Project description - The Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Making of Northern Russia

Researcher in Charge: Juhani Nuorluoto, PhD, Reader, Academy Research Fellow, Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, P.O. Box 24 (Unioninkatu 40B), FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, tel. +358 (0)9 191 22010, juhani.nuorluoto(at)helsinki.fi, http://www.helsinki.fi/hum/slav/nwrussia/

Background

It is obvious that Russia has not become overnight what it is today. The modern complicated ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and social structures have been formed over centuries -  if not millennia. An overall investigation of Russia will, thus, largely profit when more credit is given to historical research which, in turn, requires a considerable input by scholars devoted to fundamental research. The research presented below is by definition diachronic, consisting of synchronic cross-cuts across the history of Northern Russia.

The ethnic and linguistic situation of the Northern and, in particular, the Northwestern part of Russia was stabilised not earlier than at the beginning of the Middle Ages when the area was largely Slavicised. By that time, i.e. prior to the arrival of the Slavs, not only was the northern periphery of what nowadays constitutes Russia inhabited by Finno-Ugrian and Baltic peoples, but also a considerable part of central Russia was in the domain of peoples other than Slavs. Simultaneously with the arrival of the Slavs, or shortly after it, another interesting ethnic component entered the history of Russia - the Scandinavian Varangians (or Vikings). They set up trade colonies, some of which, notably Kiev and Novgorod, later became the most significant early state formations of Russia. In the history of Northern Russia, Novgorod (also referred to as «Lord Novgorod the Great») undoubtedly possesses a central status.

The participants in the project (cf. below) aim to shed light on various aspects of the ethnic and linguistic history of the area in question, being, thus, part of a more extensive international network of scholars conducting research into Northern Russia within their related fields. The individual contributions of the project participants will address questions such as the problems of the type, volume and extension of the settlement history of Finno-Ugrian peoples (particularly Finnic) in Northern Russia, questions closely related to those dealt with in the symposia held in Finland over the past few decades. But it is not only the settlement history of Finno-Ugrian peoples that needs a more extensive study; the settlement history of the Slavs and the East Slavonic linguistic type also require additional research. Moreover, the «Varangian question», i.e. the complex of problems related to the history of early city-states (particularly Kiev and Novgorod), which during the last few decades triggered a heated discussion among Scandinavian and Russian (Soviet) scholars, should be revisited.

Objectives

An investigation of the ethnic and linguistic character of Northern Russia requires a multidisciplinary approach. The present project has been constructed to meet this requirement by including linguists (Slavists, Finno-Ugrists, a Balticist and a Scandinavicist) and historians, notably archaeologists. Although the project focuses on the ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity of Northwestern Russia, the research will be extended to cover certain aspects of the settlement history of more central parts of Russia, too. The general objectives of the research are

• to examine the linguistic situation of Northern Russia, including the diffusion of languages and their underlying cultures from prehistorical times up to the present-day;
• to investigate mechanisms and dynamics of Slavicisation and the settlement history of the Slavs, to clarify the nature and type of cultural intercourse between «indigenous» peoples and the Slavs, and to examine the impact of languages on a mutual basis; 
• to carry out research into social structures of the early city-states, notably Novgorod and other northern towns such as Pskov, Staraja Ladoga, and Staraja Russa, considering their ethnic, cultural and linguistic situation.

The research will be focused on scholarly questions among which, e.g. the following could be mentioned: a) Opinions on the cultural superiority of the Slavs as an explanation model for their relatively rapid expansion; b) the «Varangian question», i.e. the role played by the Scandinavians in setting up early city-states of Rus' and the role played by the Scandinavian nobility within the emerging early social structures; c) the question of the early democracy of Novgorod and consequences of its decline due to the introduction of Muscovite autocracy; d) the linguistic type of early Northwestern Russia within a broader Slavonic linguistic continuum (whether of Pomeranian or East Slavonic type); e) the type and extent of Finno-Ugrian (and Baltic) substratum in Russian (literary language, dialects, toponymy, anthroponymy, etc.).

