Parrot Time - Issue 1 - January 2013

Parrot Time
The Thinking of Speaking Issue #1 January 201 3

T h e Ro s e t t a S t o n e Prem
iere
Issue
!
Lan g u ag e Learn i n g
Th rou g h Au d i o

F erd i n an d d e S au s s u re
a n d th e s i g n s o f l a n g u a g e

M e xi c o ’ s D a y o f
th e D e a d
Lan g u ag es I n P eri l
Veps , N en ets an d
Ko m i

Look beyond
what you know

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and culture from the Parleremo community.
Expand your understanding.
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Contents

Parrot Time
Parrot Time is a magazine
covering language, linguistics
and culture of the world around
Features
us.

It is published by Scriveremo
06 The Rosetta Stone - Triple Cypher
In Egypt, the key to unlocking the mysterious hieroglyphics, the
Publishing, a division of Rosetta Stone, was caught up in the lives of a boy king, a
Parleremo, the language learning
community. French general, and the work of two scholars, which would
make rivals of their countries.
Join Parleremo today. Learn a
language, make friends, have fun. 1 4 Ferdinand de Saussure - Signs of Language
Widely acclaimed as the father of modern linguistics of the 20th
century, the swiss born linguist Ferdinand de Saussure was a
teacher, scholar, and once a member of the Neogrammarians.
His works inspired generations of linguists on two continents.

37 Revisited - Slang
Editor: Erik Zidowecki English slang develops in many ways, even adopting and
Email: editor@parrottime.com distorting words from other languages. We look back to an
article from almost one hundred years ago to see how accurate
Published by Scriveremo Publish- it proved to be.
ing, a division of Parleremo.
This issue is available online from
http://www.parrottime.com 42 We Are The Linguists
Linguists and students come together for their own version of
The editor reserves the right to the song “We Are The World”
edit all material submitted. Views
expressed in Parrot Time are not
necessarily the official views of
Parleremo. All rights of reproduc-
tion, translation and adaptation re-
served for all countries, except
43 Language Learning Methods - Audio
where noted otherwise. All copy- We begin our first in a series of articles about language learning
right material posted in the public- methods with one of the most portable: audio.
ation retains all its rights from the
original owner. Parrot Time, Par-
leremo, officers and administra-
tion accept no responsibility
collectively or individually for the
service of agencies or persons ad-
vertised or announced in the

Departments
pages of this publication.

05 Letter From The Editor
20 At the Cinema - L’auberge Espagnole
22 Languages in Peril - The Finno-Ugrics
26 Word on the Streets - The Russian Zone
30 Where Are You?
Cover: The bow of a boat,
carved into a serpent head,
looking out from Eminonu 32 Celebrations - Day of the Dead
Port, Tukey over the Golden
Horn. The Galata Tower can
be seen in the back. 46 Sections - Journals

Parrot Time | Issue #1 | January 201 3 3

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Letter From The Editor

A New Parrot Time
Welcome to the first issue of the new magazine,
Parrot Time.

M
Most people are attracted to languages for at least one of
three reasons. They might be interested in the science behind
them - the rules, the reasons one language evolves differently
from another, the patterns they can see spanning multiple
languages, and the theories of how the languages are united
or divided. They might be interested in the culture of another
country - the traditions, foods, ways of viewing the world, and
the way that language is the doorway into all of those as well
as being reflected in them. They might be interested in the
pure connection with the language itself - its sounds,
rhythms, the way they touch the soul in a way nothing else
can.

Any one of those reasons would and do provide enough
material to fill dozens if not hundreds of magazines with
thousands of articles. Parrot Time can not possibly begin to
cover that vast expanse of knowledge, nor does it strive to do
so. What it does hope to achieve is to bring a level of aware-
ness and interest in various aspects of those areas of lan-
guages, linguistics and culture. To that end, we will look at
artifacts that have significant language influence or intrigue.
A perfect example of one is the Rosetta Stone, which provided
the key to unlocking the ancient hieroglyphics. We will look
at famous linguists in both their personal lives and their con-
tributions to the study of languages. We begin with Ferdin-
and de Saussure and his theories of structuralism and
semiology. We will look at languages that are in danger of be-
coming extinct, like three members of the Finno-Ugrics: Veps,
Nenets and Komi. We will look at celebrations from around
the world, featuring Mexico's Day of the Dead in this first is-
sue. We will discuss the varied methods that learners employ
to reach their language goals. We will discuss all these and
more.

Finally, Parrot Time is the magazine for the Parleremo
language community. It will cover the happenings of those
members, the expansion of the website, and the reasons cer-
tain things are the way they are. In this issue, we will be
looking at three Russian literary giants who have streets
named after them in the Russian quarter.

We hope you will join us on this journey and in this com-
munity. And we hope you will expand your thinking with this
new Parrot Time.

Erik Zidowecki
ERIK ZIDOWECKI
EDITOR IN CHIEF


The Rosetta Stone
Triple Cypher

The Rosetta Stone is an
Ancient Egyptian artifact
which provided the key to
understanding hieroglyphic
writing.

I
t is a black basalt and 30cm deep (47in x
fragment of a stela (a 30in x 12in), it is the
free-standing stone writing on it that made
inscribed with Egyp- it famous. It contains an
tian governmental or ancient royal decree
religious records) dis- written in the three
covered in Egypt in scripts of Egyptian
1799. While rather hieroglyphics, Demotic,
large, being three-quar- and Greek, and thus
ters of a ton in weight provided a connection
and approximately between the three.
120cm high, 75cm wide,

The Rosetta Stone - Triple Cypher

Hieroglyphics
One of the oldest writing systems of the
word is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics,
which were used for nearly 3500 years, from
around 3100 BC until the end of the fourth
century AD. The name “hieroglyphics” came
from the Greeks who discovered the writ-
ings. They called it “ta hieroglyphica” or
“sacred carved letters”. Hieroglyphics were
mainly reserved for religious or government-
al mandates, and the the language was used
to inscribe tombs, temples and other monu-
ments. Hieroglyphics carved into a wall
Hieroglyphics were not letters like we
think of in our modern alphabets. They were just use a single glyph to represent a cloud?
Sample of
simple drawings of common natural and While determinatives didn’t represent
hieroglyphics sounds, they did represent ideas, and they
man-made objects. They were
not, however, like cave paint- interacted with words differently. Think of
ings to represent basic ideas. them as putting a word into context. If in
They were richer than our own English, someone uses the word “plant”,
alphabets, far more complex (“plnt”) you don’t know if they are referring
and more difficult to learn. The to the act of planting or a living plant. In
number of glyphs used varied that case, you could use a determinative
over time, from under one- that represents action to clarify the first,
thousand to almost six-thou- and another that means life to clarify the
sand. second. If you were using the word “plant” to
Part of the complexity was talk about a factory, then a determinative for
that glyphs were signs that in- building could be added.
dicated sounds (called phonograms) or rep- Hieroglyphic inscriptions were normally
resented complete words (called ideograms). written in rows from right to left or in
Similar to modern Arabic and Hebrew, only columns top to bottom. However, they might
the consonants were written, no vowels. For also be written from left to right, similar to
example, in English, the word “cloud” would most modern alphabets. The way to tell
which way to read an inscription was to look

