Slavic studies

Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist researching Slavistics. Increasingly, historians, social scientists, and other humanists who study Slavic cultures and societies have been included in this rubric.

In the United States, Slavic studies is dominated by Russian studies. Ewa Thompson, a professor of Slavic studies at Rice University, described the situation of non-Russian Slavic studies as "invisible and mute".^[1]

History

Slavistics emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, simultaneously with Romantic nationalism among various Slavic nations, and ideological attempts to establish a common sense of Slavic community, exemplified by the Pan-Slavist movement. Among the first scholars to use the term was Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829).

The history of Slavic studies can be divided into three periods. Until 1876 the early Slavists concentrated on documentation and printing of monuments of Slavic languages, among them the first texts written in national languages. At this time the majority of Slavic languages received their first modern dictionaries, grammars, and compendia. The second period, ending with World War I, featured the rapid development of Slavic philology and linguistics, most notably outside of Slavic countries themselves, in the circles formed around August Schleicher (1821–1868) and around August Leskien (1840–1916) at the University of Leipzig. At this time, Slavonic scholars focused on dialectology.

After World War II, centers of Slavic studies were created at various universities around the world, with much greater expansion into other humanities and social science disciplines. This development was partly due to political concerns in Western Europe and the North America arising from the Cold War. Slavic studies flourished in the years from World War II into the 1990s, though university enrollments in Slavic languages have declined since then.

Subfields

Following the traditional division of Slavs into three subgroups (eastern, southern, western), Slavic studies are divided into three distinct subfields:

East Slavic studies, encompassing the study of East Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
- Belarusian studies, or Belarusistics (Latin: Belarusistica);^[2]
- Russian studies, or Russistics (Latin: Russistica);
- Rusyn studies, or Rusynistics (Latin: Rusinistica);^[3]
- Ukrainian studies, or Ukrainistics (Latin: Ucrainistica);
South Slavic studies, encompassing the study of South Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
- Bosniac studies, or Bosniacistics (Latin: Bosniacistica);^[4]
- Bulgarian studies, or Bulgaristics (Latin: Bulgaristica);
- Croatian studies, or Croatistics (Latin: Croatistica);
- Macedonian studies, or Macedonistics (Latin: Macedonistica);
- Montenegrin studies, or Montenegristics (Latin: Montenegristica);
- Serbian studies, or Serbistics (Latin: Serbistica);
- Slovene Studies, or Slovenistics (Latin: Slovenistica);
- Yugoslav studies, or Yugoslavistics (Latin: Iugoslavistica);
West Slavic studies, encompassing the study of West Slavic peoples and their linguistic, literary, and other cultural and historical heritages.
- Czech studies, or Bohemistics (Latin: Bohemistica);
- Kashubian studies, or Kashubistics (Latin: Kashubistica);
- Polish studies, or Polonistics (Latin: Polonistica);
- Slovak studies, or Slovakistics (Latin: Slovacistica);
- Sorbian studies, or Sorbistics (Latin: Sorbistica).

Slavic countries and areas of interest

By country:
- Belarus: language, literature, culture, history
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: language, literature, culture, history
- Bulgaria: language, literature, culture, history
- Croatia: language, literature, culture, history
- Czech Republic: language, literature, culture, history
- North Macedonia: language, literature, culture, history
- Montenegro: language, literature, culture, history
- Poland: languages/dialects (Polish, Kashubian, Silesian), literature (Polish, Kashubian), culture, history
- Russia: language, literature, culture, history
- Serbia: language, literature, culture, history (national and ethnic)
- Slovakia: language, literature, culture, history
- Slovenia: language, literature, culture, history
- Ukraine: language, literature, culture, history
- Other languages: Serbo-Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Kashubian, Polabian, Rusyn, Old Church Slavonic

