A new perspective on the Basque kopla zaharrak from the Moroccan ayyus
An empirically supported cognitive analysis of traditional oral genres
In this article I continue reading oral traditional poetry from a cognitive perspective. This time I use findings
obtained empirically from my previous research on the living short improvisational poetic genre ayyu from Morocco
(Gintsburg 2017, 2019a) and turn my
attention to kopla zaharrak, another short oral improvisational poetic genre, which once existed in the Basque
Country but is now extinct and almost forgotten. In order to better understand how this genre once functioned, I first apply to it
the notions of frames, or topics or themes, and scripts, or possible scenarios manifested at
least partly in form of formulaic language, which are triggered by them. The analysis reveals that on the cognitive level
kopla zaharrak offer a structure similar to the ayyu, where the first two lines work as a
frame and the last two lines as a script. In the second part of my research, I compare
examples of kopla zaharrak and ayyus and conclude that, despite obvious cultural and linguistic
differences, the way both traditions make use of images of the natural world and connect them to human situations has demonstrable
similarities.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The poetic tradition of the Basques: Confusion over genres and incoherent structure
- 3.Discussion
- Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
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Cited by (1)
Cited by 1 other publications
Gintsburg, S.
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How to read (and understand) folk poetry? Аn example of applying a cognitive approach to the study of an oral Arabic tradition from Northern Morocco.
Orientalistica 6:5
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