“
be spelled “cld”.
However, this could at the direction toward which animals and
The name “hieroglyphics” people faced or walked. They always faced
came from the Greeks who also represent “cold”
“could” “colada”. To toward the beginning of the line. To add to
discovered the writings. They tell the difference the complication of reading, hieroglyphics
called it “ta hieroglyphica” or between such words, had no punctuation or spaces between
words or sentences.
“sacred carved letters”. signs were added
called “determinat-
ives”, which gave Hieratic
specific meanings to certain words. In the Because of these complexities, as well as
case of “cloud” as “cld”, the determinative for the sacred attachment of hieroglyphics, the
cloud would be placed at the end of the Egyptians later developed hieratic, which
word. A determinative had no phonetic was a sort of abbreviated version of hiero-
value. glyphics. Despite the name, hieratic was not
One might wonder why they would both- a derivative of hieroglyphics. The name
er spelling out a word at all if they could just “hieratic” derives from the Greek phrase
use a determinative instead. For example, ” (grammata hieratika; lit-
instead of using three glyphs to spell out erally “priestly writing”). This was first used
“cld”, then adding a determinative, why not by Saint Clement of Alexandria in the



clay or stone. The two writing then took his army to Egypt
systems more likely evolved where he was welcomed as a
along the same timeline, rather conquering hero. The Egyptians
than one after the other. made him a god and pharaoh,
but he had other campaigns to
Demotic wage, so he took his army to the
Middle East and the Indus River
Over time, a form of script
evolved from northern hieratic
that became very popular. It was These decrees were set in
called Demotic (from Greek:
δηµ οτικός dēmotikós, “popular”,
stone for all to read... in
not to be confused with demotic hieroglyphics, Demotic, and
Greek). This became used for Greek.
much of the government docu-
ments.
Valley, leaving a regent in charge
Around fourth century A.D.,
of Egypt.
Christianity had become more
When Alexander died in 323
widespread in Egypt, and hiero-
The beginning of the ancient Egyptian BC, his empire was divided
glyphics were abandoned be-
'Loyalist teaching' originally inscribed in among his three most trusted
cause of their association with
stone, but later copied in hieratic script onto generals, and the throne of
papyrus pagan gods. Demotic wasn’t a
Egypt came to Ptolemy I. The
taboo language like hieroglyph-
Egyptians welcomed him as part
second century AD, and at time ics, so remained in use, but
of Alexander’s family, and he be-
it was used only for religious eventually evolved into Coptic.
came a pharaoh, thus setting up
texts. Later, it was used to re- Coptic was a mix of the Greek
the Ptolemic Dynasty, the 32nd
cord some government decrees alphabet and some Demotic
and last of Egypt’s
and business transactions, but characters for Egyptian sounds
great dynasties. By
not for sacred purposes. It was that weren’t denoted by the
tradition, all his
more commonly written with ink Greek language. It was the first
male successors
and brush on papyrus, and alphabetic script used for the
were called Ptolemy
shows no indication of being a Egyptian language. Probably
and all female ones
descendant of hieroglyphs, soon after that, the knowledge of A tetradrachm
were named Cleo-
which were normally carved in how to read hieroglyphics and (Ancient Greek
patra (Greek for silver coin)
hieratic was lost.
“father’s glory”). portraying

Ptolemic Dynasty Ptolemy IV Ptolemy V
(Ptolemy Pilopator)
In ancient times, Greece had was a weak king, and when he
originally been united by Philip died at the age of 41, his son,
of Macedon, then ruled by Alex- Ptolemy Epiphanes, was only a
ander the Great. After defeating small boy of five and too young
Small sample of Coptic script the Persian forces, Alexander to rule. Until he was old enough,

8 Parrot Time | Issue #1 | January 201 3

the empire fell into turmoil as
different regents fought for con-
trol. During this time, surround-
ing empires, including the
Roman, were vying for control
and attempted to take advantage
of the internal conflict. The
Ptolemic Dynasty lost land in
several areas.
In an attempt to restore
power and control, it was de-
cided to coronate the then 13
year old Ptolemy V in the city of
Memphis in 196 BC. To further
solidify his royal credentials, a
series of royal decrees were
passed by a council of priests to
affirm the dynasty of kings. The
decrees praised Ptolemy, claim-
ing him as the manifestation of
divine grace, and portraying the
young king as a great benefactor
of Egypt who adorned the
temples of Egypt’s traditional Around the turn of the 19th century, prominent French general Napoleon Bonaparte began a
campaign of conquest over every major European power.
gods, cancelled debts, reduced
In 1798, he turned his forces toward Egypt, hoping to take there control and thus undermine
taxes, freed prisoners, and nu- Britain's trade route to India.
merous other deeds.
These decrees were set in However, Napoleon didn’t just built forts, the Institute collected
stone for all to read. During the plan a military attack. He artifacts.
Ptolemic Dynasty, both Egyptian wanted a complete infiltration of During the summer of 1799,
and Greek languages were used, Egypt, gathering information Napoleon’s soldiers tore down
so to make sure that as many about Egypt’s past and present some ancient walls to expand
people as possible could read people, environment, culture Fort Julien in the town of
these decrees, they were written and resources. Napoleon Rosetta (modern day Rashid),
in hieroglyphics, Demotic, and reasoned that to rule a country, near Alexandria. Captain Pierre-
Greek. one must know everything about Francois Bouchard found a
it. black stone when guiding the
Napoleon and the Egypt To that end, he assembled a work, and noticing that it was
Campaign “think tank” of scientists, schol-
ars, mathematicians, chemists,
covered in ancient writing,
turned it over to the Institute.
Around the turn of the 19th
century, prominent French gen- archaeologists and more. He The Institute’s scholars were
eral Napoleon Bonaparte began called them the “Institute of able to determine that the stone
a campaign of conquest over Egypt”, and they accompanied was some kind of decree and
every major European power. In him on the invasion when his immediately began attempts to
1798, he turned his forces to- forces landed off the coast of translate it. They named the
ward Egypt, hoping to take there Egypt at Aboukir Bay in August stone the “Rosetta Stone” in
control and thus undermine Bri- 1798. However, the British navy honor of the town in which it
tain’s trade route to India. crushed most of the French fleet, was discovered, and they made
leaving Napoleon and his army several copies of the writing on
stranded. it, which was in three scripts.
They had found a piece of one of
Finding the Rosetta Stone the decrees about Ptolemy V,
though they didn’t know it at the
Napoleon was able to return
to France and continue his war time.
against the world, leaving some British forces landed on
troops to maintain control as Aboukir Bay and were finally
well as the scientists to do their able to overcome the French
work. They settled in around the troops in 1801. A dispute then
Napoleon's troops in Rosetta
Nile Delta, and while the military arose over the artifacts and find-


ings of the Institute. The French Historical canons in modern day Rosetta. There is a
wanted to keep them for their represetation of the Rosetta Stone with a plaque
own, but the British considered between them.
them forfeit in the name of King
George III and wanted to take
them back to England. One of
the scientists, Etienne Geoffroy
Saint-Hilaire, wrote to the Eng-
lish diplomat William Richard
Hamilton, threatening to burn
all the discoveries, in reference
to the burning of the Library of
Alexandria (destroyed during a
Muslim invasion in 642). The
British gave in and insisted only
on the delivery of the artifacts.
The scientists attempted to hide
the Rosetta Stone but failed, and
they were only allowed to take
the plaster casts and copies of
the text they had made. The
Stone was brought back to Bri-
tain and presented to the British
Museum in 1802.

