The expression of predicative Possession in Belarusian and Lithuanian

The dissertation describes, from a typological point of view, the syntactic constructions used to express the semantic notion of "Possession" in a Slavic language, Belarusian, and in a Baltic language, Lithuanian

The expression of predicative Possession in Belarusian and Lithuanian

The dissertation describes, from a typological point of view, the syntactic constructions used to express the semantic notion of "Possession" in a Slavic language, Belarusian, and in a Baltic language, Lithuanian

How FAIR are CMC Corpora?

In recent years, research data management has also become an important topic in the less data-intensive areas of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH). Funding agencies as well as research communities demand that empirical data collected and used for scientific research is managed and preserved in a way that research results are reproducible. In order to account for this the FAIR guiding principles for data stewardship have been established as a framework for good data management, aiming at the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of research data. This article investigates 24 European CMC corpora with regard to their compliance with the FAIR principles and discusses to what extent the deposit of research data in repositories of data preservation initiatives such as CLARIN, Zenodo or Metashare can assist in the provision of FAIR corpora

Historical family systems and the great European divide: the invention of the Slavic East

In 1940, almost two years into World War II, the book, “Agrarverfassung und Bevölkerung in Litauen und Weißrussland”(Agrarian constitution and population in Lithuania and Belarus), was published. The habilitation thesis of the young German historian Werner Conze, the book was an extensive study of premodern family patterns of the peasant serf population in Lithuania from the 16th to the 18th centuries. In an approach that was innovative for its time, Conze used a type of historical source which, up to that point, had not yet received a lot of interest, namely, quantitative data derived from original inventory lists of historic estates. The analysis of the data led Conze to detect a difference between West and East. The comparison emphasised the cultural divide between the Germans and the Slavs to the East by postulating smaller family sizes throughout the western or German-influenced part of historic Lithuania, and larger families with more complex structures throughout the Slavic parts of the country. Thus, Conze also suggested that population growth in the Lithuanian west had been restrained, while the Lithuanian east had experienced abundant population growth. Conze’s scientific insights remain present in today’s historical-demographic literature, and have become an essential building block of any argument in support of the validity and persistence of East-West differentials in family systems in East-Central Europe. Because of this study’s continued importance, it may prove useful to re-examine “Agrarverfassung und Bevölkerung,” looking at its auctorial and ideological context, its methodological procedures, and its empirical content. Our critical assessment of some of Conze’s basic assumptions reveals serious shortcomings in his analysis, which resulted from his tendency to make unwarranted inferences from non-representative and circumstantial evidence, and from his underlying motivation to search for German-Slavic differences. We will discuss the extent to which the pervading notion of the East-West divide in historical East-Central Europe must be revised in response to these shortcomings. By uncovering the inadequacies of Conze’s contribution, we hope to pave the way for a truly scientific understanding of familial characteristics of Eastern Europe, and to end the perpetuation of certain stereotypes of Slavic populations.Belarus, Germany, Lithuania, demographers, family forms, historical demography

A Short History of Polish-Ukrainian Terminography

A Short History of Polish-Ukrainian Terminography Specialised dictionaries fulfil a plethora of linguistic and cognitive functions in specialised communication. In particular, such reference works help introduce, harmonise and standardise national terminologies, thus playing an indispensable role in disseminating high quality specialised knowledge. An even more important role may be attributed to bilingual and multilingual specialised dictionaries, whose primary goal is to facilitate the flow of scientific and technical information at an international level. This function has come to the fore in today’s multinational and interconnected professional world. In light of the developing and ever stronger cooperation between Poland and Ukraine, an attempt is being made to evaluate bilingual and multilingual terminographic works containing Polish and Ukrainian which have been published in Poland to date. The aim is to assess the positive developments and to identify the gaps in Polish-Ukrainian terminography. It is hoped that the findings presented in this paper will be applied by terminographers in order to compile terminological dictionaries of higher quality, which satisfy the needs of specific users and follow terminographic principles.   Krótka historia terminografii polsko-ukraińskiej Słowniki specjalistyczne pełnią ważne funkcje lingwistyczne i kognitywne w komunikacji specjalistycznej. W szczególności dzieła terminograficzne umożliwiają rozpowszechnianie, harmonizację i standaryzację terminologii narodowych, stając się niezbędnym narzędziem w transferze wysokiej jakości wiedzy specjalistycznej. Jeszcze ważniejszą rolę można przypisać dwu- i wielojęzycznym słownikom specjalistycznym, których prymarnym celem jest ułatwienie przepływu informacji naukowej i technicznej w wymiarze globalnym, szczególnie w dzisiejszym jednoczącym się, wielonarodowościowym świecie. W świetle rozwijającej się coraz ściślejszej współpracy między Polską i Ukrainą w niniejszym artykule autor podejmuje się próby oceny opublikowanych w Polsce dwu- i wielojęzycznych dzieł terminograficznych z językami polskim i ukraińskim. Celem badania była ewaluacja pozytywnych oraz negatywnych aspektów praktyki terminograficznej polsko-ukraińskiej. Autor ma nadzieję, że wnioski przedstawione w niniejszej pracy znajdą zastosowanie w praktyce przy tworzeniu słowników coraz lepszej jakości, odpowiadających potrzebom konkretnych grup odbiorców oraz stosujących zasady współczesnej terminografii

