On Lukashenka: some tangents

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

Thank you Yoshimasa Tsuji <yamato at yt.cache.waseda.ac.jp> for offering a
comparative perspective.  I do have a question concerning this passage:

>All
>the new additions to the [Japanese] language were done by way of using
>ideographic
>symbols which phonetically made sense only for the Chinese who have so
>many phonemes and tones.

What were the impulses that led to a choice which disregarded the
specificity of Japanese and -- judging by appearances -- gave preference to
a system more adequate for Chinese?

*********

Concerning comments made by other contributors to the discussion, I would
like to state the following:
(1)
As a native speaker of both Spanish and Ukrainian, when I began studying
Italian and Russian, I found that the distance separating Italian from
Spanish was shorter than the distance between Russian and Ukrainian.
Nonetheless, my colleagues in the field of Romance languages and
literatures would never suggest that  Spanish is a dialect of Italian (or
vice versa).  By the same token, although Portuguese, Castilian Spanish and
Catalan  (to give an analog of geographic proximity) are related languages,
no one formulates the relationship in terms of  "coming" "from a common
root."  Conceptualizing the relationship of Russian to Belarusian and
Ukrainian in such terms is predicated by the political vision that sought
to uphold the idea of a triune Rus' as the legitimization of one and
indivisible Russia.  But, the history of the middle ages is far more
complex than the totalizing narrative of post-eighteenth century Russia
would have it.  Whatever the case, the relationship among the three East
Slavic languages should not give anyone an excuse to persecute speakers of
Belarusian in their native country. J. Douglas Clayton <jdclayt at uottawa.ca>
is so right when he states: "Slavists should be protesting[Lukashenka's
archaic power-politics], in the name of human rights and intellectual
freedom".

(2)
Georges Adassovsky <gadassov at csi.com> wrote:
>Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian languages come from a common root, but the
>fact is that Russian has the richest literature.

The second part of this statement is an opinion, not a fact.  Assuming that
you have a good command of all three languages and have read everything
within each of the three literary systems, you have a right to your
opinion.  For my part, I would not make such a generalization.  Firstly,
because I have not read nineteenth- and twentieth-century Belarusian
literature.

 As a specialist of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, I can state
that I find Belarusian and Ukrainian literatures -- or, if you prefer, the
Ruthenian system -- fascinating, even exhilarating. This, despite the fact,
that it differs greatly from Spanish literature of the Golden Age.

Leaving aside the bilingualism of Ukrainian literature in the ninetennth
century, when I compare the Ukrainian and Russian systems of this period, I
concur that the literature "written in Russian" is richer.  But, this is
only one century out of ten...

 I could not make the claim that twentieth-century Russian literature is
richer.  In some respects, I find contemporary Ukrainian literature more
rewarding simply because it places greater emphasis on style and story
rather than endless philosophizing.  But, once again, this is a matter of
personal taste.

(3) In 1992, the journal *Canadian Slavonic Papers* initiated a discussion
devoted to Russocentrism in the Slavic field.  I draw the attention of
fellow SEELANGERS to the following articles:

(a) Oleh S. Ilnytzkyj, "Russian and Ukrainian Studies and the New World Order,"
CSP Vol. xxxiv. no. 4. dec 1992, p. 445
(b) Horace G. Lunt, "Notes on Nationalist Attitudes in Slavic Studies," CSP
Vol.
xxxiv. no. 4. dec 1992, p. 459.
(c) Mikhail V. Dmitriev, "Ukraine and Russia," CSP Vol. xxxv, Nos. 1-2,
March-June 1993.
(d) Serhii M. Plokhy, "Ukraine and Russia in their Historical Encounter," Vol.
xxv, Nos. 3-4 Sept-Dec. 1993, p. 335.
(e) Dmitri D. Kozikis and David R. Marples," Impartiality: The Belarusian
context," CSP , Vol xxxvi, Nos. 3-4, Sept.-Dec, 1994, p. 467

*Canadian Slavonic Papers* welcomes your contribution to this ongoing
conversation.  Please join us.

¡Bienvenidos!    Laskavo prosymo!

Natalia Pylypiuk


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Natalia Pylypiuk, Book Review Editor
Canadian Slavonic Papers,
Department of Modern Languages & Cultural Studies:
                                   Germanic, Romance and Slavic
200 Arts Building,  University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E6
Canada

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office phone & voice mail:     (403)  492 - 3498
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e-mail address:                       natalia.pylypiuk at ualberta.ca

www.ualberta.ca/~uklanlit/Homepage.html

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