Translating the Stone
The easiest part of the Stone
“Ptolemy” and “Alexander” in the them came from a fifth-century
to translate was the Greek, for
text and used those as a starting scholar named Horapollo. He set
while knowledge of the Greek
point for matching up sounds up a translation system based
language and alphabet were lim-
and symbols. Åkerblad, however, upon hieroglyphics’ relation to
ited among certain scholars, the
approached the work using his Egyptian allegories. This hypo-
Western world had become ac-
knowledge of the Coptic lan- thesis led to 15 centuries of
quainted with Greek centuries
guage. He noticed some similar- scholars dedicat-
ago, during the Renaissance. In
ities between the Demotic and ing themselves to
1802, the Reverend Stephen We-
Coptic inscriptions, and by com- using this trans-
ston completed his translation of
paring these, he was able to de- lation system as
the Greek text. While this didn’t
code the words “love,” “temple” they tried to de-
garner much attention, it would
and “Greek.” He attempted to code the ancient
provide the basic text to build
use those as a basic outline for writings. However,
the other translations upon.
the rest of the translation. He they all failed, be-
In 1802, French scholar
managed to find the correct cause the basic Thomas Young
Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
sound values for 14 of the 29 premise, it would
and Swedish diplomat Johan
signs, but he wrongly believed turn out, was false. Some of the
David
the demotic hieroglyphs to be later scholars that were working
Åkerblad
entirely alphabetic. on it were the German Jesuit
both set
Both de Sacy’s and Åkerblad Anthonasius Kircher, the Eng-
about to
work, however, provided vital lish bishop William Warburton
translate
clues, and an English polymath and the French scholar Nicolas
the
(a person whose expertise covers Freret.
Demotic
a significant number of subjects) Young made an important
portion
Thomas Young was able to com- breakthrough in the same year
of the
pletely translate the Demotic that he completed the Demotic
Stone.
text in 1814. He then started when he discovered the meaning
De Sacy
work on deciphering the hiero- of a cartouche. A cartouche is an
was able
glyphics. oval-shaped loop that around a
to detect
When hieroglyphics had series of hieroglyphic characters,
the prop-
been first discovered, one of the and he realized that these car-
er names
The Rosetta Stone earliest attempt at translating touches were only drawn around
of


proper names. That enabled him to identi- French Royal Academy of Inscriptions, in
fy the name of Ptolemy. Figuring that a which he outlined the basic concepts of
name sounds similar across languages, hieroglyphic script: Coptic was the final
Young parsed out a few sounds in the stage of the ancient language, the hiero-
hieroglyphic alphabet using Ptolemy’s glyphs were both ideograms and phono-
name and the name of his queen, grams, and the glyphs in cartouches were
Berenika. However, Young was also relying phonetic transcriptions of pharaohs’
on Horapollo’s premise that pictures cor- names. The hieroglyphics code had been
Hieroglypics responded to symbols, so he couldn’t quite broken.
showing a
cartouche
figure out how phonetics fit in. Young gave
up the translation but published his pre-
liminary results in 1818.
A former student of de Sacy named
Jean François Champollion had also been
studying the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta
Stone since he was 18, in 1808. He picked
up where Young left off, but didn’t make
much headway for a few more years. Then,
in 1822, he was able to examine some oth-
er ancient cartouches. One contained four
characters, with the last two being the
same. After identifying the duplicated let-
ter as being “s”, he looked at the first
character, and guessed it to represent the
sun. Here, Champollion made a leap using Experts inspecting the Rosetta Stone during the
his knowledge of Coptic, in which the word International Congress of Orientalists of 1874
for sun is “ra”. This gave him the name of
“ra-ss”, and he only knew of one name
that would fit: Ramses, another Egyptian
Politics
Both France and Britain competed on
pharaoh. many levels over the Rosetta Stone. After
This connection between hieroglyphics the initial struggle of ownership, their was
and Coptic showed to Champollion that also a disagreement about who did the
hieroglyphics wasn’t based on symbols or “real work” of translating. The British
allegories at all. They were phonetic, so claimed that Young completed the Demot-
Jean François the characters represented sounds. He ic and made the breakthrough on the
Champollion was then able to correct and enlarge hieroglyphics by figuring out the car-
Young’s list of phonetic hieroglyphs, and touches. The French claimed that Cham-
finally, using this knowledge and compar- pollion was the true translator, for it was
ing to the other translations of the Demot- his insight using Coptic that led to the
ic and Greek, translate the rest of the translation.
Stone. Moreover, when Champollion pub-
Part of Champollion's
That same year, his achievement was lished his translation in 1822, Young and
work on decyphering
the hieroglyphics announced in a letter he wrote to the others praised his work, but
Young published his own
work on it in 1823, to ensure
his contribution to Champol-
lion was recognized, even
pointing out that many of his
findings had been sent to
Paris in 1816. Young had in-
deed found the sound values
of six of the glyphs, but had
not been able to determine
the grammar of the lan-
guages. Champollion was
unwilling to share the credit,
however, further dividing the
countries.
The two countries remain


