Linguosemiotic Analysis Of Spanish Animal Riddles

6.1. The study of riddles in Romance philology

In Spanish, the Russian concept of загадка (riddle) corresponds to the lexemes adivinanza, acertijo, the definition and boundaries of which is understood differently by different researchers. Speaking about the difference between the concepts of adivinanza and acertijo , we must bear in mind that in the Spanish philological tradition there are many opinions, sometimes opposite, about the content of these two terms. Many scholars have different names for the same linguistic phenomenon. Often these concepts are used as absolute synonyms, as in the dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spanish. Adivinanza is a mystery, something that needs to be guessed ( adivinanza: adivinación, acertijo ); and acertijo : 1) a riddle that you guess at leisure. 2) a problem difficult to resolve. (“Acertijo: 1) Especie de enigma para entretenerse y acertarlo. 2) Cosa y afirmación muy problemática ”) (Diccionario de la lengua española, 2014).

Casares (1997) in the Ideographic Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines the riddle as a technique consisting in a play on words or using different meanings of the same word as entertainment or to test the interlocutor’s wit and ingenuity.

In the dictionary of Moliner (2007) we find the following definition of a riddle: a sentence or poem that, in an allegorical manner, describes a certain concept that the interlocutor is invited to guess for fun.

A fairly accurate definition of the riddle is given in the Dictionary of Modern Spanish: a puzzle or game that consists in finding a clue, solution or hidden meaning of a phrase (Diccionario Clave, 2006)

Although most Spanish dictionaries consider the lexemes adivinanza and acertijo synonymous, some philologists tend to believe that there are structural differences between the two. So, the researchers of the riddles Fernández and Garfer (1989) in the “Anthology of the riddles of the Spanish language” argue that the concepts of adivinanza and acertijo , similar in semantic content, have different expressions: for example, acertijo is a riddle in prose, while the term adivinanza applies exclusively to rhymed riddles. A similar opinion is shared by Machado Alvarez (1882), specifying that adivinanza is acertijo in verse.

Caballero (1998), however, in the collection "Folk Tales, Riddles, Proverbs and Sayings" put riddles ( adivinanzas , according to the terminology of the author) not only in the category of poetry, but also in prose.

In turn, Morán Bardón (1957) in the book "Riddles" ("Acertijos"), collected 777 riddles, most of which are presented in a poetic form. Morote Magán (2001) considers the terms adivinanza and acertijo to be absolute synonyms.

Analyzing the speech practices of modern Spaniards, as well as talking to native speakers, we came to the conclusion that the concepts of adivinanza and acertijo can refer to both poetic form and prose, but they differ in the degree of difficulty in finding a solution. The term adivinanza is most often applied to simple riddles for young children.

A vivid example of such riddles is short poems containing a guess in the text:

The concept of acertijos can be attributed to more complex puzzles aimed at older children and adults.

In this case, it is impossible to linguistically “read” the answer in the text of the riddle; to find it, you must think abstractly.

6.2. Riddles with an animalistic component in Spanish

The specifics of folklore genre are created both by the features of the artistic image of reality, and by what phenomena become the object of this image. Any genre of folk art has its own themes, plots and situations, depicts them in accordance with its own laws, which distinguishes it from other genres, creating its originality.

Riddles do not deal with complex historical and psychological subjects. They carefully examine individual objects and phenomena surrounding people, accompanying them in everyday life. The riddle is the only genre of folklore whose works are devoted to insignificant but constantly present in human life objects and phenomena. For in no genre, except for the riddle, a simple knot in a log or board, window glass, a bucket, a needle, scissors, etc. is of any interest. And the riddle not only deals with all these subjects, but knows how to find poetry in them, turn this everyday life world in a bright system of images, which from childhood instills in a person the desire to look more closely at the world around them, to see beauty in the simplest things.

Pets have traditionally been friends and helpers of people, gave them food and clothes. Wild animals also were a source of food or represented danger. Animals were considered the measure of physical and moral human qualities; patterns of behavior and habits of animals were noticed and transferred to humans, forming zoomorphic metaphors.

Most studies of the lexical-semantic group of animal names were limited to one class of animals. Therefore, it seems appropriate to analyze the names of all the animal classes found in riddles in the Spanish language. Based on the generally accepted classification of animal names, all pivotal components are grouped as follows: domestic animals, wild animals, poultry, wild birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects.

In Spanish, riddles with an animalistic component are a fairly voluminous layer. As part of the study, about 1,500 Spanish riddles have been studied, more than 350 of which were guessed by the name of the fauna.

