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Section 2. Folk art
DOI:10.29013/EJLL-23-4-31-39
RIDDLES AND THEIR MAIN FEATURES IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK FOLK GENRES
Abdujabborova Shohista Adiljanovna 1
1 Andijan State Institute of Foreign Languages, Uzbekistan
Cite: Abdujabborova S. A. (2023). Riddles and their main features in English and Uzbek folk genres. European Journal of Literature and Linguistics 2023, No 4. https://doi. org/10.29013/EJLL-23-4-35-39
Abstract
The aim of this research paper was to identify the main characteristics and functions of riddles in comparative languages. Riddles are detailed explained, and substantiated in the section of English and Uzbek literature examples. The paper showed that the informative, illustrative, didactic, cognitive-heuristic, and comparative features of riddles can give the maximum quality of conscious feed for the riddler and finder which leads to logical thinking, synthesizing the base of knowledge acquired during a person's life, analyzing mental imagination, figurative thinking, and increasing intelligence.
Keywords: riddles, Uzbek riddles, folk genre, characteristics of riddles, informative, illustrative, didactic, cognitive-heuristic, a cognitive (metaphorical) image, a perceptual image, visual thinking, conceptual framework
Introduction
The riddle is an international genre, and the riddle of all the people is an original work that reflects the way of life and conditions of the nation, an incomparable source of history and knowledge. The riddle of each country is distinguished by its thematically comprehensive and unique nature. Riddles are among the tools that show the thinking, ingenuity, and perception of a particular nation, and at the same time, its present responsibility. Based on this, by expressing people's lives, worldviews, and imagination, riddles serve as a means of enriching our speech (Kholdaro-
va, I.V., 2021). As a matter of fact, there is no clear evidence from written sources in Russian linguistics or Uzbek linguistics regarding the emergence of riddles. It is recognized only as an ancient oral creation. Riddles have been serving the people with their compact size for centuries, they have been passed down from generation to generation, and under the influence of time, development and change, several types and new forms of it are being formed.
A riddle is always a structural unit consisting of two components - a figurative part and an assumption (Kenges-Maranda, E., 1978).
The emergence of the puzzle genre goes back to ancient times, its activity has a ritual character. The origin, history, reasons for creation, and aspects of use of riddles in world linguistics are actual, successful and widely studied issues in world research.
Literature Review
Brothers Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm contributed greatly to the development of folklore into a unique scientific field. J. Grimm believes that traces of ancient imaginations preserved in genres such as proverbs, sayings, songs, riddles, and legends play a key role in determining the system of ancient imaginations and beliefs of the Germans. In spite of attempting to exaggerate the level of antiquity of one or another mythical imagination, not taking into account the principle of historicity inherent in the process of formation of folklore genres in the interpretation of mythologisms contained in legends, fairy tales, riddles as "remnants of ancient imaginations" and obsessing over the apparent proportionality of the compared events, the work of J. Grimm gained great fame in folklore studies (Joraev, M., 2008).
In Western linguistics, there are major works devoted to the study of the folklore genre, in particular, riddles were researched by A. Taylor, A. Orchard, R. A. Georges, D. Bitterly, E. Kenges-Maranda, J. Black, J. Neville, J. Paz, L. K. Shook, Ph. Cousineau, P. J. Murphy, H. Price, F. J. Child, K. Thomas, T. A. Attributed to Green, W. Hull. Russian linguistics leads the way in having a comprehensive and thorough analysis of all studies. In this regard, prominent folk-lorists A. A. Rizhenkova, A. B. Krivenko, M. V. Volkova, N. I. Faizulinna, O. N. Gov-orkova, O. V. Magirovskaya, S. S. Kondra-sheva, S. Ya. Senderovich, T. S. Kuznetsova, V. P. Anikin, V. V. Chernyshev, E. Kengas-Ma-randa, and E. D. Yusupova's studies can be observed. In Uzbek linguistics, riddles have been an object of extremely wide scientific interest. In particular, Sh. Shoabdurahmonov, Z. Khusainova, M. Saitbayeva, T. Akramov, S. Mominov, J. Abdullaev, M. Saparniyazova, D. Orinbayeva, U. Qabulova, M. Jurayeva, I. V. In the studies of Kholdarova, riddles were analyzed to a certain extent on a linguistic basis. For example, the researches of
J. Abdullayev and M. Saparniyazova directly contributed to the lexical-semantic and semantic-syntactic properties of riddles, while the dissertation of M. Jurayeva emphasized the genesis of Uzbek folk riddles.