competitive to this day on who obtained, and their release gran- been learned about their history,
should get credit and who ted by representatives of the na- ways of life, beliefs, and techno-
should own the Stone. While the tional government which owned logical advances. It has also
Rosetta Stone was being dis- them, that is not the same state aided in solving the mysteries of
played in Paris in 1972, in celeb- of Egypt that exists today. The the pyramids and other ancient
ration of 150 years since French could also give possible events. We still don’t know how
Champollion published his find- claim to the Stone as spoils of far its importance will stretch, as
ings, rumors flew that Parisians war. Egyptian artifacts, in the form of
were plotting to secretly steal the Also, the Rosetta Stone is pharaohs’ tombs, are still being
Stone. There was even disagree- not like other artifacts found in discovered. Ironically, while the
ment over the portraits of Young the exchange. It is not a work of Stone was originally made to
and Champollion that were dis- art, or religious icon, and its bolster a weak king, its existence
played alongside the Stone, with value arose from the potential opened up the history of all the
them being of unequal sizes and information it could yield as a kings and civilizations that had
thus glorifying one scholar over key in the decipherment of been lost with the knowledge of
the other. hieroglyphs. Therefore, while it a the hieroglyphics. PT
The Egyptian government piece of Egyptian heritage, its
has also been involved with its importance was only fulfilled by
own claims. In 1999, Egypt the work of the Europeans, both
made it well known that they French and British, who trans-
would not be celebrating the bi- lated it. Without that, it was
centennial of the finding of the only one of thousands of stones
Stone because it was in the with writing on it.
hands of the British. They had For this reason, it has been
wanted Western countries to seen by some as a piece of
give back Pharaonic period mas- “world heritage”, and therefore it
terpieces, including the Rosetta shouldn’t matter where it is dis-
Stone, in 1996, but UNESCO played. An exact copy also exists
agreements grant the right to re- in the Egyptian Museum of
cover items only on those stolen Cairo, but the politics of who
after 1971. Still, in 2003, Egypt has the original is likely to con-
again requested the return of the tinue for a very long time.
Rosetta Stone. The British Mu-
seum sent them a replica in
2005, but refused to give up the
Conclusion
The importance of the
Stone. Rosetta Stone in its aid to deci-
The issue of ownership is phering Egyptian hieroglyphics
very tricky. While technically the can not be overstated. It un-
Rosetta Stone and all the relics locked the unknown history of
captured by the British from the so much of the ancient Egyptian The Rosetta Stone on display
defeat at Alexandria were legally culture. So much has since

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Ferdinand de Saussure
Signs
of
Language
Swiss born linguist Ferdinand de
Saussure is widely recognized as
the creator of the modern theory
of structuralism as well as the
father of modern linguistics of
the 20th century.

H e laid the
foundation for
many develop-
ments in lin-
“semiology” would in-
fluence many genera-
tions to come. His
work also laid the ba-
guistics, and his sic foundation for the
perception of linguist- concept known as
ics as a branch of a structuralism in the
general science of larger fields of the so-
signs, which he called cial sciences.

Ferdinand de Saussure - Signs of Language

His Life guages). It was considered by most as a
brilliant work, and the book launched de
Ferdinand de Saussure was born on Saussure’s reputation as a new expert be-
November 26, 1857, in Geneva, Switzer- cause of its contributions to the field of
land, into a family of well-known scient- comparative linguistics. This work also re-
ists. vealed an important discovery in the area
Young Ferdinand was a bright and of Indo-European languages that became
eager student, and he showed promise to be known as de Saussure’s laryngeal
early on in the area of languages. He theory. However, the theory would not be-
learned Latin, Sanskrit, Greek, English, come widely accepted until the mid-20th
German, and French. His mentor at that century. De Saussure also published “Re-
age was the eminent linguist Adolphe Pict- marques de grammaire et de phonetique”
et who encouraged the young man to pur- (Comments on Grammar and Phonetics)
sue his growing passion for languages. in 1878.
Because of his parent’s work, he at- In 1880, he completed his doctoral
tempted to follow in their footsteps and dissertation and graduated summa cum
began attending the prestigi- laude from the University of Leipzig.
A linguistic system is ous University of Geneva in Shortly afterwards he moved to Paris and
a series of differences 1875, studying chemistry began lecturing on ancient and modern
of sounds combined and physics. He was only languages.
there a year, however, before
with a series of he convinced his parents to
His first professional work in the field
differences of ideas. allow him to go to Leipzig in of linguistics was as a teacher at the École
Pratique Des Hautes Études in Paris.
1876 to study linguistics. There, he taught numerous languages, in-
He studied Sanskrit and comparative cluding Lithuanian and Persian, which he
linguistics in Geneva, Paris, and Leipzig, had added to his range of languages. He
as well as a variety of courses at the Uni- also became an active member of the Lin-
versity of Geneva, and commenced gradu- guistic Society of Paris, in which he served
ate work at the University of Leipzig in as its secretary in 1882. He remained at
1876. the École Practique for 10 years before
While in Leipzig, he became part of a leaving in 1891 to accept a new position
circle of young scholars known as the as professor of Indo-European languages
Neogrammarians. Karl Brugmann, a and comparative grammar at the Uni-
prominent member of the group, was one versity of Geneva.
of his mentor. He
was also close to
Karl Verner and University of Leipzig
others in the group.
Two years later,
in 1878, Saussure,
now 21, published
his first full-length
book, “Mémoire sur
le système primitif
des voyelles dans
les langues indo-
européenes” (Dis-
sertation on the
Primitive Vowel
System in Indo-
European Lan-


De Saussure lectured on
Sanskrit and Indo-European as Who Were The Neogrammarians
well as teaching historical lin-
guistics at the University of The Neogrammarians (also known as
Geneva for the remainder of his Young Grammarians, German
life. It wasn’t until 1906 that Junggrammatiker) were a German group
Saussure began to teach his of linguists, originally at the University of
course of “General Linguistics”. Leipzig, in the late 19th century. The
It was this class which would group flourished between 1875–1893, and
become the basis for his per- its primary members were Karl
haps most influential work “A Brugmann, August Leskien, Hermann
Course in General Linguistics”.
Osthoff, and Berthold Delbruck. Most
This was published in 1916,
modern linguists share the
three years after his death, and
Neogrammarians’ objective approach to
was edited entirely by two of his
language data and their insistence on its
students, Charles Bally and Al-
systematic nature.
bert Sechehaye. The book trans-
formed the comparative and
historical philology 19th-century They proposed the Neogrammarian
into the 20th-century contem- hypothesis of the regularity of sound
porary linguistics. change, in which a diachronic sound change affects simultaneously all
While living and teaching in words in which its environment is met, without exception. That is, if
Geneva, de Saussure married within a language, the way a letter or combination of letters is
and had two sons. Saussure pronounced is alterred, all words using that combination immediately
continued to lecture at the uni- have their pronunciations change within the same area the change has
versity for the remainder of his been implemented.
life until his death from cancer
on February 22, 1913. The Neogrammarian hypothesis was the first hypothesis of sound
There has been indication, change to attempt to follow the principle of falsifiability according to
through historical records, that scientific method (any exception that can be reliably reproduced should
de Saussure had a great fear of invalidate the simplest theory). However, today this hypothesis is
publishing any of his works un- considered more of a guiding principle than an exceptionless fact,
til they were proven to be abso- because numerous examples of lexical diffusion (where a sound change
lutely accurate. Therefore, many affects only a few words at first and then gradually spreads to other
of his works were never released words) have been shown.
during his lifetime, and many of
his theories have since been ex- Other contributions of the Neogrammarians to general linguistics were
plained in books by other au- (from Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics):
thors.
Also, according to Robert
Godel, in an essay in “Cahiers The object of linguistic investigation is not the language system,
Ferdinand de Saussure”, de but rather the idiolect, that is, language as it is localized in the
Saussure was “terrified” when in individual, and therefore is directly observable.
1906 the University of Geneva
asked him to teach a course on Autonomy of the sound level: being the most observable aspect
linguistics, because he believed of language, the sound level is seen as the most important level
himself not qualified for the job. of description, and absolute autonomy of the sound level from
Godel wrote that de Saussure syntax and semantics is assumed.
“did not feel up to the task, and
had no desire to wrestle with the Historicism: the chief goal of linguistic investigation is the
problems once more. However, description of the historical change of a language.
he undertook what he believed
to be his duty.” Analogy: if the premise of the inviolability of sound laws fails,
The editors of his posthum- analogy can be applied as an explanation if plausible. Thus,
ous work, “A Course in General exceptions are understood to be a (regular) adaptation to a
Linguistics”, Bally and related form.
Sechehaye have been criticized
for not clearly showing how their
professor’s ideas evolved as well


