From johne at ntwrks.com Thu May 1 05:41:26 1997 From: johne at ntwrks.com (John Ellison) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 05:41:26 +0000 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Could anyone suggest the current Russian term for software as well as for the scientific term "perturbation". Any help would be much appreciated. Please respond directly to me at John Ellison johne at ntwrks.com From smp at st-andrews.ac.uk Thu May 1 16:14:51 1997 From: smp at st-andrews.ac.uk (stefan pugh) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 11:14:51 -0500 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Greetings Seelangers, could anyone tell me what the Russian for 'social network' (in the sociolinguistic sense) would be? I assume set' of some sort. Thanks in advance, and please reply to me directly. S M Pugh smp at st-andrews.ac.uk ========================================== Stefan M Pugh Reader and Chairman, Department of Russian University of St Andrews St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ Scotland tel: 44-1334-462-953 fax: 44-1334-462-959 e-mail: smp at st-andrews.ac.uk web: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk ========================================== From johnson.60 at osu.edu Thu May 1 14:57:17 1997 From: johnson.60 at osu.edu (M.A. Johnson) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 10:57:17 -0400 Subject: Hilandar Research Library website Message-ID: The website of the Hilandar Research Library (HRL) and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies (RCMSS) at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio is currently available for viewing at the following address: http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/cmrs/rcmss/ The website features a brief history of Mount Athos and Hilandar Monastery as well as a description of the history of the founding of the HRL and the RCMSS illustrated with 82 images from Mount Athos, Greece (the monasteries, icons, frescoes, manuscripts et al.) The current issue of the HRL/RCMSS newsletter, Cyrillic Manuscript Heritage, is also available on this website. For further information contact: matejic.1 at osu.edu or johnson.60 at osu.edu From johnson.60 at osu.edu Thu May 1 15:00:14 1997 From: johnson.60 at osu.edu (M.A. Johnson) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 11:00:14 -0400 Subject: Medieval Slavic Research Stipend Message-ID: ANNUAL SUMMER RESEARCH STIPEND The Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio announces its Annual Summer Research Stipends for l997. Interested graduate students and faculty should submit a curriculum vitae and write a brief letter describing the nature of the research or investigation they would like to pursue which utilizes the materials available in the Hilandar Research Library.* Please indicate how this research relates to either your degree program or your interest in Medieval Studies, especially Slavic. *See the HRL/RCMSS website for general information about the HRL's holdings of medieval Slavic manuscripts on microfilm: http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/cmrs/rcmss/ Deadline: Thursday, May 29, 1997 (If more time is required, please contact RCMSS at 614-292-0634 or e-mail: matejic.1 at osu.edu) Stipends are usually in the amount of either $500 for approximately two weeks' research or $l,000 for one month's research. Note: If unable to fulfill the terms of the grant, the recipient may be required to return a portion of the award. Address letters to: Summer Stipend Award Committee Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies 225 Main Library 1858 Neil Avenue Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210-1286 From jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu Thu May 1 18:27:37 1997 From: jflevin at ucrac1.ucr.edu (Jules Levin) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 14:27:37 -0400 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) Message-ID: Considering the name of this location in Thailand, could this be a procrastinator's idea of an April Fool's joke? >A person who fluently speaks Russian and English is wanted for >the position of instructor of scuba diving for diving school in Phuket, >Thailand. It is better if such person has some diving experience, but if >not, he/she can be trained by that school. Phuket is island in southern >Thailand. Life is cheap and calm there. Unlike most of Thailand, it has >good and healthy climate. The scuba diving school consists of German and >British guys who are friendly and cooperative. The owner is Alan Rooney, >a remarkable man with "no problem" attitude and excellent English humour. > >The bad news is that salary is not big: $1-1.5K per month. (The place and >work are so nice that big salary is hardly expectable. Besides, a >promotion is possible.) This may be the perfect position for someone in >Russia to get by in hard times (only one person is needed!) > >I write in behalf of Alan Rooney. If you are interested, please contact >him directly. His address is kbdive at loxinfo.co.th > From jdkst12+ at pitt.edu Thu May 1 18:31:47 1997 From: jdkst12+ at pitt.edu (John D Kachur) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 14:31:47 -0400 Subject: clarification on julian/gregorian calendars & Easter In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970430103204.0069760c@mail.gte.net> Message-ID: Worthy Colleagues, Among other Web resources Mr. Jacobson did not mention, see the "Calculation of the Ecclesiastical Calendar" at http://cssa.stanford.edu/~marcos/ec-cal.html Here you'll find: lists for Eastern and Western Easter from 1875-2124; a program for figuring the date af Easter according to Julian or Gregorian calendars fro any year from 325 A.D. on; a brief explanation of how the Easter dates are calculated; and a brief history of why East and West use different criteria. Sincerely, John ___________________________________________________________________ John D. Kachur e-mail: jdkst12+ at pitt.edu Slavic Languages and Literatures business: 412-624-5906 Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1417 CL fax: 412-624-9714 Pittsburgh, PA 15260 home: 412-362-0979 URL: http://www.pitt.edu/~jdkst12 On Wed, 30 Apr 1997, L C J Jacobson wrote: > >There will be no leap day in the year 2000, so the disparity between the > >two calendars will not increase: > > Sorry to drag this out, but one of the above statements is incorrect. > > Instead of asking one another, some acolytes may prefer to consult the > Omniscient Oracles of Science, such as NIST > > > > or the Royal Greenwich Observatory > > , > > among other resources. > > -jake the unworthy > From sforres1 at swarthmore.edu Thu May 1 20:22:16 1997 From: sforres1 at swarthmore.edu (Sibelan Forrester) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 16:22:16 -0400 Subject: Books for Review in SEEJ -- updated Message-ID: Dear Friends and Colleagues, The list of books available for review in the Slavic and East European Journal has been updated. You can find a link to it on the AATSEEL home page, , or if you have already read all the introductory prose you may go directly to . The next update will most likely take place in late May. Compulsive analysis shows the greatest activity in the areas of literary criticism, linguistics and language, and history and culture, with a little bit in pedagogy and none at all in art/architecture and music. So if you, your friends, or your deserving senior graduate students specialize in these areas, you are especially encouraged to glance through the list. All the best at the semester's end, Sibelan Forrester AATSEEL Hit List Modern L & L Swarthmore College From dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu Fri May 2 04:05:51 1997 From: dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu (Rinat Bulgakov) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:05:51 -0700 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) Message-ID: Jules Levin wrote: > > Considering the name of this location in Thailand, could this be a > procrastinator's idea of an April Fool's joke? Heheheheheh!!! Oh, my... -- Rinat A. Bulgakov, M.A., M.Ed, Professional Translator, Toledo, OH (419) 698-5496 E-mail: dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu From khayutin at interlynx.net Fri May 2 04:26:58 1997 From: khayutin at interlynx.net (Eugene Khayutin) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:26:58 -0700 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Hi, Most people would call it "krug obschenia" or "okruzhenie", I think. Eugene Khayutin. stefan pugh wrote: > > Greetings Seelangers, could anyone tell me what the Russian for 'social > network' (in the sociolinguistic sense) would be? I assume set' of some > sort. Thanks in advance, and please reply to me directly. > > S M Pugh > smp at st-andrews.ac.uk > > ========================================== > Stefan M Pugh > Reader and Chairman, Department of Russian > University of St Andrews > St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ Scotland > tel: 44-1334-462-953 > fax: 44-1334-462-959 > e-mail: smp at st-andrews.ac.uk > web: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk > ========================================== From khayutin at interlynx.net Fri May 2 04:34:02 1997 From: khayutin at interlynx.net (Eugene Khayutin) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 21:34:02 -0700 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Hi John, Software: "Programnoe obespechenie", I believe. Perturbation: there is a russian word "perturbaciya", but I am not sure if it can always be used in the same sence... Eugene Khayutin John Ellison wrote: > > Could anyone suggest the current Russian term for software as well as for the > scientific term "perturbation". Any help would be much appreciated. Please > respond directly to me at > > John Ellison > johne at ntwrks.com From elenakh at rccd.cc.ca.us Fri May 2 04:43:28 1997 From: elenakh at rccd.cc.ca.us (Elena Kobzeva-Herzog) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:43:28 -0400 Subject: Learning Russian In-Reply-To: <199704261019.HAA03197@svn.com.br> Message-ID: At 07:19 AM 4/26/97 -0300, you wrote: >Hi, everybody! > >Is there any Russian lesson on the Web? I am interested in taking some >lessons in order to improve my learning. > >Best regards, > >> >Getulio Medeiros >email: gm at svn.com.br >URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/8527 > Did you find any Russian lesson on the Web? Please reply if you found something interesting. Elena > From gm at svn.com.br Fri May 2 10:16:14 1997 From: gm at svn.com.br (Getulio Medeiros) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:16:14 -0300 Subject: Learning Russian Message-ID: At 00:43 02/05/97 -0400, you wrote: >At 07:19 AM 4/26/97 -0300, you wrote: >>Hi, everybody! >> >>Is there any Russian lesson on the Web? I am interested in taking some >>lessons in order to improve my learning. >> >>Best regards, >> >>> >>Getulio Medeiros >>email: gm at svn.com.br >>URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/8527 >> >Did you find any Russian lesson on the Web? Please reply if you found >something interesting. >Elena > > > Dear Elena, So far I did not get a positive answer, but I am still looking for. Sincerely, > Getulio Medeiros email: gm at svn.com.br URL: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/8527 From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Fri May 2 10:52:29 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 06:52:29 -0400 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) Message-ID: Wow, I didn't even notice the island name! Although it does seem appropriate for the laid-back type of job that's being offered! Maybe I should consider applying..... hehehe Devin From rbeard at bucknell.edu Fri May 2 11:12:01 1997 From: rbeard at bucknell.edu (Robert Beard) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 07:12:01 -0400 Subject: Learning Russian on the Web Message-ID: Anyone interested in studying Russian on the Web should take a look at http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/language --RB ---------------------------------------------------------- Robert Beard, Russian & Linguistics Programs Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837 rbeard at bucknell.edu Russian Program http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian Dictionaries http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction.html From djbpitt+ at pitt.edu Fri May 2 12:28:30 1997 From: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu (David J Birnbaum) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 08:28:30 -0400 Subject: Phuket Message-ID: Dear SEELANGers, I can't offer any information about the authenticity of the scuba job, but Phuket is a real place about 150 miles north of the Thai/Malaysian border on the Andaman Sea. Go for it, Devin! Cheers, David ________________________________________________________________________ Professor David J. Birnbaum email: djbpitt+ at pitt.edu Department of Slavic Languages url: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~djb/ 1417 Cathedral of Learning voice: 1-412-624-5712 University of Pittsburgh fax: 1-412-624-9714 Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA From K.R.Hauge at easteur-orient.uio.no Thu May 1 12:43:46 1997 From: K.R.Hauge at easteur-orient.uio.no (Kjetil Ra Hauge) Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 14:43:46 +0200 Subject: Learning Russian on the Web In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19970502071154.006a58a0@mail.bucknell.edu> Message-ID: >Anyone interested in studying Russian on the Web should take a look at > >http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/language > Also http://www.auburn.edu/~mitrege/RWT/exercises/index.html --- Kjetil Ra Hauge, U. of Oslo. --- Tel. +47/22 85 67 10, fax +47/22 85 41 40 From daugherty.58 at osu.edu Fri May 2 14:12:22 1997 From: daugherty.58 at osu.edu (Holly Daugherty) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:12:22 -0500 Subject: remove me from listserve Message-ID: Please remove my address from your listserve. Thanks. My address is: daugherty.58 at osu.edu From frosset at wheatonma.edu Fri May 2 14:27:16 1997 From: frosset at wheatonma.edu (Francoise Rosset) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 10:27:16 -0400 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) Message-ID: Whether or not the job itself is a joke, the place is real. The Thai name for their capital city, by the way, is NOT Bangkok, a name which always makes English-speakers titter. It isn't exactly the fault of the Thais that their words sound funny or scabrous in English- or rather LOOK like they might sound funny, as the actual sound is something else again. Nor is this their problem since English is not their language. -Francoise Considering the name of this location in Thailand, could this be a >procrastinator's idea of an April Fool's joke? > > >>A person who fluently speaks Russian and English is wanted for >>the position of instructor of scuba diving for diving school in Phuket, >>Thailand. It is better if such person has some diving experience, but if >>not, he/she can be trained by that school. Phuket is island in southern >>Thailand. Life is cheap and calm there. Unlike most of Thailand, it has >>good and healthy climate. The scuba diving school consists of German and >>British guys who are friendly and cooperative. The owner is Alan Rooney, >>a remarkable man with "no problem" attitude and excellent English humour. >> >>The bad news is that salary is not big: $1-1.5K per month. (The place and >>work are so nice that big salary is hardly expectable. Besides, a >>promotion is possible.) This may be the perfect position for someone in >>Russia to get by in hard times (only one person is needed!) >> >>I write in behalf of Alan Rooney. If you are interested, please contact >>him directly. His address is kbdive at loxinfo.co.th >> Francoise Rosset phone: (508) 286-3696 Wheaton College e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu Norton, Massachusetts 02766 From rwallach at calvin.usc.edu Fri May 2 17:09:06 1997 From: rwallach at calvin.usc.edu (Ruth Wallach) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 09:09:06 -0800 Subject: Of Web Gods and other matters Message-ID: I have followed with some interest various occasional discussions about what is on someone's web server and how it can be accessed. Generally speaking, does anyone use the Web regularly in classroom instruction or on research? If yes, how. If no, why? Any comments would be much appreciated. Thanks Ruth Wallach From mct7 at columbia.edu Fri May 2 16:26:12 1997 From: mct7 at columbia.edu (clark troy) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:26:12 -0400 Subject: Gertsenovedy In-Reply-To: <199705021607.JAA05653@calvin.usc.edu> Message-ID: Dear Seelangovtsy, Does anyone have an email address for Martin Malia or, alternately, can anyone suggest another scholar who's done a substantial amount of work on Herzen more recently than Malia. I have one rather specific question which requires the attention of a specialist. Many thanks, Clark Troy Slavics Dept. Columbia University www.soros.org/central_eurasia.html From mf2199 at cnsvax.albany.edu Fri May 2 16:28:42 1997 From: mf2199 at cnsvax.albany.edu (Michele Fisher) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:28:42 -0400 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Having followed the hype about the SCUBA job, I just wanted to put my 'dve kopeeki' in: the pronounciation I've heard for this island is "poo-ket" (with the accent on the -ket), which significantly reduces the 'igra slov' thing that's been happening. BTW, we have some pretty strange place names here in the US: Intercourse, PA, comes to mind, which lends itself to a host of possible job openings (or something). Michele Fisher Grad Student Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures SUNY Albany On Fri, 2 May 1997, Francoise Rosset wrote: > Whether or not the job itself is a joke, the place is real. The Thai name > for their capital city, by the way, is NOT Bangkok, a name which always > makes English-speakers titter. > It isn't exactly the fault of the Thais that their words sound funny or > scabrous in English- or rather LOOK like they might sound funny, as the > actual sound is something else again. Nor is this their problem since > English is not their language. > -Francoise > > Francoise Rosset phone: (508) 286-3696 > Wheaton College e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu > Norton, Massachusetts 02766 > From rbeard at bucknell.edu Fri May 2 16:48:23 1997 From: rbeard at bucknell.edu (Robert Beard) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 12:48:23 -0400 Subject: Of Web Gods and other matters Message-ID: Next year all my courses will be Web-based. Although the syllabuses are not yet complete for all of them, all have been used once and they may be accessed at: http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/ru125/fn046.html http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/ru201 http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/linguistics/ln105.html The sister of the linguistics course is complete and was used this semester. Its URL is: http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/linguistics/ln110.html I base my courses on an on-line interactive syllabus which places all the materials of the course on-line, linked to a single syllabus for simplicity and convenience. The syllabus contains several interactive teaching aids which students may access 24 hourse a day, 7 days a week (at their convenience). The same materials are then projected in the classroom so that everyone is precisely on track at all times (whether the homework is done or not). There is virtually no writing on the blackboard and note-taking is reduced to a minimum so that students do not have to choose between taking notes or following the discussion. I find myself adding material to fill the additional time saved by not having to write on the blackboard, or fidget with tape recorders, projectors, and the like. --Bob -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Beard, Director (office) 717-524-1336 Russian Studies Program (home) 717-524-9240 Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA 17837 Russia http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian/ Dictionaries http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- From kk50 at cornell.edu Fri May 2 17:29:19 1997 From: kk50 at cornell.edu (Katerina Krivinkova) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:29:19 -0400 Subject: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) In-Reply-To: <3369681F.63D5@POP3.utoledo.edu> Message-ID: Since SEELANGS is not a moderated news group, perhaps its members could moderate themselves and refrain from filling our precious disk and brain space with clutter? Katya Krivinkova On Thu, 1 May 1997, Rinat Bulgakov wrote: > Jules Levin wrote: > > > > Considering the name of this location in Thailand, could this be a > > procrastinator's idea of an April Fool's joke? > > > Heheheheheh!!! Oh, my... > -- > Rinat A. Bulgakov, M.A., M.Ed, > Professional Translator, Toledo, OH > (419) 698-5496 > E-mail: dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu > From howsol at falcon.cc.ukans.edu Fri May 2 19:26:58 1997 From: howsol at falcon.cc.ukans.edu (SOLOMON HOWARD TODD) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:26:58 -0500 Subject: Liubimov's production of M+M Message-ID: Does anyone happen to know the name of the set designer for the Liubimov production of The Master and Margarita at the Taganka during the 96 season? Thanks. Howard Solomon University of Kansas howsol at falcon.cc.ukans.edu From vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca Fri May 2 20:11:52 1997 From: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca (Vladimir Tumanov) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 15:11:52 -0500 Subject: Russian Videos Message-ID: Hi, fellow-SEELANGERS: I have a questions about Russian language videos for begginner students. Can anyone recommend something good, something that I can use to supplement my 1st-year textbook? I know that there are textbooks out there that come with videos, but my Dept. is not using them (unfortunately). So I need some independent videos. Thanks in advance. Vladimir Tumanov, Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages and Literatures University College 115, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Telephone: w. (519) 661-3196, h. (519) 471-3429 Fax: (519) 661-4093 Electronic Mail: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca From thurmchcs at juno.com Fri May 2 22:34:31 1997 From: thurmchcs at juno.com (Eileen C Thurman) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 14:34:31 PST Subject: insurance for student exchange Message-ID: I am organizing my first ever student exchange with a school in St. Petersburg, and seek information on good health and travel insurance for my students and for the Russian students coming to the US. I have a brochure from a company named Worldwide Assistance, 1133 15th St, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20005. Can anyone tell me of past experience with this company? Any recommendations from those of you experienced in student exchanges? Eileen Thurman thurmchcs at juno.com From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Fri May 2 21:38:40 1997 From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 17:38:40 -0400 Subject: Of Web Gods and other matters Message-ID: I have used the web for research, for example, on the topic of Russian Jews. Your librarians should be able to help you. I use the "search" button on Netscape and then type in the words I'm looking for. E. Tall From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Fri May 2 21:40:58 1997 From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 17:40:58 -0400 Subject: Russian Videos Message-ID: I like the video that comes with the new ACTR first-year Book. E. Tall From tom.priestly at ualberta.ca Fri May 2 22:35:47 1997 From: tom.priestly at ualberta.ca (Tom Priestly) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 16:35:47 -0600 Subject: Webgods Message-ID: >I have followed with some interest various occasional discussions about >what is on someone's web server and how it can be accessed. > >Generally speaking, does anyone use the Web regularly in classroom >instruction or on research? If yes, how. If no, why? > >Any comments would be much appreciated. > >Thanks > >Ruth Wallach +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Here is one instructional use I know of: A colleague (Ehud Ben Zvi) teaches Introduction to Religions of the World (Freshman course) and uses the WWW for assignments adding up to a significant part of the course grade. Fortunately for him, most of the world's religious sects - at least, those with followers in North America, which is very many! - have home pages with details of their beliefs, practices, holy days, and so on; so all Ehud has to do is provide a list of links on his own "course home page" to save the students' cruising time, to so speak, and he can let the religious groups speak for themselves. I am preparing a course to be called "Minority Languages - Cutlures in Peril?" and was hoping to follow Ehud's example, but only a few minority language groups have set themselves up with home pages yet, so that idea is on hold. (The one I work with has, but then one's own group is always better, kaj ne?) Any other ideas out there? Tom Priestly ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ * Tom Priestly * (President, Society for Slovene Studies) * Modern Languages and Comparative Studies * University of Alberta * Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E6 --------------------------------------------------------------- * telephone: 403 - 492 - 4219 * fax: 403 - 492 - 2715 * email: tom.priestly at ualberta.ca ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ From dstephan at brynmawr.edu Sat May 3 01:45:41 1997 From: dstephan at brynmawr.edu (David Stephan) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 21:45:41 -0400 Subject: Russian Videos Message-ID: At 03:11 PM 5/2/97 -0500, you wrote: >Hi, fellow-SEELANGERS: > I have a questions about Russian language videos for begginner >students. Can anyone recommend something good, something that I can use to >supplement my 1st-year textbook? As we reached the end of the semester, we were looking for something to do with the extra 4 days. We were using the new ACTR-developped "Live from Moscow - Stage I" and thought it appropriate to show a real Russian film. We asked around and decided on "Operatsiia 'Y,'" a Soviet-era slapstick comedy. We needed something that the students would understand even if they couldn't get most of the words. This film is good because there's not a tremendous amount of dialogue and there is a lot of action and most importantly *humor*. We showed the first two episodes ("Naparnik" and "Navazhdenik") and prepared advanced organizers/vocab. lists. It was a tremendous success-- the students loved the film and gained a sense that they could understand speech at normal rates of speed. P.S. I'm not using the royal "we" but including my colleague who does not use e-mail. David Stephan Bryn Mawr College From rbeard at bucknell.edu Sat May 3 02:48:05 1997 From: rbeard at bucknell.edu (Robert Beard) Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 22:48:05 -0400 Subject: terminology Message-ID: John, Congratulations! You're quite the prolific scholar. You make your old mentor proud. What else are you up to these days? I see your email address has changed. --Bob ---------------------------------------------------------- Robert Beard, Russian & Linguistics Programs Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837 rbeard at bucknell.edu Russian Program http://www.bucknell.edu/departments/russian Dictionaries http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction.html From johne at ntwrks.com Sat May 3 06:11:22 1997 From: johne at ntwrks.com (John Ellison) Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 06:11:22 +0000 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Bob, Thanks. Well, for the past several weeks I have certainly been up alot - if not up to much. I am for the next three weeks still working full-time for the bookstore. When Caroline's maternity leave is over I will be a house-dad again. I have still been teaching and lately have begun to supplement my income by doing free-lance translation projects. This unfortunately seems like the only way that I will be able to use my Russian skills for making a living. Not as soul satisfying as Dostoevsky but it is enjoyable in its own way. The part I enjoy most about it is that I actually learn as I work unlike my current job where I turn my brain off. I see Peter Debetta all the time - in fact I'm helping him try to learn some Russian. He says hello. He's turned his linguistic talents to computer languages and has done very well as a program developer and trainer. Other than that life goes on largely as before - the change in email address was brought about by the collapse of my previous ISP. We're still happy in Cary and plan on being here for quite a while. I've enjoyed and agreed with most of your remarks on SEELANGS about the current ills of the profession and I'm afraid that until some others descend momentarily from their tenured ivory towers that they may very well effectively kill any future growth in the profession. Let's hope not. Hope all is well with you. I'll try to stay in better touch. I have no idea when we might be in Lewisburg soon (July at the earliest) and I won't be going to Toronto this year. John From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Sat May 3 15:55:09 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 11:55:09 -0400 Subject: clutter - in the eye of the beholder? Message-ID: Hi! Just a note regarding your message below.... I think it's important to maintain a sense of humor about these kinds of things. We have enough serious matters in our profession these days that a chuckle here or there can do some good--building collegiality and friendships throughout our profession, among other things. I hope this doesn't sound too severe, but I found your message to be more cluttering since it put a damper on a harmless discussion which would have probably soon fizzled out anyway. And regarding disk space (or brain space for that matter!) you can always just hit the delete button. Hope you take no offense at this message. I only intended to offer a perspective you may not have thought of. Sincerely, Devin P Browne dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu =========== Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 13:29:19 -0400 From: Katerina Krivinkova Subject: Re: Unusual job offer in Thailand (fwd) Since SEELANGS is not a moderated news group, perhaps its members could moderate themselves and refrain from filling our precious disk and brain space with clutter? Katya Krivinkova From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Sat May 3 17:49:24 1997 From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall) Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 13:49:24 -0400 Subject: terminology Message-ID: Will the two guys who are having a private correspondence please stop: everyone can read it!! Emily Tall From kscanlon at flash.net Sun May 4 04:31:19 1997 From: kscanlon at flash.net (m.k. scanlon) Date: Sat, 3 May 1997 23:31:19 -0500 Subject: Russian Videos Message-ID: how about "Moscow Knows No Tears" or "Cranes Are Flying" ? David Stephan wrote: > > At 03:11 PM 5/2/97 -0500, you wrote: > >Hi, fellow-SEELANGERS: > > I have a questions about Russian language videos for begginner > >students. Can anyone recommend something good, something that I can use to > >supplement my 1st-year textbook? From Mogens_Jensen at fc.sdbs.dk Mon May 5 06:16:41 1997 From: Mogens_Jensen at fc.sdbs.dk (Mogens Jensen) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:16:41 +0200 Subject: Russian videos Message-ID: One friend of mine sugestsTolstoy's Kavkazskij plennik -text plus film, made by Sergej Bodrov ca. 1995. Best regards, Mogens Jensen. From mfrfd at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu Mon May 5 13:29:18 1997 From: mfrfd at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Robert F. Druien) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:29:18 -0500 Subject: Ukrainian transcript help Message-ID: I have been asked to assist in this transcript "interpretation". Any help from our Ukrainian readers would be appreciated. We have an English translation of a transcript which reads: Incomplete Secondary School Diploma The Ukrainian is: Svidotsvo pro nepobnu zagal'nu serednju osvitu I-III stupeniv No. 11 The question is which of these, if any, describe the document: Maturity Certificate from an academic secondary school Secondary Vocational School Secondary Specialized School Pedagogical School Correspondence/Extension School Any assistance would be much appreciated. Please answer privately to address below. Thanks, Bob Druien Western Illinois University Macomb IL mfrfd at uxa.ecn.bgu.edu From GPloss at aol.com Mon May 5 15:08:12 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 11:08:12 -0400 Subject: Looking For Job Message-ID: I am looking for a job in the Moscow area. Can anyone give me any leads or where to look on finding a job? I have done a great deal of research on the internet, but any additional information would be helpful. Thanks, Greg Ploss gploss at aol.com From kaiserd at U.Arizona.EDU Mon May 5 15:33:49 1997 From: kaiserd at U.Arizona.EDU (David W Kaiser) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 08:33:49 -0700 Subject: Looking For Job In-Reply-To: <970505110810_1413986589@emout04.mail.aol.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 5 May 1997, Greg Ploss wrote: > I am looking for a job in the Moscow area. Can anyone give me any leads or > where to look on finding a job? I have done a great deal of research on the > internet, but any additional information would be helpful. > > Thanks, > > Greg Ploss > gploss at aol.com > Just pick and go there, arrange to stay with a buddy or a contact, and try to find something, you'll have no trouble. Try checking the two or three english language newspapers, networking will always help. As a rule, if you get a job in the US and they fly you over, the pay and perks are better, but that's harder to do than to get a job once you're there. Dave Kaiser Department of Russian and Slavic Languages University of Arizona GO WILDCATS!! From frosset at wheatonma.edu Mon May 5 21:29:14 1997 From: frosset at wheatonma.edu (Francoise Rosset) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 17:29:14 -0400 Subject: evtushenko's address Message-ID: Does anyone know how to get a hold of E. Evtushenko, who is supposed to be living in Oklahoma? We have a Russian playwright visiting the college and he would like to write to E.E. Even if you don't have a specific address, anything that would help narrow it down would be appreciated. Thank you all, -Francoise Francoise Rosset phone: (508) 286-3696 Wheaton College e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu Norton, Massachusetts 02766 From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Mon May 5 23:17:11 1997 From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 19:17:11 -0400 Subject: evtushenko's address Message-ID: I thought he was teaching at Queens College in Queens, New York. Or is that old news? E. Tall From cliberio at email.gc.cuny.edu Tue May 6 00:29:13 1997 From: cliberio at email.gc.cuny.edu (Chiara Liberio) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 20:29:13 -0400 Subject: evtushenko's address In-Reply-To: <01IIISBW1WZM9057HT@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu> Message-ID: On Mon, 5 May 1997, Emily Tall wrote: > I thought he was teaching at Queens College in Queens, New York. Or is > that old news? E. Tall I think so too, he should still be there. Chiara liberio (I think at the Department of CompRATIVE Literature. The exact place would be Flushing, NY> From kvwood at bcn.net Tue May 6 00:49:55 1997 From: kvwood at bcn.net (Kevin Wood) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 20:49:55 -0400 Subject: Russian Movies Message-ID: When I was in St. Petersburg on exchange, we watched a movie in class about a guy who built a time machine, and as often happens when you build your own time machine, he and a friend end up switching time periods with Ivan Groznii. I don't remember the name of the movie, but it was pretty good, funny, and easy to follow. God Bless, Kevin Wood From Bohdan at panix.com Tue May 6 01:18:36 1997 From: Bohdan at panix.com (Bohdan Peter Rekshynskyj) Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:18:36 -0400 Subject: SUCHASNIST' - Major New Ukrainian Literary Journal Available on Internet Message-ID: Greetings, For the latest in Ukrainian literature, poetry, and related topics in the Ukrainian language, please visit http://www.tryzub.com/Suchasnist Regards, Bohdan Peter Rekshynskyj http://www.tryzub.com From feszczak at sas.upenn.edu Tue May 6 04:17:11 1997 From: feszczak at sas.upenn.edu (Zenon M. Feszczak) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 00:17:11 -0400 Subject: Neo-Euro Tolstoy Message-ID: A quote to be questioned: "Leo Tolstoy is justifiably famous as perhaps the greatest novelist in the history of Western literature." ("Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology". George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, Ronald Roblin. 2nd Edition. 1989 St. Martin's Press, New York. Intro, Part I, p. 7. Really, it's an excellent anthology, by the way). Tolstoy seems, to my undoubtedly biased perspective, about as Western as an onion (tsybulia) dome. Then again, perhaps the guilty/responsible editor (who chose to remain nameless as the author of this introduction) is simply subsuming Leo under the Western conceptual tradition of the "novel". Or perhaps the editors were thinking of spaghetti Westerns? A vision of Tolstoy in a cowboy hat and guns a-blazing suddenly shocked me out of my post-modern complacency. Perhaps it's just that Tolstoy had that rather addictive aristocratic habit of slipping into the French language. By the way, did Rilke ever forgive the diplomatic gent for harping on the worthlessness of lyric poetry? As they say in certain circles: "That must have hurt". Nothing nearly as intriguing as the fact that the "greatest novelist in the history of Western literature" judged pre-humously, even pre-hummusly, that, according to his own passionately moral philosophy (cf. "What is Art?"), all of his novels (the greatest in the history of Western literature, mind you) were best relegated to six-shooter target practice. That's what I call integrity. An attempt to out-Gogol Gogol? Writing with a momentarily dead soul, and apologies to all involved, implicating no one but myself, self-stukach, Zenon M. Feszczak Philosopher ex nihilo University of Pennsylvania From cleminso at ceu.hu Tue May 6 08:12:08 1997 From: cleminso at ceu.hu (Ralph Cleminson) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 09:12:08 +100 Subject: Neo-Euro Tolstoy Message-ID: On Tue, 6 May 1997 Zenon M. Feszczak wrote: > A quote to be questioned: > > "Leo Tolstoy is justifiably famous as perhaps the greatest novelist in the > history of Western literature." > > ("Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology". George Dickie, Richard Sclafani, > Ronald Roblin. 