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- Convenors:
-
Jonathan Roper
(University of Tartu)
Anne Dykstra (Independent Researcher)
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- Formats:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Archives and Sources
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 22 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Helsinki
Short Abstract:
What links Grimm, Dahl and Alcover? Not only were they all folklorists, they were also all lexicographers. Linguistic documentation has strong connections with cultural documentation both historical and contemporary, and this session reflects on the pros and cons of lexica as ethnographic sources.
Long Abstract:
The role that lexicographic data can play as a supplement to other forms of ethnographic data is the focus of this session. In other words, we aim to 'break the rules' of dictionary usage by repurposing them as a source an ethnographic source. Such data can be found in in academy dictionaries, but it may also be found in vernacular dictionaries (running from the works of lone enthusiasts to collective crowdsourced projects, such as the Urban Dictionary), as well as in dictionaries that verge on becoming encyclopedias (and, indeed, Wiktionary and Wikipedia).
We welcome proposals that discuss both the methodological advantages and disadvantages of using such data. Thus, as well as discussions of specific dictionaries, we seek proposals that address broader questions about the reliability and usefulness of such data or which focus on precisely which aspects of culture it is that are the best (and the least) represented in such reference works. This panel also marks the publication of 'Dictionaries as a Source of Folklore Data' (FFC 321), a book that has its roots in panels held at SIEF Tartu 2013; papers that engage with themes in that book would be particularly welcome.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 22 June, 2021, -Paper short abstract:
Where do proverbs of the tales of László Arany (’Eredeti népmesék’ /Authentic Folktales’ 1862) come from? The presentation investigate the possibility of evaluating former proverb collections as sources of shaping the narrative style of folktales in 19th century Hungary.
Paper long abstract:
In 1862 a volume of tales and riddles was published under the title 'Eredeti népmesék' (’Authentic Folktales’) collected and edited by László Arany. This work has been classified as the first canonical folktale collection in Hungary regarding to the genuine ’folkish’ narrative style of the tales. The tale texts from this collection have become extremely popular in the past one and a half century thanks to the continuously republishing practice. The narrative style of Arany’s tales understood as simple and natural way of storytelling which has been accepted as the standard manner of narration of Hungarian oral tradition. Altough the tales of László Arany derived from Hungarian oral tradition he considerably reworked the texts as a collector and an editor, applying comprehensive stylistic modifications according to the tale-collecting and -publishing methodology of the era. The process of textual modification of 'Eredeti népmesék' formed by Arany can be explored by the help of comparison of the manuscripts with their published versions. One of the most remarkable characteristics of Arany’s textualization was incorporating the number of proverbs and proverbial expressions in the tales. But where do these phrases come from? Could have Hungarian proverb collections served as sources shaping the narrative style of published folktales? Or the vocabulary of proverbs and idioms appearing in Arany’s tales reflects the traditional oral narrative style? The presentation investigates the possible intertextual relationship between linguistic documentation (e. g. proverb collections) and folkloristic documentation (e. g. folk and fairytale collections) in 19th century Hungary.
Paper short abstract:
Local dictionaries from late nineteenth century England have been found to be repositories of folklore. But what about the regional dictionaries that were published in the very different social situation of the twentieth century? This paper investigates.
Paper long abstract:
Local dictionaries from late nineteenth century England have been shown to have been (amongst other things) rich repositories of folklore (e.g. Roper 2020). But does the same hold for regional dictionaries that were published in the century following the end of World War I? In this period, we face a different lexicographical landscape: there are fewer local dictionaries and the geographical area that they deal with is no longer always a county or a parish, but sometimes a region or a city. Such a focus reflects ongoing changes in society such as urbanization (and suburbanization) and industrialization (and postindustrialization). The folklore landscape also changed with some genres disappearing and others surging in popularity. Lastly, the landscape in linguistics had changed too, with a focus on lexis being supplemented by attention to phonology and discourse, and dialect glossaries losing prestige to broader surveys.
In this paper, a selection of regional dictionaries (the earliest from 1920, the latest from 2017) are examined. The data about vernacular culture they contain is assessed and comparisons are drawn with earlier dictionaries. Finally, the applicability of the generalizations it was possible to draw from the c19th material is tested on the works from this later period.
Paper short abstract:
Șăineanu contributed to Romanian lexicography and folklore with constitutive works. Combining the two disciplines, he improved the available dictionaries by including popular words and he innovated the existing tools for international folklore research, anticipating those of Aarne and Thompson.
Paper long abstract:
When Lazar Șăineanu (1859-1934) was active as a philologist and linguist in Romania, folklore was a central interest of many intellectuals and, due to long-standing historical and cultural reasons, it became a crucial factor in the formation of the modern Romanian language and literature.
From a linguistic standpoint, Șăineanu was the first to collect and classify Romanian popular words lacking from dictionaries of that time: autobiographic documentation shows that, in his influential Dicționar universal al limbii române [Universal Dictionary of the Romanian Language] (1896, 1995), he extracted lexicographic material from the transcriptions of folktales, which were published in large number in XIXth century.
Folktales became also the object of Șăineanu’s comparative study Basmele Române [Romanian Fairy-Tales] (1895, 1978), an encyclopaedic work consisting of the Romanian summaries of almost all the fairy tales published in Europe up until 1895, grouped by types. It also includes an Index of motifs which can be considered as an anticipation of Thompson’s: the examined data seem to suggest that Șăinanu’s experience as a lexicographer had an important role in its conception.
From a historical and literary perspective, this contribution focuses on Șăineanu’s approach and its cultural reasons, in order to illustrate how, breaking up with the conventions of his time, he employed ethnographic documentation as a source for his academic Dicționar; and how, in Basmele Române, he created a dictionary-like classification of folktales, which crossed the boundaries of the ethnocentrism hitherto dominant in the discipline, adopting for the first time an international attitude towards folklore.
Paper short abstract:
Marriage used to be for members of different sexes only. This makes marriage and everything associated with it a showcase for attitudes towards the relationship between men and women. I investigate how these views take shape in the Lexicon Frisicum (1872) and the Friesch Woordenboek (1900-1914).
Paper long abstract:
Marriage or (holy) matrimony is a form of living together regulated by civil and/or religious law that forms the foundation of most families and is important as a legal and socially accepted foundation under lasting sexual relations and family ties. Marriage is, in principle, for life. The form of marriage depends on the historical and cultural context, and is also related to the religious beliefs of the spouses.
For a long time, marriage was only allowed to be entered into by members of different sexes. This makes marriage and everything associated with it a showcase for attitudes towards the relationship between men and women.
In my paper I investigate how these attitudes take shape in the Lexicon Frisicum (1872) and its successor, the Friesch Woordenboek (1900-1914).