Research Methodology
This study combined qualitative and quantitative research approaches and used an opinion poll among Uzbek people. As an exploratory research, the researcher utilized the technique of gathering information with the help of interviews and questionnaires where participants filled in their responses. In order to categorize the highest and lowest levels of the main functions of riddle there is a proof analysis of riddles with examples of Uzbek folklore. The data analysis of Uzbek riddles clearly showed the most and least widespread features of riddles with their explanations. Moreover, English and Uzbek riddles were selected and translated to analyze the isomorphic and allomorphic features of riddles in both languages.
Results and Discussions
In written literature, novels, short stories, stories, etc.; there are genres of epics, fairy tales, songs, proverbs, riddles, and stories in oral creativity. The works belonging to each genre are united by their form (poetic or prose), content, volume, and the intended purpose of their creation (Madaev, O., 2008; Rajabova, R. Z., 2020). Works created in one genre must have a certain form and content. This requirement always demands that the form be proportional to the content. Usually, the more concise the form and the more extensive the content is, the more valuable the work will become. Riddle is one of the most archaic folklore and literary genres. The main purpose of the riddle is to test the ingenuity and logical thinking of the addressee. The process of searching for an answer to a riddle activates mental activity, develops the ability to build figurative and associative parallels, compares various objects and realities of the material world, and develops the ability to distinguish similarities and differences between them (Strukova, T. V., 2014). In fact, a riddle is a source of knowledge that has been expressed in folklore works since ancient times, attracts the attention of young
and old in society, enlightens the mind, and contains logical-aesthetic idealism. In addition, a riddle is a subject of study by various disciplines, and a number of its aspects are considered not only in folklore, and literature but also in ethnological, cognitive, morphological, semantic, didactic, pedagogical, psychological and other fields, which indicates its versatility (Steven Guns). The peculiarity of a riddle is that "... although it has the characteristics of developing the "intellectual", "scientific", "operational" layer, it does not exclude the "complex game" aspect, and represents the originality of its poetic description, metaphoric imagery, systemati-zation of content and expressive values. This combination testifies to the universality of the riddle and firmly distinguishes it from the complex of all genres of folk literature (Yusupova, E. D., 2008). Another recognized aspect of this genre's closeness to the people is that it reflects the everyday features of the people's life in space and time, such as necessary objects, household items, work processes, events, domestic animals, etc. The main purpose of the riddle is to test the mind of the addressee, the sum of acquired knowledge, and intelligence. The process of searching for an answer to a riddle further activates mental activity, develops the ability to build figurative and associative parallels, compares dif-
ferent objects and realities of the real world, and develops aspects of distinguishing similarities and differences between them (Stru-kova, T.V., 2014). O. Madayev pays serious attention to the features of the independent genre of the riddle in the examples of "Uzbek folk oral creativity" (Madaev, O., 2008): Pay attention to the naming of the genre. From the moment the word "find", which is "top" is pronounced, the meanings of oyla, axtar, solishtir, izla - think, search, compare, search are leading. When the suffix "-ish" is added to it, the task is defined: after the suffix "- moq" the following meanings are expressed "qo'lingdan kelsa", "eplasang",
«ill i ier » a *c
uddalay olsang - it you can , it you are able to", and "if you manage to do it". Riddles have the following genre characteristics: 1) Short and compact in size. 2) The form has a poetic and prose appearance. 3) In order to create, the task is to find something hidden in the text. 4) In its content, the characteristics of animals, plants, the universe, and things in everyday life are expressed in a hidden way, and it is encouraged to solve them. 5) The thing to be found often has one, sometimes two or more quantities. 6) The main artistic art used in riddles is metaphor (Ma-daev, O., (2008). Therefore, the conceptual framework of a riddle consists of two components:
Figure 1. The conceptual framework of a riddle
Moreover, the hidden part of the riddle and the process related to its solution include the performance of various functions: informative, illustrative, didactic, as well as cognitive-heuristic (Strukova T. V., 2014). In addition, researchers emphasize the figurative, metaphorical, and axiological forms of the riddle, as well as the heuristic nature
of information encoding (Yusupova, E. D., 2008).