Notable people

Historical

Johann Christoph Jordan, the author of an early scholarly work in Slavic studies
Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829) from Bohemia
Jernej Kopitar (1780–1840) from Slovenia
Alexander Vostokov (1781–1864) from Russia
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787–1864) from Serbia
Pavel Jozef Šafárik (1795–1861) from Slovakia
Mykhaylo Maksymovych (1804–1873) from Ukraine
Izmail Sreznevsky (1812–1880) from Russia
Franz Miklosich (1813–1891) from Slovenia
Fyodor Buslaev (1818–1898) from Russia
August Schleicher (1821–1868) from Germany
Đuro Daničić (1825–1882) from Serbia
Anton Janežič (1828–1869) from Slovenia
Alexander Potebnja (1835–1891) from Ukraine
Vatroslav Jagić (1838–1923) from Croatia
August Leskien (1840–1916) from Germany
Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (1845–1929) from Poland
Filipp Fortunatov (1848–1914) from Russia
Aleksander Brückner (1856–1939) from eastern Galicia
Matija Murko (1861–1952) from Slovenia
Lyubomir Miletich (1863–1937) from Bulgaria/Macedonia
Aleksey Shakhmatov (1864–1920) from Russia
Antoine Meillet (1866–1936) from France]
Holger Pedersen (1867–1953) from Denmark
Mikhail Pokrovsky [ru] 1869–1942) from Russia
Josip Tominšek [sl] (1872–1954) from Slovenia
Krste Misirkov (1874–1926) from Macedonia/Bulgaria/Russia
Aleksandar Belić (1876–1960) from Serbia
André Mazon [fr] (1881–1967) from France
Max Vasmer (1886–1962) from Russia
André Vaillant (1890–1977) from France
Dmytro Chyzhevsky (1894–1977) from Ukraine
Roman Jakobson (1896–1982) from Russia
Josef Matl [de] (1897–1974) from Austria
Zdzisław Stieber (1903–1980) from Poland
Dmitry Likhachev (1906–1999) from Russia
George Shevelov (1908–2002) from Ukraine
Jaroslav Rudnyckyj (1910–1995) from eastern Galicia
Stoyko Stoykov (1912–1969) from Bulgaria
Horace G. Lunt (1918–2010) from the United States
Karel van het Reve (1921–1999) from the Netherlands
Blaže Koneski (1921–1993) from North Macedonia
Juri Lotman (1922–1993) from Soviet Union/Estonia
Henrik Birnbaum (1925–2002) from Poland/United States
Vladislav Illich-Svitych (1934–1966) from Russia
Thomas Schaub Noonan (1938–2001) from the United States
Wolfgang Kasack (1927–2003) from Germany
Isabel de Madariaga (1919–2014) from UK
John Simon Gabriel Simmons (1915–2005) from UK
Vladimir Dybo (1930–2023) from Russia
Pavle Ivić (1924–1999) from Serbia
Edward Stankiewicz (1920–2013) from Poland/United States
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky (1923–2011) Russian-American
Alexander M. Schenker (1924–2019) from the United States
Zoe Hauptová (1929–2012) from the Czech Republic
Andrey Zaliznyak (1935–2017) from Russia
Kenneth Naylor (1937–1992) from the United States
Zbigniew Gołąb (1923–1994) from Poland
Leszek Moszyński [pl] (1928–2006) from Poland
Boris Uspensky (1937–2005) from Russia
Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński (1891–1965) from Poland
Blaže Ristovski (1931–2018) from North Macedonia
Radoslav Katičić (1930–2019) from Croatia
Ivan Dorovský (1935–2021) from Czech Republic
Wiesław Boryś [pl] (1939–2021) from Poland
Šárka B. Hrbková (1878–1948) Czech-American slavologist
Charles E. Townsend (1932–2015) from the United States
Charles E. Gribble (1936–2016) from the United States

Contemporary

Irwin Weil (born 1928) from the United States
Zuzanna Topolińska (born 1931) from Poland
Hakan Kırımlı (born 1958) from Turkey
Stefan Brezinski (born 1932) from Bulgaria
Gerhard Simon (Slawist) [de] (born 1937) from Germany
Branko Mikasinovich (born 1938) from the United States
Mario Capaldo (born 1945) from Italy
Frederik Kortlandt (born 1946) from Netherlands
Gary Saul Morson (born 1948) from the United States
Victor Friedman (born 1949) from the United States
Christina Kramer (born c. 1950) from the United States
Ivo Pospíšil [cs] (born 1952) from the Czech Republic
Alexander F. Tsvirkun (born 1953) from Ukraine
Snježana Kordić (born 1964) from Croatia
Charles S. Kraszewski (born 1962) from the United States
Marek Jan Chodakiewicz (born 1962) from Poland and the United States
Alexandra Popoff (born 1959) from Russia
Catriona Kelly (born 1959) from UK
Aage A. Hansen-Löve [de] (born 1947) from Austria

Journals and book series

Archiv für slavische Philologie
Canadian Slavonic Papers, published by the Canadian Association of Slavists
The Russian Review
Sarmatian Review
Slavic and East European Journal, published by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Slavic Review, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics
The Slavonic and East European Review
Scando-Slavica
Wiener Slawistischer Almanach

Conferences

Institutes and schools

Academic

Institute for Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Institute of Slavonic Studies, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia

