Privileged languages and others in the history of historical-comparative linguistics

Author(s):  
Hans Henrich Hock
2008 ◽  
pp. 109-122
Author(s):  
Lásló Desző

After a brief survey of the history of diachronic typology, the author focuses his attention on the typological methods applied to historical comparative linguistics. Then some basic issues of Greenberg's state-process model are examined as a possible model for diachronic typology. Morphological and word-order typology are used for the illustration of the author's statements and comments.


Virittäjä ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jussi Ylikoski

Artikkeli tarkastelee yhtäältä 125 vuotta täyttävän aikakauslehti Virittäjän historiaa fennougristiikan valossa, toisaalta fennougristiikan historiaa Virittäjän valossa. Päähuomio on erityisesti suomen etäsukukielten tutkimuksessa. Virittäjässäkin fennougristiikkaa ovat tyypillisimmin edustaneet konkreettiset pyrkimykset suomen ja sen sukukielten menneisyyden valaisemiseksi: keskiössä ovat olleet toisiinsa kietoutuneet etymologia ja äännehistoria sekä niiden kehyksiksi hahmotellut kantakielet eri vaiheineen ja kontaktikielineen. Tämän fennougristiikan kovan ytimen lisäksi Virittäjässä ovat kuitenkin aina olleet näkyvissä myös tieteenalan suuremmat kehykset: yhtäältä pohdinnat siitä, miksi ja miten tällaista tutkimusta harjoitetaan, toisaalta halu kertoa fennougristisen tutkimuksen tuloksista myös suurelle yleisölle. Erityisesti Suomi ja täällä etenkin Virittäjä ovat ympäristöjä, joissa suomalais-ugrilaisten kielten tutkijat ovat kerta toisensa jälkeen eksplisiittisesti pohtineet olemassaolonsa tarkoitusta. Vaikka ala mielletään usein kielihistorian tutkimukseksi, fennougristit ovat aina harjoittaneet myös synkronista kielentutkimusta; myös suomen sukukielten uhan­alaisuuteen ja vähemmistökielten puhujien oikeuksiin on kiinnitetty huomiota jo 1800-luvulta lähtien. Artikkeli keskittyy lähinnä Virittäjän ensimmäiselle vuosisadalle, mutta 2020-luvulle tultaessa fennougristiikka ja sen ilmenemismuodot Virittäjässä ovat muuttuneet lehden yleisilmeeseen verrattuna suhteellisen vähän. On the history of Uralic linguistics in Virittäjä The article provides an account of Virittäjä, the major journal of Finnish linguistics established in 1897, and its relation to the study of Uralic languages during the first 125 years of the journal’s history. At its most typical, the study of Uralic languages has been a branch of historical-comparative linguistics aiming to pursue the distant past of Finnish and other Uralic languages: etymology, historical phonology, questions of proto-languages and their chronology and geography as well as language contacts. Beyond this hard core of Uralic linguistics, Virittäjä has continuously provided a forum for discussing the larger frameworks of the discipline: questions of why and how Uralic linguistics is conducted in the first place. Virittäjä has also provided a forum for Uralicists to communicate the results of their research to scholars of Finnish and the wider general public. Moreover, Finland in general and Virittäjä in particular have traditionally been places where Uralicists have pondered and discussed the purpose of their own existence. In addition to historical linguistics, Uralicists have also engaged in synchronic linguistics, and from as early as the 19th century they have also paid attention to language endangerment and the linguistic rights of minorities. This article focuses mainly on the first century of Virittäjä’s history, though by the 2020s Uralistics and the manifestations of the discipline in the pages of Virittäjä have remained largely unchanged.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-74
Author(s):  
Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia ◽  
Sean Roberts

Abstract Pronouns as a diagnostic feature of language relatedness have been widely explored in historical and comparative linguistics. In this article, we focus on South American pronouns, as a potential example of items with their own history passing between the boundaries of language families, what has been dubbed in the literature as ‘historical markers’. Historical markers are not a direct diagnostic of genealogical relatedness among languages, but account for phenomena beyond the grasp of the historical comparative method. Relatedness between pronoun systems can thus serve as suggestions for closer studies of genealogical relationships. How can we use computational methods to help us with this process? We collected pronouns for 121 South American languages, grouped them into classes and aligned the phonemes within each class (assisted by automatic methods). We then used Bayesian phylogenetic tree inference to model the birth and death of individual phonemes within cognate sets, rather than the typical practice of modelling whole cognate sets. The reliability of the splits found in our analysis was low above the level of language family, and validation on alternative data suggested that the analysis cannot be used to infer general genealogical relatedness among languages. However, many results aligned with existing theories, and the analysis as a whole provided a useful starting point for future analyses of historical relationships between the languages of South America. We show that using automated methods with evolutionary principles can support progress in historical linguistics research.


