The Quasquicentennial of the Finno-Ugrian Society SUOMALAIS-UGRILAISEN SEURAN TOIMITUKSIA MÉMOIRES DE LA SOCIÉTÉ FINNO-OUGRIENNE * 258 * The Quasquicentennial of the Finno-Ugrian Society Edited by Jussi Ylikoski SOCIÉTÉ FINNO-OUGRIENNE HELSINKI 2009 The Quasquicentennial of the Finno-Ugrian Society Edited by Jussi Ylikoski Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 258 Layout Anna Kurvinen Photograph on page 8: Finno-Ugrian Society Photograph on page 264 by Anna Kurvinen Copyright © 2009 Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura — Société Finno-Ougrienne — Finno-Ugrian Society & the authors Orders — Tilaukset Tiedekirja Kirkkokatu 14 FI-00170 Helsinki http://www.tiedekirja.fi [email protected] FAX +358 9 635 017 ISBN 978-952-5667-11-0 (print) ISBN 978-952-5667-12-7 (online) ISSN 0355-0230 Vammalan Kirjapaino Oy Sastamala 2009 Contents Preface 7 Márta Csepregi The very highly connected nodes in the Ob-Ugrian networks 9 M.M.Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest Typological evolution of Northern Sami: spatial cognition and Information Structuring 33 Juha Janhunen Proto-Uralic—what, where, and when? 57 Johanna Laakso Networks of Finno-Ugric studies 79 Karl Pajusalu The reforming of the Southern Finnic language area 95 Janne Saarikivi Itämerensuomalais-slaavilaisten kontaktien tutkimuksen nykytilasta 109 Anneli Sarhimaa Social Network Theory as a framework for studying minor Finnic languages with special reference to Karelian 161 Цыпанов Йöлгинь Перым кывъяслöн талунъя серпас 191 Jölgin (Jevgeni) Tsypanov Permiläisten kielten nykytila 207 Timo Salminen In between research, the ideology of ethnic affinity and foreign policy: The Finno-Ugrian Society and Russia from the 1880s to the 1940s 225 Seppo Suhonen Keitä olivat Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran perustajat? 263 Preface The Finno-Ugrian Society (Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura), founded in 1883 and thus one of the oldest and largest learned societies in Finland, celebrated its 125th anniversary or quasquicentennial in 2008. Ever since its establishment, the Society has striven to advance research into the Uralic and so-called Altaic languages, the ethnography of their speakers, and the historical and pre-histori- cal past of speakers of these languages. The main events of the jubilee year took place on November 15th, the day of the founding of the Society, and on Decem- ber 2nd, the traditional day of the Annual General Meeting of the Society. This volume contains ten papers, eight of which were presented at the quasquicentennial symposium “Suomalais-ugrilaisen kieliyhteisön verkosto” (‘The network of the Finno-Ugric language community’) held in the Small Hall of the University of Helsinki on December 2nd, 2008. In accordance with the title of the symposium, many of the papers present various aspects on the mul- tifaceted networks observable in Uralic research. This is made most explicit by Johanna Laakso in her observations on the sociology and history of network- ing within Uralistics in general, by Márta Csepregi in her review of the his- tory and the sociolinguistic subject matter of Ob-Ugric studies, as well as by Anneli Sarhimaa in her paper on the prospects for Finnic, especially Karelian, sociolinguistics. Other branches of the Uralic language family and their study are repre- sented by Karl Pajusalu’s and Yölgin' (Yevgeniy) Tsypanov’s up-to-date over- views of the contemporary situation and the recent history of the Southern Finnic and Permic languages. More detailed perspectives on the ever-growing number of sub-disciplines in Uralic studies are provided by M.M.Jocelyne Fernandez- Vest’s paper on the change of information structuring in North Saami, one of the many Uralic languages that are gradually replacing their primarily oral features with those more typical of languages with established literary traditions. On the other hand, some of the more traditional issues in historical linguistics are considered by Juha Janhunen in his endeavour to determine the date and loca- tion of the Uralic proto-language on the Eurasian linguistic map, as well as by Janne Saarikivi in his etymology-centred survey of contacts between Finnic and Slavic. The eight symposium papers—mainly representing the contemporary ac- tivities of present-day Finno-Ugrian Society—are complemented by two sur- veys of the history of the Society. Timo Salminen’s article on the history and role of the Finno-Ugrian Society in relation to Russia is based on a paper pre- sented at the Finno-Ugrian Society on November 21st, 2008, as well as his recent history of the Society. Finally, the volume ends with the speech delivered by 8 PREFACE Seppo Suhonen at the quasquicentennial banquet of the Finno-Ugrian Society on December 2nd, 2008, which depicts the 113 founders of the Society with an emphasis on their diverse roles in the academic, administrative and commercial life of Finnish society at that time. It is also worthy of note that, in common with the long tradition of pub- lishing translated samples of all languages that are