Social world in the fairy tale folklore of the Bulgarians of Moldova and Ukraine

Th e article describes the fairy tale folklore refl ection of the social sphere of Bulgarians of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine as part of their ethnic refl ection of the world. Th e social world is represented in the fairy tales through the nomination of social functions and statuses of people; their actualization is connected with real and axiological value, as well as with their ethical function. Th e research is done on the basis of novel fairy tales and anecdotes collected in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine in the 70-90th of the XX century. About 50 lexical units were found that refl ect the nomination of the social status of the characters (family, social, and professional status, economical situation, etc.). Th e units were considered from the point of the social structure of an ethnic community; the classifi cation of social groups and their stratifi cation was done. Th rough the example of some nominations, their semantic and contextual expansion were researched (involving the background cultural information), as well as the connotation of the corresponding nominations (as an axiological element).