Union of Writers

Fri Mar 7 15:24:39 UTC 2014

As well as following the events from a political perspective - and I won't air any of the somewhat confused opinions I have - as a linguist, I am also very much aware of the dispute on that specific front.  There was of course the obvious attempt to repeal the 2012 law granting equal linguistic rights to minorities where they make up more than 10% of the population.  However on a micro scale there is also the battle of the prepositions within the Russian language.  
I am obsessively scouring each news article and listening carefully to TV and radio broadcasts to see on which side of the в/на faultline people stand.  The two open letters posted are very much indicative of probably what we all suspect.  The letter from the Union of Writers posted by Sarah uses на with Ukraine and the second letter from Gasan from the academics uses в.  Pravda categorically opts for на.  Interestingly, while watching the interview on TV dozhd with Andrei Zubov, the academic who almost lost his job speaking out in favour of Ukraine, I noticed that Makeeva chose в whereas Zubov used  на which I found surprising due to his political leanings. Dr Komarovskii mentions this in his address to the parents of Russia.
http://video.komarovskiy.net/obrashhenie-k-roditelyam-rossii.html
(somewhere between 6 minutes 35 secs and 6.42).  Even Obama has been drawn into the debate.  He was admonished by a former ambassador to Ukraine for referring to 'the Ukraine'.

In light of the chaos and suffering experienced in recent weeks, I realise that this may seem rather trivial.  But I do feel, that it is, nevertheless another battlefield.

Anne Marie

Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 15:47:20 +0200
From: djagalov at SAS.UPENN.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Union of Writers
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU

    Thank you for your corrective, Gasan
      Chinghizovich.

      To second it, the Union of Writers of Russia (http://sp.voskres.ru),
      which has issued this statement,

      is one of several such writers' unions and occupies the
      "patriotic" part of the spectrum.

      It should not be confused with contemporary Russian literature.

      With the best of wishes,

      Rossen

      On 07.03.2014 14:56, Gasan Gusejnov wrote:

      Thanks for your opinion, Françoise
          Rosset,

        however
            I am not sure you have ever read or heard at least two or
            three names of these writers who use words.

        For
            the sake of balance, here is another relevant paper, the
            protest against Putin's military and propaganda pressure on
            Ukraine, signed by many scholars:
        http://polit.ru/news/2014/03/04/letter/

        Best
        gg

          2014-03-07 10:51 GMT+01:00 Francoise Rosset <frosset at wheatonma.edu>:

                Thank you Sarah, that IS important information.

                And it is relevant to this list because those are
                writers who wrote this letter, people whose medium is
                language and the word.

              -FR

                        On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at
                          3:27 PM, Sarah Hurst <sarahnhurst at gmail.com>
                          wrote:

                            Dear SEELANGers, 

                              I am not posting this to try and be
                                political, but for information. I think
                                it is relevant to know that the Russian
                                Union of Writers has written to
                                President Putin in support of his
                                actions in Crimea. Here is the link:

                              http://www.ridus.ru/news/155950

                                  Sarah Hurst

                        -- 

                      Françoise Rosset

                        Chair, Russian and Russian Studies

                        Wheaton College, Norton MA 02766

                        Spring 2014: Resident Director of
                        Wheaton-in-Bhutan program, Thimphu, Bhutan

                        phone # in Bhutan: +975 1750
                          0593

                        frosset at wheatonma.edu

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