Sifting the Evidence for the Reconstruction of Pannonian Slavic

Corrected version of published review

Pre-publication review of Rječnik govora Murskog Središća, by Đuro Blažeka and Grozdana Rob

This review (June 2012) pertains to the manuscript of the book later published as: Blažeka, Đuro and Grozdana Rob. Rječnik Murskog Središća [Dictionary of the Dialect of Mursko Središće]. Zagreb: Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, 2014

Notes on a New Dialectology of Montenegrin

The paper presents some observations on the first post-Yugoslav handbook of dialectology focusing on Montenegrin (Čirgić 2017), which sets criteria for identifying the diacritic features of Montenegrin Štokavian. In contrast to Yugoslav-era treatments of the Štokavian dialect (e.g. Ivić 1958, Peco 1985), the new handbook individuates Montenegrin and presents it as an organic whole, rather than examining its relationship to the broader South Slavic dialectological context. The task is challenging, given that there are two distinct dialect areas of Montenegrin. The trend towards describing former-Yugoslav dialect areas in alignment with the new state formations has been noted for Lisac’s handbook (Lisac 2003; Greenberg 2004). Greenberg, Marc L. 2004. Review of Hrvatska dijalektologija 1. Hrvatski dijalekti i govori štokavskog narječja i hrvatski govori torlačkog narječja, by Josip Lisac. Slavic and East European Journal 48.709–11. Lisac, Josip. 2003. Hrvatska dijalektogija 1. Hrvatski dijalekti i govori štokavskog narječja i hrvatski govori torlačkog narječja. Zagreb: Golden marketing, Tehnička knjiga

A Balkanism in Central Europe? Realis vs. Irrealis in Subordinate Clauses in Prekmurje Slovene

The paper examines the distinction between realis- and irrealis-marking complementizers (ka vs. da in the Prekmurje (Pannonian) dialect of Slovene and compares the phenomenon to the same distinction observed in Balkan Sprachbund languages (Albanian, Bulgarian, Modem Greek, Macedonian, Romani, Romanian). Though the phenomenon is indeed synchronically parallel, historically the distinction in Prekmnrje Slovene arose as a result of retentions on the periphery (partially shared with the Carinthian dialects) and not as a result of (erstwhile) contact with languages of the Balkan Sprachbund

Hoffman’s Hawk. A University of Kansas Jayhawk Carved During the Russian Revolution of 1917 Reappears at KU in the Twenty-First Century

The following people and institutions assisted with the preparation of this text: Keah Cunningham (EGARC), Becky Schulte (University Archives), Prof. Kenneth Steuer (Western Michigan University); The Kansas City Star. Their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.The paper describes the history of a 1917 carving of a Jayhawk by a Russian prisoner of war in Germany, donated to the University of Kansas by Conrad Hoffman, Senior American YMCA WPA Secretary in Germany during World War I

The Illyrian Movement: A Croatian Vision of South Slavic Unity

The article appears in a handbook that demonstrates the interconnection between language and ethnic identity, providing a systematic treatment of language and ethnic identity efforts, assessing their relative successes and failures, and placing the cases on a success-failure continuum. This essay focuses on the early nineteenth-century Illyrian Movement attempt in the framework of Pan-Slavism—an ideology intended to unite spiritually all Slavic speakers—to unify the South Slavs (Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Bulgarians) by creating a common literary language for them. The Zagreb-based Movement, which lasted from 1835 to 1848, was driven at its beginning largely by the activity of its charismatic leader, Ljudevit Gaj, in response to rising Hungarian nationalism and assimilatory practice that had threatened to erase Croatian identity. Acting on a widespread impulse among central European Slavic intellectuals, the Illyrian Movement offered a more extensive solution to the problem than the Croatian patriots and neighboring Slavic groups were ready to accept. Though the Illyrian Movement was abandoned by the 1848 Revolution, the impulse to merge South Slavic nations resurfaced in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century Yugoslav Movement, which had its ideological roots in the Illyrian Movement.The Illyrian literary language as such was abandoned, though in Croatia the principles of its construction have persisted and even reemerged with vigor in the post-Yugoslav period; it has also left traces elsewhere throughout the South Slavic standard languages. The Movement failed to integrate the Slovene lands, whose inhabitants consolidated their national identity around the language of Carniola; nor did it draw in Serbia and Montenegro, which followed a different vision of language standardization. On the other hand, the Illyrian Movement laid the foundation for the rapprochement of Croatian and Serbian, whose standard forms are based on a common dialect, and led also to the political construct Yugoslavism. Consequently, as a Croatian national program, the Illyrian Movement may rank 10 on the success scale; as a program to unite all the South Slavs, perhaps 5

Antemurale innovationis: Clausal complementation in the Slovene Mura River (Prekmurje) dialect and its Balkan parallels

The paper discusses the opposition between two complementizers/subordinators, da vs. ka, in Prekmurje Slovene. The forms were used up through the first half of the 20th century to distinguish between irrealis (da) and realis (ka) propositions. In the discussion the available evidence is examined in order to establish more precisely the conditions for the distribution of the two forms. In addition, the diachrony and diatopy of the forms are considered in both South Slavic and broader Slavic contexts

Indo-European 5: Slavic

Encyclopedia entry on the Slavic branch of Indo-European written for undergraduate-level readers of linguistics

Russian Orthographic Reform

The article gives an overview of the orthographic reform of the Cyrillic alphabet put in place after the 1917 Russian revolution.Ermal Garinger Academic Resource Cente