2nd Edition. 1989 St. Martin's Press, New York. Intro, > Part I, p. 7. Really, it's an excellent anthology, by the way). > > Tolstoy seems, to my undoubtedly biased perspective, about as Western as an > onion (tsybulia) dome. But both of these are Western - or, to put it another way, they certainly aren't Chinese. Messrs. Dickie and Co. are to be congratulated for realising that Europe doesn't end at Cologne, which is what you'd think from reading a lot of books on "European" history/culture/what have you... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ R.M.Cleminson, M.A., D.Phil. Dept of Mediaeval Studies, Central European University Post: H-1245 Budapest 5, P.O.B.1082 Phone: +361 327 3024 Fax: +361 327 3055 http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/ralph.htm From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Tue May 6 10:28:37 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 06:28:37 -0400 Subject: jobs in Moscow Message-ID: Have you checked the AATSEEL job index? There haven't been many posting in recent days, but you might find something that is still accepting applications. The URL is: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~aatseel/jobs/job-index.html Good luck! Devin Devin P Browne dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu From khayuti at mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA Tue May 6 11:13:02 1997 From: khayuti at mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA (Mila Khayutin) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 07:13:02 -0400 Subject: Russian Movies In-Reply-To: <336E8016.17F0@bcn.net> Message-ID: The name of the movie is "Ivan Vassillievich meniayet professiyu" - very funny, indeed. On Mon, 5 May 1997, Kevin Wood wrote: > When I was in St. Petersburg on exchange, we watched a movie in class > about a guy who built a time machine, and as often happens when you > build your own time machine, he and a friend end up switching time > periods with Ivan Groznii. I don't remember the name of the movie, but > it was pretty good, funny, and easy to follow. > > God Bless, > Kevin Wood > From ggerhart at wolfenet.com Tue May 6 16:23:16 1997 From: ggerhart at wolfenet.com (Genevra Gerhart) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 09:23:16 -0700 Subject: Neo-Euro Tolstoy Message-ID: OK. So let us pretend that Tolstoy is not the greatest novelist in Western literature. Who is? -- Genevra Gerhart http://www.wolfenet.com/~ggerhart/ 2134 E. Interlaken Bl. Tel. 206/329-0053 Seattle, WA 98112 ggerhart at wolfenet.com From GPloss at aol.com Tue May 6 17:56:22 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 13:56:22 -0400 Subject: Russian Job - Thank You Message-ID: Dear Friends, Thank you all so much for your interest in my search. Because of the response and at least one request, I thought I might briefly share some of my research with you all. If you have any specific questions, I will be glad to help, if I can. First, one person wrote about the Moscow Times job section. Yes, that has many job listings. The problem is that they all want to "see" you, so while I faxed many resumes using this technique, the response was terrible because I was still in the US. I believe if you were there, this would be a great source. Moscow Times is free, and you can find it almost anywhere in Moscow. Another person wrote and said just go there and you will get a job. Believe it or not, this is the advice I have received from many experienced people. One person told me to take a suitcase full of resumes and just walk from street to street and he promised I would find a job. This creates a "chicken and egg" problem because without a job, you cannot get the invitation you need in order to aquire a business visa. I then began a search for a visa. I found many companies that would arrange a visa, but it was VERY expensive. The first one I found was going to cost $2,500 for a one year multi entry. I finally found a very nice travel company that was able to arrange everything for me at a reasonable cost. So I had everything ready, visa and ticket in hand, but, don't laugh, I got cold feet. Back to the drawing board, I kept searching the net. I was told over and over I could easily find a job teaching English. This really sounded fun and interesting. I found some great people at "Project Harmony", and they found me a job! Unfortunatly, it was unclear if the school would remain open throughout the summer. I was afraid I would get there and they would tell me, "see you in September." The people at PH recommended that I wait until about July. This is when they start placing teachers for the fall. This is my primary plan, but I want to keep all options open, and pursue any lead I can. I hope you all have not found this too boring. I am intersted in any information concerning visas, jobs, apartments, anything related to living there. I have traveled there three times, so I will be happy to share what limited knowledge I have. Thanks again for all the help! Greg Ploss From akrill at shiva.hunter.cuny.edu Tue May 6 18:22:13 1997 From: akrill at shiva.hunter.cuny.edu (Hanya Krill) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:22:13 -0400 Subject: Ukrainian Lit. Conference at UVAN Message-ID: Sunday, May 18, 1997, 2pm UVAN 206 West 100th St. New York, NY 10025 212-222-1866 *** Lectures and discussions conducted in Ukrainian *** The Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US (UVAN) invites you to attend a conference marking the joint publication by UVAN and the Ukrainian Academic Press - "Annals," volumes 17,18,19: "A History of Ukrainian Literature From the XI to the End of the XIX Century" by Dmytro Cyzevskyj with "An Overview of the XXth Century" by George Luckyj. PROGRAM: Introductory remarks.................Dr. Marko Antonovych Commentary on editorial and translation aspects of publishing literary works............Dr. George Luckyj Remarks about the politics of the publishing of Ukrainian literary works.............Dr. Bohdan Wynar Information posted courtesy of Pani Oksana Radysh, UVAN From jamison at owlnet.rice.edu Tue May 6 18:45:49 1997 From: jamison at owlnet.rice.edu (John J. Ronald) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 13:45:49 -0500 Subject: evtushenko's address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 5 May 1997, Chiara Liberio wrote: > On Mon, 5 May 1997, Emily Tall wrote: > > > I thought he was teaching at Queens College in Queens, New York. Or is > > that old news? E. Tall > > I think so too, he should still be there. > Chiara liberio (I think at the Department of CompRATIVE Literature. The > exact place would be Flushing, NY> I saw Yevtushenko in person at a showing of his film _Stalin's Funeral_ about 2 years ago. I bought a copy of his latest poetry (which he was nice enough to autograph for me)...the book jacket says he divides most of his time between Moscow and Tulsa, Oklahoma. I don't have the book with me, but I'll send you any addresses I find per personal e-mail. --John Ronald Rice University Dept. of German & Slavic Studies From linda at sovam.com Tue May 6 19:06:28 1997 From: linda at sovam.com (Linda Bruce) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 15:06:28 EDT Subject: Study Opportunity at MGU Message-ID: The Center for Russian Studies at Moscow State University Certificate in Russian Business and Economics Students of Russian as a foreign language now have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the contemporary Russian business world and earn a certificate in business and economics. This non-traditional program is made for students who have had some sity. In the summer months instructors will vary. Although all courses are conducted in Russian, special courses in English or French may be organized if your level of Russian in not sufficient to listen to lectures in the language Requirements: Six courses including the following: Russian Business Language: Introduction to Russian business terms and lexicon. Conversational situations in the business world. Language of negotiations, contracts, agreements and business correspondence. partners in joint ventures. Instructor: Professor Tsagolova, Chair, Dept. of Sociology and Communicative Systems. fessor Sevruk, Chair, Dept. of Economics and Sociology. Economics of Geography: Regional economics of Russia and the former Soviet Union. Interaction and interdependence of regions in economy and trade, economic implications of geography. Major industries, raw materials, transportation system, agriculture. Political implications of economic problems, nationality issues, city vs. country, demographics. Instructor: N. Zubarevich, Docent, Dept. of Economics and Geography. Russian Business Law: Legal implications of doing business in Russia. Taxes and customs regulations, registrations and licenses, Russian commercial codex, labor laws. Instructor: P. Lakhno, Docent, Dept. of Law. One elective course chosen from the following: Russian Grammar and Composition or Russian Culture and Civilization. Internship: The Center for Russian Studies will secure an internship with a Russian firm or organization in Moscow. Possible internships include work with insurance companies, investment firms and Western or Russian newspapers. within the city of Moscow. For more information and application please contact: Mikhail Basharatian, Assistant Dean Department of Sociology Moscow State University Telephone/FAX : 7 095 132-24-58 E-mail: linda at sovam.com (Linda Bruce) From asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA Tue May 6 20:37:47 1997 From: asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA (Alexandra Sosnowski) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:37:47 -0600 Subject: Milosz's address Message-ID: Hi, I would very much appreciate if you can help me obtaining Prof. Czeslaw Milosz's address. Our university would like to invite him as a guest speaker for one of the most prestigeous lectures held annually. Any contact lead is appreciated. Thank you in advance. Alexnadra Sosnowski Department of German and Slavic Studies University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada e-mail: asosnow at cc.umanitoba.ca From cliberio at email.gc.cuny.edu Tue May 6 21:15:29 1997 From: cliberio at email.gc.cuny.edu (Chiara Liberio) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 17:15:29 -0400 Subject: basic textbook Message-ID: Dear Seelangers, I am interested to know whether there exists an introductory Russian textbook with an emphasis on language drawn from the field of the Social Sciences (politics, criminology, legal, etc.) - something similar to introductory textbooks with an emphasis on business language. I have seen a couple of such textbooks for intermediate level (like Political Russian by Simes and Robin) but nothing for beginners. Or, in alternative, a reader. I would appreciate any piece of information Best regards Chiara Liberio John Jay College - NY From nkm at faraday.clas.virginia.edu Tue May 6 18:32:23 1997 From: nkm at faraday.clas.virginia.edu (Natalie O. Kononenko) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 14:32:23 -0400 Subject: Ukrainian Lit. Conference at UVAN In-Reply-To: <199705061822.OAA20617@shiva.hunter.cuny.edu> from "Hanya Krill" at May 6, 97 02:22:13 pm Message-ID: Dear UVAN, I cannot attend the meeting, but I congratulate you for getting on the net! Natalie Kononenko From gadassov at mail.pf Tue May 6 22:32:04 1997 From: gadassov at mail.pf (Georges Adassovsky) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 12:32:04 -1000 Subject: Neo-Euro Tolstoy Message-ID: At 9:23 AM 06/05/97, Genevra Gerhart wrote: >OK. So let us pretend that Tolstoy is not the greatest novelist in >Western literature. >Who is? Is it possible to pick up a novelist, and tell : this one is THE greatest ? There are many great novelists in Western literature. Any reader may appreciate his own more than others. Beside, Tolstoj is more than a novelist. His philosophy influenced political thinking, and not only in Western civilization (Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and all adepts of non violent action as well as "natural faith"). Georges Adassovsky E-Mail : Gadassov at mail.pf S-Mail : B.P. 380330 Tamanu, 98718 Punaauia, French Polynesia. Tel 689 58 38 40 home, 689 58 37 37 office (GMT - 12) From zaitseva at is.nyu.edu Wed May 7 00:02:11 1997 From: zaitseva at is.nyu.edu (Valentina Zaitseva) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 19:02:11 -0500 Subject: Russian Movies Message-ID: -The movie is made after M. Bulgakov's play (the same name) - so you will be able to also have the actual text. >The name of the movie is "Ivan Vassillievich meniayet professiyu" - very >funny, indeed. > >On Mon, 5 May 1997, Kevin Wood wrote: > >> When I was in St. Petersburg on exchange, we watched a movie in class >> about a guy who built a time machine, and as often happens when you >> build your own time machine, he and a friend end up switching time >> periods with Ivan Groznii. I don't remember the name of the movie, but >> it was pretty good, funny, and easy to follow. >> >> God Bless, >> Kevin Wood >> From kvwood at bcn.net Wed May 7 00:55:07 1997 From: kvwood at bcn.net (Kevin Wood) Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 20:55:07 -0400 Subject: Ivan Vassillievich meniayet professiyu Message-ID: To all who responded, spasibo! Now, does anybody know where it may be purchased (here, or in Russia)? God Bless, Kevin Wood From elenakh at rccd.cc.ca.us Wed May 7 05:06:34 1997 From: elenakh at rccd.cc.ca.us (Elena Kobzeva-Herzog) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 01:06:34 -0400 Subject: Movies for Russian class Message-ID: Dear SEElANGS, Here is the information about two videos I was talking on the confrence at UCLA, May 3. 1. "The Russian Language", produced in St. Petersburg, 1993. Through the experience of a fictional American business man, Ibiscus Green, the students can learn not only what to say and how to say it, but also the basic principles of Russian grammar. Each individually packaged video also comes with illustrated and colorful textbook. In Russian(70 min)$149 2. "Martian in Moscow", this animated production, helps student to understand a lot of common Russian vocabulary, follows the adventures of a Martian as he learns about daily activitied in Moscow. It contains 12 separate segments: arriving in Moscow, shopping, visiting supermarket, seeing a doctor, visiting Bolshoi Baallet School, riding the Moscow Underground...In Russian(40) To order: call Insight Meddia (212) 721-6316,fax(212)1799-5309 I hope you and your students will enjoy these videos as weel as our students. Best wishes, Elena Kobzeva Assistant Professor Spanish/Russain From SCHMIDU at ubaclu.unibas.ch Wed May 7 09:05:10 1997 From: SCHMIDU at ubaclu.unibas.ch (Ulrich Schmid) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 09:05:10 +0000 Subject: apartment in Cracow Message-ID: I am looking for an apartment for 2 persons in Cracow from July 28 to August 18. Does anybody know a place I could rent? Ulrich Schmid schmidu at ubaclu.unibas.ch University of Basel Switzerland Slavic Dept. From vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca Wed May 7 13:07:50 1997 From: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca (Vladimir Tumanov) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 09:07:50 -0400 Subject: Movies for Russian class Message-ID: Dear SEELANGERS: Thank you for all the useful information on Russian videos for the 1st year classroom. Vladimir Tumanov, Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages and Literatures University College 115, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Telephone: w. (519) 661-3196, h. (519) 471-3429 Fax: (519) 661-4093 Electronic Mail: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca From asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA Wed May 7 18:46:13 1997 From: asosnow at cc.UManitoba.CA (Alexandra Sosnowski) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 12:46:13 -0600 Subject: Milosz Contact Message-ID: Hello, everybody, I would like to take the opportunity and thank all who have replied to my query about Milosz's address. I have received from many of you all possible contact leads, i.e. phone no., snail address, email address and fax number. I appreciate it very much. Our list in fact makes sense if someone is in need of something. Cheers, Alexandra Sosnowski (asosnow at cc.umanitoba.ca) Department of German and Slavic Studies University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada From lgoering at carleton.edu Wed May 7 18:51:38 1997 From: lgoering at carleton.edu (Laura Goering) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 12:51:38 -0600 Subject: Lenin in labor Message-ID: Does anyone know the source (if there really is one) of an oft-cited quotation by Lenin comparing the revolution to a woman in labor? Thanks. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Laura Goering Department of German and Russian Carleton College Northfield, MN 55057 (507)-646-4125 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From GFIELDER at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Wed May 7 21:22:59 1997 From: GFIELDER at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU (Grace Fielder) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 14:22:59 -0700 Subject: Announcement and Call for Abstracts: Balkan and South Slavic Conference Message-ID: ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The 1998 Biennial Conference on Balkan and South Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Folklore will be held at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 26,27,28. We are soliciting the presentation of papers on any topic in the areas of South Slavic and/or Balkan linguistics, literature or folklore. We are requesting the submission of titles and one-page abstracts by October 1, 1997, to ensure consideration for inclusion in the conference. These may be sent to: Professor John Leafgren Dept. of Russian and Slavic Languages 340 Modern Languages University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 Please bring this request to the attention of any interested colleagues or advanced graduate students who may not have seen this announcement. Advanced graduate students need to include with their abstract a letter of support from their faculty advisor. From GPloss at aol.com Wed May 7 21:37:40 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 17:37:40 -0400 Subject: Project Harmony - Job Message-ID: Hi again everyone, I had many responses asking about Project Harmony, so here it is for all. Project Harmony 6 Irasville Common Waitsfield, VT 05673 (802) 496-4545 Fax (802) 496-4548 I suggest everyone check out their web page at http://www.friends-partners.org/harmony/ this can explain more exactly what they do. Doing a web search using TEFL or TESL and the country you are intersted in will give you many other organizations to chose from. FWIW. I hope this helps. Thanks to all of you for your response. Need more details?, let me know. Best Regards, Greg From gfowler at indiana.edu Wed May 7 22:37:04 1997 From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler) Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 17:37:04 -0500 Subject: Other Slavic languages at the 1997 Indiana U. Summer Workshop Message-ID: SECOND YEAR CZECH, HUNGARIAN, AND POLISH; FIRST-YEAR SERBIAN/CROATIAN -- TUITION FREE FOR GRADS IN THE EAST EUROPEAN FIELD -- The Indiana University Summer Workshop in Slavic, East European and Central Asian Languages (SWSEEL) announces summer intensive courses (June 20 to August 15, 1997) in the above languages. As part of an agreement with ACLS, these languages will be tuition free to graduate students in the East European field. Instruction is 20 hours per week and includes a cultural program. The Workshop will also offer RUSSIAN course (first to sixth year), and first-year CZECH, HUNGARIAN, and POLISH. Tuition for the Russian courses is $1,400. For first-year Czech, Hungarian, and Polish it is $840 for graduate students and $1,120 for undergraduates. Pending funding, the Workshop will also teach first-year CHECHEN, GEORGIAN, KAZAKH, TURKMEN, and first- and second-year UZBEK. Please watch for an announcement, or contact us at the coordinates given below. All courses require formal application. Please contact: Director, SWSEEL Ballantine 502 Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405-6616 [tel.] (812) 855-2608 [fax] (812) 855-2107 [email] SWSEEL at indiana.edu [www] From SRogosin at aol.com Thu May 8 08:53:58 1997 From: SRogosin at aol.com (Serge Rogosin) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 04:53:58 -0400 Subject: Gusev-Orenburgsky, Grebenshchikov, S. Maximov Message-ID: Does anyone know where Sergei Gusev-Orenburgsky,, author of _V strane otsov_ , lived after immigrating to the United States in 1923 and where he is buried? I am also interested in the burial places of Sergei Maximov, the Second Emigration writer best known for _Denis Bushuev_, and Georgii (George) Grebenshchikov, who wrote _Churaevy_ and other works on Siberian topics and founded Churaevka Russian Village in Connecticut. I've been told that these two are buried somewhere in Florida. Grebenshchikov taught at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL. Any information would be much appreciated, as well as any references to articles, etc. pertaining to their lives in the United States other than the bios in the _Handbook of Russian Lit._ and in Kozak. Serge Rogosin _____________ Serge Rogosin 93-49 222 St. Queens Village, NY 11428 (718) 479-2881 From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Thu May 8 10:46:46 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 06:46:46 -0400 Subject: FYI: Soros Supplementary Grants Program (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 19:47:52 -0400 From: Center for Civil Society International Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Soros Supplementary Grants Program SOROS SUPPLEMENTARY GRANTS PROGRAM 1997-98 SOCIAL SCIENCES and HUMANITIES FIELDS Grants to supplement student exchanges for students of the Former Soviet Union The Program was created to assist students studying in foreign cultures within the region. The goal is to support cross-cultural, intraregional student mobility as part of the Open Society Institute's overall efforts to strengthen the academic network within and among formerly Soviet- controlled countries. This program offers small grants to students of the social sciences and humanities who have already managed to arrange for one academic year and will be granted for most of the costs of their study to be covered. Awards are offered for one academic year and will be granted in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Awards are available to undergraduates, graduates, and post-graduates enrolled at recognized institutes of higher education outside of their home country or permanent residence and in one of the countries listed below. It is specifically intended for students pursuing degrees in environments that are both culturally and linguistically different from their own. Participating countries are as follows (no exceptions): Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Crotia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia. Applications for support for studies in Western Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, or in any country not listed above will not be considered. Applicants from any country not listed above will also NOT be considered. Eligibility: Interested applicants must meet the following criteria: be enrolled in social sciences or humanities degree program at a recognized institute of higher education in one of the countries listed above; be a citizen or permanent resident of a different country listed above; have an outstanding record of academic achievement shown by transcripts and references; have a proof of appropriate language skills for the country in which they are studying; demonstrate commitment to return to their home country upon completion of their degree; have proof of other sources of support. Selection Criteria: All applicants meeting the eligibility criteria above will be considered. Selection will be based on the academic merit of the proposed study, the applicants goals as expressed in the written essays, and the completeness of the application (especially the validity of the proof of other support). Preference will be given to students pursuing degrees in subjects currently unavailable or underdeveloped in their home country. For those applicants pursuing postgraduate degrees, preference will be given to dissertation topics of regional importance (i.e., relevant to more than one country). Ineligibility: The following applications will NOT be considered: proposals for non-degree research or course work; proposals in the following fields of study: Business Administration / Management Training , Computer Science, Finance & Banking, Engineering, Hard & Natural Sciences (Physics, Biology, Chemistry, etc.), Language Preparatory Courses (0 Grades), Mathematics, Medical Sciences; proposals for first year undergraduate study. DEADLINE : JUNE 13, 1997 For additional information and application forms, please contact the local Soros Foundation scholarships office or Open Society Institute - Moscow Natasha Pozdnyakova - Scholarship Coordinator Bolshoi Kozlovski pereulok 13/17 Moscow, Russia 107078 Tel.: (7-095) 921-2065 07 928-4632 Fax.: (7-095) 921-6005 or 288-9512 E-mail: pozdn at osi.ru ------------------------------------------------------- | CivilSoc is a project of the Center for Civil | | Society International (ccsi at u.washington.edu) | | in Seattle, in association with Friends & Partners. | | For more information about civic initiatives in | | the former USSR visit CCSI's web site at: | | | | http://www.friends-partners.org/~ccsi/ | ------------------------------------------------------- From vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca Thu May 8 14:19:30 1997 From: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca (Vladimir Tumanov) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 10:19:30 -0400 Subject: Movies for Russian class Message-ID: Dear SEELANGERS: I am responding to Larry McLellan's request that I post the results of my 1st-year video search for everyone. Here is what I got apart from what was posted for all of you to see: 1. "The Russian Language", produced in St. Petersburg, 1993. Through the experience of a fictional American business man, Ibiscus Green, the students can learn not only what to say and how to say it, but also the basic principles of Russian grammar. Each individually packaged video also comes with illustrated and colorful textbook. In Russian(70 min)$149 2. "Martian in Moscow", this animated production, helps student to understand a lot of common Russian vocabulary, follows the adventures of a Martian as helearns about daily activitied in Moscow. It contains 12 separate segments: arriving in Moscow, shopping, visiting supermarket, seeing a doctor, visiting Bolshoi Baallet School, riding the Moscow Underground...In Russian(40) To order: call Insight Meddia (212) 721-6316,fax(212)1799-5309 Apart from these two, all the other responses that I got had to do with videos that come with textbooks, such as: You might contact McGraw-Hill and ask for a >desk copy of their videocassette and video activities guide to accompany >the NACHALO: WHEN IN RUSSIA textbook. This video is especially useful >because it comes with a video guide full of listening and other >communicative activities. While the video works best, of course, with the >textbook (which has an ongoing storyline about an American student in >Moscow), it was intentially designed so that it could be used >independently or as a supplement for a program with a different textbook. >Each lesson includes a vocabulary list, vocabulary exercises, plotline >review exercises, communicative activities, and where the storyline might >not be clear, summaries are presented so that students not using the >textbook will know what has happened between filmed video scenes. Also, the videos that come with Stage One, Divnograd and the ACTR textbook. Some people have also suggested various films, like "Ivan Vasilievich meniaiet professiu" or "Kavkazskaia plennitsa". The latter reminds me of my happy childhood in Moscow, but I wouldn't use such films in a 1st-year course. I hope this helps. Regards, Vlad Tumanov Vladimir Tumanov, Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages and Literatures University College 115, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Telephone: w. (519) 661-3196, h. (519) 471-3429 Fax: (519) 661-4093 Electronic Mail: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca From douglas at is.nyu.edu Thu May 8 14:26:41 1997 From: douglas at is.nyu.edu (Charlotte Douglas) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 09:26:41 -0500 Subject: visa Message-ID: End of the visa saga: I got it! Arrived a few minutes ago. In the end my original invitation - which was refused by the Consulate in New York - was accepted by the Embassy in Washington. I used Visa Advisors in Washington. Faxed them the invitation, and they did a preliminary run to the Embassy and were told that it was acceptable. Only then did I actually apply there. Visa Advisors said that this happens often. Invitations found unacceptable in New York are accepted in Washington, and vice versa. In the course of the whole affair I found several travel agencies who can get a tourist visa in a week - no hotel necessary. A friend is currently using Downtown Travel (20 John Street, New York City) - about $200 for one week service, half that for longer lead times. There also seems to be a Moscow organization that runs a "virtual hotel". You list it as your destination, they register the passport, etc., but you don't stay there - no hotel actually exists. Thanks to all who shared their visa woes and advice. My only advice: start early! Charlotte Douglas From GFIELDER at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Thu May 8 15:01:10 1997 From: GFIELDER at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU (Grace Fielder) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 08:01:10 -0700 Subject: e-mail contact for Balkan Conference Message-ID: John Leafgren's e-mail address is LEAFGREN at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU All inquiries about the Balkan and South Slavic Conference to be held in Tucson, March 1998 should be sent to this address. Grace Fielder From aisrael at american.edu Thu May 8 15:40:18 1997 From: aisrael at american.edu (Alina Israeli) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 11:40:18 -0400 Subject: Russian Movies Message-ID: For the first/second year Russian: "Veselye rebjata" Marx brothers type slapstick, easy dialog, lots of action; "Kavkazskaja plennica" (a follow-up to the "Operacija Y"), also quite self-explanatory and funny. Alina From irkozl at fiat.gslis.utexas.edu Thu May 8 17:25:09 1997 From: irkozl at fiat.gslis.utexas.edu (Irina Speckhard) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 12:25:09 -0500 Subject: Sending packages to Moscow Message-ID: Greetings! Could anyone help me with finding the best way to mail big packages (e.g., boxes with books) to Moscow? DHL is very expensive and regular post doesn't deliver to your door, which means you'll never see your package again. Any information about safe and guaranteed mailing will be appreciated. Thanks! Best, Irina #*#*# -*#*#*#*- #*#*# IRINA SPECKHARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN #*#*# -*#*#*#*- #*#*# From GPloss at aol.com Thu May 8 23:30:07 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 19:30:07 -0400 Subject: Sending packages to Moscow Message-ID: There are many companies available. I have a box in Moscow with Post International. I believe the current rate is $5.50 per pound. I know this may be expensive, but it ALWAYS gets there, and usually within a week. If you want to write them for more info, the address is: Post International 666 5th Avenue Ste 572 New York, NY 10103 I also suggest you look for a book called "Where In Moscow." You will find many options available to you in this book. I hope it helps. Greg Ploss gploss at aol.com From jlivshin at acpub.duke.edu Fri May 9 03:39:38 1997 From: jlivshin at acpub.duke.edu (Julia Livshin) Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 23:39:38 -0400 Subject: SUMMER SUBLET Message-ID: Dear list members: I am looking for an apartment for two people (graduate students) in St. Petersburg from June 15th through August 30th. Does anyone know of a sublet? Please reply off-list to jlivshin at acpub.duke.edu. Thank you very much. Julia Livshin From pralam at lab.housing.fsu.edu Fri May 9 13:58:33 1997 From: pralam at lab.housing.fsu.edu (piotr warecki) Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 09:58:33 -0400 Subject: SUMMER SUBLET In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Sorry for posting this massage on the list. I tried sing off from the list, but somehow or other I could not. Please remove me from the list From 76703.2063 at CompuServe.COM Fri May 9 22:58:35 1997 From: 76703.2063 at CompuServe.COM (Jerry Ervin) Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 18:58:35 EDT Subject: SATELLITE TELEVISION Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I don't have any connection to what's currently available. Can any of you help Professor Birckbicher (of the Ohio State Univ FL Center)? Thanks in advance, --Jerry Ervin * * * * * Gerard L. Ervin Executive Director, AATSEEL 1933 N. Fountain Park Dr. Tucson, AZ 85715 USA phone/fax: 520/885-2663 email: 76703.2063 at compuserve.com --------------- Forwarded Message --------------- From: Diane Birckbichler, INTERNET:birckbichler.1 at osu.edu To: Jerry Ervin, 76703,2063 Date: Fri, May 9, 1997, 8:23 AM RE: SATELLITE TELEVISION Is there any consistent satellite broadcsting from Russia that we might get or subscribe to? Am trying to put through a grant for satellite hook-ups for languages and didn't have up-to-date info on Russian. What about SCOLA? Diane W. Birckbichler Director, Foreign Language Center Director, National Foreign Language Resource Center 276 Cunz Hall 1841 Millikin Road Columbus, OH 43210-122 614-292-4361 614-292-2682 (fax) birckbichler.1 at osu.edu From SRogosin at aol.com Sat May 10 09:30:59 1997 From: SRogosin at aol.com (Serge Rogosin) Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 05:30:59 -0400 Subject: card catalogs of russ. and ukr. Message-ID: Is anyone doing research in the CIS that will involve access to card catalogs of the Russian, Ukrainian or Belorussian languages that various institutions such as the Academy of Sciences, Potebnia Institute(?) and others maintain in order to write historical dictionaries and do similar types of work? I am working on a rather complicated project and desperately need citations for two words. Any assistance or advice would be much appreciated. Serge _______ Serge Rogosin 93-49 222 Street Queens Village, NY 11428 (718) 479-2881 From thurmchcs at juno.com Sat May 10 17:45:42 1997 From: thurmchcs at juno.com (Eileen C Thurman) Date: Sat, 10 May 1997 09:45:42 PST Subject: Evgeny Evtushenko"s address Message-ID: From the E-mail directory at Tulsa University: Yevtushenko, Yevgeny e-mail: yevtusheya at centum.utusla.edu office phone: (918)631-2807 office location: Zink Hall department: English title: Henry Kendall Vsiting Professor of Languages and Literature Sorry, I didn't save the message of whoever was hunting the above so I can't send it directly. thurmchcs at juno.com From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Sun May 11 12:50:18 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 08:50:18 -0400 Subject: Project Harmony: Job opportunities (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 17:46:13 -0400 From: Project Harmony Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Project Harmony: Job opportunities Several Job Opportunities with Project Harmony Project Harmony, a Vermont based not-for-profit cultural and educational exchange organization which has been organizing programs between the United States and the former Soviet Union since 1985 has several possible job opportunities available starting August, 1997. We are looking for individuals with grant writing skills, knowledge of the Russian language and the culture, experience in living in the FSU and a sense of adventure. Candidates must also demonstrate an ability to be flexible and adapt to different living and working situations. Salaries are commensurate with ability. For more information, please contact Barbara Miller or Jared Cadwell at: Project Harmony 6 Irasville Common Waitsfield, VT 05673 Tel: 802-496-4545 Fax: 802-496-4548 E-Mail: pharmony at igc.apc.org From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 14:56:17 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 10:56:17 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- be my guest! Message-ID: Deer Seelangers: So how DOES a Russian make an aspectual decision? Is it a question of morphology? Yes, but much more. It is this "more" that so often mystifies us. Is aspectual decision-making based on some sort of Imperfective-Perfective continuum? Is it based on number (single or frequen- tative)? Is it based on verbal mood? Is it subjective or does it obey iron-clad grammatical laws? Or does it depend upon the weather? We have all agonized over this fascinating but profoundly elusive distinction, and yet the question remains: how does a Russian IMPLEMENT an exceedingly complex aspectual system (conditioned by morphological, grammatical, semantic, syntactic and sylistic variables) with such instantenous and commanding certitude? And not once but several times in each sentence? And, of course, entirely intuitively. So much so that when you ask him/her (as all of us no doubt have) just how he/she does it, a native Russian will, if he were truly honest, throw up his arms in despair and say: "Who knows?" A Russian's attempt to EXPLAIN his aspectual decision-making is just as clumsy and misleading, I believe, as a native English speaker's attempt would be to explain his decision-making relative to articles (not just a choice between TWO articles, that is, "a/n" and "the" but in fact a choice between THREE options: "a/n", "the" or none at all: e.g. "We are students of Russian literature" (none); "We are students of the Russian revolutionary tradition" ("the"); "We demand a Russian approach to literature" (a). We make these distinctions perfectly but do we really know why? I would like to offer my modest contribution to this pivotal question of Russian aspectual usage in the form of a brief 8-page theoretical/practical "Essay on Russian Aspectual Decision-Making," available free to all who request it. It is an attempt to cut to the quick, to get at the heart of the matter. This essay is the fruit of nearly two decades of reading, translating and research in Russian literature and grammar and is based on the immense work of such great scholars as Forbes, Unbegaun, Townsend, Rassudova, Pulkina and, last but not least, to the magnificent collection of aspectual essays found in Prof. Nils. B. Thielen' VERBAL ASPECT DISCOURSE (especially Boris Gasparov's "Notes on the "Metaphysics of Russian Aspect" and Alberg Jensen's remarkable essay on Chekhov' aspectual revolution). I shall leave it to the reader to judge whether I have succeeded. As a Russian scholar and translator, I have been profoundly dismayed to discover fundamental misconceptions about Russian aspectual usage by students, faculty and scholars alike, by English-speaking natives who know but do not know how and by Russian natives who know how but have no real idea why. I hope by my essay to at least make a stab at correcting this deplorable situation. I believe it is my duty to do something, to offer a possible solution, or, failing that, to challenge those who are greater than me to help the student and even, occasionally, the distinguished scholar, to come to grips with this most excruciating of Russian grammatical conundrums. This is what the Internet was invented for. Wasn't it? So let's use it. A final thought: There is a famous statement about the difficulties of playing Mozart's piano concertos. It applies no less to Russian aspectual usage: "It's easy as pie for a child but supremely difficult for an adult." Yours, Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930's Yale University Press, forthcoming, 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 14:58:13 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 10:58:13 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- be my guest! Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: So how DOES a Russian make an aspectual decision? Is it a question of morphology? Yes, but much more. It is this "more" that so often mystifies us. Is aspectual decision-making based on some sort of Imperfective-Perfective continuum? Is it based on number (single or frequen- tative)? Is it based on verbal mood? Is it subjective or does it obey iron-clad grammatical laws? Or does it depend upon the weather? We have all agonized over this fascinating but profoundly elusive distinction, and yet the question remains: how does a Russian IMPLEMENT an exceedingly complex aspectual system (conditioned by morphological, grammatical, semantic, syntactic and sylistic variables) with such instantenous and commanding certitude? And not once but several times in each sentence? And, of course, entirely intuitively. So much so that when you ask him/her (as all of us no doubt have) just how he/she does it, a native Russian will, if he were truly honest, throw up his arms in despair and say: "Who knows?" A Russian's attempt to EXPLAIN his aspectual decision-making is just as clumsy and misleading, I believe, as a native English speaker's attempt would be to explain his decision-making relative to articles (not just a choice between TWO articles, that is, "a/n" and "the" but in fact a choice between THREE options: "a/n", "the" or none at all: e.g. "We are students of Russian literature" (none); "We are students of the Russian revolutionary tradition" ("the"); "We demand a Russian approach to literature" (a). We make these distinctions perfectly but do we really know why? I would like to offer my modest contribution to this pivotal question of Russian aspectual usage in the form of a brief 8-page theoretical/practical "Essay on Russian Aspectual Decision-Making," available free to all who request it. It is an attempt to cut to the quick, to get at the heart of the matter. This essay is the fruit of nearly two decades of reading, translating and research in Russian literature and grammar and is based on the immense work of such great scholars as Forbes, Unbegaun, Townsend, Rassudova, Pulkina and, last but not least, to the magnificent collection of aspectual essays found in Prof. Nils. B. Thielen' VERBAL ASPECT DISCOURSE (especially Boris Gasparov's "Notes on the "Metaphysics of Russian Aspect" and Alberg Jensen's remarkable essay on Chekhov' aspectual revolution). I shall leave it to the reader to judge whether I have succeeded. As a Russian scholar and translator, I have been profoundly dismayed to discover fundamental misconceptions about Russian aspectual usage by students, faculty and scholars alike, by English-speaking natives who know but do not know how and by Russian natives who know how but have no real idea why. I hope by my essay to at least make a stab at correcting this deplorable situation. I believe it is my duty to do something, to offer a possible solution, or, failing that, to challenge those who are greater than me to help the student and even, occasionally, the distinguished scholar, to come to grips with this most excruciating of Russian grammatical conundrums. This is what the Internet was invented for. Wasn't it? So let's use it. A final thought: There is a famous statement about the difficulties of playing Mozart's piano concertos. It applies no less to Russian aspectual usage: "It's easy as pie for a child but supremely difficult for an adult." Yours, Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930's Yale University Press, forthcoming, 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 15:16:23 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 11:16:23 -0400 Subject: Aspects -- Apologies for repetition Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I just noticed in my Eudora that SEELANGS mailbox has 5 or 6 copies of my letter on the Russian aspects, mailed about ten minutes ago. I am quite distressed by this. I meant only to send two (the second was a slight revision -- I wrote Deer Seelangers instead of Dear Seelangers -- one of those errors that causes you sleepless nights). I don't know how the other 4 or so got there. If you also got them, please accept my apologies. I don't know if it's my new upgraded Eudora or my antique 386 or a combination thereof or just some act of computer incompetence on my part. Yours (red-faced) Benjamin sher07 at bellsouth.net From MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Sun May 11 16:07:04 1997 From: MLLEMILY at ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Emily Tall) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 12:07:04 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- be my guest! Message-ID: Are you sending your report out by snail mail? I am interested: Emily Tall, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures, 910 Clemens, SuNY, Buffalo, N.Y. 14260. Thanks! From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 16:12:15 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 12:12:15 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- be my guest! In-Reply-To: <01IIQR18RQ8O90ALOU@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu> Message-ID: --=====================_863287726==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Emily: Thank you so much for your interest. Benjamin At 12:07 PM 5/11/97 -0400, you wrote: >Are you sending your report out by snail mail? I am interested: Emily >Tall, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures, 910 Clemens, SuNY, >Buffalo, N.Y. 14260. Thanks! > --=====================_863287726==_ Content-Type: application/rtf; charset="us-ascii" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="ASPECT.RTF" {\rtf1\ansi \deff6\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f5\fswiss\fcharset0\fprq2 Arial;}{\f6\froman\fcharset0\fprq2 MS Serif;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue2 55;\red0\green255\blue0; \red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green 255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\r ed128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green1 28\blue128; \red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \snext0 Normal;}{\s4\li360 \shad\f6\ul\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 4;}{\s5\li720 \b\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 5;}{\s6\li720 \shad\f6\fs20\ul\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 6;}{\s7\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 7;}{\s8\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 8;}{\s9\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 9;}{\*\cs10 \additive Default Paragraph Font;}{\s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext15 footer;}{\s16\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext16 header;}{\*\cs17 \additive\fs16\up6 \sbasedon10 footnote reference;}{\s18 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext18 footnote text;}{\*\cs19 \additive\sbasedon10 page number;}}{\info{\operator Benjamin Sher}{\revtim\yr1997\mo5\dy7\hr7\min30}{\printim\yr1997\mo5\dy7\hr7\min28}{\ver sion20}{\edmins104}{\nofpages8}{\nofwords2671} {\nofchars15225}{\vern49213}}\margl1872\margr1872 \deftab360\widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\hyphhotz0\makebackup\noextrasprl\prcolbl\cvm me\sprsspbf\brkfrm\swpbdr\hyphcaps0 \fet0\sectd \sbknone\linex0\endnhere {\footer \pard\plain \s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640\pvpara\phmrg\posxc\posy0 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 {\field{\*\fldinst {\cs19 PAGE }}{\fldrslt {\cs19 8}}}{\cs19 \par }\pard \s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \par }{\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl2\pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl5 \pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl6\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang {\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain \qc\sl360\slmult0 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 {\b\f5\fs22\ul AN ESSAY ON RUSSIAN ASPECTUAL DECISION-MAKING}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 [05-08-1997]}{\b\f5\fs22 \par by Benjamin Sher \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In this brief theoretical and practical essay, I would like to suggest a philosophical solution to the elusive problem of the Russian aspects by considering the Russian language from the standpoint of an artistic rather than a scientific model. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab A merely conversational approach, I'm convinced, is woefully inadequate to our understanding of the aspects. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab No less inadequate, I believe, is a scientific, especially, statistical methodology. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab To isolate the basic philosophical problem in question, I've chosen to ignore other elements of Russian grammar such as morphology, semantics, syntax, sub-aspects and quasi-aspects, verbs of motion, special negative constructions, moods, tenses, infinitives, prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I've also ignored analogous phenomena in English, especially relative to the perfect tenses, where an "aspectual" character can be discerned in certain situations, e.g. "I }{\f5\fs22\ul have}{\f5\fs22 done" (P) vs. "I }{\f5\fs22\ul have been}{\f5\fs22 doing" (IMP). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab While these factors obviously influence aspectual usage, they cannot in themselves help us understand a feature unique to the aspects alone. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In her discussion of the aspects (ASPECTUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN, Moscow: Russkii Yazyk, 1984) Prof. O. P. Rassudova considers the lexical/ semantic context in terms of the speaker's aspectual choice. She demonstrates the subtle nature of that choice by isolating, for instance, the following pairs of distinctions, where P stands for the perfective and IM P for the imperfective: \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The concrete/factual P vs. the concrete/processual IMP. \par \tab The specific factual P vs. the general factual IMP. \par \tab The sporadic repetitive P vs. the regularly repetitive IMP. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Prof. Rassudova points out brilliantly, for example, the wond erful (and maddeningly subtle) distinction in negative constructions, where the concrete factual "Ya ne spel" (P -- "I didn't sing") is ever so close in its meaning to the general fact "Ya ne pel" (IMP -- "I didn't sing"). It is customary to consider thes e negative sentences, like their affirmative counterparts, as occupying two points on an aspectual continuum. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I firmly disagree. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab No matter how seemingly inconsequential the distinction between "Ya ne spel" and "Ya ne pel", no matter how seemingly arbitrar y its usage, never shall the twain meet. These two sentences, I submit, are no closer to each other than two planets that appear to overlap during an eclipse. That is so because these two sentences travel along fundamentally different aspectual (as well a s, of course, morphological) orbits. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Admittedly, this is a hypothesis or, more precisely, a postulate and it is only as such that I present it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Discounting for the moment the various sub-aspects (such as "}{\f5\fs22\ul za}{\f5\fs22 khodit'" or "}{\f5\fs22\ul po}{\f5\fs22 khodit'") as well as the separat e aspectual business of verbs of motion) I'd postulate further that the two major aspects are themselves based on two mythic and }{\f5\fs22\ul mutually exclusive}{\f5\fs22 faculties of the mind. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Adopting a terminology well known from the philosophy of Kant, I would call these faculties the }{\f5\fs22\ul Empirical}{\f5\fs22 (Perfective) and the }{\f5\fs22\ul Transcendental}{\f5\fs22 (Imperfective). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab By positing such irreducible and mutually exclusive faculties or operational fictions in our aspectual decision-making, we can, I believe, bring out the relationship between the bew ildering complexity of aspectual situations and the simple, intuitive act operating in and through them. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab But how can simple intuition make what is often an excruciatingly subtle choice under very complex conditions? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is, I think, only natural to see the aspects in terms of a P/IMP continuum, where the perfective }{\f5\fs22\ul concrete/factual}{\f5\fs22 "demarcates" and "exhausts" (in Prof. Rassudova's words) the imperfective }{ \f5\fs22\ul concrete processual}{\f5\fs22 . The latter is considered an "unmarked," "weaker" version of the perfective. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab This, I submit, is a monumental and fatal illusion. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In my opinion, the concept of an aspectual continuum is the single greatest }{\f5\fs22\ul obstacle}{\f5\fs22 to a student's understanding of Russian aspectual usage. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Another common misconception is that the aspects have something to do with number, that is, with single or frequentative-iterative occurrence. This is simply not the case, as the most cursory examination in any extended body of Russian prose or poetry or conversation will clearly and unequivocally show. Both aspects have a frequentative. Both aspects are used as both single and multiple occurences. The real distinction of the aspects lies decidedly elsewhere. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab What exactly is this distinction of empirical and transcendental, this dialectical "incompatibility." \par \tab By "}{\f5\fs22\ul empirical}{\f5\fs22 " (perfective) I mean a fictive, cognitive faculty which allows us to perceive a world of delimited phenomena. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In actual practice this faculty allows us to organize our }{\f5\fs22\ul external and}{\f5\fs22 }{\f5\fs22\ul inner}{\f5\fs22 world of percepts. This includes time as external perception. That is, I believe, why the perfective covers both concrete (external and internal) as well as abstract actions ("sdelat'","pochuvstvovat'", "podumat'"). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab By "}{\f5\fs22\ul transcendental}{\f5\fs22 " I mean a fictive, logical-intuitive faculty which allows us to perceive or construct }{\f5\fs22\ul absolutely nothing at all}{\f5\fs22 . That is, this faculty can never be perceived (inwardly or outwardly) or known as such. lt can only be }{\f5\fs22\ul assumed a priori}{\f5\fs22 . \par \tab This "nothingness" applies to both concrete (inner and external) as well as abstract actions ("delat'", "chuvstvovat'", and "dumat'"). This includes time as a logical-intuitive assumption. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The imperfective does not exist in the "knowable" world at all. Rather, to use Prof. Rassudova's own word, it "dissociates" from the past, etc. I would add, further, that this transcendental faculty dissociates not }{ \f5\fs22\ul within}{\f5\fs22 the sphere of the concrete (whether past, present or future) but }{\f5\fs22\ul from it}{\f5\fs22 . The IMP just }{\f5\fs22\ul is}{\f5\fs22 . Or rather it subsists as a logical-intuitive faculty serving as a noumenal ground for }{\f5\fs22\ul un}{\f5\fs22 -delimited, }{\f5\fs22\ul un-bounded}{\f5\fs22 empirical perception (such as of inner or external movement or process or of unperceivable states of being or of pure time or of pure, abstract habitual action or, perhaps toughest of all, of pure, }{\f5\fs22\ul single}{\f5\fs22 action -- e.g. the infamous general fact "On delal," ("He did" -- once and only once and not as process but as pure state). As for pure time, I have in mind a seamless, temporal continuity ("Ya [ne] pel" -"I was [not] singing"). We can never "know" conti nuity or action in itself or the Imperfective verbs in which such continuity is grounded. We can only assume it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab What we can and do know are the delimited, segmented, unitary empirical perceptions (known as "ideas" by Locke, Hume and the 18th century Empiricists) which the transcendental IMP has been "dissociated from." Only by }{\f5\fs22\ul assuming}{\f5\fs22 continuity do we have a world of action at all. The general fact, progressive and regular frequentative action of IMP verbs are }{\f5\fs22\ul not}{\f5\fs22 , at bottom, perceptual. They are noumenal. And they must be apprehended by the speaker's aspectual mind, }{\f5\fs22\ul not}{\f5\fs22 by his senses. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Thus, while the fictive empirical gives us the illusion of inner and outer space (including perceived time), the fictive transcendental gives us the illusion of continuous, unbounded space (including pure time). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab That is, both aspects involve time: the PF gives us empirical time (both inner and external, concrete and abstract), that is, time perceived, time familiar to us as temporal change, while the IMP gives us noumenal, pure time, time presupposed, time as pu re, unchanged state. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is binary exclusivity, I believe, that makes possible the instantaneous intuitive calculations by the Russian native. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The same intuitive faculty is at work in the definite/indefinite article decision-making in English, where the actual choice always consists not of two but three options: the definite "the," the indefinite "a(an)" and nothing at all, as in "}{\f5\fs22\ul American}{\f5\fs22 literature has made great strides, etc. where the speaker has chosen the zero option, i.e. instead of "An American literature... " or "The American literature...." \par \tab The many uses of the IMP are thus not so much "concrete" experiences (of whatever kind) as }{\f5\fs22\ul pure}{\f5\fs22 a priori, intuitive feelings. This is so regardless whether we consider affirmative or negative, "concrete" or "abstract" sentences, all of which presuppose this fundamental distinction. They are pure feelings dissociated in principle from all concretene ss as such. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The rich variety of aspectual situations is held together theoretically by the backbone of "incompatible" binary aspects. Without this }{\f5\fs22\ul in}{\f5\fs22 compatibility no real distinctions would be possible. In short, aspectual decision-making would flounder in hopeless subjectivity. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab A construction such as "Ya [ne] pel" ("I was [not] singing") represents absolutely }{\f5\fs22\ul nothing}{\f5\fs22 . And that's the whole point: It is the negation of all that is empirical (the "I", the implicit "song" and the world of phenomena in general) that makes it possible for the mind to "construct" or rather "assume" temporality and action by grounding the pe rcepts of the perfective in the transcendental category of the IMP. \par \tab Calling the aspects }{\f5\fs22\ul perf}{\f5\fs22 ective and }{\f5\fs22\ul im}{\f5\fs22 perfective tends to blur the fundamental philosophical }{\f5\fs22\ul incompatiblity}{\f5\fs22 of the aspects, their exclusivity. It fosters the illusion that the aspects are part of a continuum and, therefore, that aspectual choice is a subjective affair. It isn't subjective -- whether considered from the standpoint of student or native, though t o the despairing student it may often appear so. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Of course, there is a sense in which as pectual usage is subjective, and this is the exception that proves the rule. Every writer (or speaker) will shape the language in accordance with his peculiar world-view and linguistic tendencies. In this respect, a writer may "tilt" the language towards either the IMP or the P or he/she might have a preference for certain of the sub-aspects or certain of the verbs of motion quasi-aspects, etc. In this respect, he does not/cannot violate the objective structure and edifice of subtleties that is the Russia n language any more than he can alter the basic structure of verbal conjugations or noun declentions. In this respect, the writer expresses himself subjectively but }{\f5\fs22\ul through}{\f5\fs22 , }{\f5\fs22\ul not in spite of}{\f5\fs22 , the linguistic structures. He operates }{\f5\fs22\ul through}{\f5\fs22 the great labyrinth of the Russian language, not in defiance or ignorance of it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab One of the most outrageous but effective illustrations of this can be found in a little known prose poem by the Russian emigree writer Pyotr Balakshin, who came to San Francisco from Russia by w ay of China after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In his "Spring Over Filmore Street" (published by Sirius of San Francisco in 1951 under the same title) there is the utterly astonishing, nearly ubiquitous use of the IMP, that is, the Transcendental where , I emphasize, the P, the Empirical, would be expected. The P does not even appear once until the middle of page 2, and the P. in general is used very sparingly. Naturally, I was taken aback, in fact, I was utterly dumbfounded by this. I knew my aspects v ery well, I thought, and now this. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Yet, the more I looked at the text, the more I began to admire the writer's stylistic "chutzpah." The point is that the soaring, light-weight, dematerialized texture created by the Transcendental, the description of the city as if seen from above by a fi gure from a painting by Chagal floating through the sky is extremely effective. After checking with a number of emigree friends, I was happy to discover that my conjecture was right. They found it equally "outrageous." It was supposed to be. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I mention this episode because it represents an artistic extreme that nevertheless remains within the objective system of the aspects. Balakshin deviates from and artistically "distorts" the rules he inherited as a Russian (as every original writer shoul d) but he never breaks them, for to do so would amount to breaking his neck. He stretches accepted usage but }{\f5\fs22\ul never}{\f5\fs22 acts arbitrarily. Every deviation from the expected P aspect is part of a whole pattern of Romantic flight (quite literally) that is firmly rooted in the basic noumenal, non-perceptual nature of the IMP. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab This revolutionary use of the Imperfective was already evident in Chekhov, where the traditional narrative founded mainly (as a point of departure) on a succession of perfective events (single or multiple P) gives way to the spatio-temporal unbounded sta tes of feeling and being (single or multiple IMP) so prevalent in Chekhov, as for example, in Lady with a Dog. This is the subject of an extraordinary essay by Professor Peter Alberg Jensen of the University of Stockholm entitled \ldblquote Narrative Description or Descriptive Narration: Problems of Aspectuality in Chekhov\rdblquote in VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE, a magisterial collection of essays on aspectual usage edited by Professor Nils. B. Thelin (J. Benjamin Publishers, Amsterdam,1990). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par \par \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par Adjectival Aspects}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab As a matter of fact, this Trans/Emp binary system also holds true, I submit, for the adjective, whose short and long forms (as they are crudely and opaquelly called in most textbook s) are simply variations on verbal aspects. Of course, one could consider both verbal and adjectival aspects to be manifestations of the same source. (Due allowance must be made here for modifications appropriate to a different part of speech). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab If this is so, then \ldblquote glubokaya,\rdblquote the long form of the adjective, as in the predicative \ldblquote reka glubokaya\rdblquote (\ldblquote the river is a deep one\rdblquote ), or the attributive modifier \rdblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote (\ldblquote the deep river\rdblquote ) may be considered the adjectival analogue for the perfective verb aspect (Empirical), while \ldblquote gluboka,\rdblquote as in \ldblquote reka gluboka\rdblquote (\ldblquote the river is deep\rdblquote ) may be considered the adjectival analogue for the imperfective (Transcendental) verb aspect. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The predicate short form (\ldblquote reka gluboka\rdblquote -- \ldblquote the river is deep\rdblquote ), is a concept of the pure imagination. It does not so much exist as subsist in a logical, non-empirical reality all its own. Similarly, the predicate long form (\ldblquote reka glubokaya\rdblquote -- the rive r is a deep one) exists in an empirical domain unique to itself (that is, the "real," perceivable world of the senses, both external and internal). The attributive adjectival modifer \ldblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote (the deep river) is, of course, similarly empirical.[See discussion of verb aspects above]. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab "Reka gluboka" [or, for that matter, the negative \ldblquote reka ne gluboka\rdblquote ] is not, I believe, a description of the real world so much as a logical/intuitive concept applied to what is, in principle, an indefinable experience. Like the verbal "Ya pel" (or "Ya ne pel"), the predicative is a way of symbolizing w hat by nature can never be symbolized, that is, a pure, a priori act of cognition. We "know" or assume we know what is essentially an unknowable experience. To sum up, "reka glubokaya\rdblquote (or the modifier \ldblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote ) describes the river empirically, while "reka gluboka" posits an intuitive experience of the river }{\f5\fs22\ul dissociated from all concreteness}{\f5\fs22 . \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Here, too, there is no continuum! We make our choice between two incompatible aspects, and this choice is only possible precisely because they are mutually e xclusive: phenomena vs. noumena, perception vs. nothing. Otherwise, as I've already said, we'd flounder in a sea of hopeless indecision. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The above holds true also for participles, past and present, active and passive, IMP and P. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Gerunds and verbal nouns provide another extension of the verbal/ \par adjectival system. \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul Possession and Aspects}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The Russian binary aspectual system may even be discerned in the peculiar way the Russian language expresses possession:\tab \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab "U menya na stole ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" --Transcendental) vs. "Na stole mayom ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" -- Empirical) is an extension by analogy of the binary system of the verbs and adjectives to the pronouns. As further examples, let me point to "U menya iz karmana . . . " (Transcendental) vs. "iz moego karmana . . . (Empirical) or "U menya serdtse bolit" vs. "Moyo sertse bolit." \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab }{\b\f5\fs22\ul Why Aspects? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Heidegger asked the famous question: Why is there something instead of nothing? The student of the aspects often feels like asking similarly: Why are there aspects rather than nothing? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Naturally, any answer at this point would be mere speculation. However, let me hazard a brief, hopefully tantalizing theory. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Of the two verbal aspects, the P (the Emp) basically transforms pure actions and states into nouns and substantive clusters (noun phrases and clauses, etc.). The whole notion of a verbal action being delimited, defined and perceived (i.e. with a beginnin g and an end) is profoundly paradoxical (a kind of "verb- noun", not to be confused with a verbal noun, i.e. a gerund). It is as if the Russian language were driven in that direction by some elemental force, though, statistically, the ratio is about 50-50. The IMP (Transc.) would seem to be the undertow of this process of substantive-formation, as if it were a relic of an earlier pre-aspectual linguistic structure or else a philosophical residue that could not be assimilated by the substantive process of the Empirical (for how could the non-perceptual ever be as si milated into the perceptual?). Thus, one could say that of the two great aspects, the Empirical is the "real" aspect insofar as it permits us to perceive reality by delimiting it, but the Transcendental is the "true" aspect because it alone gives us the verb as a pure verbal state or action. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I hope the reader is indulgent enough to forgive the wild surmises in this last section. They are meant only as a philosophical tease, and that is all they could ever be. \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par \par Conclusion \par }{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is my firm conviction that the Empirical Aspect (Perfective) represents "reality" (single or frequentative/iterative sporadic mode) while the Transcendental Aspect (Imperfective) stands for the intuitive imagination (the merely factual, the progressive or abstract habitual frequen tative mode). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab If this is so, how explain this phenomenon? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Perhaps, the Empirical and the Transcendental both issue from some ultimate universal archetype that is the source for both percepts and logical-intuitive concepts. If this is so, then we, the bear ers and users of language, may be instruments in the hands of a higher god who calls His shots, aspectually speaking, through us. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par \tab \tab \tab \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Benjamin Sher \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Russian Literary Translator \par sher07 at bellsouth.net \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 (}{\i\f5\fs22 Soviet Politics and Repression in the 1930\rquote s \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) \par \par }} --=====================_863287726==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="ASPECT.TXT" AN ESSAY ON RUSSIAN ASPECTUAL DECISION-MAKING [05-08-1997] by Benjamin Sher In this brief theoretical and practical essay, I would like to suggest a= philosophical=20 solution to the elusive problem of the Russian aspects by considering the= Russian=20 language from the standpoint of an artistic rather than a scientific model. = =20 A merely conversational approach, I'm convinced, is woefully inadequate to= our=20 understanding of the aspects. No less inadequate, I believe, is a scientific, especially, statistical= methodology. To isolate the basic philosophical problem in question, I've chosen to= ignore other=20 elements of Russian grammar such as morphology, semantics, syntax,= sub-aspects=20 and quasi-aspects, verbs of motion, special negative constructions, moods,= tenses,=20 infinitives, prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. I've also ignored analogous phenomena in English, especially relative to= the perfect=20 tenses, where an "aspectual" character can be discerned in certain= situations, e.g. "I=20 have done" (P) vs. "I have been doing" (IMP). While these factors obviously influence aspectual usage, they cannot in=20 themselves help us understand a feature unique to the aspects alone. In her discussion of the aspects (ASPECTUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN,=20 Moscow: Russkii Yazyk, 1984) Prof. O. P. Rassudova considers the lexical/= semantic=20 context in terms of the speaker's aspectual choice. She demonstrates the= subtle=20 nature of that choice by isolating, for instance, the following pairs of= distinctions, where=20 P stands for the perfective and IMP for the imperfective: The concrete/factual P vs. the concrete/processual IMP. The specific factual P vs. the general factual IMP. The sporadic repetitive P vs. the regularly repetitive IMP. Prof. Rassudova points out brilliantly, for example, the wonderful (and= maddeningly=20 subtle) distinction in negative constructions, where the concrete factual= "Ya ne spel" (P=20 -- "I didn't sing") is ever so close in its meaning to the general fact "Ya= ne pel" (IMP -- "I=20 didn't sing"). It is customary to consider these negative sentences, like= their affirmative=20 counterparts, as occupying two points on an aspectual continuum. I firmly disagree. No matter how seemingly inconsequential the distinction between "Ya ne= spel" and=20 "Ya ne pel", no matter how seemingly arbitrary its usage, never shall the= twain meet.=20 These two sentences, I submit, are no closer to each other than two planets= that=20 appear to overlap during an eclipse. That is so because these two sentences= travel=20 along fundamentally different aspectual (as well as, of course,= morphological) orbits.=20 Admittedly, this is a hypothesis or, more precisely, a postulate and it is= only as such=20 that I present it. Discounting for the moment the various sub-aspects (such as "zakhodit'" or= =20 "pokhodit'") as well as the separate aspectual business of verbs of motion)= I'd=20 postulate further that the two major aspects are themselves based on two= mythic and=20 mutually exclusive faculties of the mind. Adopting a terminology well known from the philosophy of Kant, I would call= these=20 faculties the Empirical (Perfective) and the Transcendental (Imperfective). By positing such irreducible and mutually exclusive faculties or= operational fictions=20 in our aspectual decision-making, we can, I believe, bring out the= relationship between=20 the bewildering complexity of aspectual situations and the simple, intuitive= act=20 operating in and through them. But how can simple intuition make what is often an excruciatingly subtle= choice=20 under very complex conditions? It is, I think, only natural to see the aspects in terms of a P/IMP= continuum, where=20 the perfective concrete/factual "demarcates" and "exhausts" (in Prof.= Rassudova's=20 words) the imperfective concrete processual. The latter is considered an= "unmarked,"=20 "weaker" version of the perfective. This, I submit, is a monumental and fatal illusion. In my opinion, the concept of an aspectual continuum is the single greatest= =20 obstacle to a student's understanding of Russian aspectual usage.=20 Another common misconception is that the aspects have something to do with= =20 number, that is, with single or frequentative-iterative occurrence. This is= simply not the=20 case, as the most cursory examination in any extended body of Russian prose= or=20 poetry or conversation will clearly and unequivocally show. Both aspects= have a=20 frequentative. Both aspects are used as both single and multiple occurences.= The real=20 distinction of the aspects lies decidedly elsewhere. What exactly is this distinction of empirical and transcendental, this= dialectical=20 "incompatibility." By "empirical" (perfective) I mean a fictive, cognitive faculty which= allows us to=20 perceive a world of delimited phenomena. In actual practice this faculty allows us to organize our external and= inner world of=20 percepts. This includes time as external perception. That is, I believe, why= the=20 perfective covers both concrete (external and internal) as well as abstract= actions=20 ("sdelat'","pochuvstvovat'", "podumat'"). By "transcendental" I mean a fictive, logical-intuitive faculty which= allows us to=20 perceive or construct absolutely nothing at all. That is, this faculty can= never be=20 perceived (inwardly or outwardly) or known as such. lt can only be assumed a= priori. This "nothingness" applies to both concrete (inner and external) as well as= abstract=20 actions ("delat'", "chuvstvovat'", and "dumat'"). This includes time as a= logical-intuitive=20 assumption. The imperfective does not exist in the "knowable" world at all. Rather, to= use Prof.=20 Rassudova's own word, it "dissociates" from the past, etc. I would add,= further, that this=20 transcendental faculty dissociates not within the sphere of the concrete= (whether past,=20 present or future) but from it. The IMP just is. Or rather it subsists as a= logical-intuitive=20 faculty serving as a noumenal ground for un-delimited, un-bounded empirical= =20 perception (such as of inner or external movement or process or of= unperceivable=20 states of being or of pure time or of pure, abstract habitual action or,= perhaps toughest=20 of all, of pure, single action -- e.g. the infamous general fact "On delal,"= ("He did" --=20 once and only once and not as process but as pure state). As for pure time,= I have in=20 mind a seamless, temporal continuity ("Ya [ne] pel" -"I was [not] singing").= We can=20 never "know" continuity or action in itself or the Imperfective verbs in= which such=20 continuity is grounded. We can only assume it.=20 What we can and do know are the delimited, segmented, unitary empirical=20 perceptions (known as "ideas" by Locke, Hume and the 18th century= Empiricists)=20 which the transcendental IMP has been "dissociated from." Only by assuming= =20 continuity do we have a world of action at all. The general fact,= progressive and regular=20 frequentative action of IMP verbs are not, at bottom, perceptual. They are= noumenal.=20 And they must be apprehended by the speaker's aspectual mind, not by his= senses.