as for not making clear that de
Saussure rarely believed his in- Synchronic vs. Diachronic Linguistics
novative concepts to be wholly
formed.
Scholars have also cited Two ways of studying languages are synchronic and
evidence that de Saussure was
strongly influenced by his aca- diachronic linguistics. Synchronic is the study of a language
demic peers, William Dwight at a certain point. It looks at the way the language works at
Whitney and Michel Bréal, sug-
gesting that de Saussure’s theor- a particular point, like Shakespearean English. The English
ies were not as original as they of that time is different from Modern English. Diachronic is
were once believed to be.
Before he died, de Saussure the study of the changing state of language over time. That
had told some friends that he would compare the differences between Shakespearean
was writing up his lectures him-
self, but no evidence of this was English and Modern English, seeing how the first became
found. In 1996, eighty years the second. In a sense, it's looking at languages as an
later, a manuscript in Saus-
sure’s handwriting was found in evolving being rather than a fixed entity.
his family home in Geneva. This
proved to be the missing original
of the work, and in 2002, “Écrits
De Linguistique Générale” (Writ-
of “signs” in a language (Semi- phonemes (tiny sound units that
ings in General Linguistics, pre-
ology). help distinguish between utter-
pared by Simon Bouquet and
ances), for which the laryngeal
Rudolf Engler) was published.
This new textual source an- Laryngeal Theory theory was the best explanation.
Nowadays, the existence of
swers several questions about In Saussure’s first major
publication, which dealt with these sounds is widely accepted
what de Saussure believed. It
Indo-European philology, he by philologists, mainly because
also brings to light new elements
proposed the existence of proposing their existence helps
which require a revision of the
“ghosts” in Proto-Indo-European explain some sound changes
legacy of Saussure, and call into
(PIE) called “primate coeffi- that appear in the language des-
question the reconstruction of
cients”. The Scandinavian schol- cendents of PIE.
his thought by his students in
ar Hermann Möller suggested It is most likely that de
the Course in General Linguist-
that these might be laryngeal Saussure’s attempts to explain
ics.
consonants, leading to what is how he was able to make sys-

Theories now known as the laryngeal the-
ory, and the sounds became
tematic and predictive hypo-
theses from known linguistic
De Saussure brought about data to unknown linguistic data
known as “laryngeals”.
many changes in linguistic stud- stimulated his development of
These consonants have
ies. He emphasized a synchronic structuralism.
mostly disappeared or have be-
view of linguistics in contrast to
come identical with other
the earlier diachronic view. The
synchronic view looks at the
sounds in the recorded Indo- Structuralism
European languages, so their De Saussure created two
structure of language as a func-
former existence has had to be terms to define a way to look at
tioning system in whole at any
deduced primarily from their ef- language. The first, “parole”,
given point of time. The dia-
fects on neighbouring sounds. which is French for “speech”,
chronic view looks at the way a
There were three such laryn- refers to the sounds that a per-
language develops and changes
geals: h1, the “neutral” laryn- son makes when speaking, or a
over time. This distinction was
geal; h2, the “a-colouring” graphic representation of that
considered a breakthrough and
laryngeal; and h3, the “o-colour- sound. The same paroles might
became generally accepted.
ing” laryngeal. exist in multiple languages, but
His work was wide ranging,
The theory did not begin to have very different meanings.
and the three most predominant
achieve any general acceptance The second term, “langue”,
contributions are those dealing
until Hittite was discovered and which is French for “language”,
with Indo-European philology
deciphered in the mid-20th cen- refers to the system of conven-
(Laryngal Theory), the relations
tury. At that point, it became ap- tions and rules that are applied
between words and rules (Struc-
parent that Hittite had to paroles, to make them under-
turalism), and the combinations


standable between people. As an how primates developed lan- their broad interpretations of de
example, the sound we make in guages, was the first successful Saussure’s theories, which
English for “see” ([si:]), has mul- solution of a plane of linguistic already contained ambiguities,
tiple meanings in English: it is a analysis, using the de Saus- and their application of those
verb meaning to visualize with sure’s hypothesis. In the Copen- theories to non-linguistic fields
an eye, a large body of water, hagen School, Louis Hjelmslev such as sociology and anthropo-
and a letter of the alphabet. We proposed new interpretations of logy, led to some theoretical dif-
understand its meaning by its linguistics from the structuralist ficulties and proclamations of
context, which is part of the theoretical framework. the end of structuralism in those
rules set up in the langue. In America, de Saussure’s studies.
Moreover, the same parole ideas helped guide Leonard
means “yes” or “if” in Italian,
and is understood by the langue
Bloomfield and the post-Bloom-
fieldian Structuralism practices.
Semiology
While de Saussure seems to
of that language. These influenced such research- have veered off the path estab-
Both of these ideas are in- ers as Bernard Bloch, Charles lished for him by his scientific
tegral to the modern theory of Hockett, Eugene Nida, George L. relatives, he was and still is
structuralism. De Saussure put Trager, Rulon S. Wells III, and widely regarded as a scientist.
forth that a word’s meaning is through Zellig Harris, the young His perception of linguistics as a
based less on the object it is re- Noam Chomsky. This further in- branch of science he called se-
ferring to and more on its struc- fluenced Chomsky’s theory of miology (the theory and study of
ture. That is, when a person Transformational grammar, as signs and symbols) and through
selects a word, he does so in the well as other contemporary de- his teachings, he encouraged
context of having had the velopments of structuralism, other linguists to view language
chance to choose other words. such as Kenneth Pike’s theory of not “as an organism developing
This idea adds another dimen- tagmemics, Sidney Lamb’s the- of its own accord, but as a
sion to the chosen word’s mean- ory of stratificational grammar, product of the collective mind of
ing, since humans normally and Michael Silverstein’s work. a linguistic community.”
instinctively base a word’s Outside the field of linguist- De Saussure’s “Course in
meaning upon its difference from ics, the principles and methods General Linguistics” laid out a
the other words which were not employed by structuralism were notion that language may be
chosen. So the words we use are adopted by scholars such as Ro- analyzed as a formal system of
decided upon by our refining our land Barthes, Jacques Lacan, different elements, which he re-
meanings in a logical, structured and Claude Lévi-Strauss, and ferred to as “signs”. Within a
fashion. were implemented in their vari- languages, these signs evolve
De Saussure’s theories on ous areas of study. However, constantly. A sign comprises of
this subject laid down the
foundations for the struc-
turalist schools in both so- Modern day University of Geneva
cial theory and linguistics.
His impact on the develop-
ment of linguistic theory in
the first half of the 20th
century is huge. Two cur-
rents of thought came
about independently of
each other.
In Europe, the most
important work was being
undertaken in the Prague
School. Nikolay Trubetzkoy
and Roman Jakobson
headed the efforts of the
Prague School in setting the
course of phonological the-
ory for the decades follow-
ing 1940. Jakobson’s
universalizing structural-
functional theory of prim-
atology, which dealt with


