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Semiotics and manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece
floor after the coffin has been taken out of the house. In first case, the motive is the attempt to help the girl avoid the fate of “the covered dead”, in the second — to protect the living space and people who live there from destructive influence of death, which “the covered dead” impersonates. Understanding of primary meanings, which were put into these customs in
times of pagan world view, help us indicate deep continuity and permanence of the Old Slavic culture by Ukrainian one, it lays a certain ground for further study of influence of the Old Slavic traditions on modern ideas of death and after-death in the Ukrainian society.
References:
1. Б1лий В. Звичай кидати плки на могили «заложних» мерщв//В. БНий. Етнографичний вшник, кн. 3. - Кшв: Друкарня укра'шсько! академи наук, 1926. - С. 82-94.
2. Виноградова Л. Н. Народные представления о происхождении нечистой силы: демонологизация умерших//Л. Н. Виноградова. Славянский и балканский фольклор. Народная демонология. - М: «ИНДРИК», 2000. - 400 с.
3. Зеленин Д. К. Избранные труды. Очерки русской мифологии. Умершие не своей смертью и русалки//Д. К. Зеленин. - М.: «ИНДРИК», 1995. - 432 с.
4. Седакова О. А. Поэтика обряда. Погребальная обрядность восточных и южных славян//О. А. Седакова. - М: «ИНДРИК», 2004. - 339 с.
5. Tylor E. Primitive Culture: Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Art, and Custom. Vol. 1//E. D. Tylor. - London.: Albemarle Street, 1871. - 453 с.
Tereschenko-Kaidan Liliya Vladimirovna, The National Academy of Managerial Personnel of Culture and Art
Doctoral Candidate of Culturology E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Semiotics and manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece
Abstract: The article presents innovative studies of the Slavic Cyrillic manuscript fund by way of semiotics. It refers to both traditional and polysemiotic language methods, when semiography and semiotics are combined, as well as ethnosemiotic methods of research. Special emphasis is put on the uncovering of chironomic system by way of semiotics.
Keywords: semiotics, polysemiotics, semiography, ethnosemiotics, semiosis, chironomy, Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts.
Speaking about the problems of parallelism and peculiarities of development of the spiritual culture of Ukraine and Greece in particular, and the spiritual culture of Slavs and Greeks in the whole, sooner or later the scientific world will refer to the manuscript heritage of the mentioned nations. As it was repeatedly mentioned in previous works, a manuscript is a genetic code of a nation, with the help of which one can give answers to many questions that attract interest of modern science.
With evolving scientific thought and innovation of studies, new methods and forms of research appear in scientific usage. These innovations also refer to the manuscript heritage. We will speak about semiotics that is closely related to the manuscripts, not only in the narrow language sense, but in the wide sense of a research of the manuscript heritage. Consequently, the topic of the present study is current and scientif-cally reasonable.
The object of the present research is the manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece.
The subject of the research is semiotics as a method of research of the manuscript fund of two countries.
The goal of the work is a wide introduction of new principles of research of the manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece by way of semiotics in the scientific usage.
In accordance with the above set goal of the research, the following tasks are formed:
— to explain how one can study Slavic (Ukrainian) and Greek manuscripts with the help of semiotics;
— to understand the structure of semiotic principles of research of the manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece;
— to show in practice the effect of semiotic principles with regard to the manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece.
Semiotics as a science covers a wide specter of its activity. Formed in France in the form of the so called Paris school of A. Greimas and asserted as a direction of knowledge of R. Bart, semiotics expanded the sphere of its influence in the notion of Semiotics of communication by G. Mounin and A. Martinet.
In Italy semiotics is developed by U. Eco and in Switzerland by F. de Saussure. F. de Saussure proposed the 1st program of semiotics, the main principle of which was the form of semiotics that gives unity in combination with the content.
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Section 1. Study of art
The problems of semiotics were also addressed by such scientists as R. Jakobson (USA), L. Hjelmslev (Denmark), E. Benveniste (France), Z. Harris and N. Chomsky (USA).
During the years preceding the World War II, semiotics was a subject of literature. After the WW II it could be found in art, esthetics, in the sphere of social and humanistic psychology. For instance, in socio-semiotics the language is viewed not only as a carrier of sense and meaning, but as a space of action and interaction, in which a man should perform a deed.
The next step of semiotics was mathematics: R. Thom and his «Catastrophe theory», a mathematical description of the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones. The notion of semio-physics, the physics of significant forms, is formed.
Then, pansemiotics, a semiotic view on cosmos, is developed. Here, semiotics is viewed as «total theory of signs», where the irrational is rational and becomes the knowledge due to a man’s consciousness.