Although the project is multidisciplinary, each field will primarily use its own established methods. However, the purpose of multidisciplinarity is to enable scholars to learn about the results of adjacent disciplines and, thus, to contribute to an enrichment of field-internal results. Maximally up-to-date information about ongoing research by the project participants will be available on the website (under construction) and the e-mail list of the project. Additionally, the planned colloquia and symposia will serve this purpose.

Although the project bears a diachronic character, considering several historical cross-sections of the ethnic, cultural and linguistic history of Northern Russia, a significant part of the research is based on the present-day data. To illustrate this circumstance, the settlement history of Russia and the subsequent language change of the indigenous population can only be investigated on the basis of existing onomastic material and the contemporary Russian language, notably dialects. Moreover, there appears to be a certain degree of necessity to address the questions related to the mechanisms of settlement history.

To be more precise, the following methods are typical of the individual research of the project participants: The ethnic and linguistic situation of Northern Russia is largely based on research into onomastic material (place-names, proper names), linguistic substrata (Slavonic - non-Slavonic) and material culture (archaeological data). In shedding light on the extent and type of the Finno-Ugrian languages of the past (Meryan, Muroma), dialectological research into Russian dialects appears to be the most suitable method. The study of the mechanisms and dynamics of Slavicisation will predominantly be based on achaeological evidence, onomastic material, historical linguistics, contact linguistics and sociolinguistics. Methods of historical sciences (e.g. prosopography) are applicable, primarily, in examining social structures of the early emerging societies.

A very special source of information in the historical research into Northern Russia consists of the (predominantly Novgorodian) birch bark documents which offer an abundance of material for linguists, historians, social scientists etc. Thus, the inclusion of the most renowned Russian berestologi (investigators of birch bark documents) in the project will enable the other participants to have direct and first-hand access to this unique type of material.

Participants

The project has been constructed hierarchically, the participants being classified into three groups according to their degree of commitment: a) the core group consists of domestic scholars who will receive primary funding within the project budget; b) the second group includes foreign scholars, whose presence in the project is necessary due to the significance of their contribution to the overall success of the research, and who will be adequately funded from the project budget; c) the third group consists of renowned foreign partners who will receive moderate funding (travel, subsistence etc.) from the project budget.

The project participants (with a short description of their respective research objectives) are:

Domestic Scholars (in alphabetical order -  e-mail addresses included for contact)

