Аннотация:In this chapter, the author discusses her fieldwork in Western Pamir between the 1950s and the 1970s, examining the issues she encountered in collecting and processing unknown materials reflecting the worldview of various ethnic groups, particularly of the Yazghulami community. The methodology employed involves living in the local community, recording not only language data but also its ethnographic and cultural background, so that language material both illuminates and is illuminated by its anthropological context. To implement this approach, a considerable task consists in collaborating with language consultants to collect and analyze data on religious beliefs, rituals and customs, and their reflection in language; for this, researchers require thorough preparation, including knowledge of cultural anthropology and ethnology. The author highlights key findings resulting from this methodology, including interrelations within the traditional Pamir extended family, as well as some local particularities in kinship terminology and principles of naming, including forms of address and the naming of children. She also analyzes Pamir people’s worldview incorporating successive layers of spiritual culture: rituals and ceremonies; stories and popular beliefs about supernatural beings and local superstitions; and more traditional folkloric texts that explain the origin of many images and correlated words and phraseology.