Attributed emotion and the quasi-body. Non-verbal semiotics of objects and spirits in Altai

Abstract

Drawing on the material of contemporary Altai mythology, the article considers the non-verbal semiotics of communication with “non-humans” (spirits, deities). The primary focus is on the phenomenon of attributed emotion – that is, how various emotional states (anger, benevolence, resentment, etc.) are ascribed to spirits, objects, and natural phenomena, and are subsequently recognized and interpreted as an emotional response through non-verbal channels of communication. The author introduces and elaborates the concepts of the “quasibody” and “quasi-gesture,” which are crucial for understanding the processual nature of attributed emotion. The article describes how spirits and other numinous agents express their reactions not through their own (absent or invisible) bodies, but through elements of the surrounding world. Such “quasi-bodies” can include ritual objects (e. g., a shaman’s drum, the Altai musical instrument topshuur, a ritual chalice), natural elements (fire, water, air), as well as animals and even people. Their specific alterations (the deformation of a ritual object, an increase in a water current’s flow, particular patterns in a flame’s burning, agitation in the air, or the appearance of certain animals) are read as “quasi-gestures” carrying an emotional response. It is emphasized that such practices of recognizing attributed and distributed emotions are based on the mythologization of everyday objects, whereby virtually any thing or phenomenon can become a situational embodiment (a “quasi-body”) of a numinous agent and a vehicle for its emotional message.