European International Journal of Philological Sciences
38
https://eipublication.com/index.php/eijps
TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
38-40
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
31 May 2025
ACCEPTED
29 June 2025
PUBLISHED
31 July 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 07 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Use of Synonymous Words
in Folktales
Esonov Rustam
3rd-Year Doctoral Student at Kokand State Pedagogical Institute,
Uzbekistan
Abstract
: Linguistic synonyms give great expressive
power to statements in a fairy tale, they perform the
function of clarification. Linguistic synonyms reveal the
properties and various signs of objects and phenomena,
which increases the expressiveness of the fairy tale.
Keywords:
Fairy tale, synonym, pleonasm, culture, folk,
text, feature.
Introduction:
Synonyms are words belonging to the
same part of speech (in a broader sense, phraseological
units, morphemes, and syntactic constructions as well)
whose meanings fully or partially coincide. In linguistics,
they are divided into language synonyms and speech
synonyms. Language synonyms are a part of the
language system. They form rows that objectively exist
in the language system and occupy a certain place in it.
In Uzbek folk tales, such language synonyms are often
encountered: el
–
xalq (people
–
nation); qul
–
cho‘ri –
xizmatkor (slave
–
maid
–
servant); zamon
–
davr
–
fursat (time
–
epoch
–
period). According to P.I. Jalilova,
“the most synonyms are foun
d among adjectives and
nouns.”
The storyteller, using language synonyms, creates an
expressive device called pleonasm. Pleonasm is the use
of redundant words, in which synonyms semantically
repeat each other. This style is also used in Uzbek folk
tales because it helps the listener or reader understand
a certain situation or event more clearly and vividly. For
example, the following expressions can be cited from
Uzbek folk tales: bir payt
–
bir zamon
–
bir vaqt (once
upon a time). This expression occurs frequently in Uzbek
tales. Here, these expressions have the same semantic
meaning, but when used together, they emphasize the
uniqueness of the time of the event. In the expression
“Yorug‘likdan
nur
sochgan”
(“Light
radiated
brightness”), the words yorug‘lik
(light) and nur (ray)
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European International Journal of Philological Sciences
repeat each other, since they have almost the same
meaning. However, using these words together helps
to show the event or image more vividly and strongly.
“Kecha qorong‘i va zim
-
ziyo edi” (“The night was dark
and pitch-
black”). The words qorong‘i (dark) and zim
-
ziyo (pitch-black) are similar, but such a combination is
used to describe the night’s darkness more clearly.
Such styles are usually employed in tales to strongly
dramatize reality or to depict the condition and
environment of the characters more precisely.
Language synonyms give great expressive power to the
narratives in tales; they perform the function of
clarification.
Language
synonyms
reveal
the
characteristics and various features of objects and
phenomena, thereby enhancing the expressiveness of
the tale. Contextual synonyms are also found in folk
tales. Contextual synonyms arise when words with
different meanings are semantically approximated by
the speaker or writer [Maksimov 2007: 181]. Consider
the following example:
“Birinchi qiz chiroyli va go‘zal
bo‘lib, uning yuzi quyosh nuridan ham porloq edi”
(“The first girl was beautiful and lovely, and her face
shone brighter than the sun”) (from the tale “The
Beautiful Girl and the Witch”).
Here, the words chiroyli (beautiful
) and go‘zal (lovely),
along with porloq (radiant), are contextual synonyms;
they repeat and emphasize each other, intensifying the
girl’s external beauty.
In the sentence “… daroz bo‘yli va yetakchi qahramon
tog‘ning pastida yashar edi” (“… the tall and l
eading
hero lived at the foot of the mountain”) (from “The
Leading Hero”), the words daroz bo‘yli (tall) and
yetakchi (leading) are contextual synonyms. They are
used to express the hero’s state or his generally high
status on the mountain.