• Ph.Lic., postgraduate student Arja Ahlqvist (Department of Finno-Ugrian Studies, University of Helsinki; arja.ahlqvist(at)helsinki.fi) is doing research into the linguistic substratum and cultural heritage of the historical Meryan language area by investigating onomastic material and vocabulary of Finno-Ugrian origin in the corresponding Russian dialects. Her study is a significant contribution to the clarification of the extent and borders of this extinct Finno-Ugrian language and it should be noted that there is no other way to track the historical borders of this language but to investigate its impact on Russian dialects and toponymy. The English title of her research is The Linguistic Substratum of the Historical Meryan Language Area.
• Ph.Lic. Christian Carpelan (Department of Cultural Studies, University of Helsinki; christian.carpelan(at)kolumbus.fi) is a renowned Finnish archaeologist whose work on Finnish antiquities has been widely acknowledged in scholarship. His contribution on the prehistoric background of what is now Slavonic Northern Russia will shed light on the cultural situation in the area prior to its Slavicisation. The point Carpelan will make is that scholarship should not only focus on the role played by the Varangians and the Slavs in the ethnic and cultural making of present-day Northern Russia, but it should also take into account the ethnic composition of the area prior to Slavicisation. The title of his research is Prehistoric Background of Slavonic Northern Russia.
• Kand.filol.nauk, postgraduate student Mihail Kopotev (Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, University of Helsinki; mihail.kopotev(at)helsinki.fi) will, in his research, focus on contact linguistics, aiming at finding out how certain syntactic phenomena, identical in Russian and Finnic languages, relate to each other and how they have emerged. The emphasis of his research is on constructions in which the predicate is omitted in both types of languages. The English title of his research is The Syntactic Phraseology of (Old) Russian.
• Ph.D., reader, academy research fellow, researcher in charge Juhani Nuorluoto (Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, University of  Helsinki; juhani.nuorluoto(at)helsinki.fi) is dealing with the linguistic making of the northwestern dialects of Russian and their relation to the broader Slavonic language continuum. The focus of Nuorluoto's research is on historical phonology. The titles of his research are Studies in East Slavonic Historical Phonology and The Position of Old Russian Northwestern Dialects in the Slavonic Dialect Continuum.
• Ph.D. (in spe) Janne Saarikivi (Department of Finno-Ugrian Studies, University of Helsinki; janne.saarikivi(at)helsinki.fi) will undertake research into the Finno-Ugrian substratal toponymy in the historical border zone between the Finnic, Sámi and Meryan language territories, and into the Finno-Ugrian substratum in Russian dialects. Saarikivi's work represents a continuation of his doctoral thesis (forthcoming) on the toponymy of the Dvina basin. The title of his research is The Finno-Ugrian Substratum Toponymy in the Historical Border Zone between Finnic, Samic and Meryan.
• MA, postgraduate student Merja Salo (Department of Finno-Ugrian Studies, University of Helsinki; merja.salo(at)helsinki.fi) will, within this project, investigate the development of reflexivity in Russian, focusing her attention on the possibility to view certain peculiarities (different from the Slavonic type) of this verbal category as having been enhanced by a Mordvin substratum. The title of her research is The Development of Reflexivity in Old Russian and Its Comparison to Finno-Ugrian Languages with an Emphasis on Mordvin.
• Ph.D. reader, curator Pirjo Uino (Department of Cultural Studies, University of Helsinki; pirjo.uino(at)nba.fi) is preparing a contribution to the ethnic and cultural relations between the Slavs and the Finnic population in the region of Lake Ladoga in the early Middle Ages, placing the emphasis of her study on the role of trading centres and their possible connections with the area populated by the Merya. The title of her research is Northwestern Russia / Karelia and Finland - Early Medieval Connections and Mutual Influence.
• MA, postgraduate student Jouni Vaahtera (Department of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, University of Helsinki; jouni.vaahtera(at)helsinki.fi) is preparing his PhD thesis on the Russian dialects around the city of Vologda, focusing on the dynamics of change. His study is a valuable contribution to Russian dialectology - a field that has been incompletely investigated up to now. The English title of his research is The Development of Stressed and Pre-Stressed Vocalism in One Dialect of the Vologda Group.

Foreign Scholars (to be partially funded)

• Prof. Laimute Balode (Institute for Latvian Language, University of Latvia, Riga) will study onomastic records (considering both toponyms and anthroponyms) of the ancient Pskov-Novgorod area, comparing the material with the existing onomastic data from the Baltic region proper, in order to find out the extention of the historical Baltic area.
• Kand.filol.nauk Aleksej B. Gippius (Institute for Slavonic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) and, especially, academician Andrej A. Zaliznjak, have conducted extensive research into the Old Russian birch bark documents. Zaliznjak has been active in the field of berestology from the very beginning of the corresponding excavations. Both scholars will continue doing their basic research, publishing new finds from ongoing excavations, and providing them with interpretations and commentaries. They also carry out individual research into topics such as historical linguistics and various questions of historical sciences.
• Prof. Vadim B. Krys'ko (Institute for Russian Language, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), a renowned specialist in Old Russian, is currently working on questions connected to Old Russian manuscripts from the Novgorod-Pskov region, trying to identify in them phenomena that would reveal the nature and origin of the ancient dialects of that region. The English title of his research is Russian Church Slavonic Manuscripts of the 11th-14th Century as a Source of the History of the Ancient Novgorod-Pskov Dialect.
• Prof. Nikolaj N. Makarov (Director of the Institute for Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), a leading scholar in Northern Russian issues, is tracking the nature of inter-ethnic contacts in the Vologda and Vaga regions from the 10th up to the 13th century. The English title of his research is Cultural Identity of the Human Groups in Northern Rus' Peripheral Areas 900-1200 AD.
• Prof. Irma Mullonen (Director of the Institute for Language, Literature and History, Karelian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk) is a specialist in Finnic' East Slavonic contacts with an emphasis on the Karelian region. Her research focuses on the toponymy of the Lake Onego area. The English title of her research is Baltic-Finnish-Russian Contacts in the Place Names of the Lake Onego Area (Obonez'e).
• Mag.phil. Alexander Sitzmann (Department of Germanic Studies, University of Vienna) is a younger scholar who recently published a monograph on the Scandinavian names of Kievan Rus'. Now, he will extend his research to cover proper names from the northern part of Russia (in particular in the birch bark material), focusing his attention on the socio-political contexts in which the names of Scandinavian origin appear. 
• Dr. Andres Tvauri (Department of Archaeology, University of Tartu) represents the younger generation of Estonian archaeologists. His contribution aims at revising the dogmatic nature of Russian and Soviet scholarship in the field of archaeology. He will pursue a critical approach regarding the opinions on the Slavicisation of Northwestern Russia. The English title of his research is The Slavicisation of Northwestern Russia in the Light of Archaeological Sources (700-1917).