If we analyze the characteristics, in reality, the riddle is essential because it provides information about the object, reflects the culture of the people, and provides an image of the culture. Therefore, its informative (1), i.e. informational function is
distinguished by its primary character in providing information about the national culture, history, tradition, way of life, and the nation in general. This task in the riddle text takes place as a leading category in information transmission. It is recognized by researchers that the text, which is the result of speech-communicative activity, becomes a volume that fulfils a social task. According to semioticians, the social task consists of the stages of reporting and influencing, that is, it covers the tasks of communication, pragmatic influence, evaluation, and reaction. Therefore, the feature of informative-ness is one of the leading categories of the text. A speech structure that does not have information content cannot be a text (Danie-va, M. D., 2021). According to I. R. Galperin, types of information have three main classifications:
Figure 2. The classification of the types of information
According to the above classification, the text of the riddle contains information about the facts and events happening around us, and the next ones are revealed in the process of text perception. Conceptual information reflects the image of the world in the imagination of the author, conceptual information, in turn, often takes place in the area of the underlying meaning and animates additional meaning through associative and intertextual relations. The formation of this type of information is related to the entry of language units into denotative, associative and conno-tative relations. Phrases also have such an expressive ability, and elucidating their same possibilities opens the way to the task of clarifying the discursive-cognitive and communicative nature of language phenomena (Danieva, M. D., 2021).
For example:
I am the element found in just about everything. I am the air you breathe, and support the growth of all living things. What am I? - Oxygen - Men deyarli hamma narsada topiladigan elementdirman. Men siz nafas olayotgan havoman va barcha tirik mavjudotlarning o'sishini qo'llab-quv-vatlayman. Men nimaman? - Kislorod.
At night I come without being fetched. By day I'm lost, without being stolen. What am I? - A star - Kechasi men olib kelinmasdan paydo bo'lamam. Kunduzi men o'g'irlan-masdan yo'qolaman. Men nimaman? -Yulduz.
I am big, I am in the sky. I give light. What am I? - The Sun - Men ulkan-man, osmondaman. Nur ulashaman. Men nimaman? - Quyosh.
Born at the same time as the world, destined to live as long as the world, and yet never five weeks old. What am I? - The moon - Dunyo bilan bir vaqtda tug'ilgan, dunyo kabi uzoq yashashga mo'ljallangan, lekin hech qachon besh haftalik bo'lolmay-digan. Men nimaman? - Oy.
The illustrative (2) feature in riddles is mainly for children, and we see riddle collections with lots of visual material, along with jokes, songs, and short poems. Seeing the pictures presented in the riddles, children embody the general image in front of their eyes, this situation encourages the child to restore the knowledge base and reflect the acquired reality information in his thinking. It is understood that the illustrative feature of a riddle includes reality on the one hand in the search for the answer to the riddle, that is, it acts as a primary pillar, such as seeing the image of things in existence without movement, being able to clearly express the image of the problem, and in general, visualizing cultural objects and events. According to A. V. Fyodorov, "reality" is "words that mean social life and material lifestyle, express only local phenomenon and have no equal in the life and understanding of other peoples" (Fe-dorov, A.V., 1983). In the process of moving from real existence to abstract thinking, riddle images are a huge foundation, a key to the lock of the problem, and an important tool that can realize the imagination about the object. Another feature that is important to
recognize is that riddles provide visualization not only through images but also in the lexicon of the riddle text itself. For example, solving problems in mathematics requires visual models and tools. A riddle, like a math problem, encourages the visual connection between abstract images and the solution, creates opportunities to understand new concepts, think through word problems, and visualize the lexicon. Functions such as analysis, synthesis, comparison, classification, assimilation, and summation are carried out in the mind through visualization. So, in the riddle, the illustrative feature is realized through a picture, and the text of the riddle is visualized abstractly in the mind.
Figure 3. Illustrative function
An example of an illustrative function 1 -(pictorial visualization):
Find how many watermelons are in this picture?! (Umida Yakubova).
Figure 4. Approach the riddle from a mathematical perspective
If you can see how many watermelons are in this picture, you are very smart. If you can'tfind it, try calculating. To help you, we can say that the number of watermelons
in the picture is found by mathematical calculation.
