INTERROGATIVE SPEECH ACTS AS RELICT MANIFESTATION OF SHAMANIC PRACTICE IN MONUMENTS OF PRIESTLY CULT (ON DATA OF THE RIGVEDA AND SIBERIAN SHAMANISM)
Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology December 30, 2020 М. Воронкина
Interrogative speech acts in the Rigveda, a corpus of ancient texts rooted in Proto-Indo-European tradition, are analyzed as manifestations of shamanic verbal practice within a developed priestly polytheistic cult. The study finds that questions in both shamanic rituals and Vedic hymns serve general communicative functions—message, interaction, and impact—while also fulfilling a magical and invocatory speech function specific to ceremonial contexts. Questions in cosmogonic hymns are shown to be late developments, transitioning from magical verbal acts to components of speculative thought. The research draws on linguistics, communication studies, pragmalinguistics, history, ethnography, and religious studies, comparing Rigvedic material with Siberian shamanic ceremonial data.