Partners

• Prof. Jan Ivar Bjørnflaten (Department of East European and Oriental Studies, University of Oslo) is known for his critical opinions on certain views concerning the original Northwestern Russian dialects of the Pskov area. He will continue his research into similar issues.
• Prof. Jos Schaeken (Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Leiden) is currently active in publishing and digitalizing the birch bark material (together with Russian berestologists). 
• Dr. Willem Vermeer (Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Leiden) is one of the leading historical phonologists in the field of Slavonic studies. He is currently working on the phonology of the Old Russian birch bark material.
• For academician Andrej A. Zaliznjak (Institute for Slavonic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), cf. Gippius above.

The above-described work by individual researchers yields a mutually profitable synergy of linguists and historians (notably archaeologists) which can, in regard to the objectives of the project, be summarised as follows:

• Settlement history of Northern Russia: Ahlqvist (historical Meryan territory), Balode (settlement history of the Balts), Bjørnflaten (settlement history of the Pskov area), Carpelan (pre-Slavonic ethno-cultural situation), Makarov (Finno-Ugrian-Slavonic contacts in the Vologda region), Mullonen (Finnic settlements in the Onego region), Nuorluoto (settlement history of the Slavs), Saarikivi (Finno-Ugrian-Slavonic-Baltic toponymy, substratal dialectology), Sitzmann (settlement history of the Scandinavians), Tvauri (Slavonic settlement history in NW Russia revisited), Uino (Finnic-Slavonic contacts in the Ladoga region), Vermeer (settlement history of the Northwestern Slavs);
• Substratum studies: Ahlqvist (Meryan-Russian), Mullonen (Finnic-East Slavonic), Saarikivi (Finno-Ugrian-Baltic-East Slavonic);
• Contact linguistics: Kopotev (Russian-Finnish, Old Russian-Finnic), Salo (East Slavonic-Mordvin);
• Development of the East Slavonic linguistic type: Bjørnflaten (NW Russian dialects), Kopotev (Russian grammatical structure), Krys'ko (NW Russian dialects), Nuorluoto (East Slavonic historical phonology), Salo (East Slavonic grammatical structure), Vaahtera (Vologda dialects), Vermeer (East Slavonic historical phonology), Zaliznjak (East Slavonic linguistic type);
• Berestology (birch bark documents, history and society of Novgorod and other Northern Russian cities): Bjørnflaten (language), Gippius (prosopography, publishing material), Kopotev (grammar), Krys'ko (language), Nuorluoto (language), Salo (grammar), Schaeken (publishing material, linguistic research), Sitzmann (Scandinavians), Vermeer (language), Zaliznjak (overall).

The project has certain connections to other similar or related scholarly undertakings in the respective fields. Thus, the researcher in charge of the present project (Nuorluoto) is involved as a partner in the project Birchbark Literacy from Medieval Rus: Contents and Contexts, coordinated by J. Schaeken and funded by INTAS. In addition to the above-mentioned A. Gippius, W. Vermeer and A. Zaliznjak, this INTAS project includes the absolute cream of Russian scholars in the fields of linguistics and historical sciences. This network of scholars (berestologi) will significantly enhance cooperation between the scholars in the two projects.

J. Bjørnflaten and J. Nuorluoto have agreed to set up a Nordic network of linguists dealing with Russian historical grammar and to organise conferences with support from Nordic science funding bodies.