Publication Details
Abstract
This study examines typological and functional traits of lullabies in the folklore of Karakalpak, Turkmen and English. After an introduction where I relate my own personal experience with these songs, using the theoretical perspectives of Mikhail Bakhtin’s dialogism and Carl Jung’s archetypal theory, the article analyses how these songs help to bring an infant from ego consciousness into social consciousness. The study defines the universal thematic clusters and then compares socio-labor-based Turkic traditions to psychological-symbolic English lullabies, as wellag suprasocial nationwide aspects, like the “Great Mother” archetype. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of phonetic structures and semantic motifs demonstrates that the lullaby is an important means of cultural en-culturation in which magical protections are balanced with pedagogical intent.