Does the Word “Dog” Bite? Ostensive Action: A Means of Legend-Telling

Abstract

Hereby we present a well-known paper by American folklore and semiotics scholars Linda Degh (1920-2014) and Andrew Vázsonyi (1906-1986), the first to introduce the phenomenon of folklore ostension - bringing a narrative to life. Translated after: Linda Dégh and Andrew Vázsonyi (1983). Does the Word “Dog” Bite? Ostensive Action: A Means of Legend-Telling. Journal of FolkloreResearch, 20(1), May, 5-34 with support from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 16-18-00068 “Mythology and ritual behavior in contemporary Russian cities”) at The Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences.