Semiotic status of objects and their functioning in the Anglo-Saxon and Russian charms

Abstract

The research focuses on the problem of semiotic status of objects in the Anglo-Saxon and Russian charms. The text of charms is the object of the research. The aim of the research is to define the semiotic status of objects in the Anglo-Saxon and Russian charms and to reveal the functioning of the objects in the text of a charm. The work deals with charms as examples of a sacral text. The research is promising due to the fact that studying a sacral text in this context is based on the anthropocentric approach. The tasks of the research include the following: to denote the status of a charm as a sacral text, to describe the semiotic status of objects in a charm, to reveal the role of a ritual in the objects’ acquiring the features of signs, to define the functions of semiotic objects in the charms. The scientific novelty of the research is in its comparative analysis of Russian and Anglo-Saxon charms in terms of linguistic semiotics. The author points out and describes several functions of semiosis as a system of objects that have a semiotic status. The major conclusion made as a result of the research is that the symbolic functions of material cultural objects in a sacral text enable the objects to acquire various features when they are included in the ritual component of a charm.