1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Berezin

Summary The article attempts to demonstrate how problems in general and historical-comparative linguistics were worked out and developed during the 19th century in Russia. Largely following the tradition established by 18th-century Russian scholars, especially M. V. Lomonosov (1711–65), who is regarded as the founder of Russian linguistics, 19th-century linguists displayed a lively interest in investigating the social nature of language. Other key interests of these scholars were the study of the systematic character of language, the development of the phonemic principle (including the distinctive feature concept), the typological study of related and unrelated languages, etc. It is shown that their work generally mirrored the intellectual trends of their period, with biologistic views giving way to sociological and psychological ones, as is evident in the work of N. I. Greč, A. X. Vostokov, A. A. Potebnja, J. Baudouin de Courtenay, F. F. Fortuna-tov, and many others. The intellectual climate of 19th-century Europe allowed for a free exchange of scientific information; thus, in its earlier stages, the Russian scientific scene was sometimes influenced by ideas from the West, whereas it can be said that Russian scholars working in linguistics paid back toward the end of the 19th and in the earlier 20th centuries by furthering research leading to a structural concept of language, the study of morphophonology, typology and language universals as is evident in the theories advanced by members of the Prague and Copenhagen schools.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-135
Author(s):  
Tatiana S. Minaeva ◽  
Sergey S. Gulyaev

Introduction. The organization of transport links and the bridge building in cities located on the banks of wide rivers has always been one of the most important tasks of the local administration. The study of the history of bridge building allows not only to trace the process of modernization of different regions of the country, but also to help in solving similar problems of our time. Nevertheless, the history of Russian bridge building is poorly studied. The purpose of the article is to determine the characteristics and features of the organization of bridge building in big cities of the European North of Russia as a way to solve one of the problems of urban infrastructure in the early XX century. Materials and Methods. The sources for this study are the documents of the State archive of the Arkhangelsk region, published documents on the history of Vologda, articles in the local periodicals of the early XX century. The analysis of the studied problem used a systematic approach, the method of economic analysis, historical and historical-comparative methods. Results and Discussion. The building of permanent bridges was a need for the development of Arkhangelsk and Vologda. In Vologda the two wooden bridges were built in the middle of XIX century on city funds and in the future these bridges were repaired or rebuilt. The Arkhangelsk city authorities did not hurry to solve a problem of city infrastructure by own efforts and a long time they used the floating bridge. The lack of experience in the building of large bridges and the desire to save money led to the rapid destruction of the first permanent bridge in Arkhangelsk. Conclusion. The Development of trade and industry in cities of the European North of Russia, such as Arkhangelsk and Vologda, led to the expansion of their territory and the emergence over time, the so-called third parts of the cities. Despite the comparable size of the population of the districts located across the river, the process of connecting them with bridges to the rest of the city went at different rates, which depended on the attitude of the local administration to the problem of urban infrastructure.


ZDM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Prytz

AbstractThis paper concerns the relationship between research and governance policy in three Swedish major development projects in mathematics education: the New Math project (1960–1975), the PUMP project (1970–1980), and the Boost for Mathematics project in (2012–2016). All three projects were driven or financed by the Swedish central school authorities. Using a historical comparative method, this study deepens the understanding of how research co-exists with governance policy when preparing innovations in mathematics education. The main historical sources are official reports and governmental decisions concerning the three projects. The analysis is focused on the nature of the innovations of each project and the role of researchers in the process of creating the innovations. The analysis highlights the theories and the methods involved in those processes. The three projects are also positioned in a context of school governance policy. In Sweden, the prevailing school governing policy changed from a highly centralised governance in the 1960s to a highly decentralised governance in the 2010s. The paper concludes by discussing to what degree the researchers adhered to principles of research or school governance; in particular, the Boost for Mathematics project is considered in this regard. The relevance of the paper in relation to the emerging field of implementation research in mathematics education concerns how historical studies can give new insights about contemporary development projects in mathematics education.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terttu Nevalainen ◽  
Tanja Säily ◽  
Turo Vartiainen

AbstractThis issue of the Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics aims to contribute to our understanding of language change in real time by presenting a group of articles particularly focused on social and sociocultural factors underlying language diversification and change. By analysing data from a varied set of languages, including Greek, English, and the Finnic and Mongolic language families, and mainly focussing their investigation on the Middle Ages, the authors connect various social and cultural factors with the specific topic of the issue, the rate of linguistic change. The sociolinguistic themes addressed include community and population size, conflict and conquest, migration and mobility, bi- and multilingualism, diglossia and standardization. In this introduction, the field of comparative historical sociolinguistics is considered a cross-disciplinary enterprise with a sociolinguistic agenda at the crossroads of contact linguistics, historical comparative linguistics and linguistic typology.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-384
Author(s):  
Chung Fun Steven Hung

