The Language of Slovakia's Rusyns by Juraj Vaňko (review)

Abstract

Reviews Vafiko,Juraj. TheLanguage of Slovakia's Rusyns.East European Monographs, I 39. Columbia University Press,New York,2000. XiX + I 2 I pp. $35.00: /J22.00. AT a time when many minor and some majorlanguagesarewiltingunderthe global dominance of English, it is heartening to discover a new literary medium emerging, not from the Australian outback nor the jungles of Amazonia, but fromEast Slavonicdialectsof newly independent Slovakia. Juraj Vafiko,author of this study, published simultaneouslyin Englishand Slovak, has worked in various universities,including the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University of London, where the workwas conceived and elaborated, to be completed at the author's true base, the University of Constantine the Philosopher in Nitra, where his effortssurely have the blessingand approvalof itspatron. The studyisin fourparts:the Rusynlanguage and the National Awakening, comprising a history of the Rusyn language in Slovakia and information on previous research; a historical and comparative perspective of the Rusyn dialects, noting features specific to Ukrainian; a comparison of the Rusyn language with Ukrainian, concentrating on phonological and morphological features with special attention to noun morphology; specific features of the Rusyn language in phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax.In reviewing the place of Rusyn in the traditionaltripartitedivision of the Slavonic dialects into West, East and South Slavonic, Vanko asserts the weakness of such analyses, based mainly on phonological and partly morphological features, and declares his intention of breakingthese bounds and bringing syntax and vocabularyinto play. Vafiko'sexpresspurpose is to produce a syntheticstudyof the presentstate of the Rusyn language and the Rusyn dialects of eastern Slovakia, paying particular attention to relationships with Ukrainian and Slovak. He begins with a surveyof the main phonological phenomena which determinethe East Slavonic character of Rusyn. Here zylka(spoon) is a puzzling example of the tlit formula;an explanationof the lost initialconsonantwould be welcome, as formssuch as Slovene zlzcaare surelythe resultof secondarymetathesis.The jers are here (p. I8) tagged ultra-short vowels but elsewhere semivowels (p. 22), or simply Old Church Slavonic 'x', 'b' (p. 2I); no doubt this is the resultof excessive loyaltyto the scholarswhose statementshe is quotingbut it might be preferable to impose some editorial discipline. The Serbo-Croat reflexes of CS 'tj', 'dj' should be given as 'c, 'd', not 'c', 'dz'. Common Slavonic, or Proto-Slavic, to use Vafnko'sterm, is presented in the Latin alphabet; the intrusion of Cyrillicjey / 'bI' / leads to confusion where the sources of Ukrainian 'y' are given as 'y' and 'hI', instead of 'i' and 'y' (p. 22). This is correctedin the author'ssummingup (p. 23). In his analysis of phonological and morphological features shared with standardUkrainian,Vafikocarefullydistinguishesthose specificto Rusyn and Ukrainian alone from those also found elsewhere. In discussingthe ending of REVIEWS 499 the masculine singular of the past tense, Vafiko contrasts the bilabial 'u' of Rusyn, Ukrainianand Belorussianwith Polish 'T', e.g. inpisal the differenceis orthographic,not phonetic; furthermore,the Macedonian equivalent for this morpheme is 1not vof the firstperson singularof the aoristformshere quoted, which derives from '-xb' (p. 28). The account of specificfeaturesof Rusyn is unusuallygenerousin the space allotted to vocabularyand syntax(thirteenand thirty-onepages againstthree and twelve forphonology and morphology respectively).Here vysol 'went out' should be removed from the list of reflexes of jer in verbal prefixes (p. 40). Vanko treats the consonants 'z', 'C in the first person singular of CS velar stems, mou, pecu,as derived from 'gt" and 'kt",respectively, but these both produce 'c, as in the infinitives moc'i, peci;a more acceptable explanation is internalanalogywith palatalizedformsof the presenttense. Vafiko's survey of the lexicon considers the main historical strata and thematic groups, starting with Common Slavonic derivatives, which according to the author are remarkablywell preserved, and paying particularattention to the role of Slovak as source and channel of more recent elements. In the extended discussion of names for buckwheat and potatoes it is surprisingto findBranibor tagged as a 'German word', and not the Czech or Slavonic form of a German place-name (p. 59). The provision of Englishequivalentsfor all Rusyn words and phrases quoted in the book is particularlywelcome in this section, though it must have involved the author in much extra effort and exposed him to additional...