=20 Thus, while the fictive empirical gives us the illusion of inner and outer= space=20 (including perceived time), the fictive transcendental gives us the illusion= of continuous,=20 unbounded space (including pure time).=20 That is, both aspects involve time: the PF gives us empirical time (both= inner and=20 external, concrete and abstract), that is, time perceived, time familiar to= us as temporal=20 change, while the IMP gives us noumenal, pure time, time presupposed, time= as pure,=20 unchanged state. It is binary exclusivity, I believe, that makes possible the instantaneous= intuitive=20 calculations by the Russian native. The same intuitive faculty is at work in the definite/indefinite article= decision-making=20 in English, where the actual choice always consists not of two but three= options: the=20 definite "the," the indefinite "a(an)" and nothing at all, as in "American= literature has=20 made great strides, etc. where the speaker has chosen the zero option, i.e.= instead of=20 "An American literature... " or "The American literature...." The many uses of the IMP are thus not so much "concrete" experiences (of=20 whatever kind) as pure a priori, intuitive feelings. This is so regardless= whether we=20 consider affirmative or negative, "concrete" or "abstract" sentences, all of= which=20 presuppose this fundamental distinction. They are pure feelings dissociated= in principle=20 from all concreteness as such. The rich variety of aspectual situations is held together theoretically by= the=20 backbone of "incompatible" binary aspects. Without this incompatibility no= real=20 distinctions would be possible. In short, aspectual decision-making would= flounder in=20 hopeless subjectivity. A construction such as "Ya [ne] pel" ("I was [not] singing") represents= absolutely=20 nothing. And that's the whole point: It is the negation of all that is= empirical (the "I", the=20 implicit "song" and the world of phenomena in general) that makes it= possible for the=20 mind to "construct" or rather "assume" temporality and action by grounding= the=20 percepts of the perfective in the transcendental category of the IMP. Calling the aspects perfective and imperfective tends to blur the= fundamental=20 philosophical incompatiblity of the aspects, their exclusivity. It fosters= the illusion that=20 the aspects are part of a continuum and, therefore, that aspectual choice is= a=20 subjective affair. It isn't subjective -- whether considered from the= standpoint of student=20 or native, though to the despairing student it may often appear so. Of course, there is a sense in which aspectual usage is subjective, and= this is the=20 exception that proves the rule. Every writer (or speaker) will shape the= language in=20 accordance with his peculiar world-view and linguistic tendencies. In this= respect, a=20 writer may "tilt" the language towards either the IMP or the P or he/she= might have a=20 preference for certain of the sub-aspects or certain of the verbs of motion= quasi- aspects, etc. In this respect, he does not/cannot violate the objective= structure and=20 edifice of subtleties that is the Russian language any more than he can= alter the basic=20 structure of verbal conjugations or noun declentions. In this respect, the= writer=20 expresses himself subjectively but through, not in spite of, the linguistic= structures. He=20 operates through the great labyrinth of the Russian language, not in= defiance or=20 ignorance of it. One of the most outrageous but effective illustrations of this can be found= in a little=20 known prose poem by the Russian emigree writer Pyotr Balakshin, who came to= San=20 Francisco from Russia by way of China after the Russian Revolution of 1917.= In his=20 "Spring Over Filmore Street" (published by Sirius of San Francisco in 1951= under the=20 same title) there is the utterly astonishing, nearly ubiquitous use of the= IMP, that is, the=20 Transcendental where, I emphasize, the P, the Empirical, would be expected.= The P=20 does not even appear once until the middle of page 2, and the P. in general= is used=20 very sparingly. Naturally, I was taken aback, in fact, I was utterly= dumbfounded by this.=20 I knew my aspects very well, I thought, and now this.=20 Yet, the more I looked at the text, the more I began to admire the writer's= stylistic=20 "chutzpah." The point is that the soaring, light-weight, dematerialized= texture created by=20 the Transcendental, the description of the city as if seen from above by a= figure from a=20 painting by Chagal floating through the sky is extremely effective. After= checking with a=20 number of emigree friends, I was happy to discover that my conjecture was= right. They=20 found it equally "outrageous." It was supposed to be. I mention this episode because it represents an artistic extreme that= nevertheless=20 remains within the objective system of the aspects. Balakshin deviates from= and=20 artistically "distorts" the rules he inherited as a Russian (as every= original writer should)=20 but he never breaks them, for to do so would amount to breaking his neck. He= =20 stretches accepted usage but never acts arbitrarily. Every deviation from= the expected=20 P aspect is part of a whole pattern of Romantic flight (quite literally)= that is firmly rooted=20 in the basic noumenal, non-perceptual nature of the IMP.=20 This revolutionary use of the Imperfective was already evident in Chekhov,= where=20 the traditional narrative founded mainly (as a point of departure) on a= succession of=20 perfective events (single or multiple P) gives way to the spatio-temporal= unbounded=20 states of feeling and being (single or multiple IMP) so prevalent in= Chekhov, as for=20 example, in Lady with a Dog. This is the subject of an extraordinary essay= by Professor=20 Peter Alberg Jensen of the University of Stockholm entitled =93Narrative= Description or=20 Descriptive Narration: Problems of Aspectuality in Chekhov=94 in VERBAL= ASPECT IN=20 DISCOURSE, a magisterial collection of essays on aspectual usage edited by= =20 Professor Nils. B. Thelin (J. Benjamin Publishers, Amsterdam,1990). =20 Adjectival Aspects As a matter of fact, this Trans/Emp binary system also holds true, I= submit, for the=20 adjective, whose short and long forms (as they are crudely and opaquelly= called in=20 most textbooks) are simply variations on verbal aspects. Of course, one= could consider=20 both verbal and adjectival aspects to be manifestations of the same source.= (Due=20 allowance must be made here for modifications appropriate to a different= part of=20 speech). If this is so, then =93glubokaya,=94 the long form of the adjective, as in= the predicative=20 =93reka glubokaya=94 (=93the river is a deep one=94), or the attributive= modifier =94glubokaya reka=94=20 (=93the deep river=94) may be considered the adjectival analogue for the= perfective verb=20 aspect (Empirical), while =93gluboka,=94 as in =93reka gluboka=94 (=93the= river is deep=94) may be=20 considered the adjectival analogue for the imperfective (Transcendental)= verb aspect. The predicate short form (=93reka gluboka=94 -- =93the river is deep=94),= is a concept of the=20 pure imagination. It does not so much exist as subsist in a logical,= non-empirical reality=20 all its own. Similarly, the predicate long form (=93reka glubokaya=94 -- the= river is a deep=20 one) exists in an empirical domain unique to itself (that is, the "real,"= perceivable world=20 of the senses, both external and internal). The attributive adjectival= modifer =93glubokaya=20 reka=94 (the deep river) is, of course, similarly empirical.[See discussion= of verb aspects=20 above]. "Reka gluboka" [or, for that matter, the negative =93reka ne gluboka=94] is= not, I believe,=20 a description of the real world so much as a logical/intuitive concept= applied to what is,=20 in principle, an indefinable experience. Like the verbal "Ya pel" (or "Ya ne= pel"), the=20 predicative is a way of symbolizing what by nature can never be symbolized,= that is, a=20 pure, a priori act of cognition. We "know" or assume we know what is= essentially an=20 unknowable experience. To sum up, "reka glubokaya=94 (or the modifier= =93glubokaya=20 reka=94) describes the river empirically, while "reka gluboka" posits an= intuitive=20 experience of the river dissociated from all concreteness. Here, too, there is no continuum! We make our choice between two= incompatible=20 aspects, and this choice is only possible precisely because they are= mutually exclusive:=20 phenomena vs. noumena, perception vs. nothing. Otherwise, as I've already= said,=20 we'd flounder in a sea of hopeless indecision. The above holds true also for participles, past and present, active and= passive, IMP=20 and P.=20 Gerunds and verbal nouns provide another extension of the verbal/ adjectival system.=20 Possession and Aspects The Russian binary aspectual system may even be discerned in the peculiar= way=20 the Russian language expresses possession:=09 "U menya na stole ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table"= --Transcendental) vs.=20 "Na stole mayom ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" -- Empirical)= is an extension=20 by analogy of the binary system of the verbs and adjectives to the pronouns.= As further=20 examples, let me point to "U menya iz karmana . . . " (Transcendental) vs.= "iz moego=20 karmana . . . (Empirical) or "U menya serdtse bolit" vs. "Moyo sertse= bolit." Why Aspects? Heidegger asked the famous question: Why is there something instead of= nothing?=20 The student of the aspects often feels like asking similarly: Why are there= aspects=20 rather than nothing? Naturally, any answer at this point would be mere speculation. However, let= me=20 hazard a brief, hopefully tantalizing theory. Of the two verbal aspects, the P (the Emp) basically transforms pure= actions and=20 states into nouns and substantive clusters (noun phrases and clauses, etc.).= The=20 whole notion of a verbal action being delimited, defined and perceived (i.e.= with a=20 beginning and an end) is profoundly paradoxical (a kind of "verb-noun", not= to be=20 confused with a verbal noun, i.e. a gerund). It is as if the Russian= language were driven=20 in that direction by some elemental force, though, statistically, the ratio= is about 50-50.=20 The IMP (Transc.) would seem to be the undertow of this process of= substantive- formation, as if it were a relic of an earlier pre-aspectual linguistic= structure or else a=20 philosophical residue that could not be assimilated by the substantive= process of the=20 Empirical (for how could the non-perceptual ever be assimilated into the= perceptual?).=20 Thus, one could say that of the two great aspects, the Empirical is the= "real" aspect=20 insofar as it permits us to perceive reality by delimiting it, but the= Transcendental is the=20 "true" aspect because it alone gives us the verb as a pure verbal state or= action. I hope the reader is indulgent enough to forgive the wild surmises in this= last=20 section. They are meant only as a philosophical tease, and that is all they= could ever=20 be. Conclusion It is my firm conviction that the Empirical Aspect (Perfective) represents= "reality"=20 (single or frequentative/iterative sporadic mode) while the Transcendental= Aspect=20 (Imperfective) stands for the intuitive imagination (the merely factual, the= progressive or=20 abstract habitual frequentative mode). If this is so, how explain this phenomenon? Perhaps, the Empirical and the Transcendental both issue from some ultimate= =20 universal archetype that is the source for both percepts and= logical-intuitive concepts. If=20 this is so, then we, the bearers and users of language, may be instruments= in the=20 hands of a higher god who calls His shots, aspectually speaking, through us. =09 Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator sher07 at bellsouth.net (Soviet Politics and Repression in the 1930=92s Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) =20 8 --=====================_863287726==_-- From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 16:33:16 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 12:33:16 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Note to Everyone Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I just sent a copy of my aspect essay (in two formats "aspect.txt" and "aspect.rtf") to Ms. Emily Tall of SUNY, Buffalo who requested them. Apparently, I got a copy of my own attachments. That must mean that everybody in SeeLang got the same two copies. I apologize for this. I simply replied to her letter as I have done to the half-dozen people who have already requested it. I would appreciate it very much if those of you who are interested contacted me to let me know if you also got them. If so, there won't be any need for me to send it to anybody individually unless. At least, that's my surmise. I am a little confused. Do feel free to request a copy, though, for whatever reason. The only thing is that I will be going to sleep very soon (I have been up all night), so if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I'll get in touch with you when I get up. By the way, thank you so much for your interest, and please do send me your critiques, if the mood (aspect) strikes you. Thanks again. Benjamin Sher sher07 at bellsouth.net SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 20:51:13 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 16:51:13 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Technical Problems? Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: If any of you have had problems with receiving or accessing the files I've sent you (especially the text file), please let me know and I'll be glad to replace them. The text file may not have been properly formatted. Again, feel free to contact me. I'll be more than happy to replace them for you. Yours, Benjamin sher07 at bellsouth.net SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 21:29:44 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 17:29:44 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- as part of the message Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: If you have problems with attachments or do not quite no how to use them, I'll be happy to send you my essay directly in the body of your message, so all you'll have to do is print out my letter to you as you would any other letter. Of course, it will be a little long. But it will all be there. Yours, Benjamin Sher sher07 at bellsouth.net SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 21:32:09 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 17:32:09 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Going to sleep soon Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: Thanks so much for your wonderful response. I am rather tired, having been up all night. Keep on sending your requests. I'll get to you when I wake up later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks again. Benjamin sher07 at bellsouth.net SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net From blpost at centuryinter.net Sun May 11 22:46:35 1997 From: blpost at centuryinter.net (Becky Post) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 16:46:35 -0600 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Going to sleep soon Message-ID: Dear Benjamin If you're sending this by e-mail, please send to my e-mail address, above. If sending by regular mail, please send to: Becky Post 927 Farnam St. La Crosse,WI. 54601 Thanks so much, and sleep well. Becky From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 22:07:22 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 18:07:22 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Professor Thelin Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: A slight correction: The name of editor of VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE (published by J. Benjamin Co, Amsterdam and Philadelphi, 1990) is Professor Nils. B. Thelin (not Thielen). He is a professor at the University of Oldenburg. His name is correctly spelled in my essay, but I apparently misspelled his name in my letter this morning. My apologies to him and those of you who may be looking for his book. His book, by the way, covers not only Russian and Slavic aspects but aspects as used in languages all over the world. Yours, Benjamin Sher sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 22:11:24 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 18:11:24 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- Going to sleep soon In-Reply-To: Message-ID: --=====================_863309275==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear Becky: Thanks so very much. I'll try to get some sleep. Benjamin At 04:46 PM 5/11/97 -0600, you wrote: >Dear Benjamin > If you're sending this by e-mail, please send to my e-mail address, >above. If sending by regular mail, please send to: > > Becky Post > 927 Farnam St. > La Crosse,WI. 54601 > > Thanks so much, and sleep well. > > Becky > --=====================_863309275==_ Content-Type: application/rtf; charset="us-ascii" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="ASPECT.RTF" {\rtf1\ansi \deff6\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f5\fswiss\fcharset0\fprq2 Arial;}{\f6\froman\fcharset0\fprq2 MS Serif;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green255\blue2 55;\red0\green255\blue0; \red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green 255\blue255;\red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\r ed128\green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green1 28\blue128; \red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \snext0 Normal;}{\s4\li360 \shad\f6\ul\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 4;}{\s5\li720 \b\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 5;}{\s6\li720 \shad\f6\fs20\ul\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 6;}{\s7\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 7;}{\s8\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 8;}{\s9\li720 \i\shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext76 heading 9;}{\*\cs10 \additive Default Paragraph Font;}{\s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext15 footer;}{\s16\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext16 header;}{\*\cs17 \additive\fs16\up6 \sbasedon10 footnote reference;}{\s18 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 \sbasedon0\snext18 footnote text;}{\*\cs19 \additive\sbasedon10 page number;}}{\info{\operator Benjamin Sher}{\revtim\yr1997\mo5\dy7\hr7\min30}{\printim\yr1997\mo5\dy7\hr7\min28}{\ver sion20}{\edmins104}{\nofpages8}{\nofwords2671} {\nofchars15225}{\vern49213}}\margl1872\margr1872 \deftab360\widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\hyphhotz0\makebackup\noextrasprl\prcolbl\cvm me\sprsspbf\brkfrm\swpbdr\hyphcaps0 \fet0\sectd \sbknone\linex0\endnhere {\footer \pard\plain \s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640\pvpara\phmrg\posxc\posy0 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 {\field{\*\fldinst {\cs19 PAGE }}{\fldrslt {\cs19 8}}}{\cs19 \par }\pard \s15\tqc\tx4320\tqr\tx8640 \par }{\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl2\pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta .}}{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl5 \pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl6\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang {\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain \qc\sl360\slmult0 \shad\f6\fs20\lang1024 {\b\f5\fs22\ul AN ESSAY ON RUSSIAN ASPECTUAL DECISION-MAKING}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 [05-08-1997]}{\b\f5\fs22 \par by Benjamin Sher \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In this brief theoretical and practical essay, I would like to suggest a philosophical solution to the elusive problem of the Russian aspects by considering the Russian language from the standpoint of an artistic rather than a scientific model. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab A merely conversational approach, I'm convinced, is woefully inadequate to our understanding of the aspects. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab No less inadequate, I believe, is a scientific, especially, statistical methodology. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab To isolate the basic philosophical problem in question, I've chosen to ignore other elements of Russian grammar such as morphology, semantics, syntax, sub-aspects and quasi-aspects, verbs of motion, special negative constructions, moods, tenses, infinitives, prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I've also ignored analogous phenomena in English, especially relative to the perfect tenses, where an "aspectual" character can be discerned in certain situations, e.g. "I }{\f5\fs22\ul have}{\f5\fs22 done" (P) vs. "I }{\f5\fs22\ul have been}{\f5\fs22 doing" (IMP). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab While these factors obviously influence aspectual usage, they cannot in themselves help us understand a feature unique to the aspects alone. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In her discussion of the aspects (ASPECTUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN, Moscow: Russkii Yazyk, 1984) Prof. O. P. Rassudova considers the lexical/ semantic context in terms of the speaker's aspectual choice. She demonstrates the subtle nature of that choice by isolating, for instance, the following pairs of distinctions, where P stands for the perfective and IM P for the imperfective: \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The concrete/factual P vs. the concrete/processual IMP. \par \tab The specific factual P vs. the general factual IMP. \par \tab The sporadic repetitive P vs. the regularly repetitive IMP. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Prof. Rassudova points out brilliantly, for example, the wond erful (and maddeningly subtle) distinction in negative constructions, where the concrete factual "Ya ne spel" (P -- "I didn't sing") is ever so close in its meaning to the general fact "Ya ne pel" (IMP -- "I didn't sing"). It is customary to consider thes e negative sentences, like their affirmative counterparts, as occupying two points on an aspectual continuum. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I firmly disagree. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab No matter how seemingly inconsequential the distinction between "Ya ne spel" and "Ya ne pel", no matter how seemingly arbitrar y its usage, never shall the twain meet. These two sentences, I submit, are no closer to each other than two planets that appear to overlap during an eclipse. That is so because these two sentences travel along fundamentally different aspectual (as well a s, of course, morphological) orbits. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Admittedly, this is a hypothesis or, more precisely, a postulate and it is only as such that I present it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Discounting for the moment the various sub-aspects (such as "}{\f5\fs22\ul za}{\f5\fs22 khodit'" or "}{\f5\fs22\ul po}{\f5\fs22 khodit'") as well as the separat e aspectual business of verbs of motion) I'd postulate further that the two major aspects are themselves based on two mythic and }{\f5\fs22\ul mutually exclusive}{\f5\fs22 faculties of the mind. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Adopting a terminology well known from the philosophy of Kant, I would call these faculties the }{\f5\fs22\ul Empirical}{\f5\fs22 (Perfective) and the }{\f5\fs22\ul Transcendental}{\f5\fs22 (Imperfective). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab By positing such irreducible and mutually exclusive faculties or operational fictions in our aspectual decision-making, we can, I believe, bring out the relationship between the bew ildering complexity of aspectual situations and the simple, intuitive act operating in and through them. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab But how can simple intuition make what is often an excruciatingly subtle choice under very complex conditions? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is, I think, only natural to see the aspects in terms of a P/IMP continuum, where the perfective }{\f5\fs22\ul concrete/factual}{\f5\fs22 "demarcates" and "exhausts" (in Prof. Rassudova's words) the imperfective }{ \f5\fs22\ul concrete processual}{\f5\fs22 . The latter is considered an "unmarked," "weaker" version of the perfective. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab This, I submit, is a monumental and fatal illusion. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In my opinion, the concept of an aspectual continuum is the single greatest }{\f5\fs22\ul obstacle}{\f5\fs22 to a student's understanding of Russian aspectual usage. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Another common misconception is that the aspects have something to do with number, that is, with single or frequentative-iterative occurrence. This is simply not the case, as the most cursory examination in any extended body of Russian prose or poetry or conversation will clearly and unequivocally show. Both aspects have a frequentative. Both aspects are used as both single and multiple occurences. The real distinction of the aspects lies decidedly elsewhere. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab What exactly is this distinction of empirical and transcendental, this dialectical "incompatibility." \par \tab By "}{\f5\fs22\ul empirical}{\f5\fs22 " (perfective) I mean a fictive, cognitive faculty which allows us to perceive a world of delimited phenomena. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab In actual practice this faculty allows us to organize our }{\f5\fs22\ul external and}{\f5\fs22 }{\f5\fs22\ul inner}{\f5\fs22 world of percepts. This includes time as external perception. That is, I believe, why the perfective covers both concrete (external and internal) as well as abstract actions ("sdelat'","pochuvstvovat'", "podumat'"). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab By "}{\f5\fs22\ul transcendental}{\f5\fs22 " I mean a fictive, logical-intuitive faculty which allows us to perceive or construct }{\f5\fs22\ul absolutely nothing at all}{\f5\fs22 . That is, this faculty can never be perceived (inwardly or outwardly) or known as such. lt can only be }{\f5\fs22\ul assumed a priori}{\f5\fs22 . \par \tab This "nothingness" applies to both concrete (inner and external) as well as abstract actions ("delat'", "chuvstvovat'", and "dumat'"). This includes time as a logical-intuitive assumption. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The imperfective does not exist in the "knowable" world at all. Rather, to use Prof. Rassudova's own word, it "dissociates" from the past, etc. I would add, further, that this transcendental faculty dissociates not }{ \f5\fs22\ul within}{\f5\fs22 the sphere of the concrete (whether past, present or future) but }{\f5\fs22\ul from it}{\f5\fs22 . The IMP just }{\f5\fs22\ul is}{\f5\fs22 . Or rather it subsists as a logical-intuitive faculty serving as a noumenal ground for }{\f5\fs22\ul un}{\f5\fs22 -delimited, }{\f5\fs22\ul un-bounded}{\f5\fs22 empirical perception (such as of inner or external movement or process or of unperceivable states of being or of pure time or of pure, abstract habitual action or, perhaps toughest of all, of pure, }{\f5\fs22\ul single}{\f5\fs22 action -- e.g. the infamous general fact "On delal," ("He did" -- once and only once and not as process but as pure state). As for pure time, I have in mind a seamless, temporal continuity ("Ya [ne] pel" -"I was [not] singing"). We can never "know" conti nuity or action in itself or the Imperfective verbs in which such continuity is grounded. We can only assume it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab What we can and do know are the delimited, segmented, unitary empirical perceptions (known as "ideas" by Locke, Hume and the 18th century Empiricists) which the transcendental IMP has been "dissociated from." Only by }{\f5\fs22\ul assuming}{\f5\fs22 continuity do we have a world of action at all. The general fact, progressive and regular frequentative action of IMP verbs are }{\f5\fs22\ul not}{\f5\fs22 , at bottom, perceptual. They are noumenal. And they must be apprehended by the speaker's aspectual mind, }{\f5\fs22\ul not}{\f5\fs22 by his senses. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Thus, while the fictive empirical gives us the illusion of inner and outer space (including perceived time), the fictive transcendental gives us the illusion of continuous, unbounded space (including pure time). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab That is, both aspects involve time: the PF gives us empirical time (both inner and external, concrete and abstract), that is, time perceived, time familiar to us as temporal change, while the IMP gives us noumenal, pure time, time presupposed, time as pu re, unchanged state. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is binary exclusivity, I believe, that makes possible the instantaneous intuitive calculations by the Russian native. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The same intuitive faculty is at work in the definite/indefinite article decision-making in English, where the actual choice always consists not of two but three options: the definite "the," the indefinite "a(an)" and nothing at all, as in "}{\f5\fs22\ul American}{\f5\fs22 literature has made great strides, etc. where the speaker has chosen the zero option, i.e. instead of "An American literature... " or "The American literature...." \par \tab The many uses of the IMP are thus not so much "concrete" experiences (of whatever kind) as }{\f5\fs22\ul pure}{\f5\fs22 a priori, intuitive feelings. This is so regardless whether we consider affirmative or negative, "concrete" or "abstract" sentences, all of which presuppose this fundamental distinction. They are pure feelings dissociated in principle from all concretene ss as such. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The rich variety of aspectual situations is held together theoretically by the backbone of "incompatible" binary aspects. Without this }{\f5\fs22\ul in}{\f5\fs22 compatibility no real distinctions would be possible. In short, aspectual decision-making would flounder in hopeless subjectivity. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab A construction such as "Ya [ne] pel" ("I was [not] singing") represents absolutely }{\f5\fs22\ul nothing}{\f5\fs22 . And that's the whole point: It is the negation of all that is empirical (the "I", the implicit "song" and the world of phenomena in general) that makes it possible for the mind to "construct" or rather "assume" temporality and action by grounding the pe rcepts of the perfective in the transcendental category of the IMP. \par \tab Calling the aspects }{\f5\fs22\ul perf}{\f5\fs22 ective and }{\f5\fs22\ul im}{\f5\fs22 perfective tends to blur the fundamental philosophical }{\f5\fs22\ul incompatiblity}{\f5\fs22 of the aspects, their exclusivity. It fosters the illusion that the aspects are part of a continuum and, therefore, that aspectual choice is a subjective affair. It isn't subjective -- whether considered from the standpoint of student or native, though t o the despairing student it may often appear so. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Of course, there is a sense in which as pectual usage is subjective, and this is the exception that proves the rule. Every writer (or speaker) will shape the language in accordance with his peculiar world-view and linguistic tendencies. In this respect, a writer may "tilt" the language towards either the IMP or the P or he/she might have a preference for certain of the sub-aspects or certain of the verbs of motion quasi-aspects, etc. In this respect, he does not/cannot violate the objective structure and edifice of subtleties that is the Russia n language any more than he can alter the basic structure of verbal conjugations or noun declentions. In this respect, the writer expresses himself subjectively but }{\f5\fs22\ul through}{\f5\fs22 , }{\f5\fs22\ul not in spite of}{\f5\fs22 , the linguistic structures. He operates }{\f5\fs22\ul through}{\f5\fs22 the great labyrinth of the Russian language, not in defiance or ignorance of it. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab One of the most outrageous but effective illustrations of this can be found in a little known prose poem by the Russian emigree writer Pyotr Balakshin, who came to San Francisco from Russia by w ay of China after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In his "Spring Over Filmore Street" (published by Sirius of San Francisco in 1951 under the same title) there is the utterly astonishing, nearly ubiquitous use of the IMP, that is, the Transcendental where , I emphasize, the P, the Empirical, would be expected. The P does not even appear once until the middle of page 2, and the P. in general is used very sparingly. Naturally, I was taken aback, in fact, I was utterly dumbfounded by this. I knew my aspects v ery well, I thought, and now this. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Yet, the more I looked at the text, the more I began to admire the writer's stylistic "chutzpah." The point is that the soaring, light-weight, dematerialized texture created by the Transcendental, the description of the city as if seen from above by a fi gure from a painting by Chagal floating through the sky is extremely effective. After checking with a number of emigree friends, I was happy to discover that my conjecture was right. They found it equally "outrageous." It was supposed to be. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I mention this episode because it represents an artistic extreme that nevertheless remains within the objective system of the aspects. Balakshin deviates from and artistically "distorts" the rules he inherited as a Russian (as every original writer shoul d) but he never breaks them, for to do so would amount to breaking his neck. He stretches accepted usage but }{\f5\fs22\ul never}{\f5\fs22 acts arbitrarily. Every deviation from the expected P aspect is part of a whole pattern of Romantic flight (quite literally) that is firmly rooted in the basic noumenal, non-perceptual nature of the IMP. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab This revolutionary use of the Imperfective was already evident in Chekhov, where the traditional narrative founded mainly (as a point of departure) on a succession of perfective events (single or multiple P) gives way to the spatio-temporal unbounded sta tes of feeling and being (single or multiple IMP) so prevalent in Chekhov, as for example, in Lady with a Dog. This is the subject of an extraordinary essay by Professor Peter Alberg Jensen of the University of Stockholm entitled \ldblquote Narrative Description or Descriptive Narration: Problems of Aspectuality in Chekhov\rdblquote in VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE, a magisterial collection of essays on aspectual usage edited by Professor Nils. B. Thelin (J. Benjamin Publishers, Amsterdam,1990). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par \par \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par Adjectival Aspects}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab As a matter of fact, this Trans/Emp binary system also holds true, I submit, for the adjective, whose short and long forms (as they are crudely and opaquelly called in most textbook s) are simply variations on verbal aspects. Of course, one could consider both verbal and adjectival aspects to be manifestations of the same source. (Due allowance must be made here for modifications appropriate to a different part of speech). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab If this is so, then \ldblquote glubokaya,\rdblquote the long form of the adjective, as in the predicative \ldblquote reka glubokaya\rdblquote (\ldblquote the river is a deep one\rdblquote ), or the attributive modifier \rdblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote (\ldblquote the deep river\rdblquote ) may be considered the adjectival analogue for the perfective verb aspect (Empirical), while \ldblquote gluboka,\rdblquote as in \ldblquote reka gluboka\rdblquote (\ldblquote the river is deep\rdblquote ) may be considered the adjectival analogue for the imperfective (Transcendental) verb aspect. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The predicate short form (\ldblquote reka gluboka\rdblquote -- \ldblquote the river is deep\rdblquote ), is a concept of the pure imagination. It does not so much exist as subsist in a logical, non-empirical reality all its own. Similarly, the predicate long form (\ldblquote reka glubokaya\rdblquote -- the rive r is a deep one) exists in an empirical domain unique to itself (that is, the "real," perceivable world of the senses, both external and internal). The attributive adjectival modifer \ldblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote (the deep river) is, of course, similarly empirical.[See discussion of verb aspects above]. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab "Reka gluboka" [or, for that matter, the negative \ldblquote reka ne gluboka\rdblquote ] is not, I believe, a description of the real world so much as a logical/intuitive concept applied to what is, in principle, an indefinable experience. Like the verbal "Ya pel" (or "Ya ne pel"), the predicative is a way of symbolizing w hat by nature can never be symbolized, that is, a pure, a priori act of cognition. We "know" or assume we know what is essentially an unknowable experience. To sum up, "reka glubokaya\rdblquote (or the modifier \ldblquote glubokaya reka\rdblquote ) describes the river empirically, while "reka gluboka" posits an intuitive experience of the river }{\f5\fs22\ul dissociated from all concreteness}{\f5\fs22 . \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Here, too, there is no continuum! We make our choice between two incompatible aspects, and this choice is only possible precisely because they are mutually e xclusive: phenomena vs. noumena, perception vs. nothing. Otherwise, as I've already said, we'd flounder in a sea of hopeless indecision. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The above holds true also for participles, past and present, active and passive, IMP and P. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Gerunds and verbal nouns provide another extension of the verbal/ \par adjectival system. \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul Possession and Aspects}{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab The Russian binary aspectual system may even be discerned in the peculiar way the Russian language expresses possession:\tab \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab "U menya na stole ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" --Transcendental) vs. "Na stole mayom ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" -- Empirical) is an extension by analogy of the binary system of the verbs and adjectives to the pronouns. As further examples, let me point to "U menya iz karmana . . . " (Transcendental) vs. "iz moego karmana . . . (Empirical) or "U menya serdtse bolit" vs. "Moyo sertse bolit." \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab }{\b\f5\fs22\ul Why Aspects? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Heidegger asked the famous question: Why is there something instead of nothing? The student of the aspects often feels like asking similarly: Why are there aspects rather than nothing? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Naturally, any answer at this point would be mere speculation. However, let me hazard a brief, hopefully tantalizing theory. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Of the two verbal aspects, the P (the Emp) basically transforms pure actions and states into nouns and substantive clusters (noun phrases and clauses, etc.). The whole notion of a verbal action being delimited, defined and perceived (i.e. with a beginnin g and an end) is profoundly paradoxical (a kind of "verb- noun", not to be confused with a verbal noun, i.e. a gerund). It is as if the Russian language were driven in that direction by some elemental force, though, statistically, the ratio is about 50-50. The IMP (Transc.) would seem to be the undertow of this process of substantive-formation, as if it were a relic of an earlier pre-aspectual linguistic structure or else a philosophical residue that could not be assimilated by the substantive process of the Empirical (for how could the non-perceptual ever be as si milated into the perceptual?). Thus, one could say that of the two great aspects, the Empirical is the "real" aspect insofar as it permits us to perceive reality by delimiting it, but the Transcendental is the "true" aspect because it alone gives us the verb as a pure verbal state or action. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab I hope the reader is indulgent enough to forgive the wild surmises in this last section. They are meant only as a philosophical tease, and that is all they could ever be. \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \qc\sl360\slmult0 {\b\f5\fs22\ul \par \par Conclusion \par }{\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab It is my firm conviction that the Empirical Aspect (Perfective) represents "reality" (single or frequentative/iterative sporadic mode) while the Transcendental Aspect (Imperfective) stands for the intuitive imagination (the merely factual, the progressive or abstract habitual frequen tative mode). \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab If this is so, how explain this phenomenon? \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \tab Perhaps, the Empirical and the Transcendental both issue from some ultimate universal archetype that is the source for both percepts and logical-intuitive concepts. If this is so, then we, the bear ers and users of language, may be instruments in the hands of a higher god who calls His shots, aspectually speaking, through us. \par }\pard \sl360\slmult0 {\f5\fs22 \par \tab \tab \tab \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Benjamin Sher \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Russian Literary Translator \par sher07 at bellsouth.net \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 (}{\i\f5\fs22 Soviet Politics and Repression in the 1930\rquote s \par }\pard {\f5\fs22 Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) \par \par }} --=====================_863309275==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="ASPECT.TXT" AN ESSAY ON RUSSIAN ASPECTUAL DECISION-MAKING [05-08-1997] by Benjamin Sher In this brief theoretical and practical essay, I would like to sug- gest a philosophical solution to the elusive problem of the Russian verb aspects by considering the Russian language from the standpoint of an artistic rather than a scientific model. A merely conversational approach, I'm convinced, is woefully inade- quate to our understanding of the aspects. No less inadequate, I believe, is a scientific, especially, statis- tical methodology. To isolate the basic philosophical problem in question, I've chosen to ignore other elements of Russian grammar such as morphology, se- mantics, syntax, sub-aspects and quasi-aspects, verbs of motion, special negative constructions, moods, tenses, infinitives, prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc. I've also ignored analogous phenomena in English, especially rela- tive to the perfect tenses, where an "aspectual" character can be discerned in certain situations, e.g. "I have done" (P) vs. "I have been doing" (IMP). While these factors obviously influence aspectual usage, they can- not in themselves help us understand a feature unique to the aspects alone. In her discussion of the aspects (ASPECTUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN, Moscow: Russkii Yazyk, 1984) Prof. O. P. Rassudova considers the le- xical/ semantic context in terms of the speaker's aspectual choice. She demonstrates the subtle nature of that choice by isolating, for instance, the following pairs of distinctions, where P stands for the perfective and IMP for the imperfective: The concrete/factual P vs. the concrete/processual IMP. The specific factual P vs. the general factual IMP. The sporadic repetitive P vs. the regularly repetitive IMP. Prof. Rassudova points out brilliantly, for example, the wonderful (and maddeningly subtle) distinction in negative constructions, where the concrete factual "Ya ne spel" (P -- "I didn't sing") is ever so close in its meaning to the general fact "Ya ne pel" (IMP -- "I didn't sing"). It is customary to consider these negative sentences, like their affirmative counterparts, as occupying two points on an aspectual continuum. I firmly disagree. No matter how seemingly inconsequential the distinction between "Ya ne spel" and "Ya ne pel", no matter how seemingly arbitrary its usage, never shall the twain meet. These two sentences, I submit, are no closer to each other than two planets that appear to overlap during an eclipse. That is so because these two sentences travel along fundamentally different aspectual (as well as, of course, morphological) orbits. Admittedly, this is a hypothesis or, more precisely, a postulate and it is only as such that I present it. Discounting for the moment the various sub-aspects (such as "zakho- dit'" or "pokhodit'") as well as the separate aspectual business of verbs of motion) I'd postulate further that the two major aspects are themselves based on two mythic and mutually exclusive faculties of the mind. Adopting a terminology well known from the philosophy of Kant, I would call these faculties the Empirical (Perfective) and the Trans- cendental (Imperfective). By positing such irreducible and mutually exclusive faculties or operational fictions in our aspectual decision-making, we can, I be- lieve, bring out the relationship between the bewildering complexity of aspectual situations and the simple, intuitive act operating in and through them. But how can simple intuition make what is often an excruciatingly subtle choice under very complex conditions? It is, I think, only natural to see the aspects in terms of a P/IMP continuum, where the perfective concrete/factual "demarcates" and "exhausts" (in Prof. Rassudova's words) the imperfective concrete processual. The latter is considered an "unmarked," "weaker" ver- sion of the perfective. This, I submit, is a monumental and fatal illusion. In my opinion, the concept of an aspectual continuum is the single greatest obstacle to a student's understanding of Russian aspectual usage. Another common misconception is that the aspects have something to do with number, that is, with single or frequentative-iterative occur- rence. This is simply not the case, as the most cursory examination in any extended body of Russian prose or poetry or conversation will clearly and unequivocally show. Both aspects have a frequentative. Both aspects are used as both single and multiple occurences. The real distinction of the aspects lies decidedly elsewhere. What exactly is this distinction of empirical and transcendental, this dialectical "incompatibility." By "empirical" (perfective) I mean a fictive, cognitive faculty which allows us to perceive a world of delimited phenomena. In actual practice this faculty allows us to organize our external and inner world of percepts. This includes time as external percep- tion. That is, I believe, why the perfective covers both concrete (external and internal) as well as abstract actions ("sdelat'", "pochuvstvovat'", "podumat'"). By "transcendental" I mean a fictive, logical-intuitive faculty which allows us to perceive or construct absolutely nothing at all. That is, this faculty can never be perceived (inwardly or outwardly) or known as such. lt can only be assumed a priori. This "nothingness" applies to both concrete (inner and external) as well as abstract actions ("delat'", "chuvstvovat'", and "dumat'"). This includes time as a logical-intuitive assumption. The imperfective does not exist in the "knowable" world at all. Ra- ther, to use Prof. Rassudova's own word, it "dissociates" from the past, etc. I would add, further, that this transcendental faculty dissociates not within the sphere of the concrete (whether past, present or future) but from it. The IMP just is. Or rather it sub- sists as a logical-intuitive faculty serving as a noumenal ground for un-delimited, un-bounded empirical perception (such as of inner or external movement or process or of unperceivable states of being or of pure time or of pure, abstract habitual action or, perhaps toughest of all, of pure, single action -- e.g. the infamous general fact "On delal," ("He did" -- once and only once and not as process but as pure state). As for pure time, I have in mind a seamless, temporal continuity ("Ya [ne] pel" -"I was [not] singing"). We can never "know" continuity or action in itself or the Imperfective verbs in which such continuity is grounded. We can only assume it. What we can and do know are the delimited, segmented, unitary empi- rical perceptions (known as "ideas" by Locke, Hume and the 18th cen- tury Empiricists) which the transcendental IMP has been "dissociated from." Only by assuming continuity do we have a world of action at all. The general fact, progressive and regular frequentative action of IMP verbs are not, at bottom, perceptual. They are noumenal. And they must be apprehended by the speaker's aspectual mind, not by his senses. Thus, while the fictive empirical gives us the illusion of inner and outer space (including perceived time), the fictive transcendental gives us the illusion of continuous, unbounded space (including pure time). That is, both aspects involve time: the PF gives us empirical time (both inner and external, concrete and abstract), that is, time per- ceived, time familiar to us as temporal change, while the IMP gives us noumenal, pure time, time presupposed, time as pure, unchanged state. It is binary exclusivity, I believe, that makes possible the instantaneous intuitive calculations by the Russian native. The same intuitive faculty is at work in the definite/indefinite ar- ticle decision-making in English, where the actual choice always consists not of two but three options: the definite "the," the inde- finite "a(an)" and nothing at all, as in "American literature has made great strides, etc. where the speaker has chosen the zero op- tion, i.e. instead of "An American literature... " or "The Ameri- can literature...." The many uses of the IMP are thus not so much "concrete" experiences (of whatever kind) as pure a priori, intuitive feelings. This is so regardless whether we consider affirmative or negative, "concrete" or "abstract" sentences, all of which presuppose this fundamental dis- tinction. They are pure feelings dissociated in principle from all concreteness as such. The rich variety of aspectual situations is held together theoreti- cally by the backbone of "incompatible" binary aspects. Without this incompatibility no real distinctions would be possible. In short, as- pectual decision-making would flounder in hopeless subjectivity. A construction such as "Ya [ne] pel" ("I was [not] singing") rep- resents absolutely nothing. And that's the whole point: It is the negation of all that is empirical (the "I", the implicit "song" and the world of phenomena in general) that makes it possible for the mind to "construct" or rather "assume" temporality and action by grounding the percepts of the perfective in the transcendental cate- gory of the IMP. Calling the aspects perfective and imperfective tends to blur the fundamental philosophical incompatiblity of the aspects, their exclu- sivity. It fosters the illusion that the aspects are part of a conti- nuum and, therefore, that aspectual choice is a subjective affair. It isn't subjective -- whether considered from the standpoint of student or native, though to the despairing student it may often appear so. Of course, there is a sense in which aspectual usage is subjective, and this is the exception that proves the rule. Every writer (or speaker) will shape the language in accordance with his peculiar world-view and linguistic tendencies. In this respect, a writer may "tilt" the language towards either the IMP or the P or he/she might have a preference for certain of the sub-aspects or certain of the verbs of motion quasi-aspects, etc. In this respect, he does not/ cannot violate the objective structure and edifice of subtleties that is the Russian language any more than he can alter the basic structure of verbal conjugations or noun declentions. In this res- pect, the writer expresses himself subjectively but through, not in spite of, the linguistic structures. He operates through the great labyrinth of the Russian language, not in defiance or ignorance of it. One of the most outrageous but effective illustrations of this can be found in a little known prose poem by the Russian emigree writer Pyotr Balakshin, who came to San Francisco from Russia by way of Chi- na after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In his "Spring Over Filmore Street" (published by Sirius of San Francisco in 1951 under the same title) there is the utterly astonishing, nearly ubiquitous use of the IMP, that is, the Transcendental where, I emphasize, the P, the Empi- rical, would be expected. The P does not even appear once until the middle of page 2, and the P. in general is used very sparingly. Na- turally, I was taken aback, in fact, I was utterly dumbfounded by this. I knew my aspects very well, I thought, and now this. Yet, the more I looked at the text, the more I began to admire the writer's stylistic "chutzpah." The point is that the soaring, light- weight, dematerialized texture created by the Transcendental, the description of the city as if seen from above by a figure from a painting by Chagal floating through the sky is extremely effective. After checking with a number of emigree friends, I was happy to dis- cover that my conjecture was right. They found it equally "outra- geous." It was supposed to be. I mention this episode because it represents an artistic extreme that nevertheless remains within the objective system of the aspects. Balakshin deviates from and artistically "distorts" the rules he in- herited as a Russian (as every original writer should) but he never breaks them, for to do so would amount to breaking his neck. He stretches accepted usage but never acts arbitrarily. Every deviation from the expected P aspect is part of a whole pattern of Romantic flight (quite literally) that is firmly rooted in the basic noumenal, non-perceptual nature of the IMP. This revolutionary use of the Imperfective was already evident in Chekhov, where the traditional narrative founded mainly (as a point of departure) on a succession of perfective events (single or mul- tiple P) gives way to the spatio-temporal unbounded states of feeling and being (single or multiple IMP) so prevalent in Chekhov, as for example, in Lady with a Dog. This is the subject of an extraordinary essay by Professor Peter Alberg Jensen of the University of Stockholm entitled "Narrative Description or Descriptive Narration: Problems of Aspectuality in Chekhov" in VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE, a magisterial collection of essays on aspectual usage edited by Professor Nils. B. Thelin (J. Benjamin Publishers, Amsterdam,1990). ADJECTIVAL ASPECTS As a matter of fact, this Trans/Emp binary system also holds true, I submit, for the adjective, whose short and long forms (as they are crudely and opaquelly called in most textbooks) are simply variations on verbal aspects. Of course, one could consider both verbal and ad- jectival aspects to be manifestations of the same source. (Due allo- wance must be made here for modifications appropriate to a different part of speech). If this is so, then "glubokaya," the long form of the adjective, as in the predicative "reka glubokaya" ("the river is a deep one"), or the attributive modifier "glubokaya reka" ("the deep river") may be considered the adjectival analogue for the perfective verb aspect (Empirical), while "gluboka," as in "reka gluboka" ("the river is deep") may be considered the adjectival analogue for the imperfec- tive (Transcendental) verb aspect. The predicate short form ("reka gluboka" -- "the river is deep"), is a concept of the pure imagination. It does not so much exist as sub- sist in a logical, non-empirical reality all its own. Similarly, the predicate long form ("reka glubokaya" -- the river is a deep one) exists in an empirical domain unique to itself (that is, the "real," perceivable world of the senses, both external and internal). The attributive adjectival modifer "glubokaya reka" (the deep river) is, of course, similarly empirical.[See discussion of verb aspects above]. "Reka gluboka" [or, for that matter, the negative "reka ne gluboka"] is not, I believe, a description of the real world so much as a logical/intuitive concept applied to what is, in principle, an inde- finable experience. Like the verbal "Ya pel" (or "Ya ne pel"), the predicative is a way of symbolizing what by nature can never be sym- bolized, that is, a pure, a priori act of cognition. We "know" or assume we know what is essentially an unknowable experience. To sum up, "reka glubokaya" (or the modifier "glubokaya reka") des- cribes the river empirically, while "reka gluboka" posits an intui- tive experience of the river dissociated from all concreteness. Here, too, there is no continuum! We make our choice between two incompatible aspects, and this choice is only possible precisely be- cause they are mutually exclusive: phenomena vs. noumena, perception vs. nothing. Otherwise, as I've already said, we'd flounder in a sea of hopeless indecision. The above holds true also for participles, past and present, active and passive, IMP and P. Gerunds and verbal nouns provide another extension of the verbal/ adjectival system. POSSESSION AND ASPECTS The Russian binary aspectual system may even be discerned in the peculiar way the Russian language expresses possession: "U menya na stole ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" -- the Transcendental) vs. "Na stole mayom ptitsa lezhit" ("A bird is lying on my table" -- Empirical) is an extension by analogy of the binary system of the verbs and adjectives to the pronouns. As further examples, let me point to "U menya iz karmana . . . "(Transcendental) vs. "iz moego karmana . . . (Empirical) or "U menya serdtse bolit" vs. "Moyo sertse bolit." WHY ASPECTS? Heidegger asked the famous question: Why is there something instead of nothing? The student of the aspects often feels like asking similarly: Why are there aspects rather than nothing? Naturally, any answer at this point would be mere speculation. How- ever, let me hazard a brief, hopefully tantalizing theory. Of the two verbal aspects, the P (the Emp) basically transforms pure actions and states into nouns and substantive clusters (noun phrases and clauses, etc.). The whole notion of a verbal action being deli- mited, defined and perceived (i.e. with a beginning and an end) is profoundly paradoxical (a kind of "verb-noun", not to be confused with a verbal noun, i.e. a gerund). It is as if the Russian language were driven in that direction by some elemental force, though, sta- tistically, the ratio is about 50-50. The IMP (Transc.) would seem to be the undertow of this process of substantive formation, as if it were a relic of some earlier pre- aspectual linguistic structure or else a philosophical residue that could not be assimilated by the substantive process of the Empirical (for how could the non-perceptual ever be assimilated into the perceptual?). Thus, one could say that of the two great aspects, the Empirical is the "real" aspect insofar as it permits us to perceive reality by delimiting it, but the Transcendental is the "true" aspect because it alone gives us the verb as a pure verbal state or action. I hope the reader is indulgent enough to forgive the wild surmises in this last section. They are meant only as a philosophical tease, and that is all they could ever be. CONCLUSION It is my firm conviction that the Empirical Aspect (Perfective) re- presents "reality" (single or frequentative/iterative sporadic mode) while the Transcendental Aspect (Imperfective) stands for the inner, intuitive imagination (the merely factual, the progressive or ab- stract habitual frequentative mode). If this is so, how explain this phenomenon? Perhaps, the Empirical and the Transcendental both issue from some ultimate universal archetype that is the source for both percepts and logical-intuitive concepts. If this is so, then we, the bearers and users of language, may be instruments in the hands of a higher god who calls His shots, aspectually speaking, through us. Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator sher07 at bellsouth.net (Soviet Politics and Repression in the 1930's Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net 7 --=====================_863309275==_ Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net --=====================_863309275==_-- From sher07 at bellsouth.net Sun May 11 22:32:05 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 18:32:05 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- More Technical Problems Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: Well, I guess I owe everybody another apology. It turns out that two members replied to my original message addressed to the entire group and requested a copy of my essay (which, as you know, I always send in two copies, a text file and an rich text format -- RTF -- file). Not realizing this, I sent them the two files by replying to their letter, which was, of course, a reply to my original letter addressed to SEELANGS. As a result, unbeknownst to me, the files were going not only to the persons who requested them but to the entire mailing list. This happened not once, but TWICE. Thank God I finally realized what was happening. I can only hope for mercy from the powers that be come tomorrow morning. Yours (positively red-faced) Benjamin Sher sher07 at bellsouth.net SHER PUBLISHERS 802-C Fern St. New Orleans, LA 70118 Tel (504) 866-3686 Fax (504) 866-3729 sher07 at bellsouth.net From frosset at wheatonma.edu Mon May 12 01:26:24 1997 From: frosset at wheatonma.edu (Francoise Rosset) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 21:26:24 -0400 Subject: evtushenko - thanks Message-ID: Thank you again to all who replied, on and off list, to help us find E. Evtushenko. He does indeed spend the academic year at the University of Tulsa, in the English department. -FR Francoise Rosset phone: (508) 286-3696 Wheaton College e-mail: frosset at wheatonma.edu Norton, Massachusetts 02766 From ralph.lindheim at utoronto.ca Mon May 12 14:06:03 1997 From: ralph.lindheim at utoronto.ca (Ralph Lindheim) Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 10:06:03 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- be my guest! Message-ID: Dear Benjamin, Could you send me, off-line, the reference to the work by Alberg Jensen on Chekhov that you consider so valuable? Many thanks, Ralph Lindheim From fanger at husc.harvard.edu Mon May 12 19:00:44 1997 From: fanger at husc.harvard.edu (Donald Fanger) Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 15:00:44 -0400 Subject: email address for Geir Kjetsaa In-Reply-To: <97May12.100320edt.159830(7)@bureau6.utcc.utoronto.ca> Message-ID: If anyone has Kjetsaa's email address, I'd be grateful to receive it. Donald Fanger From cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu Mon May 12 19:55:49 1997 From: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu (curt fredric woolhiser) Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 14:55:49 -0500 Subject: card catalogs of russ. and ukr. Message-ID: >Is anyone doing research in the CIS that will involve access to card catalogs >of the Russian, Ukrainian or Belorussian languages that various institutions >such as the Academy of Sciences, Potebnia Institute(?) and others maintain in >order to write historical dictionaries and do similar types of work? I am >working on a rather complicated project and desperately need citations for >two words. > >Any assistance or advice would be much appreciated. > >Serge >_______ >Serge Rogosin >93-49 222 Street >Queens Village, NY 11428 >(718) 479-2881 Serge, You might try contacting Dr. Henadz' Cyxun at the Institute of Linguistics of the Belarus Academy of Sciences in Minsk. The institute has excellent kartoteki for the "Histarychny slounik belaruskaj movy", the "Etymalahichny slounik belaruskaj movy" and the "Leksichny atlas belaruskix narodnyx havorak." The email address where Dr. Cyxun can be reached is: mab at lingvo.minsk.by . Good luck! Curt Woolhiser ======================================== Curt F. Woolhiser Dept. of Slavic Languages University of Texas Austin, TX 78713-7217 Tel. (512) 471-3607 Fax: (512) 471-6710 Email: cfwoolhiser at mail.utexas.edu ======================================== From schaeken at let.rug.nl Tue May 13 12:42:57 1997 From: schaeken at let.rug.nl (J. Schaeken) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 13:42:57 +0100 Subject: Russian Linguistics vol. 21/1 (March 1997) Message-ID: The Table of Contents of vol. 21/1 (March 1997) of Russian Linguistics is now available at: http://www.let.rug.nl/~schaeken/rl-art.html#21/1 (articles and discussions) (KOI8) http://www.let.rug.nl/~schaeken/rl-rev.html#21/1 (reviews) (KOI8) ************************************************************ Dr. Jos Schaeken, Slavic Department, University of Groningen P.O.B. 716, NL-9700 AS Groningen, The Netherlands Tel.: + 31 50 3636065/5264945, Fax: + 31 50 3634900 Web: http://www.let.rug.nl/~schaeken/ (personal) Web: http://www.let.rug.nl/slav/ (department) ************************************************************ From vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca Tue May 13 13:50:14 1997 From: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca (Vladimir Tumanov) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 09:50:14 -0400 Subject: Erofeev Message-ID: Hi, SEELAngers: Does anyone know if Erofeev's "Val'purgieva noch'" has been translated into English and/or French? Thank you. Vladimir Tumanov, Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages and Literatures University College 115, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Telephone: w. (519) 661-3196, h. (519) 471-3429 Fax: (519) 661-4093 Electronic Mail: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca From jak209 at lulu.acns.nwu.edu Tue May 13 16:42:15 1997 From: jak209 at lulu.acns.nwu.edu (john kieselhorst) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 10:42:15 -0600 Subject: Russian Aspects -- as part of the message Message-ID: At 5:29 PM 5/11/97 -0400, Benjamin Sher wrote: >Dear Seelangers: > >If you have problems with attachments or do not quite no how to use them, I'll > be happy to send you my essay directly in the body of your message, so all > you'll have to do is print out my letter to you as you would any other letter. > Of course, it will be a little long. But it will all be there. > >Yours, > >Benjamin Sher >sher07 at bellsouth.net >SHER PUBLISHERS >802-C Fern St. >New Orleans, LA 70118 >Tel (504) 866-3686 >Fax (504) 866-3729 >sher07 at bellsouth.net Dear Seelangers, I was not very happy to find over ten messages queued up in my mailbox, all from Mr. Sher (apparently--I don't wade through this amount of material very carefully) touting his new work on Russian aspect. This seems like the kind of commercial use of the list that has been discouraged in the past, and probably should be in the future as well. Mr. Sher, if you have an interested party, please send them your materials directly. Otherwise numerous uninterested list subscribers must wait for your reams of electronic documents to transfer. Thank you. John Kieselhorst Northwestern University From sforres1 at swarthmore.edu Tue May 13 18:01:17 1997 From: sforres1 at swarthmore.edu (Sibelan Forrester) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 14:01:17 -0400 Subject: Query: Mariia Petrovykh Message-ID: Dear denizens of SEELANG -- Is there anyone out there who might be able to answer a (rather trivial) question about the family of Mariia Petrovykh (perevodchik i poet), or who could point me to a knowledgeable source not on the list? Any assistance would be sincerely appreciated! Sibelan Forrester From sher07 at bellsouth.net Wed May 14 11:42:16 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 07:42:16 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects- A Defense (rev.) Message-ID: Dear Professor Kieselhorst and Seelangers: My deep apologies to those of you who were offended or inconvenienced by my many messages. Some were a case of overkill. Others were a re- sult of technical problems that I hope have now been corrected. What- ever the reason, I acknowledge responsibility for them. The subject of the aspects is an excruciating problem for Russian students, teachers and scholars. It is imperative that the student confront this central issue head-on. Yet, too often, the response has been one of oversimplification, distortion and even outright de- nial. The nearly fifty letters I have received on this subject so far from professors, students and scholars from all over the world attest to the intensity of interest in this, the most controversial and demanding of issues in Russian grammar. My aspectual model and the theory and practice based on its inherent logic are built on the masterly work of others, e.g. Forbes (RUSSIAN REFERENCE GRAMMAR), Unbegaun (THE RUSSIAN VERB), Rassudova (ASPEC- TUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN), Borras and Christian (RUSSIAN SYNTAX), Pulkina (RUSSIAN) and Thelin (VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE). I especi- ally recommend Professor Boris Gasparov's essay (in Thelin's book) entitled "Notes on the 'Metaphysics' of Russian Aspect". What I have attempted to do is to provide an underlying philosophical and prac- tical foundation for aspectual decision-making. Some people may ask: "why offer it through Seelangs?" (It's free, of course, -- the charge of commercialism is beneath contempt). And why now? The answer is the world of the Internet, the new opportunities af- forded by it for the advancement of knowledge, and the risks and professional responsibilities attendant upon it. A number of Russian tutorials have recently become available on the Internet, some good, some not so good. It was in response to the misleading if not downright false explanations for Russian aspectual usage on some of these sites that I felt impelled, indeed morally compelled to do something. The Internet lends authority and legiti- macy to what it publishes. When it pubishes what is obviously wrong, it should be called to account. When a subject as elusive, as com- plex, as frustrating as Russian aspectual usage is misrepresented, the effect on the present and future generation of students is in- calculable. After days of soul-searching on this matter, I decided to address the members of Seelangs and other mailing lists. It is my fervent hope that my letter and my essay spark a genuine debate about the role of aspects in Russian, but even more so, about the teaching of aspects in the classroom. From the messages I have received it is clear that many are quite confused and perplexed by this most vexing -- and yet most pervasive -- of Russian grammatical issues. I hope I have made a modest contribution, both to our under- standing of Russian aspectual usage and to the dialogue about them. Sincerely yours, Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net > >I was not very happy to find over ten messages queued up in my mailbox, all >from Mr. Sher (apparently--I don't wade through this amount of material >very carefully) touting his new work on Russian aspect. > >This seems like the kind of commercial use of the list that has been >discouraged in the past, and probably should be in the future as well. Mr. >Sher, if you have an interested party, please send them your materials >directly. Otherwise numerous uninterested list subscribers must wait for >your reams of electronic documents to transfer. > >Thank you. > >John Kieselhorst >Northwestern University From sher07 at bellsouth.net Wed May 14 11:42:31 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 07:42:31 -0400 Subject: Aspects -- My Thanks to All! Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I would like to express my deep appreciation to all those who have written to me requesting a copy of my essay on Russian aspectual decision-making. This shows just how intense and controversial this central issue in Russian grammar is to all of us. While I believe the main thesis of my essay to be essentially valid, both in theory and practice, I welcome comments from others. I think SEELANGS is a perfect forum for the discussion of aspects, and even more so, for the exchange of views on the teaching of aspects in the classroom. It is also a perfect place for discussing American-Russian confrontations on this elusive subject. What a better place for this dialogue than on the Internet?! Thank you all again for your cooperation. Benjamin Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Wed May 14 11:42:40 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 07:42:40 -0400 Subject: Russian Aspects -- A Defense Message-ID: Dear Professor Kieselhorst and Seelangers: My deep apologies to those of you who were offended or inconvenienced by my many messages. Some were a case of overkill. Others were a re- sult of technical problems that I hope have now been corrected. What- ever the reason, I acknowledge responsibility for them. The subject of the aspects is an excruciating problem for Russian students, teachers and scholars. It is imperative that the student confront this central issue head-on. Yet, too often, the response has been one of oversimplification, distortion and even outright de- nial. The nearly fifty letters I have received on this subject so far from professors, students and scholars from all over the world attest to this. My aspectual model and the theory and practice based on its inherent logic are built on the masterly work of others, e.g. Forbes (RUSSIAN REFERENCE GRAMMAR), Unbegaun (THE RUSSIAN VERB), Rassudova (ASPEC- TUAL USAGE IN MODERN RUSSIAN), Borras and Christian (RUSSIAN SYNTAX), Pulkina (RUSSIAN) and Thelin (VERBAL ASPECT IN DISCOURSE). I especi- ally recommend Professor Boris Gasparov's essay (in Thelin's book) entitled "Notes on the 'Metaphysics' of Russian Aspect". What I have attempted to do is to provide an underlying philosophical and prac- tical foundation for aspectual decision-making. Some people may ask: "why offer it through Seelangs?" (It's free, of course, -- the charge of commercialism is beneath contempt). And why now? The answer is the world of the Internet, the new opportunities af- forded by it for the advancement of knowledge, and the risks and professional responsibilities attendant upon it. A number of Russian tutorials have recently become available on the Internet, some good, some not so good. It was in response to the misleading if not downright false explanations for Russian aspectual usage on some of these sites that I felt impelled, indeed morally compelled to do something. The Internet lends authority and legiti- macy to what it publishes. When it pubishes what is obviously wrong, it should be called to account. When a subject as elusive, as com- plex, as frustrating as Russian aspectual usage is misrepresented, the effect on the present and future generation of students is in- calculable. After days of soul-searching on this matter, I decided to address the members of Seelangs and other mailing lists. It is my fervent hope that my letter and my essay spark a genuine debate about the role of aspects in Russian, but even more so, about the teaching of aspects in the classroom. From the messages I have received it is clear that many are quite confused and perplexed by this most vexing -- and yet most pervasive -- of Russian grammatical issues. I hope I have made a modest contribution, both to our under- standing of Russian aspectual usage and to the dialogue about them. Sincerely yours, Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net > >I was not very happy to find over ten messages queued up in my mailbox, all >from Mr. Sher (apparently--I don't wade through this amount of material >very carefully) touting his new work on Russian aspect. > >This seems like the kind of commercial use of the list that has been >discouraged in the past, and probably should be in the future as well. Mr. >Sher, if you have an interested party, please send them your materials >directly. Otherwise numerous uninterested list subscribers must wait for >your reams of electronic documents to transfer. > >Thank you. > >John Kieselhorst >Northwestern University From mcdowell at virginia.edu Wed May 14 16:43:18 1997 From: mcdowell at virginia.edu (Karen McDowell) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 12:43:18 EDT Subject: Sher Aspect Paper In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.16.19970513045929.2ccfed1a@msy.bellsouth.net> Message-ID: Dear Seelangers, I, for one, am grateful Benjamin Sher introduced me to his work on aspect through this SEELANGS list. I don't know why anyone would get upset about his extra messages (because he was having technical problems). We all have them, and anyone who doesn't like them can just delete them. His paper on aspect, which I received via this medium, is very interesting and thought-provoking. Karen McDowell Karen McDowell University of Virginia 109 Cabell Hall, Dept. of Slavic Languages Charlottesville, VA 22903 804/924-3548 mcdowell at virginia.edu From roman at admin.ut.ee Wed May 14 16:52:55 1997 From: roman at admin.ut.ee (R_L) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 19:52:55 +0300 Subject: Ju. Andrukhovych In-Reply-To: <01IIMBJ8IX7Y95OQC5@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU> Message-ID: Hi, SEE LANGs! Does anyone know something about translations of ukrainian novelist Jurij Andrukhovych into Russian? Thank you in advance, Roman Leibov ******************************* Vene kirjanduse kat., Ulikooli 18-a, Tartu Ulikool, Tartu, EE2400, Estonia. Day phone: (3727)465353 ******************************* Home address: Po^hja pst. 17-75. Tartu. EE2400. Estonia ******************************* http://www.ut.ee/teaduskond/Filosoofia/VeneSlaavi/rl.html From vac10 at columbia.edu Wed May 14 17:43:36 1997 From: vac10 at columbia.edu (Vitaly A. Chernetsky) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 13:43:36 -0400 Subject: Ju. Andrukhovych In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.19970514195255.008e2d40@admin.ut.ee> Message-ID: On Wed, 14 May 1997, R_L wrote: > Hi, SEE LANGs! > > Does anyone know something about