In “The Leading
Hero” tale, the phrase “… daroz bo‘yli
va yetakchi qahramon tog‘ning pastida yashar edi”
forms a contextual synonym with daroz bo‘yli and
yetakchi (with the meanings “tall” and “high” [status]).
They are used to express the hero’s state or his overall
high position on the mountain.
In “Haqiqatan ham, jangchi yurtiga qaytib kelganida,
o‘zgargan, kuchli va qahramon ko‘rinishi bilan
hammani lol qoldiradi” (“Indeed, when the warrior
returned to his homeland, he astonished everyone
with his changed, strong, and
heroic appearance”)
(from “The Return of the Hero”), the words o‘zgargan
(changed), kuchli (strong), and qahramon (heroic) are
considered contextual synonyms, because they reflect
the state of the warrior after returning from his
journey, representing his new heroic identity.
In the Uzbek folk tale “The Flying Carpet”, the words
burro and go‘yo (as in the expression bulbuli go‘yo) are
synonyms, with burro used in reference to a sword and
go‘yo in reference to speech: “–
Our sword is sharp, our
tongue is eloquent, whose time has come?
—
they
waited expectantly.” This expression also reflects the
shaping feature of fairy-tale language as a national-
cultural marker. At this point, let us present the
definitions of burro and go‘yo from the explanatory
dictionary.
Burro (Persian
–
cutting, sharp; keen)
1.
Sharp, keen.
2.
Figuratively: Clear, eloquent, keen. Example:
Burro gap (clear speech), Tili burro odam (a person with
eloquent speech).
Adverb burro-burro: Very clear, very eloquent.
Burron [Persian-Tajik
–
cutting, sharp, keen]
–
same as
burro.
From this definition, it is clear that in the tale, the word
burro used for the sword is essentially the same as
burron. In this context, the variant burro created
phonetic harmony with the word go‘yo.
Go‘yo –
I. (Persian
–
speaker, orator) old poetic: speaker,
narrator.
Bulbuli go‘yo:
1.
a nightingale that sings beautifully and, in fairy
tales, can speak like a human;
2.
a person who speaks well and eloquently.
In folk tales, language synonyms occur predominantly,
though contextual synonyms are also found to some
extent. “Speech synonyms are those that acquire
synonymy only in a specific context, created by the
author in accordance with existing words in the
language as individual synonyms.” A.A. Potebnya wrote
about this
: speech synonyms, that is, “such structures
are important in the development of thought, as they
are examples of figurative, poetic thinking.”
While analyzing the Russian folklore expression “bread
and salt”, A.A. Potebnya emphasized that through such
paired words, folklore turns a particular meaning into a
general meaning, or a particular semantic composition
gains generality. Such units are also observed in Uzbek
tales. For example, the phrase er-xotin (husband-wife):
outside the context, these two words simply mean
“man” and “woman.” However, as a phrase, they form
a unity and express the general concept of “family.”
Such paired words are a distinctive means of expressing
meaning in folklore, especially in the tales of Turkic
peoples.
Storytellers of Turkic peoples create a stylistic device
called pleonasm by using language synonyms side by
side in the text, which gives the tale imagery and
expressiveness. Folk tales are also characterized by the
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European International Journal of Philological Sciences
use of contextual synonymous nouns and participial
chains. Moreover, through synonymy, they not only
enrich the content but also enhance the artistic impact
of the text by arranging nouns, participles, and verbs in
sequence.
The sequential arrangement of verbs is typical of fairy
tales, giving rise to what is know
n as a “verbal” style,
since actions in fairy tales develop rapidly and
intensely.
In addition, tales contain so-
called “paired
expressions,” typical of folklore in general, formed
from language or contextual synonyms, and often
written with a hyphen. The individual elements of
these expressions are generalized and considered as a
single whole.
Synonyms help to provide a broader description of a
fairy-
tale hero’s external appearance, deepen existing
concepts, and expand perceptions of the surrounding
world.
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