two parts: the signifier (what it “sign” for the object or idea. Despite his many and for-
sounds or looks like in vocal or Without that, nothing has mean- midable contributions to the
graphic form) and the signified ing. field of linguistics, de Saussure
(the object the signifier repres- We know what a cup is has been criticized for narrowing
ents). through its relationship to other his studies to the social aspects
For example, a small object things. It holds water, unlike a of language, thereby omitting the
that can be held in the hand and book, while a lake also holds wa- ability of people to manipulate
holds a liquid for drinking would ter, but we can’t hold that in our and create new meanings.
be the “signified” of the sound hands to drink from it. Our However, his scientific approach
“cup”, which would be the signi- minds, therefore, develop con- to his examination of the nature
fier. The relationship between cepts because of these relation- of language has had impacts on
the two parts of the sign, de a wide range of areas related to
Saussure postulated, is hazy linguistics, including contem-
and the parts may be impossible porary literary theory, decon-
to separate because of their ar- structionism (a theory of literary
bitrary relationship. There is no criticism that proposes that
particular reason that the sound words can only refer to other
“cup” is applied to that particu- words and which tries to show
lar object, as can be easily ships. When we form these how statements about any words
shown by looking at its name in relationships because of what subvert their own meaning), and
other languages (tasse, cupán, other objects are not, we are structuralism.
filxhan, kop, bolli, cangkir). forming negative relationships, Fan or critic, however, one
Moreover, because of this ar- known as “binary oppositions”. must concede that Ferdinand de
bitrary nature of the relation- Followers of Saussure have Saussure’s contributions to his
ship, signifiers can shift within a extended this two part structure field as well as others were far
language over time. The meaning of signs to a three part one, in reaching and revolutionary, and
happens only when people agree which the signified is an idea or have influenced generations of
that a certain sound combina- concept (like the idea of holding scholars. PT
tion indicates an object or idea. a liquid in an object) and the ob-
Then this agreement creates a ject itself is called the “referent”.

WORKS
(1 878) Mémoire sur le système primitif des voyelles dans les langues indo-européenes
(Memoir on the Primitive System of Vowels in Indo-European Languages)

(1 878) Remarques de grammaire et de phonetique (Comments on Grammar and
Phonetics)

(1 91 6) Cours de linguistique générale (Course in General Linguistics); ed. C. Bally and A.
Sechehaye, with the collaboration of A. Riedlinger, Lausanne and Paris: Payot; trans. W. Baskin

(1 993) Saussure’s Third Course of Lectures in General Linguistics (1 91 0–1 911 )

(2002) Écrits de linguistique générale (Writings in General Linguistics) (edition prepared by
Simon Bouquet and Rudolf Engler)


At the Cinema - L'auberge Espagnole

At the Cinema
L'auberge Espagnole
’auberge Espagnole is a film start, this is a French movie taking

L
by French writer and director place largely in Spain, so both those
Cedric Klapisch. It tells the languages are included. Xavier lives in
story of Xavier, a French stu- an apartment with six other students,
dent who spends a year each from other countries, so add on
studying Economics in Bar- English (British, not American),
celona via the Erasmus program. It Catalan, Danish, German and Italian.
follows his adven-
tures of dealing with
another culture,
various affairs, and
L'Auberge Espagnole an apartment full of
R 1 22 min other students from
Comedy / Romance / Drama all over Europe.
1 9 June 2002 (France) The movie itself
doesn’t have a
Country:
France & Spain straight forward plot
or goal, which may
Language: confuse some people.
French, Spanish, English, Instead, it is more of
Catalan, Danish, German, a collection of scenes
Italian that show some of
the stuff that Xavier
and those around
him deal with. Since life itself doesn’t In regards to the other students,
have a single plot, I found this setup they are mostly stereotypes, which
to be more believable. might upset a few people. I found the
The name of the movie seems to stereotypes to be funny and played off

“
cause confusion. It won an award at well against each other. One of the
The movie itself the 2002 Karlovy Vary Film Festival as best scenes to show this is when
doesn't have a “Euro-pudding”, played in Spain as Xavier is first interviewed to see if they
straight forward plot “Una Casa de Locos”, in the UK as will accept him as a new flatmate. You
“Pot Luck” and in North America as have the flatmates seated around the
or goal, which may “The Spanish Hotel” before finally set- table, arguing over which questions
confuse some people. tling on the title “L’auberge Es- they should be asking as well as ex-
pagnole”, which is the Spanish version plaining where they are from, while
of the American title. Xavier just looks on, thinking in his
There are countless reviews of head (parts of the movie have him
this 2002 movie, so I don’t plan on do- narrating in this fashion) how much
ing a point by point review of its plots he wants to be a part of them.
or events. Rather, I want to talk about There are other scenes like this.
why this movie is of interest to lan- One scene shows Wendy (the English
guage learners and travelers. From the woman) answering the phone in the


At the Cinema - L'auberge Espagnole
apartment to find Xavier’s are still just learning Spanish.
mother on the other end. Not When they ask him to use
understanding French, Wendy Spanish, he tells them it would
Quotes
checks the wall by the phone be unfair to the other students These are some quotes from the
which has a chart on it, show- (although they speak both movie to give you a sense of the
ing various phrases, grouped Spanish and Catalan), and ideas in it.
by language. The humour in says if they want to speak (Quotes are taken from the

