Discursive Registers in Finno-Karelian Communicative Incantations

Abstract

The present paper investigates discursive justification as a moderative device in Kalevala-metric incantations. It explores different uses of justification by Finno-Karelian ritual specialists and argues that justification functions differently with positively and negatively evaluated non-human agents. In addition, a typology of discursive units of justification is provided. The results of the analysis reveal that justification functions as a register-based feature within the incantation genre. Types of justification directed to differently evaluated agents work as register-emblematic features. These findings open up new directions in the research of registers in Kalevala-metric incantation genre as constituted of multiple registers of communication.