Purpose After direct elections were instituted in Hong Kong and the sovereignty was transferred from Britain to China, politicization inevitably followed democratization. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the pro-democratic political parties’ politics in Hong Kong in recent history. Design/methodology/approach The research was conducted through a historical comparative analysis, within the context of Hong Kong after the sovereignty handover and the interim period of crucial democratization. Findings With the implementation of “One country, Two systems,” political democratization was hindered in Hong Kong’s transformation. The democratic forces have no alternative but to seek more radicalized politics, which has caused a decisive and ineluctable fragmentation of the local political parties. Originality/value This paper explores and evaluates the political history of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under “One country, Two systems” and the ways in which the limited democratization hinders the progress of Hong Kong’s transformation.


Author(s):  
K.A. Ushmaeva ◽  
◽  
A.S. Goncharov

This study is devoted to the study of relevant works on the history of the Stavropol Cossacks, works in the field of education of the Stavropol Cossacks as an independent Cossack group, trade, cultural and economic ties in the Stavropol Territory, spiritual life, language, culture, traditions and customs of the Stavropol Cossacks. Among modern studies in the history of the Stavropol Cossacks, the following topics stand out: military life and everyday life, folklore and song traditions, the movement for the revival of the Cossacks, as well as the current state and prospects for the development of Cossack organizations. The prospect of the development of pedagogical technologies based on the Cossack traditions of educating young people in Stavropol is highlighted as a separate topical topic. The relevance of the study lies in the need for a private study of the historiography of the regional Cossack group of Stavropol Cossacks in order to expand the scientific and pedagogical tools in the field of «Cossack studies». The practical significance of the study is expressed in the possibility of using the data of the article in the search for supporting material for teaching the "History of the Cossacks" in a higher educational institution (taking into account the regional specifics). The scientific novelty of the research is expressed in a new view of the Stavropol Cossacks as an independent Cossack group formed at the end of the XVIII century. The source base is represented mainly by archival data from the State Archives of the Stavropol Territory, data banks on archaeological, cultural and linguistic expeditions, sources of personal origin, the works of contemporary historians and directly the works of historians, whose studies formed the basis of the historiography of the history of the Stavropol Cossacks. The research methodology is based on the principles of historiographic comparative studies and comparative analysis of sources. Within the framework of the sociocultural approach, we rely on the following methods. Special-historical: the narrative method, the historical-comparative method, the historical-systemic method, the retrospective method. Sociological: document analysis, method of generalizing characteristics, method of ideal types. Culturological: comparative method, cultural-systemic method. Pedagogical: pedagogical interviewing, a method of studying and generalizing pedagogical experience.


Author(s):  
Dong Min

The purpose of the article. To analyze the work of Ukrainian painter Mykhailo Huida in the context of cultural integrations of China and Ukraine in the last decades of the XX - beginning of the XXI century. as an expression of trends in contemporary art. Methodology. General scientific research methods, chronological and historical-comparative, historical-biographical, figurative-stylistic, semantic, analysis are applied. Theoretical and art terminological structures are used. The scientific novelty lies in elucidating the peculiarities of Mykhailo Huida's work and the formation of the meaningful, compositional, stylistic and aesthetic beginnings of his painting in the context of cultural integrations of China and Ukraine in the last decades of the XX - early XXI centuries. Conclusions. The peculiarities of the creative path of the Ukrainian painter Mykhailo Huida, his unique experience of work in China, which became the basis for the creation of the artist's personal artistic style, are analyzed. The study of works of art by Mikhail Guida revealed the consistent formation of features and peculiarities of his painting over the decades as a result of: a) acquaintance with the art of the East in Japan; b) stay in China, including among Chinese cultural and artistic figures; c) study the history of culture and art of China; d) deep penetration into the world of China through understanding of its nature, customs, traditions due to travel, stay in different provinces of the country, teaching in Chinese universities. The figurative and artistic content of his works reveals an innovative combination of European, including Ukrainian, and Chinese stylistics, artistic means and various linguistic methods of traditional Chinese painting. It is also important for the artist to comprehend the semantic foundations of Chinese traditional and modern art, which turned out to be in agreement with Mikhail Guidi as a person. It was found that the imagery of Mikhail Guida's painting has an internal form that embodies the image in the general structure of the subject-spiritual world. It is concluded that the involvement of the traditions of Chinese and Ukrainian art in a single work involves a philosophical understanding of the artistic heritage of both countries and their transformation into modern forms. The artist's creative path, discovering the techniques of painting in the East, enriched and elevated his work to exceptionally high standards.


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