“
this scene is her misunder- IMDB)
standing the French for “uni- One of the main discussions
versity” (faculté). This regarding languages in-
highlights the confusion that Xavier: When you first arrive in a
can happen in a multilingual
volves the clash between new city, nothing makes sense.
environment, in which many Catalan and Spanish in Everythings unknown, virgin...
language learners have prob- Spain. After you've lived here, walked
these streets, you'll know them
ably found themselves in, by
inside out. You'll know these
choice or accident. Spanish, go to Madrid or South
people. Once you've lived here,
America.
crossed this street 10, 20, 1000
This follows up with a times... it'll belong to you
scene with Xavier and Isabelle because you've lived there. That
(a woman from Belgian) talking was about to happen to me, but I
to other students about iden- didn't know it yet.
tity, culture, and language.
Isabelle later says it’s a drag to
be torn between two languages,
and Xavier points out that Bel- Xavier: Later, much later, back in
gium has Flemish and Walloon, Paris, each harrowing ordeal will
but Isabelle tells him that’s not become an adventure. For some
the same. She tells her she is idiotic reason, your most horrific
Flemish, that she doesn’t speak experiences are the stories you
most love to tell.
Walloon, and when she goes to
Another scene showing the
Flanders, she tells them she is
dynamics of the flatmates in-
French so they speak French to
volves the refrigerator. They
her. Essentially, your own situ- Isabelle: It's contradictory to
have divided the refrigerator in-
ation isn’t strange.. just others. defend Catalan at the very
to sections for each flatmate,
There are numerous other moment we're creating a
and there is some friction when
scenes which show differences European Union.
anyone puts something in the
between the cultures and lan- Catalan Student: I don't agree.
wrong place. A quick scene
guages, so I would recommend First of all, because we're
later shows the refrigerator now dicussing identity. There's not
this to anyone with an interest
in total chaos, with just the one single valid identity, but
in either of those. It’s also just
narrative “The refrigerator sor- many varied and perfectly
a generally fun movie to watch.
ted itself out”.
PT compatible identities. It's a
One of the main discus- question of respect. For example,
sions regarding languages in- I have at least two identities: my
volves the Gambian identity, which I carry
clash internally, and my Catalan
between identity. It's not contradictory to
Catalan and combine identities.
Spanish in
Spain. The
Erasmus
Xavier: I'm French, Spanish,
students are English, Danish. I'm not one, but
frustrated many. I'm like Europe, I'm all
that their that. I'm a real mess.
professor
insists on
lecturing
them in
Catalan
while they


Languages in Peril - The Finno-Ugrics

Languages in Peril
The Finno-Ugrics
There are thousands Northern Veps, the most dis- likely to learn it. Efforts were
of languages that are in tinctive dialect, is spoken made to revive it and at the
south of Petrozavodsk and start of the 20th century,
danger of becoming ex-
north of the river Svir. schools were started for
tinct. Here, we will be Speakers of this dialect refer teaching Veps. At the same
looking at three of them to themselves as “ludi” or time, a written version was
that are a member of the “lüdilaižed” created us-
Finno-Ugric family: . ing a form of
Veps
Whether it can be the Latin al-
Veps, Nenets and Komi. revived... or not will
belongs to phabet.
If you mention the the Balto- depend on how many Veps
Finno-Ugric language group Finnic of these children will primers and
branch of text books
to a language geek (since a
the Finno-
pass it on to the next were pub-
non language geek will just
look at you like you’ve grown Ugric lan-
generation lished start-
a third head), chances are guages and ing in 1932,
they will only be able to tell has close but an as-
you of two or three lan- ties to both Karelian and similation policy was intro-
guages in it: Finnish, Esto- Finnish. It only has approx- duced in the Soviet Union,
nian and Hungarian. imately 6 thousand speak- and with the Vepsians being
There are, however, as ers, a sharp drop from a a minority group, these
with most language groups, reported 12 thousand from schools were closed down,
a number of lesser known Soviet statistics in 1989 (al- the teachers were thrown in
related languages. We are though all the Soviet statist- prison, and the textbooks
going to look at three of ics related to this are were burned. Many Vepsi-
them. questionable), and that is ans gave up the language
largely in the older genera- and, being surrounded by
tion; younger people are not Russians, adopted Russian
Veps as their language
Veps, or Vepsian (native: instead.
vepsän kel’, vepsän keli, or In 1989, ef-
vepsä) is spoken by, unsur- forts were restar-
prisingly, the Vepsians (also ted to revive the
known as Veps). These language, but they
people mainly live Russia have not been
now, and the language has largely successful,
three main dialects, spoken and the number of
in specific regions. Central native Veps
Veps is spoken in the Saint speakers contin-
Petersburg region and west- ues to decline
ern Vologoda Oblast. South- today. Now, In
ern Veps is also spoken in Russia, over 350
the Saint Petersburg region. A Soviet textbook for native speakers of Veps printed in children are learn-
the 1930s.


ing the Vepsian language in five ity, so much so that they are Latin alphabet, but this was
national schools. Whether it can sometimes referred to as separ- changed to Cyrillic in 1937 and
be revived and the decline re- ate languages. Both have been is still in use today. Forest Nen-
versed or not will depend on how greatly influenced by Russian, ets was only first written in the
many of these children will pass but Tundra Nenets has also 1990s using the Cyrillic alpha-
it on to the next generation. been influenced by Northern bet as well.
Khanty and Komi, while Forest Both of the Nenets are con-
Nenets Nenets has adopted aspects of sidered endangered languages,
Another Finno-Ugric lan- Eastern Khanty. The dialects of but Forest Nenets is on the seri-
guage, belonging to the Sam- Khanty are mutually unintelli- ously endangered list, which en-
oyedic branch, is Nenets (native: gible, so these influences further compasses those languages with
Ненэця’ вада / Nenėcjaˀ vada ). divide the Nenets dialects. Komi few children learning the lan-
The name “Nenets” is taken from will be discussed further later. guage.
their word for “man”. The native The Nenets were first written
term for their language is “n’en- using pictographic symbols Komi
ytsia vada”. And older term called “tamga”. Orthodox mis- Now Komi (or Zyrian, or Ko-
“Yuraks” is more widely known sionaries, like modern linguists, mi-Zyrian) has a much larger
outside of the former Soviet Uni- If a language could have number of speakers then Nenets
on and is taken from the Komi or Veps, with over 350 thousand
word “yaren” referring to Sam-
an identity crisis, .. Komi speakers, mainly in the Komi
oyeds. It has two main dialects, would be a likely Republic of northern Russia.
spoken in northern Russia by candidate for one. This language is part of the
the Nenets people. Permic branch of the Finno-
The first dialect is Tundra tried to create a written form for Ugrics and is closely related to
Nenets and is more widely Tundra Nenets and in 1830, the other member of that
spoken with over 30 thousand archimandrite Venyamin branch, Udmurt.
speakers than the second dia- Smirnov published some reli- Komi has several dialects
lect, Forest Nenets, which has gious texts using one of these with two main dialects. Komi-
just 1-2 thousand speakers. Un- forms. In 1895, some spelling Zyrian is the largest of the dia-
like the dialects of Veps, which books for Tundra Nenets were lects, spoken in the Komi Re-
are mutually intelligible, Tundra created, but they did not last. A public, and it is used as the
and Forest Nenets have only a literary language for it was es- main literary basis for that area.
very limited mutual intelligibil- tablished around 1931 using a The second dialect, Komi-Yo-
dzyak, is spoken in the southern
parts of the Komi Republic as
well as in a small area of Perm.
Both dialects are closely related
and mutually intelligible.
Komi has gone through
quite a number of writing sys-
tems over the centuries. The
writing system Komi first used
was the Old Permic script, in-
vented by a missionary in the
14th century. The alphabet
seemed to be a mix of medieval
Greek and Cyrillic. In the 16th
century, this was replaced by
the Russian alphabet with some
modifications. In the 17th cen-
tury, Komi adopted the Cyrillic
alphabet then changed again in
the 1920s with another modified
Cyrillic alphabet, Molodtsov. It
changed to the Latin alphabet in
the 1930s, then in the next dec-
ade converted back to Cyrillic
with a few extra letters. In its
Nenets family in their chum current form, it has seven vow-