within the sphere of inter- est of the Finno-Ugrian Society, the present volume also offers students and re searchers of Komi and Finnish the possibility of thus utilising the parallel texts of Yölgin' Tsypanov’s paper published both in the original Komi and as a Finnish translation. The editor hopes that this book will provide representative glimpses of the vast and variegated field of Uralistics as practiced on the verge of the sixth quarter-century of the Finno-Ugrian Society. Helsinki June 2009 Jussi Ylikoski At the quasquicentennial banquet on December 2nd, 2008. From left to right: Professor Seppo Suhonen (President of the Finno-Ugrian Society 1991–2000), Professor Riho Grünthal (Second Vice President 2006–), Professor Ulla-Maija Kulonen (President 2001–), Professor Alho Alho- niemi (First Vice President 1981–1999) and Professor Sirkka Saarinen (First Vice President 2001–). Márta CSEPREGI (Budapest) The very highly connected nodes in the Ob-Ugrian networks 1. Introduction Physicist Albert-László Barabási who was born in Transylvania and educated in Hungary now works in New York. In 2002 he published a book entitled Linked (Barabási 2002a) which has since been reprinted in English several times. Up to the present (2008) this book has been translated into thirteen languages, in- cluding Finnish and Hungarian (Barabási 2002b and 2008, respectively). While studying computer networks, Barabási and his colleagues accidentally discov- ered that natural and social networks do not behave in the same way as net- works in mathematics. While connections between nodes in the latter emerge randomly, the stronger nodes of natural and social networks by virtue of having more connections are capable of better facilitating connections. Like the World Wide Web almost all complex networks of the most varying types of systems from biochemical processes to social relations behave in this way. The results of Barabási’s research re-established the study of networks through which the concept of the “very highly connected node” has become widely accepted. More- over, the title of this paper, which reflects my aims, has been taken from his re- search: to draw a picture of the multifarious, multi-dimensional and interrelated connections between both the Ob-Ugrian peoples and the investigation of these along the axes of time and space. According to Barabási the fewer the connections between individual mem- bers of networks, the more vulnerable the networks in question are. The lesson from the 150-year-old history of Ob-Ugrian studies is that international research has played a crucial role in the survival of the Khanty and Mansi peoples. Al- though it is self-evident that there is a great need for improving the internal relations between the Khanty and Mansi communities themselves, there is also an equally great need for strengthening ties between native speakers and foreign students and researchers of these languages and cultures. The influence of an outside internationally known charismatic personality or a vigorous student may have lasting consequences, sometimes for decades, with regard to the revival and strengthening of a given community. The Quasquicentennial of the Finno-Ugrian Society. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia = Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 258. Helsinki 2009. 9–32. 10 MÁRTA CSEPREGI The narrow framework of this paper does not allow me to offer a full de- scription of Ob-Ugrian studies. Instead, I would like my paper to be considered only as a case study: by presenting one characteristic or another aiming at the very highly connected nodes in an intricate network, I would like to relate the history of the study of the Ob-Ugrian peoples and languages, as well as provide a description of their present state. Among these nodes there are institutions, individuals (native and foreign) and also publications. 2. Societies, schools and workshops for scholarly studies 2.1. The Finno-Ugrian Society First I would like to mention the 125-year-old Finno-Ugrian Society whose field of study goes far beyond the Ob-Ugrian linguistic area. Aided by the financial support of this Society two scholars, Kustaa Fredrik Karjalainen and Artturi Kannisto, resided in the Ob region for several years, living with these people while recording and collecting a large amount of lexical and grammatical data, texts and folklore material. K. F. Karjalainen spent four years (1898–1902) among the Khantys, whereas A. Kannisto travelled all over the land of the Mansis sur- veying every single dialect of this language on an expedition that lasted five years (1901–1906). About the same time (1898–1900) U. T. Sirelius made a trip along the River Ob engaging in ethnographical research. The research work con- ducted by these scholars was closely connected to the studies of the true pioneers of this profession, their predecessors, M. A. Castrén and August Ahlqvist and their contemporaries. Meanwhile, in 1900–1901 Heikki Paasonen also spent ten months among the Khantys of Konda and Surgut thanks to a scholarship from the University of Helsinki.