Parameterization as a way to implement a prototypical model of Russian and English folk riddles

This article is devoted to the analysis of the structural features of Russian and English folk riddles containing parametric data in the descriptive part. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the implementation of prototypical constructions of folk riddles containing an indication of the parametric data of the denotation. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time Russian and English riddles are analyzed from the point of view of the linguistic implementation of a stable prototypical model of the enigmatic genre. For the first time, the inclusion of parametric indicators in the descriptive part of a folk riddle is considered as a way to realize the effect of an illogical consequence typical for the structure of the genre organization; in addition, the authors for the first time investigate the presence of a “linguocultural” codification of the denotation through parametric data. The results showed that the inclusion of parametric indicators in the description of the denotation is due to the need to implement a prototypical model of the enigmatic genre – the model of illogical consequence. In addition, it was found that the inclusion of parametric indicators in the English and Russian corpus of folk riddles is often implemented using zoomorphic and anthropomorphic codes. During the analysis of the illustrative material, it was found that for the Russian folk riddle, the appeal to parameters is associated with the tendency to describe a number of independent objects as a single mechanism, which directly reveals the logic of archaic human thinking, while the appeal to parametric data within the framework of the English riddle is motivated by the description of a procedural action.