STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONALITY OF LOVE LEGENDS

Abstract

Unlike other genres of epic folklore, the structural features of the legend have not yet been studied in detail, and science does not have a clear idea of its constituent components. In this regard, the article aims to study the structure of love legends. In the course of the study, the structural units of the legends were determined on the basis of Alan Dundes' ideas about the ethical and emic levels. The study revealed that legends have a fixed structure, like fairy tales, and consist of motives of danger, desire, prohibition, sacredness, perpetuation, prohibition, violation of the prohibition and punishment. The number of motives is limited, but their sequence is stable and unchanging. Motives are realized in the plot through allomotives. If the sequence of motives gives the general structure of the legend, then the sequence of allomotives gives the structure of the plot. The structure of the love legends shows that they are religious texts that propagate the belief in monotheism and the values derived from it.