Answer: The picture shows 4 watermelons with 4 V4 halves missing, right? So, we multiply them together and add them. (4 x 0.75) + (4 x 0.5) = 5
Example of Illustrative function view 2 -(text visualization):
It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it? (A human) - Ertalab to'rt oyoqda, tushda ikki oyoqda, kechqurun uch oyoqda yuradi. Bu nima? (Inson)
We imagine walking on four legs, two legs, and three legs through the text of the given riddle. The actualization landscape of the lexicon is visualized before the eyes of the audience. In addition, images of morning-tong, noon-peshin and evening-oqshom are figuratively embodied. This situation provides the riddler with the key to the riddle's solution, the right approach, and the path to a clear decision-maker. On the other hand, this riddle describes human "Umr- a person's lifetime", a metaphor is used for it. The metaphor has a semantic extension indicating the periods of infancy, adulthood, i.e., adolescence, and old age, corresponding to the lexemes morn-ing-tong, noon-peshin and evening-oqshom. In addition, the lexeme "legs-oyoqlar" used in the riddle is not a real human limb, but a metaphor for a person's life path. This type of riddle reveals the superiority of the ide-ational meaning over the referent in the study of meaning. This is because the physical referents of four-legged, two-legged, and three-legged are represented in the mind of the riddler through the image of components of meaning with broad concepts, such as infancy, adulthood, and old age. If the riddle shows the metaphorical relationship between these three ages of a person, and works in the same frame of mind as the riddle finder, then he can see the solution of the riddle (Olaosun, I. E., Faleye, J. O., 2015).
The didactic (3) feature of a riddle means that it is a source of knowledge. Didactics (from ancient Greek: SiSaKTiKog, di-daktikos - "teacher", "educator") is a branch of pedagogy. The term "didactics" was first used in Europe in the 17th century by scientists who wrote about the teaching and learning process. The Czech pedagogue Jan Amos
Comenius developed the didactic aspects of educating and educating children and adolescents in his "Great Didactic" (1657) (Online Encyclopedia. Komusinfo). It is understood that riddles embody education, training, and at the same time lexical wealth. The educational and didactic possibilities of this "cute little" genre of oral creativity are extremely diverse. Riddles instil a love for folk creativity and figurative language, give children aesthetic pleasure and introduce them to the world of oral poetry. These miniature works, which are an expression of unique fine art and national artistic methods, feed the spiritual needs of the growing generation (Abdu-rahimov, M., 1991; Danieva, M. D., 2021). The main purpose of didactic riddles is to enrich mental imagination, in particular, to develop imagination (Avezov, S. S., 2021).
Another unique aspect of the riddle is the cognitive-heuristic (4), which is recognized as a simplified method of drawing the final conclusion in the solution of the riddle. In fact, cognitive heuristics is a simplified way of making judgments. A term commonly used to refer to various heuristics that people use to make decisions and form beliefs (Stru-kova, T. V., 2014). In general, the essence of heuristics is intuitive thinking, fast, automatic, effortless, hidden and emotional perception. Heuristics are simple rules that we develop for ourselves in everyday life that allow us to make quick and effective decisions, solve problems, and assess the current state of affairs. These rules define specific strategies of behaviour in uncertain situations (Strukova, T. V., 2022). The cognitive-heuristic sign helps to make a final decision, to quickly analyze several solutions, to find a way out of a problematic situation, and to focus on thinking using mental strategies.
Qush emas, qanoti bor, Burgutdan zo'r haybati bor. Uchsa lochin yetolmas, Tolmas zo'r qanoti bor. (Samolyot).
When solving riddles, it is necessary to pay special attention to the comparison of
Hunari kop ishlasa, Agar tokni tishlasa, Tekislanar har g'ijim, Chiziqli bo'ladi shim. (Dazmol)
T. V. Strukova stated that the riddle is characterized by a cognitive-heuristic function because the guessing process is aimed at forming the visual-figurative thinking of the riddle finder (understanding of the subject) (Strukova, T. V., 2014). The cognitive activity of the riddle finder is focused on the object of knowledge (searching for a solution). In the process of perception, the object is guessed and understood by the riddler at a rational and abstract level.
For example: In English: There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it? (Watermelon).- Yashil uy, yashil uy ichida oq uy, oq uyning ichida qizil uy, qizil uy ichidajuda kop chaqaloqlar bor edi. Bu nima? (Turvuz).
In Uzbek: To'ni silliq, tuki yo'q. Ichi qizil, ko'ki yo'q. Uni cho'qolmas chumchuq. (Turvuz) Xoppa semiz, Bir tuki yo'q. (Turvuz).
As a process of thinking, comparison is characteristic of every person, it helps us to understand the world, and to form ideas about objects and events. Comparison is an important part of everyone's thinking. A famous aphorism says: "Everything is known by comparison". In fact, since ancient times, man has compared everything and phenomena, because in the process of understanding the world, comparison helped him to separate and organize them for the best use or modernization (Ipatenkova, Yu. A., 2019).
Knowledge of comparing, contrasting, simulating and differentiating objects plays an important role in riddles. In this area, the riddle performs the main function:
It's not a bird, it has wings, He has a great fear of the eagle. A falcon cannot fly He has a great wing. (Airplane).
images, similarities and differences of objects.
If he works hard, If it bites the amperage, Every wrinkle is smoothed out, Pants will be striped. (Iron).
Through the function of comparison
(5) in the process of finding a riddle, the human worldview acquires a diverse amount of knowledge, a breadth of perspectives, and the ability to look at objects and events from different angles.
It is understood that five main features can be observed in our riddle:
1. Informative 2. Illustrative 3. Didactic 4. Cognitive-heuristic 5. Comparative
Figure 5. Five main features of Uzbek riddles
The table above illustrates that the most widespread feature in Uzbek riddles is cognitive-heuristic (30%) which means that such kind of riddles encourage a riddle finder to develop his/her visual-figurative thinking and cognitive ability. The didactic feature of 25% shows that the majority of Uzbek riddles, especially the ones for young children, are created in the form of poems in order to enhance their oral creativity and expose them to the world of oral poetry. In the third place, comparative feature (20%) appears not only in the riddles which are dedicated to young kids but also comparison is added for more complicated riddles so that a person can analyse objects from various angles. Next, the informative feature with a slightly visible percentage (15%) indicates that among Uzbek riddles, it is only seen in some of the specific subjects as its main purpose is information transmission about a particular culture, history etc. The lowest percentage (10%) found among the analysed riddles comprises illustrative riddles that are mainly created for children with visual materials as long as with jokes and short poems.
The reason why the percent is lower than the other features is that children should be able to visualize the image of the problem in the given object along with events. Although this type of feature has the least amount, it is developing gradually as the current primary education system in Uzbekistan requires children to be more creative and critical.
Thus, a riddle works as an initiative speech act entering the interactive space of a communicative event, which can be considered from the point of view of the object (what is the communication about), the subject (participant of the communication) and the instrumental (what are the methods of communication implementation) approaches to learning speech (Karasik, V.I., 2013). In the structure of the riddle, the context is in the form of a question, its semantics and logic are determined by the relation of the answer to the riddle. Symmetry occurs between the riddle and the answer to the riddle. This leads to logical thinking, synthesizing the base of knowledge acquired during a person's life, analyzing mental imagination, figurative thinking, and increasing intelligence.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that riddles have existed since ancient times and are a work of art with a pictorial image reflected in small verses of folk oral creativity, which was widespread in ancient times. Riddles are an oral and written genre that expresses the history and culture of the nation as a legacy from generation to generation and reflects the language and outlook of the nation. It is first consolidated in the oral creativity of the people and then appears in the written traditions. The fact that the main purpose of the riddle is to test the ingenuity and logical thinking of the addressee has been developing from ancient times to the present. Therefore, its modern types are formed and maintain its complex and mysterious structure.
It is understood that the riddle is dominated by five main features: informative, illustrative, didactic, cognitive-heuristic, and comparison. Each feature has its own unique features and gives the riddler and finder the maximum quality of conscious feed. According to the data analysis of Uzbek riddles, the most widespread feature turned out to be cognitive-heuristic (30%) as it develops more cognitive and visual thinking while the lowest percentage (10%) belongs to illustrative feature which requires children to imagine the problem and even in the given picture.
The history of the development of the riddle genre in the culture of English and Uzbek languages refers to the knowledge about the creation of the world, its structure, the hierarchy of values and reveals the landscape of the universe.
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submitted 29.10.2023; accepted for publication 10.11.2023; published 16.01.2024 © Abdujabborova S. A.
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