Linguistics Program Seminar Series: The Linguistics of Rusyn: Phonological and Morphological Systems, Language Contact

 

This seminar aims to present the major structural features of the Rusyn language ­(phonological and morphological) that make it what it is: it is East Slavic, related to but not the same as Ukrainian, and also something special, almost a bridge between East and West Slavic. That something special is in great part attributable to long contact with other languages and their speakers, but also to certain linguistic innovations that are not identifiable simply as the result of borrowing from other languages.

Date:
-
Location:
POT 420

Stefan Pugh, Lecture, "The Rusyns and their language: East Slavs in search of identity"

In this talk we explore who the Rusyns are, the language(s) they speak, and the complex interplay of issues that contribute to the construction of their ethnic and linguistic identities. Although we do not address the detailed workings of their language, we examine the position of Rusyn within the larger societies in which Rusyns live, and we also attempt to put it into perspective vis-à-vis its closest relative (Ukrainian) and other Slavic languages.

Date:
-
Location:
Niles Gallery, Fine Arts Library

Daniel Prior, Lecture ”How a Horse Theft Becomes a Praise Poem"

Equestrian art takes many forms, even poetic. In 1864 a band of Kirghiz nomads in Central Asia crossed into China and stole a herd of several hundred horses from their long-time Mongol enemies at the cost of many lives. This unprovoked act of violence, which was an episode in a major outbreak of unrest, soon became the subject of a Kirghiz epic-like narrative poem celebrating the heroism of the raiders. Literature traditions show us that stealing herds of horses and protecting them from theft has held worldwide fascination for millennia. Daniel Prior, in studying and translating the previously unpublished manuscript of the Kirghiz raid narrative, found an extraordinarily well-documented window on the complex relationship between such historical events and the stories people tell about them.

Directions to the venue:
1. Enter Keeneland Race Course at Gate 1
2. Take the first right on Entertainment Court.
3. At the top of the hill, veer left into the Keeneland Library parking lot.

http://www.keeneland.com/discover/visit (select “other facilities,” choose the Library)

 

Date:
-
Location:
Keeneland Library, Keeneland, 4201 Versailles Rd.

Daniel Prior, Lecture “Riding through a Kirghiz Epic Poem”

 

In 1994 Daniel Prior and a Kirghiz assistant traveled 1,100 kilometers on horseback to trace the itinerary of the hero of a Kirghiz epic poem, Bok Murun. The six-week expedition, which passed through the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan and the steppes of southern Kazakhstan, revealed that the nineteenth-century oral epic contained a wealth of precise information about the geography and practicalities of the nomadic life of the Kirghiz herders. Prior also experienced the resiliency of a population facing the stunning collapse of the Soviet Union and the uncertainties of independence. In his slide presentation Dr. Prior will talk about the traditions and adaptations of the herders he met, the challenges of doing ethnographic research on oral traditions in post-Soviet Central Asia, and how field ethnography relates to historical research on folklore traditions.

 

Date:
-
Location:
Niles Gallery, Fine Arts Library
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