the Russian gaze

[John Dunn]

Peter Morley may be right, or the spellings may have been copied from pre-existing documents.  In any event, whatever the players may think (and I doubt if many of them care) it is clearly not an issue for the Ukrainian Football Association.  There are, however, two points.  The first is that, as previous correspondence on this list has shown, the transliteration of Ukrainian names has become a sensitive issue in some quarters, and in this context the apparent indifference of the Ukrainian FA is in itself worthy of note.  The second is that to a Slavonic Philologist who is of a more than usually pedantic disposition and whose duties (at least until midnight tonight) include initiating students into the mysteries of transliteration these questions are of a passing interest, though I am struck less by the mixture of languages itself than by the variations and inconsistencies within that mixture.  Anyway the BBC TV commentator for tonight's game used Husev and Husin throughout.

John Dunn. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Morley <pete.morley at GMAIL.COM>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:37:48 +0400
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] the Russian gaze

With regard to the Ukrainian spellings, could it simply be the case that the
players themselves were asked how they wanted their names rendered on the
shirts? In any case, while purists and probably Viktor Yushchenko would like
all names to be Ukrainianised and consistent, the national team reflects the
current reality, namely that some speak Ukrainian and some Russian as their
first language. To me, the mix of transliterations is therefore a non-issue.


John Dunn
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow
Hetheringon Building
Bute Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RS
U.K.

Tel.: +44 (0)141 330 5591
Fax: +44 (0)141 330 2297
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk

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