions of Inner Asia. The same concerns, extending to social communication, have regulated interpersonal interactions. In a nomadic culture, verbal restrictions stem from the importance of the ritual function of language and a specific attitude toward spoken language, which, over the centuries, was the principal means of information storage and transfer, cognition and adaptation. This concept of speech affected the emergence of the principal behavioral stereotypes. The rigid norms of behavior account for the importance of the nonverbal context of the nomadic culture— the high informative potential of the entire space inhabited by the nomads, and the rich symbolism of their material culture, traditional outfit, and dwelling.

Keywords: Inner Asia, Turko-Mongol peoples, communication, silence