meaning children no longer comprise of morphemes at-
Trilingual learn the language as their tached together without
(Russian, Zyrian mother tongue at home. In many changes happening
and English) sign 1989, the First Komi Na- between them. Each of these
in a hotel in
Ukhta, Komi
tional Congress established morphemes has its own
Republic a Komi National Revival meaning, so a normal Finno-
Committee, which managed Ugric verb will consist of
to get Komi and Russian separate morphemes which
declared coequal state lan- relate the tense, aspect and
guages in the Komi Repub- agreement.
lic, but progress in reviving Now you know more
it beyond that has been about the Finno-Ugric lan-
limited. guages in general as well as
about some lesser known
Commonality members than probably did
A common tie in the before. Next time one of your
Finno-Ugric languages is friends mentions he or she
the absence of grammatical is learning Finnish or Hun-
els. If a language could have gender, a trait shared with garian, you can ask them if
an identity crisis (and some English. They also have a they have considered one of
will argue they can), Komi rich case system which can these other related lan-
would be a likely candidate be daunting to first time guages. Then they can look
for one. learners. They are also nor- at you as if you’ve grown a
The Komi language is mally agglutinative in third head. PT
“definitely endangered”, nature, meaning words are

Nenets children on a sled. If endangered languages
aren’t passed on to the children, they cannot survive.


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Word on the Streets

The Russian Zone

Th e s treets of P arl erem o
are n am ed after fam ou s
wri ters for th e l an g u ag e of
each q u arter. Th i s i s wh ere
we t a k e a q u i c k l o o k a t
wh y th ey are fam ou s .

Words on the Street - The Russian Zone

улица Лермонтова
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov
(Russian: Михаил Юрьевич Лермонтов)
1 5 October 1 81 4 – 27 July 1 841
Mikhail Lermontov was a which he accused the inner circles
famous Russian romantic writer, of the government to be complicit in
poet and painter, considered to be Pushkin’s death. Tsar Nicholas I
the greatest Russian poet, second banished Lermontov to the
only to Pushkin. His influence on Caucasus for his impertinence.
Russian literature is felt even today
and his works can be easily quoted Lermontov finished his greatest
from memory by millions of work, the novel “A Hero of Our Time”
Russians. His had his first in 1839, which featured a
published poem, “Spring”, in 1830. disenchanted young nobleman
One of his greatest works was named Pechorin. It earned him
“Borodino”, a poem describing the widespread acclaim, but it also
Battle of Borodino, the major battle described a duel which was similar
of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, to the one which eventually took his
was first published in 1837. life. In July of 1841, a russian army
officer named Nikolai Martynov took
However, his works weren’t offense to one of Lermontov’s jokes,
always appreciated. Expressing his challenged him to a duel, and
and his countries anger at the death Lermontov was killed by the first
of Pushkin in 1837, he composed shot.
the passionate “Death of the Poet” in

Bibliography Online
• Spring, 1830, poem Works by Mikhail Lermontov at Project
• A Strange Man, 1831, drama/play Gutenberg
• The Masquerade, 1835, verse play http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/l#a469
• Borodino, 1837, poem
• Death of the Poet, 1837, poem Translations of various poems by Mikhail
• The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, 1837, Lermontov
poem http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/lermont
• Sashka, 1839, poem ov/lermontov_ind.html
• The Novice, 1840, poem
• A Hero of Our Time, novel Various Lermontov poems in Russian with
• Demon, 1841, poem English translations, some audio files
• The Princess of the Tide, 1841, ballad http://max.mmlc.northwestern.edu/~mdenner/De
• Valerik, 1841, poem mo/poetpage/lermontov.html
Texts of various Lermontov works
http://ilibrary.ru/author/lermontov/index.html


Words on the Street - The Russian Zone

улица Бунина
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin
(Russian: Иван Алексеевич Бунин)
22 October 1 870 – 8 November 1 953
Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin was the literary giants of the time. He met
very first Russian writer to win the and became close friends with Anton
Nobel Prize for Literature and his Chekhov, as well as Maxim Gorky,
collection of works in poetry and to whom he dedicated a collection of
stories is said to be one of the poetry, “Falling Leaves” (1901). He
richest in the Russian language. also met Leo Tolstoy in 1894 and
was infatuated with his prose.
He won his award based mainly Bunin tried to match Tolstoy’s own
on his autobiographical novel “The lifestyle, and was even sentenced to
Life of Arseniev”, published in 1939, three months in prison for
but his list of works was extensive distributing Tolstoyan literature in
both before and after that. He was 1894, but he managed to avoid
also best known for his short novels doing the time due to a general
“Dry Valley” (1912) and “The Valley” amnesty when Nicholas II took the
(1910) and his cycle of nostalgic throne.
stories “The Dark Alleys” (1946).
Bunin died in 1953, the same
Bunin was friends with and year as Joseph Stalin, of a heart
influenced by many of the great attack.

Bibliography Short novels
Short story collections • The Village, 1910
• To the Edge of the World and Other Stories • Dry Valley, 1912
1897 • Mitya’s Love, 1924
• Flowers of the Field, 1901
• Bird’s Shadow, 1913 Poetry
• Ioann the Mourner, 1913 • Poems (1887–1891)
• Chalice of Life, 1915 • Under the Open Skies, 1898
• The Gentleman from San Francisco, 1916 • Falling Leaves, 1901
• Chang’s Dreams, 1918 • Poems, 1903
• Temple of the Sun, 1917 • Poems of 1907
• Primal Love, 1921 • Selected Poems, 1929
• Scream, 1921
• Rose of Jerico, 1924 Online
• Mitya’s Love, 1924 Ivan Bunin site. Collection of biographies,
• Sunstroke, 1927 articles, photos and memoirs. (In Russian)
• Sacred Tree, 1931 http://bunin.niv.ru/
• Dark Avenues, 1943
• Judea in Spring, 1953 Bunin: Biographies, photos, poems, prose,
• Loopy Ears and Other Stories, 1954 diaries, critical essays (in Russian)
http://noblit.ru/content/category/4/56/33/
Novel
• The Life of Arseniev, 1939


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