The Cries of Street Vendors as a Folklore Genre and Example of Oral Advertising in Iraq

Abstract

The article is devoted to the review of the cries of street vendors as a kind of folk genre used in Iraq. The tradition of shouting short texts, praising goods to customers, has a long history. Skillful mastery of the word, the ability to poetically improvise has always been very appreciated in the Middle East. It is no wonder that poetry tournaments emerged and gained wide popularity in the region. The functions of cries are similar to the functions of advertising: to attract the attention of the customer and to convince him or her to purchase the street vendor’s goods. Street vendors in Iraq use dialectal Arabic words and expressions including Turkish and Persian words. As a rule, their language is rich in various metaphors, epithets or lines from famous folk songs. Often, a seller’s cry that was successfully invented was then borrowed by other merchants of related goods. A similar thing also happened when a merchant’s son, adopting his father’s profession, inherited a saying with which he continued to appeal to potential buyers. Currently, this phenomenon is becoming increasingly rare, but, nevertheless, continues to exist, which can be observed during religious and public holidays. Some examples of verbal advertising have become catchy slogans on product labels.