Then, there was semiotics of fashion, gastronomy, semiotics of a human’s body etc.
A remarkable French philosopher D. Diderot made an outstanding contribution to the semiotics of art. Due to his «Salons», he covered the art exhibitions in Paris; and through personal communication with artists, understanding profoundly the individual sides of their art, he introduced innovation and started dividing his reports into two parts. The first part is traditional and the second part is the studies of what an artist wanted to do. The very technical formal aspect of art is interesting for semiotics in this case.
The insight into history and periods of development of semiotics as science presented above shows the complete width of horizons of its activity in the sphere of researches.
One of the tasks of the present work is to see the coupling of semiotics with the manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece. The main treasure ofany book is a word. Although, in this case, the books mostly carry a traditional word typical for many languages. They are either holy ecclesiastical books or ecclesiastic liturgical books, where the meaning of the word is unified, but the form of representation (language and dialect) is different. For instance, something that was expressed in the form of acrostic (a canon on the week of the Palm Sunday of Saint Cosmas of Maiuma) in the Greek manuscript in Greek cannot be expressed same way in the Slavic manuscript. In this case, to confirm the conclusion of the research, the words of F. de Saussure about semiotics fit well: «Language is a form but not content». «Language is a system, which is subordinate to its own order».
Thus, in this case, the word is unified and the language of a manuscript is an inflectional basis of texts, when the meaning is unified and the form is different.
It is different for manuscript books, which are independent scientific works, for instance, a philosophical work of XVIII century (EBG № 1798) or a work dedicated to the research of musical systems of the Byzantine notation (EBG № 3037).
The philosophical work is written in Russian language with the use of the sign «ъ». Judging by the form of writing
and language distinctions, it refers to works written in Russian or by a Russian in XVIII century. The text is presented with the help of so called «citoyenne», changes in Russian language introduced by Peter I at the beginning ofXVIII. It is an absolutely independent book with unique independent texts written in Russian language in XVIII century. Here, the word has an underlying meaning for the research. As for the language, this book is distinguished because it is among the Slavic (Cyrillic) manuscripts in the Greek collection of the National Library of Greece.
The second of the above mentioned manuscripts is a musical manuscript that studies the Byzantine music. To be precise, the Byzantine musical tonal systems are examined. The approach to the research is mathematical. I. e. apart from the Greek language, in which the book is written, apart from note signs and their letter names and terminological names of tones, there are figures in the book, which speak with us. The word and language of writing in the manuscript play the most important role, but without musical, mathematical and physico-acoustic knowledge it is almost impossible to study and understand this work.
The conclusion is that in the first case the word and the language of writing are independent, but the presence of a code among foreign manuscripts is unique. In the second case, professional terms and musical, mathematical, physico-acoustic signs, semiotic signs, are added to the independent word and language.
Another example of unique books is, for instance, «The history of the Bulgarian kingdom» as part of the Serbian New Testament of XIV century.
In the present case, the book in Bulgarian language hidden in the middle of the New Testament written in Serbian is the conclusion attracting special attention of the researchers.
The conclusion of this research is that a Bulgarian copyist reading the history of his country wrote it in the Serbian New Testament and thus preserved it for the future generations. The chapters of the book are not concentrated in one place, but spread throughout the book — they are hidden. Otherwise, why would anyone document an absolutely different book in the New Testament written in Serbian?
As for the graphic of distinctions of the languages, it especially refers to the Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts. Sometimes in one manuscript there can be up to six handwritings. That is, it was written by different copyists during a certain period of time. And if the code has a unified meaning, the form is different. Same goes for mixed manuscripts, when in one book there are texts, for instance, in Slavic, Greek and Turkic languages.
If the manuscript texts have yuses, yats, Bulgarian «ж», Romanian apostrophes and similar graphic signs, there is a direct opportunity to study and discover the affiliation of the artefact with this or that tradition with the help of semiotic method of sign-language graphics.
For example, if we refer to some manuscripts written in Slavic language, Cyrillic, which have same verbal text such as the New Testament, how can we understand which of Slavic
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Semiotics and manuscript heritage of Ukraine and Greece
traditions these manuscripts belong to? In this case, there is a need for a research with the help of semiotic method of sign-language graphics, where, under a scrutinizing research of the manuscript, its verbal text, the graphic differences of writing of separate letters, consonance and texts are seen. Big and small yus, yats, Bulgarian «ж», Serbian «j», Romanian «’», all of these are distinctive signs that form the entire system of semiotic graphics and differences in the manuscripts of different traditions.
