Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.

INTRODUCTION

BRIEF NOTES ON BÁLINT'S METHODOLOGY, LANGUAGE USAGE AND TRANSCRIPTION In the present section, data referring to Bálint's work methods has been collected from his letters and reports. Numerous allusions to the techniques he used to learn the language and the steps he took to construct his working methodology emerge from these lines. Despite his previous Kalmyk studies in Kazan,

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4 he initially wrote in Russian. However ,due to his excellent linguistic abilities, he became able to communicate in Kalmyk very quickly..

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5 "After living two and a half months in Kazan I mastered the spoken Kalmyk tongue so that I spoke and wrote in it."

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6 Bálint asked his informant the teachers and schoolboys to write down folklore texts and other essays and afterwards they read them according to the informant's pronunciation. Then he made his own transcription and apparently preserved the original written variants. Probably, he also wrote down transcripts in Kalmyk himself, (W.Oir. todo biciq) the "clear script"

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7, for example, on those occasions when he collected language material from the illiterate Kalmyks who visited the market in Astrakhan.

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8 After Bálint left Astrakhan for Saint Petersburg, he informed Fogarasi about his results in Kalmyk research: "After having gathered a good number of folksongs, fables, proverbs and other materials for a dictionary and made a draft of the Kalmyk-Mongolian grammar, 1 left Astrakhan for Saint Petersburg to study the Finnish and other related tongues, ,..".

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9 The "draft" mentioned in his letter was probably the first version and later formed the core of his comparative Grammar, while the texts elaborated in it became the basis of the present Manuscript. Concerning the dictionary he mentioned, it has never been recovered, but some parts are surely included in the short vocabularies added to some texts in the Chrestomathy of the Grammar. We have some information that, as with the Kazan Tatar material published by him shortly after his return,

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0 Bálint worked on the Mongolian texts as well. The detailed and intensive nature of the Grammar is the result of these efforts. The manuscripts of the Kalmyk and Khalkha are also clear texts apparently prepared for printing; there are only a few inserted words or longer passages and crossed out words only appear occasionally. Bálint reported that he intended to publish his Kalmyk texts with German translation and comments. He presented the first version of his manuscript to the Linguistic Committee of the Academy in 1

879.

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1 We learn form the proceedings of the Committee that the manuscript was rejected because of its incompleteness and Bálint was asked to work on it further.

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2 Unfortunately, he did not fulfil this plan and never attempted a revision of the Kalmyk and Khalkha manuscripts later. His consequent personal alföldre. Látogatásom alkalmával megmutatta a mappán Madsari romjainak hol fekvését ..." [Bálint Gábor levele Fogarasi Jánoshoz 1871. december 18 ) In: Akadémiai Értesítő VI. (1872) pp. 24-27, o p. 26. [Gábor Bálint's letter to János Fogarasi 8 December 1871. In: Proceedings of the Academy] cf. also Kara, György: Bálint Gábor keleti levelei. Cf. also the reference above on Samba 4

4 "I harmadfél hónapi Kazánba [sic!] lételem alatt magamévá tettem a kalmik népnyelvet annyira, hogy rajta beszélek és irok [sic!] [Bálint]: Jelentés a: Akadémiához, pp. 244-245 (cf. Kara: Bálint Gábor keleti levelei ). 4

Í Cf. above note and Bálint: Jelentése p 13 (cf Kara: Bálint Gábor keleti levelei ): Preface to the Grammar, p. III (p. 4). 4

6 For the Hungarian text cf. above; [Bálint:] Jelentés az Akadémiához, pp. 244-245 4

7 As it has been stated above, these manuscript written in clear script has not been found yet. 4

8 Cf. above. 4

9 Preface to the Grammar p III (p 4) 5

0 Grammar pp. XI-XII. 5

1 [Bálint Gábor levele Fogarasi Jánoshoz 1872 július 16 ] In: Akadémiai Értesítő VI. (1872) pp 210-211, on p 211 [Gábor Bálint's letter to János Fogarasi 16 July 1872. In: Proceedings of the Academy] (cf. Kara: Bálint Gábor keleti levelei.), also Nagy: G. Bálint' s Journey, pp. 315-316. 5

2 Nagy: G. Bálint 's Journey, p. 316 15