Paper Short Abstract:

This paper examines the digitisation of Ukrainian folk song collections, focusing on a digital corpus of the Podillia region and Ukrainian dumas created during the project “Traditional Estonian and Ukrainian Folksongs: Comparative Corpus-Based Computational Analysis.” It explores the collections of Yavdokha Zuikha (compiled by Hnat Tantsiura), Nastia Prysiazhniuk, and two editions of dumas by Kateryna Hrushevska. The study highlights the networks of collectors and performers, the influence of compilers on published texts, and the challenges of preserving these materials under political and historical constraints.

Paper Abstract:

The digitisation of folklore collections offers unparalleled opportunities to explore the provenance, composition, and influence of cultural materials. This paper focuses on a digital corpus of the Podillia region and extending it with Ukrainian folk dumas. The corpus was created as part of the project “Traditional Estonian and Ukrainian Folksongs: Comparative Corpus-Based Computational Analysis.” It specifically examines the folk song collections of Yavdokha Zuikha, collected by Hnat Tantsiura (Dei 1965); Nastia Prysiazhniuk (Myshanych 1976); and two editions of Ukrainian dumas by Kateryna Hrushevska (1927; 1931).

Through an investigation of these sources, the paper investigates the networks of collectors and performers, the circulation and variation of song texts, and the impact of compilers on the final published versions. Special attention is given to the contributions of Kateryna Hrushevska, whose vision for a comprehensive six-volume edition of Ukrainian dumas resulted in the publication of only two volumes due to political and historical challenges. The second volume, published in the 1930s, faced near-total destruction, and by the 1950s and 1960s, was considered almost entirely lost to scholarly work (Polonska-Vasylenko 1962: 77). This study examines the historical conditions surrounding these publications and their subsequent preservation challenges.

The paper also explores the collectors’ approach to collecting, organising, and analysing folk songs, highlighting how her editorial decisions, orthographic norms, and analytical framework influenced the written representation of oral traditions. It considers the broader implications of these editorial practices for understanding the authenticity and transmission of Ukrainian folklore.