Адзін народ, адна мова, адна літаратура? Змены ў рэканструкцыі гісторыі беларускай літаратуры (1956–2010)

aHistories of literature mirror views and experiences of their own age and thus are constantly being rewritten. This is true also for the history of Old Belarusian literature. The short introductions and comprehensive overviews, written in the period between the Thaw and the Lukashenko era (1956–2010), contain astonishingly different constructions of the literary past. The article analyses a dozen books in Belarusian, Russian and English and it singles out the most import changes, such as the role of the literature of Kyivan Rusʹ or periodization. However, the most prominent development is the step-by-step recognition of the multilingual nature of the literary heritage. This concerns the existence of texts not only in Eastern Slavonic varieties, but also in (Old) Church Slavonic, the discovery of Neo-Latin authors, and finally, the rehabilitation of Polish as a language of Belarusian literature. Although Old Belarusian studies in the post-Soviet years have been a field of innovation and reevaluation, even the most actual syntheses contain blind spots. The existence of texts in Lithuanian and the literary production of ethno-cultural minorities are hardly ever even mentioned. The idea of one common language has been given up, but the history of literature still deals with texts by representatives of one ethnos that inhabit one territoryHistoria literatury odzwierciedla system światopoglądowy swoich czasów, dlatego jest niezmiennie aktualizowana. Dotyczy to także historii literatury starobiałoruskiej. Zarówno w krótkich szkicach, jak i szczegółowych przeglądach literackich, powstałych od odwilży do ery Aleksandra Łukaszenki (1956–2010), odnajdujemy zadziwiająco różne rekonstrukcje twórczości literackiej. W artykule przeanalizowano kilkanaście książek napisanych w języku białoruskim, rosyjskim i angielskim, przedstawiono ich periodyzację oraz rolę, jaką przy ich powstaniu odegrała spuścizna literacka okresu Rusi Kijowskiej. Celem badania było omówienie wielojęzycznego charakteru starobiałoruskiego dziedzictwa literackiego. Jako obiekt analizy autor obrał teksty wschodniosłowiańskie, (staro)cerkiewnosłowiańskie, nowołacińskie, jak również należące do literatury białoruskiej utwory polskojęzyczne. Chociaż w latach postradzieckich studia starobiałoruskie uważano za innowacyjne, nawet najbardziej aktualne syntezy zawierają luki badawcze. W literaturze przedmiotu o istnieniu tekstów w języku litewskim i twórczości literackiej mniejszości etniczno-kulturowych prawie w ogóle się nie wspomina. Zrezygnowano z idei wspólnego języka, ale historia literatury wciąż zajmuje się tekstami przedstawicieli jednego etnosu zamieszkującego jedno terytorium.Гісторыя літаратуры адлюстроўвае светапогляд і досвед свайго часу і таму пастаянна перапісваецца. Гэта датычыць і гісторыі старабеларускай літаратуры. Кароткія агляды, як і грунтоўныя даследванні, створаныя ў перыяд паміж адлігай і эпохай Лукашэнкі (1956–2010), утрымліваюць надзіва розныя карціны літаратурнага мінулага. У артыкуле разглядаецца шэраг прац на беларускай, рускай і англійскай мовах, прасочваюцца найбольш істотныя змены: у падыходзе да перыядызацыі альбо ў разуменні ролі літаратуры Кіеўскай Русі. Аднак найбольш прыкметным з'яўляецца паступовае прызнанне шматмоўнасці літаратурнай спадчыны. У даследаваннях пачынаюць разглядацца тэксты не толькі на ўсходнеславянскіх мовах, але і на (стара)царкоўнаславянскай, адбывааецца адкрыццё неалацінскіх аўтараў і, нарэшце, рэабілітацыя польскай мовы як мовы беларускай літаратуры. Нягледзячы на тое, што даследаванні старажытнай Беларусі ў постсавецкія гады мелі інавацыйны характар і шмат што пераасэнсавана, белыя плямы ёсць нават у найноўшых працах. Амаль не згадваецца пра існаванне тэкстаў на літоўскай мове і літаратурную творчасць этнічных меншасцей. Ад ідэі адной агульнай мовы адмовіліся, але гісторыя літаратуры ўсё яшчэ займаецца тэкстамі прадстаўнікоў аднаго этнасу, якія насяляюць адну тэрыторыю

Driving Forces behind Language Change. Does Danish Theory Hold up in Lithuania?

The paper presents a large-scale investigation of attitudes towards standard and dialectal speech varieties in Lithuania. It aimed at, firstly, obtaining comparable data on assessments of speech variation under two methodologically different conditions: ‘unaware condition’ (the participants being unaware of the linguistic goals of the research) and ‘aware condition’. Secondly, it aimed at testing whether the two layers of consciousness yield two different systems of social values and how the evaluations accord with changes in language usage. The theory was developed by Danish scholars whose numerous experimental studies proved the driving force role of subconscious attitudes. The investigation closely followed the Danish methodology and was carried out in 23 secondary schools in 7 regions and the capital city of Lithuania, covering almost 1.5 thousand pupils in total. The regularity of the findings, i.e. the overall tendency to overtly valorise local dialects but subconsciously to downgrade dialect accented voices, confirmed that language awareness affects assignment of values to language and must be regarded as an important explanatory factor for the scenarios of language change

Factors influencing conservatism and purism in languages of Northern Europe (Nordic, Baltic, Finnic)

This paper shows common extralinguistic factors influencing conservatism and purism in languages of Northern Europe (Nordic, Baltic, Finnic). Users’ motivation, environment, culture, history and conscious policy are the keys to understand some tendencies in the slower rate of change of these languages