On the issue of loci communes in folklore studies

On the issue of loci communes… 
Серия «Филология». № 2(86)/2017 
57 
ready-made images from the reserve of his memory, that is, transferring some trait he liked from one epic to 
another» [3; 16 ]. 
In his turn, M.N. Speranskiy, considering the problem of loci communes from the point of view of the 
composition and presentation by the narrator of the epic, revealed the genre-forming functions of common 
places: «For the singer the composition of the epic is reduced to the following: the plot, which he must mas-
ter with the help of his memory, not repeating the essence of content, especially strenuously; then a typical, 
definite distinct figure of the hero or characters appearing in a number of epics, and therefore more easily 
retained in memory; finally, typical common places, the stock of which, at his discretion, is managed by the 
singer depending on of his artistic tasks. The melody of epic is also here, and is selected in the same way as 
typical places, from the stock of musical motifs at the narrator’s disposal» [4; 17, 18]. 
The researchers at the beginning of the twentieth century also observed that the storytellers had a «stock 
of ready-made samples», a fund of common places, from among which they chose those that they considered 
necessary for that case. So, A.M. Astakhova notes that on the basis of common places in the process of im-
provisation new the texts of epic stories are created: «These epic formulas are the results of collective, artis-
tic searches and polishing. Due to their repeatability, these general pictures selected by the masters of epic 
creativity are remembered more easily than other parts of the epic. «Common places» formed the fund of 
ready-made images, which helped the storytellers to recreate the acquired epic, as well as create their own, 
new editions of the stories and add new epics» [5; 192]. Thus, A.M. Astakhova reveals the technical function 
of loci communes. 
Therefore, we see that the scientists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries note two con-
stituent parts of the epic text, transitional places and typical places. As it turned out, by «transitional» the 
researchers understood more voluminous formations, according to our hypothesis – common places, and by 
«typical» – formulas. The scientists intuitively understood that there had been two constituent parts of the 
loci communes, which were delimited by the signs of transitivity and stability, by their functions in the plot 
and style of the folklore work. 
The hypothesis put forward by the scientists of the nineteenth century was confirmed by the further de-
velopment of science. Thus, N.P. Andreyev notes that common places consist of smaller entities: «Common 
places are repeated only in basic features, while details vary with singers, each in its own way. Besides, the 
combinations of these ready-made formulas are different from the rest of presentation» [6; 21]. Proceeding 
from this provision, the common place consists of «variable details», «combinations», that is, according to 
our hypothesis – formulas. N.P. Andreyev delimits the volume of common places and formulas and notes 
that «the common place» is formed from ready-made formulas. As we can see, A.F.Hilferding's concept of 
transitional and typical places finds its continuation, but with each new research it is supplemented, corrected 
and refined. 
Thus, P.D. Ukhov, who dealt specifically with the problem of «typical» places, came to the conclusion 
that the narrators did not memorize the «typical» places when mastering epic stories, but as a result of fre-
quent repetition of epics they produced a fixed text of typical formulas specific to each narrator. Thus, «typi-
cal» places of one narrator, as a rule, acquired strictly chased verbal design» [7; 98]. As you can see, 
P.D. Ukhov supplemented A.F. Hilferding's position about typical places, and gave a more precise and capa-
cious concept of «typical formula». In addition, he notes that «typical» formulas still are not sung in the 
same way, but depending on the content, the formulas of one narrator in different subjects can be modified. 
Consequently, loci communes are, according to the scientist, the criterion for distinguishing the creative 
manner of the narrators. 
P.D. Ukhov for the first time considered the problem of common places as a means of 
passportingtheepic. He has come to the following conclusions: 
«Because off requentrepetition of epic, the story tellers of all categories usually produce the fixed text 
of typical formulas. These formulas are specific for a certain narrator, different from those of other narrators. 
These formulas developed by the narrator are used in all the plots they perform (in those plots where they are 
needed during the course of the action). 
Depending on the content, the formulas of one narrator in different scenes can be modified, but usually 
the distinctive features of these formulas are traced everywhere» [8; 136-137]. Therefore, each storyteller has 
his own formulas worked out, that is, their ready stock. They point at the plot-forming function of common 
places. 
Recognizing the merit of P.D. Ukhov in solving the problem of loci communes as a means of epics 
passportization, we should note that the scientist does not give a clear definition of typical places and does 
not distinguish between typical places and formulas, which, most likely, was not the task of his research. 

