Abstract
K. V.
Chistov writes about Russian keening that "functioning [of its] tradition is not guaranteed by transmission of the texts, instead it is guaranteed by traditionality of the keening's reception - 'common places' (formulas) and rules of their chaining." (Čistov, 1982, p. 104). Formulas or 'common places' thus play a crucial role in Russian folklore's keening, however, the same importance might occur in examination of (non)cognates in the framework of the wider Baltic-Slavic area too.
The paper focused on well-recorded Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian burial folksongs, in which direct language formulations were searched. Although metre of keenings from abovementioned areas is different, repeating set phrases such as "sandy hill", "to lie under a greensward", "gate of the Earth", "hall of the Earth", "dwelling", "eternal house" and so were repeated through all the areas (speaking about closiness of content see "Even though genre of burial, wedding and other laments of the neighbouring nations differs, concerning its content and form, from Latvian burial folksongs with strict metre and calm intonation, on a deeper, more abstract level [...] we can find a lot in common." - Pakalns, 1992, lpp. 3-4).
Firstly, the paper analysed the "common places" in the framework of closed units of each language system, subsequently the formulas were compared and conclusions about probable cognates and possible Pre-Christian origin of some of the formulas' were suggested.