The next stage of the semiotic method of the research of Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts is filigrees or notes on the margins and in the middle of a text. In Greek the word filigree looks like ospiocrn — signs on the margins. It appears that semiotics and the Greek semiosis are almost same-root words. Due to the signs on the margins one can learn about the time of the manuscript’s appearance not only in century correlation but also in the form of concrete dates. Semiosis opens for us the authors of manuscripts, buyers, owners, fund affiliation, movement of the code within funds, people and countries.
A separate and very interesting item of the research of semiosis is the presence of seemingly unclear signs on the margins and in the middle of a text.
Such manuscripts include an earlier studied monument (EBG № 1707) kept at the National Library of Greece (Athens). This Slavic Cyrillic manuscript has the Byzantine conductor’s system — chironomy. The research of this code was conducted earlier. The main conclusions are that the Slavs preserved for the Greeks their (Greek) tradition in the form of the conductor’s system chironomy. Chironomy is really documented in this manuscript. The signs on the margins and in the text, liter symbols of notes are the elements of chironomy. The study of semiosis in the manuscript (EBG № 1707) discovered an opportunity to see and study the Byzantine conductor’s system chironomy. For music art this knowledge is unique and important. For modern musical choral singing and conductor’s practice, the lack of knowledge of chorus management in the Byzantine era leads to a distorted performance of this music.
Speaking about music, the note systems: neumatic (Byzantine, modern Greek), letter-neumatic (Byzantine, modern Greek), kryuki (kondakar, znamennaya, demevstvennaya), Kievan quadratic, Italian, choral and mensural notations are polysemiotic study. It is polysemiotic, because, as a rule, notations are attracted to a verbal text. Research and revealing of a type of notation can contribute to revealing a tradition or a historic period of the manuscript. Studies of musical tunes or chants written with different kinds of notations are also semiotic characteristics, which help identify a manuscript
belonging to a certain tradition.
Notations or semiography plus semiotics (in a language sense of the word) form another method of research — polysemiotics. Semiography is a theory of science about note (ko-dakar) signs. Study of separate notations, semiography as independent systems helps understand and learn the reading of a musical notation. But in the practice of performance, semiography does not exist without semiotics and the notes are not performed without a word. Unlike fixed pitch round Italian notations, note systems described above are completely oriented to verbal text.
Another manifestation of polysemiotics is the penetration of language signs (alphabets) in the very note system. Such manifestations occur in the znamenny tunes (marks ofA. Me-zents), in the Byzantine and modern Greek notations. Thus, polysemiotic method of research of the note semiographic systems penetrates in the depth of the very notations.
Apart from the above mentioned methods of research of the Slavic manuscripts, one should pay attention to the elements of ethnosemiotics. It is about picturesque ornamental insertions that occur on the pages of the manuscript books. As for the style of an ornament, its sign elements, one can define the affiliation of the manuscript with this or that tradition.
The studies on water signs on paper the manuscript is written on can be referred to the same method.
The general conclusion of the semiotic principles in the research of the manuscript fund are as follows: 1) the word is unified and the language of a manuscript is an inflectional basis of texts, when the meaning is unified and the form is different; 2) the word and the language of writing are independent, but the presence of a code among foreign manuscripts is unique; 3) professional terms and musical, mathematical, physico-acoustic signs, semiotic signs, are added to the independent word and language; 4) research with the help of semiotic method of sign-language graphics; 5) ospioou — signs on the margins, the base of semiotic researches of the Slavic Cyrillic manuscript fund; 6) for musical manuscripts, the study of chironomic systems; 7) semiography + semiotics = polysemiotics — the study of notations in the context of a verbal text; 8) polysemiotics as a basis of research of the very notations, when letter marks define the movement of notes; ethnosemiotic method of study of manuscripts.
With the help of semiotic research of the manuscripts, there is an opportunity to define more precisely the affiliation of the manuscript to this or that tradition, nation, country and place of writing. There is an opportunity to give a maximally full characteristic of the studied code.
References:
1. Silichev A. A. Semiotics and art: analysis of the Western concepts./Dmitry Aleksandrovich Silichev. - M.: Znanie, 1991, - 63 p.
2. Tereschenko-Kaidan L. V. Slavic (Cyrillic) psalter of XVII century - the unique monument of the Byzantine chironomic art./Liliya Vladimirovna Tereschenko-Kaidan.//Art notes. - K.: NAMPCA, 2014, - P. 330-336.
3. Manuscript EBG № 1798.
4. Manuscript EBG № 3037.
5. Manuscript EBG № 1707.
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