A. Okay, M.K. Zhumabekov, Yu.A. Demyanova 
58 
Вестник Карагандинского университета 
This «fuzziness» in the delimitation of concepts is also traced in the further development of folklore stud-
ies. Thus, N.S. Smirnova in her monographic study «Kazakh folk poetry», solving the problems of the Kazakh 
epic, noted along with loci communes – typical places, common places, as well as traditional epic clichés, typi-
cal formulas – all related to one and the same poetic reception. N.S.Smirnova, in addition to the structure-
forming function of common places, reveals the genre-forming one: «... the composition as well as the structure 
of the images of the hero and other epic characters is associated with the heroism of reality characteristic of the 
epic: with the hero's exceptionality, with the grandeur of events. They stand out and are shaded by «loci com-
munes», that is, typical, and, therefore, stable descriptions and habitual repetitive plot situations. Typical or 
common places adorn the appearance and behavior of the hero, give them significance» [9; 73]. 
The researcher of the Kazakh heroic epic A.S.Orlov notes that «certain expressions, metaphors and 
even entire episodes are identical or almost identical» [10; 26]. As you can see, the scientists pointed to the 
fact that common places and formulas coexist in folklore, but they did not distinguish between these con-
cepts, at least, they did not set such a goal. Thus, E.A.Kostyukhin distinguishes short and detailed formulas 
in fairy tales. The researcher establishes that along with the formulas there are broader, more developed for-
mulas: «Traditional formulas incorporate national ideas about the beauty of people and objects, about the 
human character. They are concise and contain an extremely general evaluation of objects and phenomena, 
highlight the most characteristic features. However, the Kazakh fairy tale contains not only short formulas, 
but wide detailed descriptions» [11; 211, 212]. 
Developing the narration theory on the materials of the art of Central Asian epic singers, 
V.M.Zhirmunskiy, relying on the experience of the Russian scientists, investigated the problem of the rela-
tionship between tradition and improvisation, traditional-typical and individual-creative principle in the liv-
ing and rich epic art. Solving the problem of improvisation and creative memory, V.M.Zhirmunskiy singles 
out common places and formulas that are creatively implemented in the text of the narrator. They serve as a 
means of preserving the epic tradition; they are components of the epic memory of the narrator. In addition, 
the researcher delineates the common places and formulas by their functions, revealing the structure-forming 
functions for common places and the stylistic function for formulas. Hence, he writes: «The singer does not 
sing a learned text, he improvises, at least partially, following a certain scenario, in which, apart from con-
secutive episodes and situations, there are traditional common places (horse saddle, heroic horse races, de-
scription of battles, etc.). Of course, such improvisation is important only in the framework of a certain, firm-
ly established tradition – not only plots, motifs and images, but also permanent stylistic formulas, epithets, 
comparisons, phraseological phrases and the like that the poet improvisator uses as a kind of poetic language. 
Only this combination of tradition and improvisation <...> can explain the amazing memory of many out-
standing storytellers <...>. This is not about passive memorization, but about a special creative memory that, 
in the process of performance, recreates and creates the singer's familiar content (script) of the poem» 
[12; 635-636]. It is easy to see that the science of folklore, accumulating new knowledge about common 
places, goes to new levels of study of the problem of loci communes. 
Thus, one of the modern theorists of folklore V.P.Anikin points out the historicity of common places, 
their genre-forming function: «... the common places of the epic are not simply a stylistic expression, but 
mostly an expression of the genre way of reproducing the historical past in heroic-idealizing light, and the 
stability of such descriptions testifies to the character of the genre that has an unquestionable connection with 
fairy tales... On the other hand, it must be recognized that the traditions of the epic common places are histor-
ical» [13; 258]. In addition to the stylistic functions, the scientist distinguishes the structure-forming function 
of common places. V.P. Anikin sees the uniformity of compositional construction and poetic-stylistic means 
of epic in the fact that «the epics use steadily more or less widespread methods of poetics and what is called 
common stylistic places – formulas of habitual images in some situations repeating from epic to epic.These 
situations are the galloping of the hero through the wall, feasting in the greenhouse ...» [13; 258]. As you can 
see, the author also does not make a distinction between common places and formulas. 
In the work by Sh. Ybyrayev, devoted to the poetics of the Kazakh epic, the author gives a detailed de-
scription of the poetic device of «common places». In general, proceeding from the traditional understanding 
of common places as a repetition, Sh. Ybyrayev functionally correlates them with the epic motifs that are 
gradually transformed into epic formulas. So, he writes: «Sometimes epic repetitions describe whole plots, in 
science they are called «common places». In their content and form, they are close to the motives. <...> 
Common places are used in typical situations of the motif and are gradually transformed into formulas» 
[14; 265-266]. R.Berdibayev speaks about the formulality of folklore as a whole: «Formulas are short 
phrases, permanent epithets, stable comparisons that are repeated either in one line or in several lines» 
[15; 125]. 

On the issue of loci communes… 
Серия «Филология». № 2(86)/2017 
59 
Thus, the problem of loci communes in folklore has a fairly long history of its study. As a phenomenon 
of folklore, common places were seen as early as the nineteenth century, and the evidenced is in the works of 
leading collectors and researchers of Russian folklore (A.F.Hilferding, A.N.Veselovskiy, V.F.Miller and oth-
ers). In this regard, the scientists of the 19th century defined and terminologically identified common places 
of epic works, their genre-forming, structure-forming and stylistic functions. 
In the future, the science of folklore focused on a detailed study of this phenomenon, resulting in the 
formula theory of folklore (M.Perri, A.Lord, N.Roshiyanu, B.Sh.Abylkassimov and others). This approach 
allowed not only to expand ideas about semantics and functions of common places in folklore, but also 
«brought to life» a number of new and complex problems, in particular, the delineation of common places 
and formulas, their scope and forms of representativeness in the oral text. 
In modern folkloristics, the works that attempted to consider the loci communes as a form of realization 
of the folklore tradition (V.P.Anikin, G.I.Maltsev, S.A.Kaskabassov, Sh.Ybyrayevand others) have acquired 
particular urgency. This makes it possible to explore common places systematically in the context of ethno-
graphic, cultural and linguistic aspects of folk culture. 
References 
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