The analysis of zoonyms shows that the share of various classes of animals is not equal in riddles. In Spanish riddles, the maximum degree of activity is characteristic of the names of insects and their vital functions: 30.5%.

A lot of riddles are about the bee, the hive, honeycombs, honey (5% of all riddles with an animalistic component). They reflect knowledge of the bee life: dominance of the queen in the hive; bee attacking the enemy. There are many riddles about bees in the hives, about honeycombs, honey, and wax. Most often, bees in such riddles are nuns, girls, old women, who embroider, weave, knit a wonderful pattern or prepare flower nectar:

Riddles about ants and anthill are most peculiar. Typical questions about the ant are: “Who is the most industrious in the world?”, “Who is the strongest in the world?”.

Among the riddles about insects, a large number is about the mosquito. In various combinations, they create more than twenty puzzles and a huge number of options.

Flea riddles point out the color, small size, high jump, and say a lot about catching fleas. In terms of images and their combination, these puzzles are quite inventive.

Riddles about other insects: firefly, butterfly, cricket, wasp are rare. Obviously, people noticed insects that annoyed them in the house and at work in the summer: flies, fleas, mosquitoes, cockroaches, or brought benefits like a bee. People were indifferent to other insects.

A significant layer of animalistic riddles in Spanish is given to the names of domestic animals and pets (19%).

Most attention is paid to the cow which brought food to the peasant family. We discovered three riddles about the bull. Two of them are similar to the riddles about the cow, describing the appearance of the animal.

There are more than 30 puzzles about the cow, its udder, milking. They describe the appearance of the cow:

Riddles about the cow are characterized by diversity and ingenuity.

Riddles about the horse are much fewer than about the cow. Many of them describe the appearance of the horse in the same way as riddles about the cow, and also emphasize its loyalty and help to people.

Riddles about the dog usually note tail wagging, the way dogs lie, its traditional purpose of being the human’s best friend.

The cat in Spanish riddles is furry, whiskered, with a tail like a stake, it cleans itself without water, sings songs, its paws are soft, and its claws are sharp:

The names of the following domestic animals are also quite often found: rabbit - conejo (2%), mouse - ratón (1.3%), donkey - burro (1.25%), sheep - oveja (1.25%).

The productivity of wild animal names in riddles is lower than that of domestic animals (8%). Of the wild animals, the most attention is paid to the wolf (lobo) due to great damage it inflicts to the peasant farm. Among other wild animal most often found in Spanish riddles, one can single out the bear, the fox, the squirrel, the hedgehog, and the hare.

In terms of the number of animalistic riddles, the class of names of poultry is significantly inferior to the class of domestic animals, but exceeds the class of wild animals; in our material it is 14.5%.

Of the poultry, the preference in riddles is given to the rooster and chicken (rooster - gallo (6.25%), chicken - gallina (3.3%)). Riddles about the rooster note singing and appearance:

Hen puzzles are usually about feathers, laying eggs, sitting on eggs, and chickens.

An egg in riddles is a house with no windows or doors:

The class of wild birds is 7.3% in our sample. Despite a rather large number of riddles with the core component “name of a wild bird”, each core component is used extremely rarely. Riddles are made about birds that are typical for certain regions of Spain: the parrot (loro), the canary (canario), nest near human habitation (the pigeon (paloma)) or attract attention with a peculiar voice (the cuckoo (cuco)), appearance (the stork (cigüeña)), the woodpecker (pájaro carpintero)), or lifestyle (the eagle owl (buho)).

Of the free-living birds, two attract particular attention: the swallow (golondrina) and the magpie (blanca). The first one is the messenger of spring and has always been loved by peasants.

In magpie puzzles, colorful feathers and a sharp cry of a bird are noted. The main core components in this class in Spanish are gorrión, tordo, ave, perdiz, corneja, cuervo.

There are many riddles in Spanish about marine life and various fish species. In our research they are 13%. Most riddles relate to fish as such. Metaphorical, figurative riddles are also frequent. The folklore concept of fish makes it an amazing creature:

(Fernández, Garfer 1989)

Animalistic riddles also contain names of amphibians and reptiles, the most used of them is the zoononym – the snake (culebra (2%)) and the viper (víbora (1%)).

A quantitative analysis of the core components in the composition of riddles with an animalistic component showed that the names of various classes of animals are represented differently. The names of insects and domestic animals are most actively used. In descending order of use in riddles, other classes can be arranged as follows: poultry, wild animals, wild birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles.

Expressive means of riddles are rich and diverse. This is explained both by the nature of the riddle, which requires allegory, comparison, accuracy in the use of the word, and the small size of the genre, in which each language element bears a large semantic and figurative-expressive load.