translations of ukrainian novelist Jurij > Andrukhovych into Russian? > Thank you in advance, > > Roman Leibov Alas, AFAIK only a few poems by Andrukhovych appeared in Russian translation (in the portfolio of poetry by the Bu-ba-bu group in _Druzhba narodov_ a few years ago). He certainly *should* be translated into Russian, to alleviate the scandalous ignorance of Ukrainian literature in Russia. Especially his second novel, _Moskoviada: Roman zhakhiv_ (Moscoviada: A Novel of Horrors), should reach the Russian reader. While we are on the subject of translations, very little of Andrukhovych's writing has been translated, and even less published, in English--the situation which, I hope, will change soon. Sincerely, Vitaly Chernetsky From pyz at panix.com Wed May 14 18:23:07 1997 From: pyz at panix.com (Max) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 14:23:07 -0400 Subject: Ju. Andrukhovych In-Reply-To: from "Vitaly A. Chernetsky" at May 14, 97 01:43:36 pm Message-ID: > > On Wed, 14 May 1997, R_L wrote: > > Hi, SEE LANGs! > > > > Does anyone know something about translations of ukrainian novelist Jurij > > Andrukhovych into Russian? > > Thank you in advance, > > > > Roman Leibov > > Alas, AFAIK only a few poems by Andrukhovych appeared in Russian > translation (in the portfolio of poetry by the Bu-ba-bu group in _Druzhba > narodov_ a few years ago). He certainly *should* be translated into > Russian, to alleviate the scandalous ignorance of Ukrainian literature in > Russia. Especially his second novel, _Moskoviada: Roman zhakhiv_ > (Moscoviada: A Novel of Horrors), should reach the Russian reader. While > we are on the subject of translations, very little of Andrukhovych's > writing has been translated, and even less published, in English--the > situation which, I hope, will change soon. While you are on the subject and for those who are interested to read his writings in Ukrainian you can find several of his poems at www.brama.com/art. > Sincerely, > > Vitaly Chernetsky > Max Pyziur pyz at panix.com From paulkla at mail.pressenter.com Wed May 14 22:58:00 1997 From: paulkla at mail.pressenter.com (Paul A. Klanderud) Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 17:58:00 CDT Subject: beneath contempt Message-ID: >Some people may ask: "why offer it through Seelangs?" (It's free, >of course, -- the charge of commercialism is beneath contempt). And >why now?..... > >Sincerely yours, > >Benjamin Sher >Russian Literary Translator >(SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S >Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) >sher07 at bellsouth.net > > > Forthcoming? Please send me a free copy. Paul Klanderud From heyer at siu.edu Thu May 15 05:01:29 1997 From: heyer at siu.edu (Sarah Heyer) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 00:01:29 -0500 Subject: glukhotinka Message-ID: Can anyone offer a translation of "glukhotinka"? It's some wild berry found in the woods and also the name of a lace design. A friend writing a paper on lace is asking. Please reply to tkeller at siu.edu You might send a cc to heyer at siu.edu so I know they got an answer. Thanks. Sarah Heyer Dept. of Foreign Languages Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901-4521 U.S.A. From heyer at siu.edu Thu May 15 05:01:32 1997 From: heyer at siu.edu (Sarah Heyer) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 00:01:32 -0500 Subject: book search Message-ID: This is a request for Olga Orechwa, who is trying to track down a book of poems written by Larissa Geniush, a poet of Belarus, published in 1993(?) in Minsk. This is not the book of her memoirs (_Spoved'_), but poems about her years in the gulag. No reward offered, but anyone who can help us track down a borrowable copy of this book will enjoy her eternal gratitude. Please reply to me off-list (but don't expect an immediate response as I'll be out of town for a bit). Sarah Heyer Dept. of Foreign Languages Southern Illinois University Carbondale, IL 62901-4521 U.S.A. From GPloss at aol.com Thu May 15 15:05:22 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 11:05:22 -0400 Subject: Hospital Phone Number Message-ID: Hello Everyone, I am in desperate need of a phone number. I just found out my girlfriend is in Hospital 624 in Moscow. The person's english I spoke with was almost as bad as my russian, but I think they told me it was impossible to call the Hospital. Is that true? If not, how can I find the number. PLEASE....any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Greg Ploss gploss at aol.com From katsaros at AC.GRIN.EDU Thu May 15 17:03:49 1997 From: katsaros at AC.GRIN.EDU (Elena Katsaros) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 11:03:49 -0600 Subject: Hospital Phone Number Message-ID: >I am in desperate need of a phone number. I just found out my girlfriend is >in Hospital 624 in Moscow. Dear Greg, I just called my sister in Moscow, who told me what I had suspected, there are no 3-digit hospital numbers in Moscow. Just in case you want it I'm sending you the possible phone numbers: Hospital # 62 tel. 561-23-18 (in Moskovskaya oblast') Hospital # 24 tel. 299-66-40 (Strastnoi bulv.) ili: 285-17-94 In order to get the information (you can't speak directly to the person) about the patient, you need to provide the Last name, patronymic, first name, date when arrived to the hospital, and preferably with what symptoms or diagnosis. Best of luck to your girlfriend! There is a Spravochnaya in Moscow which gives you any number you need. It is 09 . And thanks for the info about sending the mail to Moscow! Sincerely, Elena Elena Katsaros Russian Department Grinnell College Katsaros at ac.grin.edu From jak209 at lulu.acns.nwu.edu Thu May 15 16:24:52 1997 From: jak209 at lulu.acns.nwu.edu (john kieselhorst) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 10:24:52 -0600 Subject: Sher Aspect Paper Message-ID: At 12:43 PM 5/14/97 -0400, Karen McDowell wrote: >Dear Seelangers, > > I, for one, am grateful Benjamin Sher introduced me to his work on >aspect through this SEELANGS list. I don't know why anyone would get upset >about his extra messages (because he was having technical problems). We >all have them, and anyone who doesn't like them can just delete them. His >paper on aspect, which I received via this medium, is very interesting and >thought-provoking. Karen McDowell > >Karen McDowell >University of Virginia >109 Cabell Hall, Dept. of Slavic Languages >Charlottesville, VA 22903 >804/924-3548 >mcdowell at virginia.edu Dear SEELANGERS: I would like to apologize to Mr. Sher for my charge of "commercialism"; it was unfounded. Having waited for all of his documents to fill my mailbox (some 10-12), I simply deleted them, but only after I had saved them as data files, a time-consuming process on my computer. Still, it seems to me the transmission of an entire essay on the list involves questionable netiquette. Prof. McDowell calls Mr. Sher's paper "thought-provoking"; I have no reason to doubt this evaluation. But I have also written what I and some of my colleages think is a "thought-provoking" article (25 pp.) on the difference between Symbolism and Decadence; I also have a dissertation that might be described as thought provoking (280 pp.); should I post these to the list?? Of course I'm being facetious, but I think there are some important and serious use problems here. First, I think that most (if not all) scholars believe that their work is interesting and stimulating, and contributes in some way to our field. But a legitmate question about the appropriate use of the list serve arises when we start transmitting our papers in a "to whom it may concern" fashion. If Mr. Sher's essay posting becomes a precedent, I fear that many of the important transmissions of scholarly debate and discussion, and others regarding job postings and conference information, will be lost in the resulting deluge. To respond that one can "simply delete" these overlooks the time required in waiting for the messages to queue; also, lengthy transmissions (like that of Mr. Sher) must be saved as files, which requires active participation; if I go back to work thinking that my messages will simply queue up, the computer is left in a waiting mode, requiring that I decide whether to save the file. My joke about posting my dissertation to the list is intended to raise the question of boundaries. Interesting (and even uninteresting) scholarship should certainly be shared, and the list provides a (relatively) new medium for this exchange. We now have the opportunity to share practically unlimited amounts of information electronically. The question I think we need to constantly ask ourselves is, when does as much as possible become too much to handle? Bear in mind that most in this profession receive large amounts of email that directly concerns them and must be sorted through along with all of the listserve postings. We have a list to serve our purposes, but what are these? Should the list become a sort of electronic alternative to scholarly journals and the publishing industry in general? Perhaps this is what is desired by some. Personally I have my doubts; I wonder whether the lack of review will simply lead to queues glutted with cyber-junk mail (this comment should in no way be taken as reference to Mr. Sher's essay), in which important ideas get lost in the sheer bulk of material. In that case, what purpose will have been served? I sincerely welcome response from list members, as the questions I raise above are questions that must be decided by the community; if I am a lone, disgruntled user of this list, then I certainly have the option of logging off. Thank you. John Kieselhorst Northwestern University From ggerhart at wolfenet.com Thu May 15 16:30:03 1997 From: ggerhart at wolfenet.com (Genevra Gerhart) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 09:30:03 -0700 Subject: Sher Aspect Paper Message-ID: Perhaps we could consider the breadth of the problem: everyone must be concerned with the imperfective/perfective problem; the difference between Decandence and Symbolism is less than a burning issue for many.gg -- Genevra Gerhart http://www.wolfenet.com/~ggerhart/ 2134 E. Interlaken Bl. Tel. 206/329-0053 Seattle, WA 98112 ggerhart at wolfenet.com From borenstn at is2.nyu.edu Thu May 15 17:10:56 1997 From: borenstn at is2.nyu.edu (Eliot Borenstein) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 13:10:56 -0400 Subject: Attachments on SEELANGS (was re: Sher Aspect Paper) Message-ID: Perhaps a better rule of thumb would be not to send any attachments over SEELANGS. Attachments on a listserv are genearlly a nuisance; if they are big, they take time to download, and some email programs (and email users) don't handle them very well. Personally, I don't like having my desktop (or attachment folders) cluttered up with things I didn't ask for. Although if I recall correctly, Mr. Sher didn't intend to send out the attachment to everybody. Eliot Borenstein From rdelossa at husc.harvard.edu Thu May 15 18:56:25 1997 From: rdelossa at husc.harvard.edu (Robert De Lossa) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 13:56:25 -0500 Subject: Andreas Kappeler Message-ID: I'd be much obliged if someone could supply me with his coordinates. Thank you. Robert De Lossa p.s. Please respond off list ____________________________________________________ Robert De Lossa Publications Office Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University 1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-496-8768; fax. 617-495-8097 reply to: rdelossa at fas.harvard.edu http://www.sabre.org/huri From GPloss at aol.com Thu May 15 18:37:21 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 14:37:21 -0400 Subject: Hospital Phone Number Message-ID: Thank you all so much for responding so quickly. I really appreciate the help. Greg From sher07 at bellsouth.net Fri May 16 00:23:53 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 20:23:53 -0400 Subject: Attachments on SEELANGS (was re: Sher Aspect Paper) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Prof. Borenstein and Seelangers: Prof. Borenstein is right. I announced my offer to send a free copy of my essay to anyone who requested it. I have received so far nearly seventy (70) requests. In each case I sent my essay privately, off-line by email. Unfortunately, I made the technical mistake of replying (i.e. sending the essay by replying) to the Seelangs list instead of individually in two or three cases, where the requests were sent to me NOT to my address but to Seelangs. My deep apologies for this. When I figured out the problem, I was myself horrified. I think I have corrected the problem. I very much hope so. Thank you for your understanding and patience and support. Benjamin At 01:10 PM 5/15/97 -0400, you wrote: >Perhaps a better rule of thumb would be not to send any attachments over >SEELANGS. Attachments on a listserv are genearlly a nuisance; if they are >big, they take time to download, and some email programs (and email users) >don't handle them very well. Personally, I don't like having my desktop >(or attachment folders) cluttered up with things I didn't ask for. > >Although if I recall correctly, Mr. Sher didn't intend to send out the >attachment to everybody. > > Eliot Borenstein > Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From msherw at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU Fri May 16 00:14:05 1997 From: msherw at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU (Martha Sherwood) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 16:14:05 -0800 Subject: Japanese Instructors Message-ID: I thought the following memo would be of interest to those people on the SEELANGS list who are concerned with the low pay of language instructors and the threat of closure of departments with declining enrollments (The Klanderud's list people). I recently had the office management of the East Asian languages Department added to my workload and have ended up being the effective coordinator of their summer program. Here we have a situation where there is plenty of student interest, but the pay is so low that no-one actually qualified to take the job is willing to do it. The memo is a petition to the University to allow us to hire a person who is capable of doing the work but does not have the paper qualifications to be appointed at the rank of instructor. There is also a mostly useful but excessively rigid collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Graduate Teaching Fellows Union involved. I think a number of Slavic departments, including our own, are threatened by the low salary issue. Immigrants from poor and politically unstable countries are willing to put up with more than are the Japanese, but even they have a limit. Martha Sherwood Office Coordinator, Department of Russian "" "" , East Asian Languages University of Oregon 15 May 1997 To: Steadman Upham, Dean UO Graduate School From: Wendy Larson, Head, East Asian Languages Nancy Iwakawa, Summer Japanese Language Coordinator RE: Appointment of K.... S.... as an instructor The Department of East Asian languages and literatures requests permission to hire K.. S.., who is currently a graduate student in our MA program and has been admitted to our Ph.D. program for fall term, as a Summer Session instructor at 1.0 FTE. In order to run a successful summer intensive Japanese program offering first through third year Japanese, we need to be able to hire three full-time experienced Japanese instructors. These courses can be taught effectively only if there is one full-time person available to oversee the entire course, with the assistance of one or more graduate teaching fellows. A pedagogically sound intensive language course cannot possibly be taught by a team of inexperienced part-time graduate students alone. Only two of our academic-year Japanese instructors are available to teach in the summer, and the pay we are able to offer is insufficient to attract a competent person from outside the University. K... S... taught second-year Japanese during the academic year 1996-97 and is thus experienced and qualified. She did not intend to enroll at the University this summer, and thus employing her full time will not hinder her academic progress. The salary level we are offering her is somewhat higher than what she would have received as a graduate teaching fellow. She is financially unable to accept a GTF position at .49 FTE and, if we are unable to offer her a full-time position, will take a full-time summer position she has been offered elsewhere. If this petition is not approved, it will prevent the Department of East Asian Languages from offering a course (Third Year Japanese) for which there is definite demand and which several students absolutely must have in order to graduate on schedule at the end of summer term. From sforres1 at swarthmore.edu Fri May 16 20:27:41 1997 From: sforres1 at swarthmore.edu (Sibelan Forrester) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:27:41 -0400 Subject: "Books for Review in SEEJ" update Message-ID: Summer is approaching -- you're almost done grading those exams -- time to make plans to recline in a hammock in the back yard, sipping iced tea and reading a tasty new volume to review for SEEJ! The list of books available for review, freshly updated for the early summer season, is now available at: or Be there or be square. Yours in rampant commercialism, the AATSEEL Style Squad From GPloss at aol.com Fri May 16 20:28:47 1997 From: GPloss at aol.com (Greg Ploss) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:28:47 -0400 Subject: Hospital Phone Number Message-ID: Hello Everyone, I just wanted to say THANKS again to everyone who helped with finding the phone number for me. Thought I might pass on some brief information about the experience. Everyone was right. There are no three digit hospital numbers. She is in #64. Also, it is not possible to call patients and speak to them directly. I did finally get a message to Elena via about three people. She received special permission from the Head Doctor and was able to recieve a call in her office. We set up a time and made contact. FYI, it is possible to speak with a patient, but very difficult. I'm so glad to be part of this mail list. If I can ever provide information to anyone, please let me know. Best Regards, Greg gploss at aol.com From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Fri May 16 20:49:16 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:49:16 -0400 Subject: Job: Vladivostok News (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 15:34:20 -0400 From: Monica Partridge Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Vladivostok News The Vladivostok News, the only English-language newspaper in the Russian Far East, is currently seeking an experienced reporter (native English speaker; Russian fluency a plus). Please fax resume and 2-3 clips to: (4232) 250-397 E-mail: engl at main.vladnews.ru Web: www.vladnews.ru From ggerhart at wolfenet.com Fri May 16 23:02:48 1997 From: ggerhart at wolfenet.com (Genevra Gerhart) Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:02:48 -0700 Subject: Russian's World, 2/e Message-ID: I recently made not a few changes and additions to my web site so it will offer more information: more classroom suggestions, a listing of errata, addenda, and other such improvements. Hope you check it out. gg -- Genevra Gerhart http://www.wolfenet.com/~ggerhart/ 2134 E. Interlaken Bl. Tel. 206/329-0053 Seattle, WA 98112 ggerhart at wolfenet.com From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Mon May 19 00:54:10 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Sun, 18 May 1997 20:54:10 -0400 Subject: one way French enrollments were brought up Message-ID: The following is an action plan taken by French teachers who realized that numbers in their program were suddenly starting to decline. There are great suggestions that I've seen in other research I've done as well on this subject. Anyone in a high school Russian classroom could benefit from this action plan, so I thought that I would share it. A bit of modification could probably make it applicable to the higher ed level as well. Please keep in mind this is a *forwarded* message. If you'd like to contact this person, please do not just hit the REPLY key because I'm just forwarding this on from another group. :-) Devin Devin P Browne dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu FORWARDED MESSAGE: ================== ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 22:57:51 CDT From: Evelyn Erven Subject: French Enrollment Up! Our French enrollment is up and climbing! And, we are doing it without exchange programs, trips to France, or even a French club! My colleague and I had always smuggly patted each other on the back because our enrollment had remained more or less the same since we each began teaching in the district over 25 years ago. We had heard of the national trend in declining French enrollments but thought we were somehow immune. Our wake-up call came two years ago when our 1st year enrollment dropped to one section. We usually have 2-3 sections. So, we charted out a plan that required minimal work outside of school, not wanting to take away from our class prep time (or our lives!). This year we jumped to 4 sections of first year French and have retained the numbers (some move-ins) into 2nd year. We also have 4 sections of first year signed up for next year, and they are larger classes than we had this year. Here is what we did: 1. (This is the most important!!!!) We recruit from our own department! I don't mean that we fight the Spanish, German, and Latin teachers for students. We all work together encouraging students to take a 2nd (or 3rd) foreign language. Instead of losing students their senior year to another department for their "fun" electives, many are now taking 1st year of another foreign language along with 4th/5th year of their first foreign language. And, they are having fun learning colors, numbers, etc. again. They are getting "A's" without much effort because of their previous experience in a foreign language. We teachers love having these older students mixed in with the freshman because it has really raised the academic level of the classes. Some students did drop their first FL when they signed up for the 2nd FL, but these were students we feel would have dropped anyway and would have taken an art class or other elective in another department. Our entire department has increased enrollment. 2. To "sell" the students on the idea, we emphasize all year how easy and fun the 2nd FL will be. Most students are unaware of how the 1st FL helps in learning the 2nd FL. 3. We give a lot of attention all year to the students taking 2 FL's, asking them questions in class about how their 1st FL compares to what we are learning. We remind the other students how they may want to sign up for another FL when they are juniors or seniors. We tell them how much better it looks on their transcripts to have 2 FL's instead of some other electives. Hey, how many Americans take two FL's? I'm surprised how well this seems to work. I have a lot of freshmen telling me they are going to take a 2nd FL when they are juniors or seniors. 4. We have a recruitment day shortly before they register for the following year. We select 3-4 students who have 2 FL's (best to select "cool" kids for this) and have them go into every foreign language class to tell how great their experience has been. We let the students work out what they were going to do. This year they did a little skit in all the languages together. They also passed out candy to students in class who answered their questions "correctly" (Do you think you might want to take a second FL someday?, etc) 5. Whenever one of my students comes into my classroom outside of class with a friend who is not in French, I always ask him if he is thinking about a 2nd FL (French, we hope!). 6. Our school has an 8th grade parents' night where 8th graders and their parents come to the school to learn about class selections for their freshman year. We give out homework coupons to our currect students if they "send us an 8th grader". The 8th grader has to tell us the name of the student, and then we have the opportunity to tell him how much we would like to have him join us next year. We have a brightly colored hand-out with our selling points. One selling point that seems to make an impression on parents is the fact that since "everyone" takes Spanish, there is a need in the business community for someone who knows a different FL. We also hand out a comparison of vocabulary words in the four languages, so the students will see that French looks more like English than the other FL's. 8. This year we sent letters home (and a large France sticker) to the 8th graders who are younger brothers and sisters of our current students inviting them to join our "French Family". 9. We don't have a French club (clubs were almost entirely wiped out as a budget cut a few years ago). So, we include one French club type activity per month, usually during the school day. And, we give it a lot of publicity so the Spanish, German, and Latin students will hear what we are doing. Sometime I'll post what we do, if anyone is interested. 10. For next year, I am working on some type of "reward" for the tri-lingual students. Hope these ideas will help some of the rest of you francophones! From sher07 at bellsouth.net Mon May 19 11:19:30 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 07:19:30 -0400 Subject: Prince Myshkin's "Tak nel'zia postupat'" Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: Can we even conceive of navigating through the labyrinth of the Rus- sian language without a firm, unambiguous yet SIMPLE model or chart of Russian aspectual usage? If we drown ourselves in the infinite variety of DERIVATIVE aspectual choices (temporal, moral, social, psychological, emotional) without a central aspectual model that this variety presupposes and on which it rests, what have we gained except a chaos of details that cause us to flounder and grope in the dark? Who can forget Prince Myshkin's unforgettable "Tak nel'zia postupat'" ("No human being ought to act like that" -- I tried in vain for hours late into the night to find the quote. I know it's there some place) What a magnificently simple indictment of the evil that lurks in us all. Yet why "postupat'" (imperfective, i.e. transcendental) and not "postupit'"? What's the reason for Dostoevsky's aspectual choice? We know that "Tak nel'zia postupit'" is impossible here, but why? Does the answer lie in a distinction between a "moral IMP" vs. an "amoral P"? Or in a "process IMP" vs. a "result P"? Or in an "un- limited IMP" vs. a "(de)limited P"? Or a "habitual/frequentative IMP" vs. a "single occurrence P"? Or an "unstable IMP" vs. a "stable P"? In my personal opinion, all of the above explanations lead nowhere but to the mental asylum: Not only are they wrong in themselves. They fail to grasp the fundamental philosophical, logical and intuitive distinction involved and why Dostoevsky must use the imperfective in this case. My answer is that Prince Myshkin (i.e. any Russian speaker) is faced between two aspectual options: an empirical moral aspect ( "postu- pit'") and a transcendental moral aspect ("postupat'"). BOTH ASPECTS INVOLVE MORALITY. Metaphorically speaking, we may say that the P "tak nel'zia postupit'" is a circumstantial statement that transforms the verb into a 3-D object-verb embedded in perceived reality, while the IMP "tak nel'zia postupat'" expresses a kind of 2-D pure moral sensi- bility that is by definition beyond all perception. I think many will say: "So what else is new, Benjamin? I have known that for twenty years. Why all the fuss?" The heart of this distinction lies in the fact that the moral dif- ference (pure moral quality vs. empirical moral quality relating to some circumstance) reflects, expresses and flows directly from two incompatible world views that are related ONLY morphologically. Deep down, the Russian user intuitively makes a binary decision that auto- matically DEMANDS one aspect OR the other (depending on the context, of course) but NOT BOTH. That's the crucial point: The aspectual decision is NOT arbitrary, it is NOT on a CONTINUUM. For this reason, in my opinion the very terms "imperfective/perfective", implying just such a continuum, are a dead end because they create the false impression in the mind of the FO- REIGN STUDENT that a Russian is agonizing over an aspectual choice between two points. This is no doubt similar to the illusion of a foreigner that a native speaker of English "agonizes" over the choice of an article (three options: "AN American dream"; "THE American revolution"; "American history is rich in incidents" -- no article). Well, this is the way I see it. I welcome a dialogue on this subject. Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Mon May 19 11:19:34 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 07:19:34 -0400 Subject: I am ready to serve the Tsar! Message-ID: EXAMPLES! Give us EXAMPLES of aspectual usage! That's what everyone wants! And you are right! I tried to show in my previous letter how a simple switch from the empirical "on postupil" ("he acted" -- Perfective single OR frequentative) to the transcendental "on postupal" ("he acted" -- Imperfective single OR frequentative) presupposes a binary logic, how the circumstantially moral "postupil" is opposed to the pure moral sensibility of "postupal" and how these two moral modes of action (that of an object-verb vs. that of pure non-perception ("nothing") flow logically from two incompatible world-views related morpholo- gically BUT not in aspectual usage. For how could a PURE moral, psychological, social or emotional expe- rience (grounded in the pure spatio-temporal state or action of the Imperfective -- "delal", "chuvstvoval", "dumal") be compatible with or lie somewhere on a continuum that includes a CIRCUMSTANTIAL mo- ral, psychological, social or emotional experience (grounded in the "object-verb" of temporal change and sense perception of the Perfec- tive? -- "Sdelal," "POchuvstvoval," "POdumal")? What is true of these basic imperfectives and their empty perfective counterparts is, of course, also true of compound pairs, including the verbs of motion which, while presenting us with a new set of "as- pectual" options (determinate, indeterminate) still obey the basic logic inherent in the general aspectual model. A FEW CHOICE EXAMPLES: 1) OSTAT'SIA VS. OSTAVAT'SIA, ETC. I believe that intuitive aspectual decision-making is possible only because of this binary incompatibility. Otherwise, we would all go mad from sheer uncertainty, doubt and psychological agony. The fo- reign student of Russian may need to continue learning the nuances of aspectual usage (as everything else) all through his life. In this respect there is a continual accumulation of new impressions, new situations, new discoveries. But I firmly believe that being able to make the aspectual decision between "postupil" and "postupal", etc. is NOT fundamentally a matter of experience but of an intuitive bi- nary yes/no, 0/1 logical decision-making. One has to take the philo- sophical bull by the horn. One has to feel, that is, TO INTUIT, the distinction between "ya ostalsya v Parizhe" ("I remained in Paris" -- a single empirical event or set of such sporadic events) and "ya ostavalsya ego drugom" ("I remained his friend" -- a pure, timeless state of permanence). Similarly, "vyidite" ("leave!" -- an empirical command presupposing situational obstacles of some sort) and "vykho- dite" ("leave!" -- a command issuing from the subject's pure desires or wishes, irrespective of any empirical obstacles whatsoever.) 2) MNE NADO UITI/UKHODIT' Or again: "Mne nado uiti" ("I have to leave," that is, certain empi- rical moral social, psychological or objective considerations force me to leave -- my daughter is ill, circumstances demand that I go be- cause I have an appointment with my wife to discuss our plans for buying a new car, I have a headache) vs. "Mne nado ukhodit'" ("I have to leave," that is, certain purely psychological or moral or emo- tional reasons force me to leave: I have an appointment with my wife to discuss our plans for buying a new car and moral duty commands me to keep it). 3) SLUZHIT'/POSLUZHIT' TSARYU "ya gotov posluzhit' tsaryu" (I am ready, empirically speaking, in any given number of sporadic, real situations to serve the Tsar) and "ya gotov sluzhit' tsaryu" (I am ready, in a timeless moral and so- cial sense, to serve the tsar on any and all hypothetical occasions). 4) YA KHOCHU VYKHODIT'/VYITI (e.g. IZ AVTOBUSA) Finally, you are on a bus and you want to get off: "ya khochu vyiti" (perfective) is an empirical statement implying some sort of obs- tacle: Perhaps somebody is standing in front of you and is in your way, so you ask him/her to move aside so you can get out. Or perhaps you are feeling nausea or some other difficulty and the bus is still in motion. So you ask the driver to stop . "ya khochu vykhodit'" (imperfective) means that the bus has arrived at a stop, the door is open, there is no obstacle in your way, your desire to leave the bus is in no way conditioned by any empirical need or situation, neither external or internal. The door is open, you can stay or leave. You decide to get off the bus because of a pure, timeless desire or wish on your part. Or else you know that you are about to get out at the next stop, that the door will open, etc. The IMP verb "vykhodit'" (here, of course, an object of an auxiliary verb, which itself also demands an aspectual choice in the past or future: "khotel" vs. "za- khotel") expresses a pure state of being. The specific choice between the two is thus not a function of some inherent social or psycholo- gical distinction between the aspects as such ("one is temporal, the other is one of result," and such other nonsense) but of the underlying aspectual logic which guides the user and demands one aspect or the other. The user's decision is intuitive, binary. He obeys the underlying "law" of the aspects as surely as he obeys the law of gravity. This business of "physical law" is, of course, only a metaphor, but I believe it helps us understand, that is, to imagine, to intuit, the "naturalness" of aspectual decision-making. After all, we all obey the law of gravity every moment of our lives without agonizing over it. By the way, I discussed the bus example at length with my wife, a native of Moscow. She said that this was the first time she had ever "UNDERSTOOD" why she was making this aspectual choice. And, believe me, she is as brilliant as they come. She, like other educated Rus- sians, is my authority for the "WHAT" OR "HOW" of Russian (I never quarrel with reality), but it does not necessarily mean that the Rus- sian will understand the "WHY". Any more than we Anglo-Americans would ever really understand or need to understand the "why" of En- glish. If we forget the basic binary principle at work, we'll get lost in a myriad of derivative situations -- temporal, moral, psychological, social, etc. -- each of which can normally assume either aspect. It is NOT morality, psychology or time or social setting or adverbial syntax or particles in themselves that determine aspectual choice but rather the basic binary principle itself that "tilts" the particular aspectual situation or context towards the perfective or imperfec- tive. The solution to the problem of the aspects is right under our noses, in the aspects themselves, and NOT in some other variable such as tense, mode (infinite, gerund, etc.) or mood or whatever that is usually confused with it. Naturally, a choice between aspects is conditioned by the context. That's elementary. But aspect is aspect and can be understood, I believe, only by, to paraphrase William Blake, seeing not WITH the aspects but THROUGH them. Without this proper orientation, no solid foundation for aspectual understanding (and actual usage) is, in my opinion, possible. With- out this dialectic of incompatibilities, with its resulting semantic and syntactic and stylistic distinctions, the student will find him- self hopelessly dangling on the high wire of an endless continuum, unable to act, to make decisions. And, what is worse, he will assume that a Russian native is equally wracked by such deep psychological conflict, when, of course, the Russian is blithely unaware of the "aspectual crisis" or, indeed, of the aspects themselves (in any but the most obvious morphological sense). With a binary model, the stu- dent of Russian can concentrate on the infinite variety of situations while automatically (at first gradually and with difficulty, of course) making intuitive decisions, so to speak, from behind the scenes, by seeing and acting through the binary model which lies be- hind the rich and complex and elusive diversity of specific aspectual situations. To sum up, it is not that the binary theory of the aspects has given us all the answers. It is rather that this binary model offers us a solid, unshakeable, fundamental philosophical and practical point of departure. It makes possible the meaningful exploration and under- standing of aspectual subtleties that otherwise would remain a mere chaos of arbitrary situations and decisions. That's the way I see it. How do you see it? Benjamin Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Mon May 19 13:55:00 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 09:55:00 -0400 Subject: Vy Chitali Annu Kareninu? Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: [This letter is based in part on a letter I wrote to Joachim Faust, a brilliant doctoral student at the University of South Alabama, who is writing a dissertation examining the aspectual symbolism of Blok's three stages of poetry. With his permission, I would like to quote a few excerpts from it] I can only tell you that I abandoned the continuum theories on the aspects many years ago, but not for any arbitrary reason. On the contrary, I wanted to believe in them. I clung to them until I fi- nally came to see that maybe they were valid up to a point, like Euc- ledian geometry, but that they were hopelessly incapable of eluci- dating any of the critical and sometimes even the most basis sentences: Let's look at a pure factual statement like: "on delal" (single oc- currence, though it is no different essentially from the frequen- tative. -- In my opinion, number has NOTHING to do with aspect!). I talked about this in my essay. You mention a variation of this very sentence ("ty chital Annu Kareninu") as still not being explained. Never mind, in my opinion, the interrogative mode. It has no bearing on the essential issue involved. No more so than number. It is precisely this and other such inconvenient, disturbing, tormen- ting exceptions that made me finally realize that this whole conti- nuum business will drive me straight to an insane asylum. The dif- ference between "on delal" (IMP single occurrence) and "on sdelal" (P single occurrence) is a fundamental, conceptual distinction, the difference between 'nothing' and "an empirical object" (yes, an object-verb -- and an object-adjective, too, i.e. the attributive form, see my essay) as an "object" delimited at both ends). That's the whole point. This is the single most difficult aspectual decision for a foreign student of Russian to make, this simple sentence, and it will drive you crazy the rest of your life until you realize that, again, in my humble opinion, it reveals a fundamental distinction based on incom- patible modes of being and knowing, on a logical-metaphysical binary model that must be intuited, yes, through experience, in context (only a fool would waste his time spinning endless theories that are not grounded in the evidence of sense-experience) yet nonetheless it must be intuited, not merely experienced. "On delal" and "on sdelal" are those planets I was referrring to in my essay. They travel along fundamentally different orbits, even if they seem only miles apart. That's the whole point. That's why every- body, or almost everybody gets this wrong. They try to fit it into their procrustean bed, to compare apples with oranges, to look every- where for an explanation for the aspects, in tenses, in moods, in grammatical modes, in adverbs and adverbial phrases, in particles, in what have you, when the answer is right under their nose, in the int- rinsic, binary logic of the (mutually exclusive) aspects themselves. That's why they are so difficult for a foreigner to learn. If the as- pects were something FAMILIAR, any intelligent sophomore good get a handle on it in no time. No, it is essentially ALIEN to us, and be- cause it is all-pervasive, because it is the keystone of Russian grammatical usage and, paradoxically, because it is intimately rela- tional in its intricately structured morphology, it demands the greatest concentration and dedication, just as mastering the piano does. There is no short cut. Intuiting aspectual choice may sud ently hit you like lightning (or it may take years), but IMPLEMEN- TING the model, even after you have finally grasped it, still takes years of meticulous, laborious work. By the way, I want to thank you for raising a number of issues that still need to be discussed. I will try to deal with at a later date. Respectfully, Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From jperkins at falcon.cc.ukans.edu Mon May 19 12:42:55 1997 From: jperkins at falcon.cc.ukans.edu (Jonathan Perkins) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 12:42:55 +0000 Subject: Vy Chitali Annu Kareninu? Message-ID: Although I was among those who requested Benjamin Sher's article on aspect (off-list I might add), I think his contribution to SEELANGS is getting a bit out of hand. Why is he posting responses to e-mail he recieved off-list? Perhaps Mr, Sher should set up a separate listserv for discussions of aspect. Jonathan Perkins P.S. As a point of fact, Joachim Faust is a doctoral student at the University of Kansas. From yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Mon May 19 17:46:15 1997 From: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Mark Yoffe) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 10:46:15 -0700 Subject: Not only Remnick Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, In view of the recent SEELANGS discussions concerning the nature of Russian Friendship and other mysteries of Russian character I would like to bring to your attention a book by the San Francisco Chronicle reporter, David Tuller, entitled "Cracks in the Iron Closet: Travels in Gay and Lesbian Russia." Last year Faber and Faber published the hardcover and the University of Chicago will be publishing the paperback version in September. The people in this book are the kind you will never read about in a David Remnick opus. They are the members of Moscow's bohemian gay subculture. This is the "other" Russia, almost unknown but equally as exciting as any other Russian subculture depicted in the books of Western scholars and journalists; (i.e. Andrew Solomon's "The Irony Tower," Thomas Cushman's "Notes from Underground," Hilary Pilkington's "Russia's Youth and its Culture," and John Bushnell's "Moscow Graffiti") It also is a book that shows profoundly what an ever humbling experience Russia can be to a friendly Western observer... Tuller is an elegant and uncannily insightful writer. His analysis of the Russian concept of privacy pertaining to the issues of sexual idenity is as unique as it is brilliant. For the sceptics let me say, this book is about much more then just stories of Russian gay people. For all of you fascinated with the enigma of "Russian frindship" this book is "a must." Take it from its non-gay admirer. Here, for the record, is what the New Yorker said about Tuller's book in its August 12th'96 issue: "The writer travelled to post-Communist Russia expecting to encounter brutal, Stalinist-era conditions for gay men and lesbians, and instead found a society that upended his American-bred notions of sexual categories...Tuller's observant reporting and personal experiences make for absorbing reading: the human comedy rendered in unexpected ways." Well, that's it. If you read down this far, thanks for your interest! Mark Yoffe -- Mark Yoffe, Ph.D. Curator, International Counterculture Archive Slavic Librarian, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. HTTP://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yoffe E-mail: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Phone: 202 994-6303 From dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu Tue May 20 01:37:02 1997 From: dbulgak at POP3.utoledo.edu (R.B.) Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 18:37:02 -0700 Subject: Vy Chitali Annu Kareninu? Message-ID: Jonathan Perkins wrote: > > Although I was among those who requested Benjamin Sher's article on > aspect (off-list I might add), I think his contribution to SEELANGS is > getting a bit out of hand. Why is he posting responses to e-mail he > recieved off-list? Perhaps Mr, Sher should set up a separate listserv > for discussions of aspect. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >Vo-vo... Golovokryzhenie ot yspexov... From sher07 at bellsouth.net Tue May 20 04:54:54 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 00:54:54 -0400 Subject: Vy Chitali Annu Kareninu? In-Reply-To: <33804A80.896@falcon.cc.ukans.edu> Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: 1) The posting of a response to my letter was a technical error, for which I apologize. I mistakenly "replied" to the whole list by answering a letter that was sent to the whole list. This was the only case so far (out of dozens of replies, I might add, sent correctly to individuals off-line), I think, since the technical fiasco of two weeks ago. I am getting better and better at this email business. I hope this will become more and more rare. I am sure others have had the same problem. Thank you for pointing this out to me. At 12:42 PM 5/19/97 +0000, you wrote: >Although I was among those who requested Benjamin Sher's article on >aspect (off-list I might add), I think his contribution to SEELANGS is >getting a bit out of hand. Why is he posting responses to e-mail he >recieved off-list? Perhaps Mr, Sher should set up a separate listserv >for discussions of aspect. > > Jonathan Perkins 2)Thank you so much for clarifying this point. I confused the University of South Alabama server with his university. My apologies to Joachim. Thanks again for the correction. >P.S. As a point of fact, Joachim Faust is a doctoral student at the >University of Kansas. > From sher07 at bellsouth.net Tue May 20 04:56:30 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 00:56:30 -0400 Subject: Vy Chitali Annu Kareninu? Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: 1) The posting of a response to my letter was a technical error, for which I apologize. I mistakenly "replied" to the whole list by answering a letter that was sent to the whole list. This was the only case so far (out of dozens of replies, I might add, sent correctly to individuals off-line), I think, since the technical fiasco of two weeks ago. I am getting better and better at this email business. I hope this will become more and more rare. I am sure others have had the same problem. Thank you for pointing this out to me. At 12:42 PM 5/19/97 +0000, you wrote: >Although I was among those who requested Benjamin Sher's article on >aspect (off-list I might add), I think his contribution to SEELANGS is >getting a bit out of hand. Why is he posting responses to e-mail he >recieved off-list? Perhaps Mr, Sher should set up a separate listserv >for discussions of aspect. > > Jonathan Perkins 2)Thank you so much for clarifying this point. I confused the University of South Alabama server with his university. My apologies to Joachim. Thanks again for the correction. Benjamin Sher >P.S. As a point of fact, Joachim Faust is a doctoral student at the >University of Kansas. > From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Tue May 20 09:58:52 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 05:58:52 -0400 Subject: ISO Russian text for HS Message-ID: Privet all! It looks like I will get to offer Russian I at my high school next year. However, I have to put together a course outline which includes a suggested text. I would like a good text appropriate for high school--I know of "Face to Face" and "Nachalo" (sp?) but I'd like to know what other people are using as well. Any ideas?? Please email me directly: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Spassibo! Devin/Divan Devin P Browne dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu From Wim.Coudenys at arts.kuleuven.ac.be Tue May 20 14:10:39 1997 From: Wim.Coudenys at arts.kuleuven.ac.be (Wim Coudenys) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 16:10:39 +0200 Subject: dym otechestva Message-ID: Dear Seelangers, Who can help me to identify the following citation, which sound very familiar to me: "Kogda postranstvuesh', vorotish'sia nazad, i dym otechestva i sladok i priiaten" Thanks on beforehand, Wim Coudenys Dr. Wim Coudenys Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Departement Oosterse en Slavische Studies Blijde Inkomststraat 21 B-3000 Leuven Belgium tel. ..32 16 324963 fax. ..32 16 324963 e-mail. Wim.Coudenys at arts.kuleuven.ac.be http://onyx.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/slavic/coudenys/coudenys.htm From bni at slav.su.se Tue May 20 14:57:46 1997 From: bni at slav.su.se (Barbro Nilsson) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 16:57:46 +0200 Subject: dym otechestva Message-ID: >Dear Seelangers, >Who can help me to identify the following citation, which sound very >familiar to me: > >"Kogda postranstvuesh', vorotish'sia nazad, i dym otechestva i sladok i >priiaten" > >Thanks on beforehand, >Wim Coudenys >Dr. Wim Coudenys >Katholieke Universiteit Leuven >Departement Oosterse en Slavische Studies >Blijde Inkomststraat 21 >B-3000 Leuven >Belgium >tel. ..32 16 324963 fax. ..32 16 324963 >e-mail. Wim.Coudenys at arts.kuleuven.ac.be >http://onyx.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/slavic/coudenys/coudenys.htm Griboedov, A.S., Gore ot uma, dejstvie 1-e, javlenie VII Barbro Nilsson Barbro Nilsson Stockholms universitet Slaviska institutionen 106 91 Stockholm tel: 08-16 34 13 fax 08-16 13 69 From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Wed May 21 02:01:59 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 22:01:59 -0400 Subject: No longer accepting resumes (fwd) Message-ID: For those who have applied to Project Harmony.... Devin P Browne dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 19:52:16 -0400 From: Project Harmony Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: No longer accepting resumes Dear CivilSoc List Readers, Project Harmony is no longer accepting resumes for the job opportunities that were listed last week. We thank you for your interest and wish you luck in securing meaningful employment. Sincerely, Barbara Miller and Jared Cadwell, Co-directors for Project Harmony From khayuti at mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA Wed May 21 10:49:09 1997 From: khayuti at mcmail.CIS.McMaster.CA (Mila Khayutin) Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 06:49:09 -0400 Subject: dym otechestva In-Reply-To: <1347975031-791013@slav.su.se> Message-ID: On Tue, 20 May 1997, Barbro Nilsson wrote: > >Dear Seelangers, > >Who can help me to identify the following citation, which sound very > >familiar to me: > > > >"Kogda postranstvuesh', vorotish'sia nazad, i dym otechestva i sladok i > >priiaten" > > > >Thanks on beforehand, > >Wim Coudenys > >Dr. Wim Coudenys > >Katholieke Universiteit Leuven > >Departement Oosterse en Slavische Studies > >Blijde Inkomststraat 21 > >B-3000 Leuven > >Belgium > >tel. ..32 16 324963 fax. ..32 16 324963 > >e-mail. Wim.Coudenys at arts.kuleuven.ac.be > >http://onyx.arts.kuleuven.ac.be/slavic/coudenys/coudenys.htm > > Griboedov, A.S., Gore ot uma, dejstvie 1-e, javlenie VII > > Barbro Nilsson > > Barbro Nilsson > Stockholms universitet > Slaviska institutionen > 106 91 Stockholm > tel: 08-16 34 13 > fax 08-16 13 69 > From walkingtune at bigfoot.com Wed May 21 14:56:21 1997 From: walkingtune at bigfoot.com (Junichi Miyazawa) Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 23:56:21 +0900 Subject: sudden decision and future plan in Russian Message-ID: Dear List: Greetings from a new subscriber in Tokyo. I am not sure this is an appropriate post for this list, but anyway, let me put a question: Is Russian language able to differenciate "sudden decision" and "future plan", both of which are denoted in English by "will" and "be going to" respectively? Please translate the following two dialogues into Russian: a. Will you write me a letter during your vacation? OK. I will write to you. (sudden decision) b. What are you going to do tonight? I am going to write a letter. (future plan) I am now improving my poor knowledge of Russian grammar with the help of my poorer knowledge of English grammar. Let me have your ideas. Thank you in advance. Regards, Junichi Miyazawa Waseda University, Tokyo *************************************** Junichi Miyazawa, Tokyo walkingtune at bigfoot.com / junichi at poetic.com *************************************** From vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca Wed May 21 17:11:48 1997 From: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca (Vladimir Tumanov) Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 13:11:48 -0400 Subject: Marr Message-ID: Dear SEELANGERS: One of our grad students wants to know if anything by the linguist Marr is available in English translation. Does anyone know? Thanks. Vlad Tumanov. Vladimir Tumanov, Associate Professor Department of Modern Languages and Literatures University College 115, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 Telephone: w. (519) 661-3196, h. (519) 471-3429 Fax: (519) 661-4093 Electronic Mail: vtumanov at julian.uwo.ca From goscilo+ at pitt.edu Wed May 21 18:48:39 1997 From: goscilo+ at pitt.edu (Helena Goscilo) Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 14:48:39 -0400 Subject: Marr In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Iurii Slezkine, who just wrote a BIG article on Marr, should know. He's in history, but whether still at Wake Forest or Washington Univ., I don't know. Helena Goscilo From slbaehr at vt.edu Wed May 21 22:39:52 1997 From: slbaehr at vt.edu (Stephen L. Baehr) Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 18:39:52 EDT Subject: dym otechestva Message-ID: Re: dym otechestva > The citation, from +Gore ot uma+ (I, 385-86), has an interesting history. It actually comes from a Latin proverb ("Et fumus patriae est dulcis"), taken from Ovid (+Epistulae ex Ponto+, 1,3,33), which had its ultimate origin in Homer's Odyssey (I, 57-59). > In Russia, the phrase had been used as an epigraph for the journal +Rossiiskii muzei+ (1792-94) and was quoted in a number of poems including Derzhavin's "Arfa" (1798)--the probable source for Griboedov. > Most of the above material is cribbed from Ashukin and Ashukina wonderful +Krylatye slova+, 242-43, and they give a fascinating history of the "dym otechestva" motif from Derzhavin through Maiakovskii in Russia. > Steve Baehr --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Baehr (slbaehr at vtvm1.cc.vt.edu) Professor of Russian Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0225 Telephone: (540)-231-8323; FAX (540) 231-4812 From yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Thu May 22 17:57:30 1997 From: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Mark Yoffe) Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 10:57:30 -0700 Subject: Sed'mye Tynianovskie chteniia available Message-ID: Dear colleagues, Departament of Germanic and Slavic Languages of the George Washington University happened to have in its possession four extra copies of: Sed'mye tynianovskie chteniia: materialy dlia obsuzhdeniia. Riga, 1995-1996. (508 p.) which are Vyp. 9 of Tynianovskie sborniki series initiated and edited by venerable Matietta Omarovna Chudakova. In this issue: I. Anketa k 100-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia IU.N. Tynianova. II. Republikatsii: IU. Tynianov. Russkaia literatura sovremennosti. Literatyra i literatory v Sovetskoi Rossii. Beseda Gansa Vezemana s Iuriem Tynianovym. III, IV, V contains variety of articles such as: A.L. Ospovat. Istochnikovedcheskaia zametka k "Mednomu vsadniku" M.O. Chudakova. O poslednem zamysle M.A. Bulgakova. Ustnye vospominaniia P.O. IAkobsona o Maiakovskom M.O. Chudakova. Osvedomiteli v dome M.A. Bulgakova v seredine 1930-kh godov M.O. Chudakov. V.V. Vinogradov: arest, tiur'ma, ssylka, nauka The extras are available at $30.00 a copy. Should you be interested please contact directly: Prof. Peter Rollberg, Dept. of Germanic and Slavic, The George Washington University, 2130 H St. N.W. Washington, D.C. 20052 Tel.: 202- 994-7084 E-mail: rgpeter at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu or contact yours truly: Mark Yoffe, Slavic Libraryan, The Gelman Library at: 202-994-6303 or via e-mail Thanks, MY -- Mark Yoffe, Ph.D. Curator, International Counterculture Archive Slavic Librarian, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. HTTP://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yoffe E-mail: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Phone: 202 994-6303 From slbaehr at vt.edu Thu May 22 19:02:15 1997 From: slbaehr at vt.edu (Stephen L. Baehr) Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 15:02:15 EDT Subject: dym otechestva Message-ID: The citation, from +Gore ot uma+ (I, 385-86), has an interesting history. It actually comes from a Latin proverb ("Et fumus patriae est dulcis"), taken from Ovid (+Epistulae ex Ponto+, 1,3,33), which had its ultimate origin in Homer's Odyssey (I, 57-59). In Russia, the phrase had been used as an epigraph for the journal +Rossiiskii muzei+ (1792-94) and was quoted in a number of poems including Derzhavin's "Arfa" (1798)--the probable source for Griboedov. Most of the above material comes from Ashukin and Ashukina wonderful +Krylatye slova+, 242-43, and they give a fascinating history of the "dym otechestva" motif from Derzhavin through Maiakovskii in Russia. Steve Baehr >Dear Seelangers, >Who can help me to identify the following citation, which sound very >familiar to me: > >"Kogda postranstvuesh', vorotish'sia nazad, i dym otechestva i sladok i >priiaten" > Stephen L. Baehr Professor of Russian Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA 24061-0225 Phone: (540) 231-8323. FAX:: (540) 231-4812. From rdelossa at husc.harvard.edu Thu May 22 21:38:17 1997 From: rdelossa at husc.harvard.edu (Robert De Lossa) Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:38:17 -0500 Subject: Hutsulshchyna and linguistics Message-ID: =46or those who are interested in it, I would like to make you aware of the following, which is now available: ***************************** A Lexical Atlas of the Hutsul Dialects of the Ukrainian Language. Compiled and edited by Janusz A. Rieger. =46ixed in the Western mind through the cinematic masterpiece Shadows of =46orgotten Ancestors, the Hutsul people of the Carpathian region live in th= e crossroads of Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Hungarian, and Ukrainian influence. The present atlas represents the fruition of the research of the late Polish linguist Jan Jan=F3w, who, with his students, conducted a series of linguistic expeditions between 1924 and 1938 into Hutsulia to record these distinctive dialects. Professor Janusz Rieger began work on the material in the late 1970s and since then has succeeded in transferring the information from disparate field notes and other archival sources onto a series of more than 250 maps, with separate linguistic commentary and indices. This atlas will provide a fundamental resource for Slavic linguists, especially dialectologists. The majority of maps are lexically based, with twenty additional maps that show phonological and morphological isoglosses with Hustulia and surrounding regions. Prof. Rieger gives detailed descriptions of expedition protocols, the history of the notes, bibliographic information in the field, as well as commentaries keyed to each map. Summaries in Ukrainian and Polish are included. 370 pp., maps, illus. Softcover, ISBN 83-86619-90-2. $39.95. Professor Janusz A. Rieger is Full Professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Jointly published by the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University and the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences. Available through Harvard University Press (distributor for Ukrainian Research Institute publications) in North America only. Available from Semper Press in Europe. ******************************************* Those interested in ordering should contact me or check out our on-line publications catalog at http://www.sabre.org/huri (follow the publications path in the left frame; we have direct links to HUP's order site). Thanks, Rob De Lossa ____________________________________________________ Robert De Lossa Publications Office Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University 1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138 617-496-8768; fax. 617-495-8097 reply to: rdelossa at fas.harvard.edu http://www.sabre.org/huri From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Fri May 23 02:18:53 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 22:18:53 -0400 Subject: Looking for Host families (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 16:06:59 -0400 From: Project Harmony Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Looking for Host families Project Harmony, a non-profit organization located in Waitsfield, Vermont is announcing an exciting opportunity to host gifted and talented students from the former Soviet Union. Students have been carefully selected to participate in one of two exchange programs, the Future Leaders Exchange(FLEX) or Project Harmony Academic Study Term(PHAST), based on their English-language fluency, academic skills and outstanding personalities. They are provided with round-trip airfare, medical and dental insurance and a monthly stipend. Hosts from New England and the Mid-Western states are needed to provide daily meals, transportation to and from school and a lot of support, love and understanding. Hosting can truly open your eyes to a new culture and give you a new, fresh perspective about your own culture through the eyes of your foreign exchange student. If you would like more information about how you can participate in this educational exchange program, please call 800-545-7734 or email pharmony at igc.apc.org. From gfowler at indiana.edu Fri May 23 16:08:36 1997 From: gfowler at indiana.edu (George Fowler) Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 11:08:36 -0500 Subject: Balkanistica v. 10 (Zbigniew Golab memorial volume) Message-ID: (I am posting this to SEELangs for the publisher; please send inquiries to HIM at the coordinates below, and NOT to me! -- George Fowler) Dear LIST, Balkanistica 10 is now available for purchase. Here are some of the particulars, if you are interested: 436 pages, with maps, tables, introduction, photos 33 articles on linguistics and Balkan topics Neka mu e vechna slavata - Studies Dedicated to the Memory of Zbigniew Golab (19 March 1923-24 March 1994) Volume Editors: Victor A. Firedman, Masha Belyavski-Frank, Mark Pisaro and David Testen General Editor: Donald L. Dyer Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania: Design Systems Printing, 1997 Published for The South East European Studies Association (SEESA) Contents: A Word from the Publisher, Donald L. Dyer (p. vii) Notes and Acknowledgments (pp. ix-x) In Memoriam: Zbigniew Golab, Victor Friedman (pp. 1-2) Publications of Zbigniew Golab (pp. 3-12) The Ethnic Background and Internal Linguistic Mechanism of the So-Called Balkanization of Macedonian, Zbigniew Golab (pp. 13-19) Transitivity, Reduplication, and Clitics in the Balkan Language, Howard I. Aronson (pp. 20-45) On Certain Balkan Isogrammatisms in Albanian, Leszek Bednarczuk (pp. 46-54) On the Use of the Aorist in Regional Serbo-Croatian, Masha Belyavski-Frank (pp. 55-71) Verbal Forms with da in Slovenian Complement, Purpose and Result Clauses, Wayles Browne (pp. 72-80) On the Prehistory of the Slavic Nonindicative, Bill J. Darden (pp. 81-94) Serbo-Croatian Distributive po, Stephen Dickey (pp. 95-107) Structurally Marked Word Orders in Bulgarian and Their Functional Classifications, Donald L. Dyer (pp. 108-125) The Romanian Pluperfect Indicative in Historical Perspective, Mark J. Elson (pp. 126-143) The Movement for Rights and Freedoms and the Issue of Turkish Language Instruction in Bulgaria, Ali Eminov (pp. 144-161) The Discourse Properties of Verbal Categories in Bulgarian and Implications for Balkan Verbal Categories, Grace E. Fielder (pp. 162-184) A Contrastive View of Subordinate Aspect and the Opposition Confirmative/Non-Confirmative in the Balkans with Particular Reference to Macedonian and Turkish, Victor A. Friedman (pp. 185-201) The Interplay of Imperative and Hortative in the Balkan Slavic Dialects, Robert D. Greenberg (pp. 202-211) Reconciling Exhortative and Non-Exhortative Uses in the Macedonian Imperative, Jane F. Hacking (pp. 212-220) Slavic oko 'eye', Eric P. Hamp (pp. 221-226) The Position of the Ancient Macedonian Language and the Modern Name Makedonski, Petar Hr. Ilievski (pp. 227-240) A Contribution to the Study of the Revival of the Aromanians of Macedonia (Based on an Autographed Manuscript by G. Prlichev) Olivera Jashar-Nasteva (pp. 241-254) Methodological Issues in the History of the Balkan Lexicon: The Case of Greek vre/re and Relatives, Brian D. Joseph (pp. 255-277) Slunce, Blazhe Koneski (pp. 278-281) Aspect and Iterativity in Macedonian, Christina Kramer (pp. 282-295) Definiteness, Givenness, Topicality, and Bulgarian Object Reduplication, John R. Leafgren (pp. 296-311) Relativization in Macedonian, Liljana Minova-Gjurkova (pp. 312-324) Paleo-Balkan Elements in Macedo-Romanian, Adrian Poruciuc (pp. 325-334) Kakvo li e li: Interrogation and Focusing in Bulgarian, Catherine Rudin (pp. 335-346) The Dynamics of the Macedonian Phonetic System, Irena Sawicka (pp. 347-358) The Hypocoristica and Nicknames of the Balkan Slavic Languages, Edward Stankiewicz (pp. 359-371) The Apologetic Diminutive Strategy in Macedonian, Ljupcho Stefanovski (pp. 372-380) Relativization - A Strategy for Noun Phrase Complementation? (Relative Clauses in the Macedonian Tarlis Manuscript), Zuzanna Topolinska (pp. 381-393) The Textology of the Curzon Gospel, Cynthia Vakareliyska (pp. 394-410) Morphological Patterns of Imperfective Verbs in Dialects of the Macedonian Language, Bozhidar Vidoeski (pp. 411-429) On Zbigniew Golab, the Homeland of the Slavs, the Indo-Europeans, and the Venetae, Bill J. Darden (pp. 430-435). To order, send $43.50 (which includes S&H) in the form of a check or money order made out to "Balkanistica" to: Donald L. Dyer, Editor of Balkanistica Department of Modern Languages University of Mississippi University, MS 38677 Call (601)232-7298 or e-mail for more information. A limited number of copies of Balkanistica 9, Bulgaria Past & Present: Transitions and Turning Points, 1996, are also available. The price is $28.50. Please use the addresses above for ordering. Donald L. Dyer, Editor From LEVITT at hermes.usc.edu Fri May 23 15:00:00 1997 From: LEVITT at hermes.usc.edu (Marcus C. Levitt) Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 08:00:00 PDT Subject: Balkanistica Message-ID: Dear SEELangers, If you would be interested in reviewing "Balkanistika" for "The Slavic and East European Journal," please contact me. For a complete listing of books available for review, see the web site at: Yours, M. Levitt Dr. Marcus C. Levitt Book Editor, The Slavic and E. Eur. Journal Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-4353 tel. (213) 740-2740 fax (213) 740-8550 e-mail Levitt at hermes.usc.edu From N.Bermel at sheffield.ac.uk Fri May 23 16:35:27 1997 From: N.Bermel at sheffield.ac.uk (Neil Bermel) Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 17:35:27 +0100 Subject: Program threatened at Exeter, UK Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Here's another sad story of budget cuts threatening to axe a Russian program with a long and distinguished history. According to a message I received today on Britain's Russian-Studies list, the department at Exeter University is facing elimination. Anyone wishing for more information on the situation can write to Dr. Roger Cockrell at c.r.s.cockrell at exeter.ac.uk who has indicated he would be happy to answer any questions you might have. I'd also suggest copying him or the Department at Exeter on any correspondence you send to the University's Vice-Chancellor. Neil Bermel ----------------------------------------------- Date sent: Fri, 23 May 1997 14:10:48 BST From: Trevor Learmouth Subject: Russian at Exeter Many list members in the U.K. may have read in the press this week about proposals to cut 120 academic jobs at the University of Exeter, with 60 of them being replaced. What may be of immediate and relevant concern to you is that it is proposed that Exeter's Russian Department be closed down, with the loss of 5 academic jobs. Any list members who have an opinion on the wider implications of this proposal might like to write to the Vice-Chancellor: Sir Geoffrey Holland The Queen's Drive Exeter, U.K. EX4 4QJ -------------------------------------------------------------- ******************************************* Neil Bermel Sheffield University Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies Arts Tower, Western Bank Sheffield S10 2TN United Kingdom telephone 0114 222 7405 department office 0114 222 7400 fax 0114 222 7416 (from the US: 011 44 114 plus last 7 digits) n.bermel at sheffield.ac.uk From toren at isl.uit.no Mon May 26 15:28:28 1997 From: toren at isl.uit.no (Tore Nesset) Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 10:28:28 -0500 Subject: definiteness and indefiniteness Message-ID: Dear Seelangers, I am working on a project on definiteness and indefiniteness in Russian (trial lecture for the doctoral degree), and I am interested in suggestions and advice, especially about relevant literature, but any information is welcome. Please respond to me off-list. best, Tore Tore Nesset Assistant professor of Russian linguistics University of Tromsoe, Norway, tel. +47 77 64 56 33 From ewb2 at cornell.edu Mon May 26 18:04:43 1997 From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne) Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 14:04:43 -0400 Subject: Macedonian meeting Message-ID: I am going to the American-Macedonian Conference in Toronto June 12-14. Is anyone interested in sharing a ride from central New York State to Toronto June 11, returning June 15? Write to me privately: From ewb2 at cornell.edu Mon May 26 18:05:44 1997 From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne) Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 14:05:44 -0400 Subject: Macedonian meeting Message-ID: I am going to the American-Macedonian Conference in Toronto June 12-14. Is anyone interested in sharing a ride from central New York State to Toronto June 11, returning June 15? Write to me privately: Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics Department of Linguistics Morrill Hall, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A. tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h) fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE) e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu From renyxa at redline.ru Mon May 26 20:49:20 1997 From: renyxa at redline.ru (Tver InterContact Group) Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 00:49:20 +0400 Subject: Russian Language and Area Studies Program Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I'd like to take this opportunity to let you know about a language and area studies program that will be held in Tver, Russia, this summer. Summer School participants will have the opportunity to improve their Russian language skills while immersed in Russian life. Please forward this message to those who may be interested. Sincerely, Melinda Farris Tver InterContact Group ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ SUMMER SCHOOL OF RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AND AREA STUDIES Sponsoring Institutions: * Institute of Russian Language and Culture * Tver State University * Tver InterContact Group * Tver City Department of Education Study Russian in Russia's Friendliest City! June 23, 1997, will mark the opening of the Third Annual Summer School of Russian Language and Area Studies in Tver. The program will feature intensive training in the Russian language and associated area studies complemented by an extensive program of excursions, a unique opportunity to live with a hospitable Russian family, and the chance to get to know Russian students at the Institute of International Communication. Program participants will long remember their visit to the very heart of Russia. In addition to the core classroom program, comprised of courses on Russian language and communication, and lectures and seminars on literature, philosophy, history and geography, the students will be able to participate in creative workshops and studios, where they can study Russian folk art, songs and traditional Russian folk dancing. In the evenings, participants can gather in the Institute's lounge to practice their newly-acquired language skills in conversations with their peers and colleagues to the accompaniment of guitars and songs from around the world. Weekends feature excursions to area museums and sightseeing trips to Moscow, St. Petersburg and the ancient Russian provincial cities of Sergiev Posad, Torzhok and Ostashkov. The Summer School is held in Tver, an ancient city on the Volga River. The city is located directly between Moscow (170 km from Tver) and St. Petersburg (600 km from Tver). The numerous and convenient transportation routes to Russia's southern and northern capitals make Tver an ideal place to learn about the national culture, both of the capitals and the provinces. Tver itself, with nearly 500,000 residents, has everything necessary for an interesting and active vacation: museums, galleries, theaters, concert halls, gyms and night clubs. The bulk of the program's academic activities takes place at the Institute of Russian Language and Culture, which is located in the city's historical center on Tryokhsvyatskaya Street. In the summer, this pedestrian street becomes the city's favorite place for relaxation, strolling around the shops and meeting with friends. It is only a few minutes' walk from Tryokhsvyatskaya Street to the historical city park, located on the Volga's right bank. The source of this great Russian river is found in the Tver region, Lake Seliger, a natural pearl of European Russia. The Summer School invites everyone: students and teachers, professionals and amateurs, tourists and experts of all ages and interests to visit Russia during her most beautiful season, to see with their own eyes her rich culture, lovingly preserved in the Russian provinces. Do not make the mistake of seeing Russia through a tour bus window; Russia can only be understood by living it! To everyone who chooses to come to Tver in the summer of 1997 for the opportunity to study and vacation, the Summer School promises education, entertainment and memories that will last a lifetime. SUMMER SCHOOL CALENDAR The School opens its doors on June 23, and continues through September 8. Students can select from programs of various lengths, from 2-12 weeks. If a student would like to continue studying through the fall semester, arrangements can generally be made for an extension. The academic program includes Russian language courses and lectures and seminars on related area studies. In order to receive the program certificate, students are required to participate in all academic activities. The students may select the excursions, creative workshops and studios in which to participate, according to their individual interests. There are also many surprises in the form of unexpected and interesting acquaintances and meetings which await the program's participants, each of which may become the basis for new friendships and a better understanding of Russia. The participants will also have ample free time for relaxation and recreation. PROGRAM OPTIONS The Short Program starting on June 23, and every 2 weeks thereafter, includes: * Russian language courses (32 hours) * a cultural orientation program (8 hours) * creative workshops (8 hours) * cultural enrichment program The Medium Program (3 to 6 weeks) starting on June 23, July 14 and 21, and August 4 and 18, includes: * Russian language courses (48-96 hours) * area studies and humanities seminars (12-24 hours) * creative workshops (12-24 hours) * cultural enrichment program The Full Program (7 to 11 weeks) starting on June 23 and July 21, includes: * Russian language courses (112-176 hours) * area studies and humanities seminars (28-44 hours) * creative workshop (28-44 hours) * research work or internship (variable) - new program component, students may prepare a research paper on a selected topic under the guidance of a supervisor or participate in a work-study program in a selected field * cultural enrichment program ACADEMIC PROGRAM The program includes 3 basic components: * Russian language courses (from beginning to advanced levels, 16 hours per week, Monday through Thursday); Core Practical Russian Course - Basic Conversational Course (Survival Russian - elementary to low-intermediate levels); - General Russian Language Course (Intermediate to advanced levels). - Elective Russian Language Classes All of the Russian language courses are conducted in Russian by experienced instructors. Each is not only an expert in teaching Russian as a foreign language to students at different proficiency levels, but is also a specialist in the theory and methods of teaching the Russian language. The Russian language courses encompass all aspects of written and conversational Russian. The advanced level courses allow students to improve their skills of communication and pronunciation, to stylistically enrich their Russian speech, and to improve their understanding modern Russian. The students will have access to the Institute's study aids, including newspaper and literary texts, video and audio materials, dictionaries and other tools which are essential for training in a foreign language. * Seminars and lectures in area studies and humanities (Twice a week, 4 academic hours) - Russian Literature - Historical, Political and Philosophical Studies - Linguistic and Translation Studies - Creative workshops and studios CERTIFICATES At the completion of the programs, the Academic Council of the International Institute of Russian Language and Culture will award to each participant an official certificate showing those courses completed, with an indication of the total hours of study in each topic. The certificate is certified by the Department of Education of Tver and accredited by the Tver State University. The certification is supported by the Tver City Council on Education. US students can receive academic credit through Western Maryland College. For more information please inquire at the Institute's International Admissions Department. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS * Students may choose to live in a carefully selected Russian family (a separate room for one with all of the modern conveniences). This option includes half board: breakfast and supper. Students are usually invited to participate in all family activities. Students are requested to complete a questionnaire on the application form, which aids in placing the participants with compatible families. * Or, at the applicant's request the Institute will procure a private apartment as accommodation. This option does not include half board. - The International Summer School of Russian Language and Area Studies is a specialized annual program of the International Institute of Russian Language and Culture, which is conducted with the financial assistance of Tver InterContact Group and under the patronage and partial funding of the Tver City Department of Education. This allows the Summer School Administration to provide the academic program with partial tuition waivers for all participants, as reflected in the prices below. The only expenses to be covered by the students are: round trip transportation to Russia and living expenses, registration and administrative fees, room and board, and participation in the cultural-enrichment programs and excursions. FOR A COMPLETE INFORMATION PACKET, PLEASE CONTACT: Marina Oborina, Academic Programs Director International Institute of Russian Language and Culture c/o Tver InterContact Group P. O. Box 0565, Central Post Office 170000 Tver, Russia Tel: +7.0822.425419 or .425439 Fax: +7.0822.426210 E-mail: inforuss at postman.ru or renyxa at redline.ru From jiwanski at alpha.luc.ac.be Tue May 27 02:27:17 1997 From: jiwanski at alpha.luc.ac.be (Jacek Iwanski) Date: Mon, 26 May 1997 22:27:17 EDT Subject: Polish and Russian multimedia lessons. Message-ID: I've put a short example of multimedia foreign language lessons on Info-Mac Internet servers. The file russian-lessons-10.hqx contains four short, multimedia lessons of Russian for beginners. It is easy to modify or extend these lessons by every teacher of Russian. To access these lessons (lessons run on Macintosh computers only) you should download the 'Language Toolkit Reader' application: , to modify these lessons or extend the course you should use the 'Language Toolkit Writer'. It is available for downloading at: I am also regularly releasing the interactive, multimedia Polish language lessons. They are available via an e-mail subscription but few modules you can easily download from Info-Mac servers as well: Jacek Iwanski. From sher07 at bellsouth.net Wed May 28 11:43:58 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 07:43:58 -0400 Subject: Sher on the Web Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: In view of the controversy associated with my use of the Seelangs mailing list as a forum for a dialogue on Russian aspects and for other professional matters (the announcement of the publication of a translation of Vaginov's The Tower--The Goat-Song], I have de- cided to make life easier for everyone by transferring many of these activities to the Word Wide Web. I hope to have my own site on the Web sometime next year. While I received many supportive letters, there were also letters from others who opposed my liberal, perhaps too liberal interpreta- tion of the guidelines for mailing lists. It seems to me that a mailing list should allow for more than the exchange of notes and memoranda on conferences, upcoming events and strictly professional matters, however necessary. Why should Seelangs or any mailing list be limited in this respect? Why could it not be an informal gathering place for developing ideas, for full-length discussions, informal essays or even for the "pub- lishing" of short papers to the list? I do admit, however, that this view may not be shared by all or by the majority of you. I fully respect the opinion of my peers on this point of netiquette and appreciate their patience and under- standing. My email problems certainly did not help, either. Still, I believe that Seelangs ought to serve a wider cultural and educational purpose than it may have until now. One reader noted that this was why he/she joined Seelangs in the first place. I agree. I hope to be able to invite all of you to visit my Web site in the near future. Meanwhile, I'll continue to carry on my dialogue -- whenever possible on a more modest and private basis -- on matters of interest to all of us. Sincerely, Benjamin Sher Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From sher07 at bellsouth.net Thu May 29 00:06:41 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 20:06:41 -0400 Subject: Seelangs Address In-Reply-To: <199705281431.IAA11159@lynx.csn.net> Message-ID: Dear Jack: Thank you so much for your encouraging words. The address of Seelangers is: "seelangs at cunyvm.cuny.edu" Benjamin At 08:29 AM 5/28/97 -0600, you wrote: >At 06:43 5/27/97, you wrote: >>Dear members of Russian-Studies: >> >>This letter was originally addressed to Seelangers. I would like >>to share it with Russian-Studies Thank you. >> Benjamin Sher >> >>Dear Seelangers: >> >>In view of the controversy associated with my use of the Seelangs >>mailing list as a forum for a dialogue on Russian aspects and for > >> >> >>Sincerely, >> >>Benjamin Sher >> >>Benjamin Sher >>Russian Literary Translator >>(SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S >>Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) >>sher07 at bellsouth.net > > >Hello Benjamin... > >Could you please e-mail the address for the Seelanger List? > >BTW -- I heartily agree with your philosophy of the purpose of lists... > >Regards > >Jack >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >Jack Harper Bank Systems 2000, Inc. >e-mail: jharper at bs2000.com 350 Indiana Street, Suite 800 >voice: 303-277-1892 fax: 303-277-1785 Golden, Colorado 80401 USA > > "21st Century Financial Applications" > Optical Cards for Bank, EBT, and Medical Applications >Visit our Web Page: http://www.bs2000.com/talos (Last Update: 970520) > > 1024-bit PGP crypto key with ID: 8FB07075 created 960728 > Fingerprint: 75 DA 06 35 F8 3D AC EC 3A F2 7C 59 A1 11 A5 74 > Key available from Public Key Servers and above Web Page >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From gadassov at mail.pf Thu May 29 01:10:22 1997 From: gadassov at mail.pf (Georges Adassovsky) Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 15:10:22 -1000 Subject: Prince Myshkin's "Tak nel'zia postupat'" Message-ID: Ljubeznye druzja! Dorogie silangtsy! At 7:19 AM 19/05/97, B.Sher wrote: >Who can forget Prince Myshkin's unforgettable "Tak nel'zia postupat'" >("No human being ought to act like that" -- I tried in vain for hours >late into the night to find the quote. I know it's there some place) >What a magnificently simple indictment of the evil that lurks in us >all. Yet why "postupat'" (imperfective, i.e. transcendental) and not > "postupit'"? What's the reason for Dostoevsky's aspectual choice? We >know that "Tak nel'zia postupit'" is impossible here, but why? It seems to me that: Tak nel'zja postupat' = never, opinion about a general case. Tak nel'zja postupit' = once, opinion about a possible further occurrence . The second example seems grammatical, and may be a part of the quoted by M. Sher : "habitual" as opposed to "single occurrence".. I wouldn't translate "Tak nel'zja postupat'" as "No human being ought to act like that" but "one can't act like that". The proposed translation seems to correspond to "lucshe tak ne postupat'" ( if I understand well enough English modal nuances!). Tak nel'zja postupit' = you (ou we) can't do that. May be in the Russian sentence there is some eluded "mne", "nam" ou "vam" etc. Georges Adassovsky E-Mail : Gadassov at mail.pf S-Mail : B.P. 380330 Tamanu, 98718 Punaauia, French Polynesia. Tel 689 58 38 40 home, 689 58 37 37 office (GMT - 12) From gadassov at mail.pf Thu May 29 01:10:19 1997 From: gadassov at mail.pf (Georges Adassovsky) Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 15:10:19 -1000 Subject: Sher on the Web Message-ID: Sijatel'nejshie silangtsy ! At 7:43 AM 28/05/97, B.Sher wrote: >It seems to me that a mailing list should allow for more than the >exchange of notes and memoranda on conferences, upcoming >events and strictly professional matters, however necessary. >Why should Seelangs or any mailing list be limited in this respect? >Why could it not be an informal gathering place for developing ideas, >for full-length discussions, informal essays or even for the "pub- >lishing" of short papers to the list? Why not asking the owner what is the purpose of this list ? If I remember well, it is a litterature and language list. Some time ago, linguistic and cultural questions were debatted. Now it seems to have become a corporative list for American professors. I for one am more interested on aspects than on problems for recruiting students, and I suppose many members, specially non-American ones, feel like me. In any case, why some members should feel free to censor an intervention that is not impolite and that interests many participants? It's not a matter of netiquete but of pretentious egoism. M. Sher used the "reply" function to send a lot of texts to all members who asked him to do so. If mistake there is, the mistake is on the side of those who asked his essay through the list. This was not very serious a mistake, and we could all be tolerant. Georges Adassovsky E-Mail : Gadassov at mail.pf S-Mail : B.P. 380330 Tamanu, 98718 Punaauia, French Polynesia. Tel 689 58 38 40 home, 689 58 37 37 office (GMT - 12) From yamato at yt.cache.waseda.ac.jp Thu May 29 05:43:07 1997 From: yamato at yt.cache.waseda.ac.jp (Dr Yoshimasa Tsuji) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:43:07 +0900 Subject: Prince Myshkin's "Tak nel'zia postupat'" In-Reply-To: (message from Georges Adassovsky on Wed, 28 May 1997 15:10:22 -1000) Message-ID: <> is the last sentence of a paragraph beginning << ---Znaete li chto? -- gorjacho podkhvatil knjaz'.>> (Th. Dostoevskij: Idiot. Chast' pervaja, II.) Cheers, Tsuji From sher07 at bellsouth.net Thu May 29 06:07:14 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 02:07:14 -0400 Subject: Prince Myshkin's "Tak nel'zia postupat'" In-Reply-To: <199705290543.OAA00471@tsuji.yt.cache.waseda.ac.jp> Message-ID: Dear Tsuji: Thank you so very, very much for finding the passage. I've been trying to find it since I posted my message. It has remained with me for years in the back of my mind. Now I know where to find it. You'r e a godsend. Thanks again. Benjamin At 02:43 PM 5/29/97 +0900, you wrote: ><> is the last sentence of >a paragraph beginning << ---Znaete li chto? -- gorjacho podkhvatil knjaz'.>> >(Th. Dostoevskij: Idiot. Chast' pervaja, II.) > >Cheers, >Tsuji > > Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From konecny at rcf.usc.edu Thu May 29 13:53:56 1997 From: konecny at rcf.usc.edu (Mark Clarence Konecny) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 06:53:56 PDT Subject: Prince Myshkin's "Tak nel'zia postupat'" In-Reply-To: Your message of Wed, 28 May 1997 15:10:22 -1000 Message-ID: It seems that I read more of Benjamin Sher's email than I do my own. Maybe he should figure out how to reply to people off list. From yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Thu May 29 18:31:22 1997 From: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Mark Yoffe) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 11:31:22 -0700 Subject: Sher's critics: "Tak nel'zia postupat'!!!" Message-ID: God, Comrades, why don't you leave Sher alone?! He is probably the best thing that happened to this list ever since it was created. True he takes lots of space and is kind of unpredictable, but he is lively. And therefore he is kind of fun. I could not care less about all these aspects -- so I just delete his postings on aspects and read the rest of netiquette-related communications. (I beleve that our colleagues should be able to post on the list whatever they feel is important and it is our job to use "delete" key if we are not interested in their postings. This "job" comes along with the privilege to be on the list.) And I love those vigilant occusations of "commercialism" our ever-watchful Comrades like to slap upon other Comrades without considering whether the "culprits" are really benefiting financially from their postings. -- Mark Yoffe, Ph.D. Curator, International Counterculture Archive Slavic Librarian, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. HTTP://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yoffe E-mail: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Phone: 202 994-6303 From Rebecca.E.Matveyev at lawrence.edu Thu May 29 15:44:22 1997 From: Rebecca.E.Matveyev at lawrence.edu (Rebecca E. Matveyev) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 15:44:22 +0000 Subject: Russian TV broadcasting Message-ID: Is anyone aware of a TV broadcast service in Russian, that's available in the U.S. (e.g., on a satellite dish), other than the Russian American Educational Services program offered by the Ethnic-American Broadcasting Co.? If anyone does respond to this, please include information about how to get in contact with a company, plus any information you might have about the cost. Thanks in advance. Rebecca Epstein Matveyev Russian Department Lawrence University, Appleton, WI Rebecca.E.Matveyev at lawrence.edu From LEVITT at hermes.usc.edu Thu May 29 15:00:00 1997 From: LEVITT at hermes.usc.edu (Marcus C. Levitt) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 08:00:00 PDT Subject: Job at USC Message-ID: The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California invites applications to a one-year replacement position, with possible extension to two years. Preferred areas of expertise are 19th and 20th century Russian poetry, perhaps also 19th century prose; ability to teach undergraduate general education courses is also essential. Send curriculum vitae and three letters of reference by July 10 to: Professor Thomas Seifrid, Chair, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Taper Hall 408, University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-4353. (posted by M. Levitt) Dr. Marcus C. Levitt Book Editor, The Slavic and E. Eur. Journal Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-4353 tel. (213) 740-2740 fax (213) 740-8550 e-mail Levitt at hermes.usc.edu From sher07 at bellsouth.net Thu May 29 21:05:32 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 17:05:32 -0400 Subject: How to Respond Off-LIST?! In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I am responding to this fully justified criticism ONLIST not just to apologize again but to ask for help. I use Eudora Light email. Many of you out there probably use Eudora, too. What I have been doing is writing down the individual address and then copying into a new message. Is there an AUTOMATIC way to do it on Eudora? Thanks so very much. Benjamin Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From ewb2 at cornell.edu Thu May 29 23:05:16 1997 From: ewb2 at cornell.edu (E. Wayles Browne) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 19:05:16 -0400 Subject: Russian TV broadcasting Message-ID: >Is anyone aware of a TV broadcast service in Russian, that's available >in the U.S. (e.g., on a satellite dish), other than the Russian American >Educational Services program offered by the Ethnic-American Broadcasting >Co.? There is a service that provides TV programs in a great variety of languages, including Russian. I don't have the details of the cost, but here are their addresses: SCOLA Satellite Network PO Box 619 McClelland, IA 51548-0619 Phone: (712) 566-2202 Fax: (712) 566-2502 Internet e-mail (organization): scola at creighton.edu SCOLA's Web-Site: http://www.scola.org Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics Department of Linguistics Morrill Hall, Cornell University Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A. tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h) fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE) e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu From cef at u.washington.edu Thu May 29 23:36:00 1997 From: cef at u.washington.edu (C. Fields) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 16:36:00 -0700 Subject: Russian TV broadcasting In-Reply-To: Message-ID: At our Language Learning Center we get both SCOLA and the International Channel (http://www.i-channel.com/remote.html). The quality of SCOLA Russian broadcasts is not as good as the broadcasts from the International Channel, which is available through certain cable providers. IC provides "fresher" Vremya news broadcasts as well as a variety program called "Potpourri." I believe there is also a company in Brighton Beach that provides a satellite hook up for a fee and you get exclusively Russian broadcasting through them. I can't remember the name of it, though. Emily Fields Slavic SA Language Learning Center University of Washington On Thu, 29 May 1997, E. Wayles Browne wrote: > >Is anyone aware of a TV broadcast service in Russian, that's available > >in the U.S. (e.g., on a satellite dish), other than the Russian American > >Educational Services program offered by the Ethnic-American Broadcasting > >Co.? > There is a service that provides TV programs in a great variety > of languages, including Russian. I don't have the details of the > cost, but here are their addresses: > > SCOLA Satellite Network > PO Box 619 > McClelland, IA 51548-0619 > > Phone: (712) 566-2202 > Fax: (712) 566-2502 > > Internet e-mail (organization): scola at creighton.edu > SCOLA's Web-Site: http://www.scola.org > > > > Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics > Department of Linguistics > Morrill Hall, Cornell University > Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A. > > tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h) > fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE) > e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu > From El_Mancha at ibm.net Thu May 29 03:30:44 1997 From: El_Mancha at ibm.net (Marcelo A. T. Silva) Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 20:30:44 -0700 Subject: lists purpose Message-ID: I would like to express my support Mr. Adassovsky opinion. In my (humble) opinion the seelangs list is the right place where we can exchange our ideas on theoretical and/or practical problems about literature and/or linguistics of slavic languages (including the Russian verbal aspect problem). This list shouldn't become only a burocratic means of announcing conferences and/or jobs. ======================================================================== * Marcelo A. T. Silva * * * Linguistics & * Inaction is certain, * * Translation * and that is all it has to recommend it. * * El_Mancha at IBM.net * Action is uncertain, * * Linguistics Dept. * and therein lies its fascination. * * University of Sao Paulo * * * Brazil * * ======================================================================== % From scola at creighton.edu Fri May 30 02:31:51 1997 From: scola at creighton.edu (SCOLA Staff) Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 21:31:51 -0500 Subject: Russian TV broadcasting In-Reply-To: <338DA455.59F@lawrence.edu> Message-ID: SCOLA carries Russian News on its first channel and russian children's programming on its second channel. More iformation at www.scola.org On Thu, 29 May 1997, Rebecca E. Matveyev wrote: > Is anyone aware of a TV broadcast service in Russian, that's available > in the U.S. (e.g., on a satellite dish)? > If anyone does respond to this, please include information about how to > get in contact with a company, plus any information you might have about > the cost. > > Thanks in advance. > > > Rebecca Epstein Matveyev > Russian Department > Lawrence University, > Appleton, WI > > Rebecca.E.Matveyev at lawrence.edu > x indicates who sent message. Joseph R. Gulizia, SCOLA Production Mgr. x Mary Miloni, SCOLA Office Manager Sybil Mahan, SCOLA Marketing Rosalie Soloth, SCOLA Insta-Class Coordinator ---------------------- SCOLA Satellite Network PO Box 619 McClelland, IA 51548-0619 Phone: (712) 566-2202 Fax: (712) 566-2502 Internet e-mail (organization): scola at creighton.edu SCOLA's Web-Site: http://www.scola.org From roborr at aix1.uottawa.ca Fri May 30 05:01:29 1997 From: roborr at aix1.uottawa.ca (Robert Orr) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 01:01:29 -0400 Subject: Sher's critics: "Tak nel'zia postupat'!!!" In-Reply-To: <338DCB7A.5252@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu> Message-ID: I'd like to offer another take on "tak nel'zja postupat'". I find it handy to think of negative imperfectives in Russian as including the meaning "don't/didn't even try - don't even let the thought cross your mind", e.g., "tak nel'zja postupat'" would mean "you shoudln't even THINK of doing that" (for a literary translator "that's unthinkable" might be quite nice). Robert Orr From jjryan at students.wisc.edu Fri May 30 06:42:08 1997 From: jjryan at students.wisc.edu (Jennifer J. Ryan) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 01:42:08 -0500 Subject: Akhmatova's "Fragments" Message-ID: Dear SEELANGers: I am researching Anna Akhmatova's cycle "Cherepki" (Fragments) and am trying to track down the source of her epigraph to the work: "You cannot leave your mother an orphan." (James Joyce). Does anyone know in which novel this quotation appears? The original context? I'm pretty sure it's from "Ulysses," but then again, Akhmatova was famous for modifying citations and their sources for her epigraphs. Many thanks! --Jennifer Jennifer Ryan jjryan at students.wisc.edu Department of Slavic Languages 1432 Van Hise, 1220 Linden Drive University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706 (608) 262-3498 From sher07 at bellsouth.net Fri May 30 11:26:24 1997 From: sher07 at bellsouth.net (Benjamin Sher) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 07:26:24 -0400 Subject: Technical Problems -- A thing of the past? Message-ID: Dear Seelangers: I think I finally got the hang of it, thanks to some good technical advice from a number of you on how to run Eudora. When replying to someone through the list, select the individual member's address from the "From:" field beneath the List address, then open up a new message and paste it into the To: field. In addition, as a final precaution (how I wish I had thought of this before!), after you queue the message, go to Mailbox, select Out, and then check to make sure you see the person's name, not the List's, and ONLY then send it. Thanks to all who helped. Hopefully, others will learn from my lesson. Yours, Benjamin Benjamin Sher Russian Literary Translator (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) sher07 at bellsouth.net From houtzage at let.rug.nl Fri May 30 13:31:22 1997 From: houtzage at let.rug.nl (H.P. Houtzagers) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 14:31:22 +0100 Subject: Technical Problems -- A thing of the past? In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.16.19970529062215.268ffaa0@msy.bellsouth.net> Message-ID: Thanks for your lesson, Benjamin (sigh) Peter Houtzagers > Dear Seelangers: > > I think I finally got the hang of it, thanks to some good technical advice > from a number of you on how to run Eudora. When replying to someone through > the list, select the individual member's address from the "From:" field > beneath the List address, then open up a new message and paste it into the > To: field. > In addition, as a final precaution (how I wish I had thought of this > before!), after you queue the message, go to Mailbox, select Out, and then > check to make sure you see the person's name, not the List's, and ONLY then > send it. Thanks to all who helped. Hopefully, others will learn from my > lesson. > > Yours, > > Benjamin > Benjamin Sher > Russian Literary Translator > (SOVIET POLITICS AND REPRESSION IN THE 1930'S > Yale University Press, forthcoming 1997) > sher07 at bellsouth.net > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. H. Peter Houtzagers, Slavic Department, Groningen University, The Netherlands tel: +31 50 3636061/3636067, fax: +31 50 3634900 e-mail: h.p.houtzagers at let.rug.nl http://www.let.rug.nl/~houtzage/ (personal) http://www.let.rug.nl/slav/ (department) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From haber at umbsky.cc.umb.edu Fri May 30 15:33:10 1997 From: haber at umbsky.cc.umb.edu (Edythe C. Haber) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:33:10 -0400 Subject: Mikhail Bulgakov Society Message-ID: ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE MIKHAIL BULGAKOV SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA: Howard Solomon, Treasurer of the Mikhail Bulgakov Society and Editor of its Newsletter, has, regrettably, resigned. His functions will be taken over by two people. Edythe Haber, President of the Society, will serve as principal editor of the Newsletter. All submissions should be sent to her at: Modern Languages Dept., University of Massachusetts Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail: haber at umbsky.cc.umb.edu. Fax: (617)287-7585; (617)495-8319. (If you are thinking of sending announcements, you should bear in mind that the next issue will come out Spring, 1998 at the earliest.) Jonathan Ludwig has agreed to serve as Technical Editor and Treasurer. All inquiries about membership and dues payments ($5)should be sent to him (preferably in September, since he will be in Russia for the summer) at: Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 3092 Foreign Languages Building, 707 South Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801. E-Mail: ludwig1 at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu. Jonathan also plans to set up a Web page for the Society in the Fall. All suggestions concerning the Newsletter and Webpage are appreciated. We look forward to hearing from SEELANGS subscribers. Edythe Haber From gjgaats at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Fri May 30 18:12:02 1997 From: gjgaats at CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU (George Gutsche) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 11:12:02 -0700 Subject: Akhmatova's "Fragments" Message-ID: "The Complete Poems..." vol. 2 (edited by Roberta Reeder), 1990, on = p.787 gives "Ulysses" as the source and credits two other scholars = (Christie and Novelli) with the identification. George Gutsche From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Fri May 30 19:01:12 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 15:01:12 -0400 Subject: Fwd: PUBLIC EDUCATION/ECONOMIC REFORM SPECIALIST - UKRAINE (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 14:22:33 -0400 From: PBNNathan at aol.com Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Fwd: PUBLIC EDUCATION/ECONOMIC REFORM SPECIALIST - UKRAINE --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: PUBLIC EDUCATION/ECONOMIC REFORM SPECIALIST - UKRAINE Date: 97-05-22 15:00:02 EDT From: PBNNathan To: civilsoc at solar.rtd.utk.edu PUBLIC EDUCATION/ECONOMIC REFORM SPECIALIST - UKRAINE GA/PBN c/o The PBN Company 1801 K Street, NW, Suite 1203L Washington, DC 20006 Fax: 202-466-6205 e-mail: PBNNATHAN at aol.com No phone calls please GA/PBN, a USAID contactor working in Ukraine on a market reform public education project, is looking for a specialist to fill the position of Counterpart Liaison - Economic Reform. The candidate must commit to relocating to Ukraine for a period of at least nine months. Experience and skills required: Background in public education, privatization, macroeconomic, fiscal and tax issues, and an understanding of Ukraine's culture and politics. At least 5 years international experience. Working knowledge of Ukrainian and/or Russian language is required. Prior experience with USAID and/or World Bank projects in the former Soviet Union is preferred. Please send by fax or e-mail to Paul Nathanson at address provided above. Closing Date: June 10, 1997 From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Fri May 30 19:25:35 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 15:25:35 -0400 Subject: Job: Public sector project in CEE (fwd) Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 27 May 1997 19:06:35 -0400 From: Piet Leunis Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Job: Public sector project in CEE MEDE Central and Eastern Europe MEDE, a management consultancy based in the Netherlands, acts as a change agent for clients within the public sector. Result oriented, involving employees and stakeholders in the development process. Since 6 years MEDE is implementing projects in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) contracted by the European Commission and other donor agencies. MEDE is managing the CONSENSUS programme, a European Commission PHARE programme, supporting 12 CEE countries as they reform their Social Protection systems. Technical Assistance is offered through subcontractors in all areas of social protection, from family allowances to unemployment benefits to health insurance. Information about scope and implementation can be found at the WWW site : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/consensus/ For a potential continuation of the Programme Management Agency for two more years, to be acquired through a restricted tender, MEDE is searching for experts with experience in CEE: COUNTRY MANAGER Supports 4 CEE countries in identification and preparation of project proposals, drafts Terms of References, selects subcontractors to implement these projects and monitors the implementation. Required: - expertise/experience in social protection area, with good knowledge of developments in EU - working experience with government administrations (policy and administration) - experience in project design and monitoring - teamwork, strong communication skills, fluency in English - EU member state nationality - full-time availability from October/November SHORT TERM SENIOR EXPERTS SOCIAL PROTECTION Provide Technical Assistance to CEE recipients in situations where governments have an urgent need for independent advice. Required: - specialised expertise/experience in one of the social protection area's - experience in providing policy advise to governments - EU member state or CEE nationality - English language skills - available for short term missions on short notice Please send detailed CV and references, mentioning the position, to Rob Vonk, managing director, PO Box 152, 3990 DD Houten, the Netherlands, Fax +31 30 637 38 02, e-mail : mede at worldonline.nl From dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu Sat May 31 03:33:28 1997 From: dpbrowne+ at pitt.edu (Devin P Browne) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 23:33:28 -0400 Subject: Request for info (fwd) Message-ID: This is not a message from me. Please respond directly to the original writer if you desire to do so. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 19:51:45 -0400 From: Hmblt101 at aol.com Reply-To: civilsoc at SOLAR.RTD.UTK.EDU To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Request for info Last fall I read about a woman's magazine that had been started in Kiev. I think it was "Ya Zhingka". Does anyone know where I could contact them at this time? Thanks. From gadassov at mail.pf Sat May 31 08:45:19 1997 From: gadassov at mail.pf (Georges Adassovsky) Date: Fri, 30 May 1997 22:45:19 -1000 Subject: Sher's critics: "Tak nel'zia postupat'!!!" Message-ID: Uvazhaemye silangtsy! At 1:01 AM 30/05/97, Robert Orr wrote: >I'd like to offer another take on "tak nel'zja postupat'". I find >it handy to think of negative imperfectives in Russian as including the >meaning "don't/didn't even try - don't even let the thought cross your >mind", e.g., "tak nel'zja postupat'" would mean "you shoudln't even THIN= K >of doing that" (for a literary translator "that's unthinkable" > might be quite nice). It seems to me that in this case, perfective can't be use if referring to the past, or to a generality. In effect, perfective, seen as something finished, is incompatible with negation, as the negation imply no action at all. But it may be used when referring to the future, that is to an action tha= t didn't occur yet. "Tak nel'z'a postupit" might be used, for example, when two people are discussing of a possible action, and one of them want to express that this action is generally possible, but not in the particular case they are facing. I transmit some answers I received at my personnal address ( Seelangers seem to be shy to post their observations to the list) 1) (from United States) Ne znaju, pochemu Sher zaputalsja v vide s modal'nost'ju, tam vse prosto= : nel'zja + sov. vid =3D fizicheskaja nevozmozhnost' nel'zja + nesov vid =3D zapret Nel'zja vxodit' (idut ekzameny), nel'zja perexodit' pri krasnom svete, nel'zja tak skazat' po-russki (javno ne raschitano na inostrancev); nel'zja vojti bez kljucha, nel'zja zdes' perejti: razryto, nel'zja tak govorit' so starshimi i t.p. A potomu nel'zja postupat' - moral'nyj zavet/zapret, a postupit' mozhno k= ak ugodno, kak pokazyvaet opyt. 2) (from Russia) in Russian we say only nel'za postupit' inac^e it's another sens we (I, he/she...) must do only that Tak nel'za postupit may say only foringer, who don't know russian 3) From France (sorry it's in French) Bien s=FBr que "Tak nel'zja postupit'" est "grammatical", dans les conditions que tu pr=E9cises. Remarquons toutefoi= s, =E0 la d=E9charge de Sher, qu'il dit que cette expression "is impossible HERE", = =E0 savoir dans ce contexte pr=E9cis. Pourquoi ? L' auteur =E9num=E8re toutes= les distinctions classiquement cit=E9es par les linguistes entre perfectif e= t imperfectif pour montrer qu'aucune n'est absolument convaincante. Il omet cependant une contrainte suppl=E9mentaire pr=E9sente dans la citation : l= a n=E9gation. En r=E8gle g=E9n=E9rale, le perfectif s'accomode mal de la = n=E9gation, et tout sp=E9cialement dans une injonction. "Ne dis pas de b=EAtises" sera "= ne govori gluposti" et non "ne skazhi gluposti". A l'exception, bien entendu, du ca= s de figure que tu pr=E9cises, =E0 savoir une circonstance particuli=E8re indi= qu=E9e par le contexte. Par exemple : "Kogda budesh' otvecat' na ekzamene, smotri ne s= kazhi te gluposti, cto ty mne sejcas skazal !" Cela tient =E0 la deuxi=E8me d= =E9finition qu'il donne ("process IMP" vs. a "result P") : la n=E9gation, en r=E8gle = g=E9n=E9rale, interdit le proc=E8s lui-m=EAme, et pas seulement son r=E9sultat. De m=EA= me tu diras "spoj etu pesnju !" mais "ne poj etoj pesni !" Et c'est sans doute (mais= pas s=FBr) ce qu'il veut dire en opposant "moral IMP" (injonction universe= lle) =E0 "amoral P" (cas particulier, sans port=E9e universelle). La question rejoint celle que je posais =E0 mes =E9tudiants. Il se trouve= que toi et moi, et n'importe quel russophone de naissance, "sent" la diff=E9rence= qu'il y a entre "delat'" et "sdelat'" - telle est la d=E9finition de l'aspect = donn=E9e par tous les manuels de grammaire russe destin=E9s =E0 des =E9l=E8ves rus= ses. Mais un non Russe n'a pas cette conscience intuitive de la chose. Alors il se = rend compte qu'il s'agit d'autre chose que de la partition temporelle =E0 laqu= elle il est habitu=E9 (s'il est Fran=E7ais - s'il est Anglais =E7a lui est d=E9j=E0= plus facile) mais n'arrive pas =E0 concevoir de quoi il s'agit. Il a d'ailleurs de = bonnes excuses pour cela - le Russe n'en sait rien lui-m=EAme (cf ma Th=E8se pp.= 361-367). Il =E9chafaude des th=E9ories - G.Guillaume fut parmi les premiers - qui = semblent concilier sa propre vision de la temporalit=E9 avec les expressions d= iverses qu'en donnent les langues =E0 aspect. Et =E9videmment =E7a ne colle pas, = ou mal. Il est tout =E0 fait remarquable (et cocasse) de lire ce tas de linguistes m= odernes (et fran=E7ais en premier lieu) qui d=E9plorent que le russe utilise = le terme d'"aspect" pour qualifier un fait de langue qui ne correspond pas =E0 ce = que eux appellent "aspect" (mon ami Jean-Paul S=E9mon, professeur de linguistique= russe =E0 la Sorbonne, ricane en parlant de "ce que les romanistes appellent as= pect"). S glubocajshim pocitaniem i sovershennejsheju predannost'ju imeju cest' navsegda ostat'cja vashikh milostivejshikh gosudarej silangstev vsepokornejshij sluga, Georges Adassovsky E-Mail : Gadassov at mail.pf S-Mail : B.P. 380330 Tamanu, 98718 Punaauia, French Polynesia. Tel 689 58 38 40 home, 689 58 37 37 office (GMT - 12) From billings at rz.uni-leipzig.de Sat May 31 10:15:14 1997 From: billings at rz.uni-leipzig.de (Loren A. BILLINGS) Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 12:15:14 +0200 Subject: Dual Headers--how to keep from replying to the list inadvertently In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.16.19970528160100.32afd7da@msy.bellsouth.net> Message-ID: >Dear Seelangers: > >I am responding to this fully justified criticism ONLIST not just to >apologize again but to ask for help. I use Eudora Light email. Many of you >out there probably use Eudora, too. What I have been doing is writing down >the individual address and then copying into a new message. Is there an >AUTOMATIC way to do it on Eudora? > >Thanks so very much. > >Benjamin I'm replying on-list because I, too, once had this problem. I see that Benjamin has learned the ropes of Eudora Light. Despite this, however, the absolutely BEST thing to do is send a command to SEELANGS to set up a "dual header". When I was using Eudora Light this option made it FAR easier for me to keep from replying to the whole list inadvertently. (Without the dual header, it's quite easy in Eudora to think the message came directly from the person who posted the message, not from SEELANGS.) To install this option, write a message to the following address: LISTSERV at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Leave the subject line empty.) In the body of the message type the following: SET SEELANGS DUALHDR According to the LISTSERV instructions, this option is "useful with PC or Mac mail programs." This should solve (y)our problems for the most part. --LAB From mpopovic at hooked.net Sat May 31 16:48:49 1997 From: mpopovic at hooked.net (mpopovic at hooked.net) Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 09:48:49 -0700 Subject: Wanting Suggestions Message-ID: Greetings and Salutations fellow lovers of Slavic Literature! I'd like some suggestions; my bookshelves are full of finished reading material, and my friends are all out of suggestions. I spend my free time reading, and I'm heading for the bookstore tomorrow for something new. Any suggestions? My absolute favorite (so far) was Dobrica Cosic, I loved "White Guard" and have finished all of Bulgakov, just finished a wonderfully surprising novel by Lermontov (found it accidentally), and could only find one English translation for Dovlatov. All suggestions will be eagerly devoured! K. From klr8p at virginia.edu Sat May 31 19:58:58 1997 From: klr8p at virginia.edu (karen ryan-hayes) Date: Sat, 31 May 1997 15:58:58 -0400 Subject: remove my name please Message-ID: Please remove me from the seelangs list. Thank you. K. Ryan-Hayes