Aspects of the reconstruction of the plot composition of the Altai epic Yangar in the context of Altai tales

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   In this article the authors compare the plots of the storytelling repertoire of the Altai storyteller Nikolay Ulagashev and the epic Yangar performed by the storyteller Nikolay Yalatov with the help of researches of scholars of the 1940s and later period, for complete reconstruction of plot lines, reflected in the epic tales of that period.

   The aim of the research in this article is to study the repertoire of Ulagashev as one of the sources of the epic Yangar in the context of reconstruction of storylines and in comparison with the information of scholar Leonid Potapov. The material for this research was the publication of the article Heroic epic of the Altai people by Potapov in 1949 in the journal and the repertoire of the famous Altai storyteller of that time Ulagashev.

   The method of research was a complex study of all available materials (research, textological, facts) relevant to the topic of our article, as well as comparative-contrasting, which we applied in the analysis of the repertoire of stories' plots.

   The scholarly novelty of this article lies in the fact that the study of the Altai epic Yangar in the context of narrators' and researchers' information has not yet been the subject of an independent study, but this problem is extremely important for a complete understanding of the genre of Altai legends as an organic part of the folklore of the Altai people.

   The study of these issues seems very relevant for further comparison of the South Siberian version of the epic Yangar with the Central Asian ones in general, and its scientific systematization with consideration of all versions and the Mongolian epic Jangar. Noting the distinctive moments, the authors use the example of specific texts to identify the general course of the plot, the composition of characters related to the batyr Yangar, which largely coincide, except for them there are common episodes and motifs. In this regard, the authors draw conclusions about the common archaic roots of heroic tales from the repertoire of two narrators who lived and worked in different historical periods.

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