The underlying material of verse is language. Therefore we should not attribute to language phenomena which are not resent in the language upon which it is founded. (W.S. Allen)  

All the phenomena found in verse are also present in language existing either in the form of oral tradition or written literature. Both are a manifestation of language, similar to other forms of the exchange of texts, in this case, based not only on the rules of a natural language, but also those of poetic language, which is, a system with its own inventory units and combination rules. This approach implies a study, both synchronic and diachronic, of the problems associated with various aspects of the formation and functioning of poetic language, a semiotic system, secondary to natural language. By its very nature, poetic language is closely connected with the notion of tradition, regardless of its typology (oral, pre-literary or relatively late literary tradition). Such a broad understanding of tradition (as language) takes into account all the factors, both internal (linguistic per se) and external (extra-linguistic), responsible for the formation of the system of poetic language, as well as the processes of splitting and interpenetration of traditions as a result of changes of cultural context. An important aspect of the program of the Comparative Poetics section is the development of procedures for describing stereotypy, both of meaning and form, by definition, inherent in traditional texts, which is of interest for comparative, historical and theoretical linguistics, as well as text linguistics and historical poetics.