The study examines the functions of the introductory formulas in the structure of the Bulgarian folk songs. On the basis of concrete examples these formulas are outlined as significant cultural concepts that have a leading role in perceiving and understanding the main motive from a semantic point of view. Other subjects of the study are the possibilities of these formulas to serve as mediators between the ideological, the generic and the conceptual spheres, their concrete realizations in the song motives as well as their functioning as means of maintaining and updating the systematically organized folklore picture of the world.