University

Institute of Western and Southern Slavic Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland
Institute of Slavonic Philology, Uniwersytet Śląski, Poland
Institute of Slavonic Studies, Jagiellonian University, Poland
Institute of Slavic Philology, University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poland
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Institute of Slavic Philology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland
Institute of Slavic Studies Archived 2022-03-22 at the Wayback Machine, Lviv University, Ukraine
Department of Slavonic Philology, University of Tartu, Estonia
Department of Slavic philology Archived 2016-05-03 at the Wayback Machine, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Department of Slavistics, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, United Kingdom
Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Chengchi University, Taiwan
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Yale University, United States
Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, United States
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Harvard University, United States
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Stanford University, United States
Slavic Department, Barnard College, United States
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Princeton, United States
Department of Slavic Studies, Brown University, United States
Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University, United States
Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+, University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, United States
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Washington, United States
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Virginia, United States
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Pittsburgh, United States
Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, University of Arizona, United States
Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, University of Texas at Austin, United States
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States
Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Duke University, United States
Department of Slavic Languages, Georgetown University, United States
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Southern California, United States
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, University of Toronto, Canada
Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, University of Victoria, Canada
Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, University of Waterloo, Canada
Department of Slavic Studies(Le département d’études slaves), Universite Paris 8, France
Institute for Slavistics, University of Vienna, Austria
Institute for Slavistics, University of Graz, Austria
Department of Slavic Studies, University of Salzburg, Austria
Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies, University of Delhi, India
Department of Slavic Studies, Comenius University, Slovakia
Department of Russian Language and Literature & Slavic Studies, University of Athens, Greece
Department of Slavistics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Maribor, Slovenia
Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Olomouc, Czechia
Department of Slavonic Studies, Masaryk University, Czechia
Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Ostrava, Czechia
Department of Slavic Studies, Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski", Bulgaria
Department of Slavic Studies, Sofia University, Bulgaria
Institute of Slavic Studies, Heidelberg University, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Kiel, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Mainz, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Regensburg, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Hamburg, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, Greifswald University, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, Germany
Institute of Slavistics, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Institute of Slavistics, University of Potsdam, Germany
Institute for Slavic Studies, Humboldt University, Germany
Institute of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Germany
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Oldenburg, Germany
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Ankara, Turkey
Institute of Slavic Studies, Tbilisi State University, Georgia
Department of Russian and Slavic Philology(Departamentul de Filologie Rusă şi Slavă), Romania
Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Pécs, Hungary
Institute of Slavonic and Baltic Philology, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Institute of Slavic Philology, University of Szeged, Hungary
Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies, Ohio State University, United States
Slavic Department, University of Chicago, United States
Núcleo de Estudos em Eslavística, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Núcleo de Estudos Eslavos, Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Brazil

Others

Old Church Slavonic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Ghent Centre for Slavic and East European Studies, Ghent, Belgium

Organisations

American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages (AATSEEL)
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR)

References

^ Thompson, Ewa M. "Slavic but not Russian: Invisible and Mute" (PDF). Porównania. 16: 9–18. doi:10.14746/p.2015.16.10857. Retrieved February 25, 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Gordey (2011): Morphonology in Belarusian lingvistics: The formation period, p. 142" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2021-08-26.
^ Kassianova (2002), p. 1001^{[permanent dead link‍]}: "Rusinistica, or Carpatho-Rusyn studies - a social science discipline focusing on the history of an Eastern Slavic people inhabiting the northern and southern slope of the Carpathian mountains and living within the borders of several Eastern and Central European countries."
^ Greenberg 2004, p. 151.

Sources

Greenberg, Robert D. (2004). Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and its Disintegration. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-151455-5.

External links

Canadian Association of Slavists (in English and French)
List of Journals in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies at Slavic Review Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)
Slavistik-Portal The Slavistics Portal (Germany)
André, Mazon (November 1946). "Slavonic studies in France". The Slavonic and East European Review. 25 (64).
Maslenikov, Oleg A. (April 1947). "Slavic studies in America, 1939–1946". The Slavonic and East European Review. 25 (65).
Association of Slavists POLYSLAV
Slavic Linguistics Society

Library guides

Slavonic and East European studies: a guide to resources (British Library) Archived 2015-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
"Russian & East European Studies Research Guides". New York, USA: Columbia University Libraries. Archived from the original on 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
Slavic Studies Guide (Duke) Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine
Slavic Studies: A Research Guide (Harvard) Archived 2017-02-22 at the Wayback Machine
Slavic and East European Resources (University of Illinois)
"Slavic and East European Studies". Resources by Subject. USA: Indiana University Bloomington Libraries. Archived from the original on 2014-06-04. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
University Library. "German, Russian and Slavonic Studies". UK: University of Leeds.
Slavic Studies Guide (NYU) Archived 2009-03-14 at the Wayback Machine
"Slavonic, Central and Eastern European Studies". Oxford LibGuides. Oxford, UK: University of Oxford, Bodleian Libraries. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2013-11-18.
"Slavic/East European/Eurasian Studies Research Guides". Princeton LibGuides. USA: Princeton University Library.
University Libraries. "German, Slavic, & East European Languages & Literatures". Research Guides. New Jersey, USA: Rutgers University.
Guides to Resources. University College London, School of Slavonic & East European Studies
Slavic & East European Collections (Yale) Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine

[1] Thompson, Ewa M. "Slavic but not Russian: Invisible and Mute" (PDF). Porównania. 16: 9–18. doi:10.14746/p.2015.16.10857. Retrieved February 25, 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[2] "Gordey (2011): Morphonology in Belarusian lingvistics: The formation period, p. 142" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2021-08-26.

[3] Kassianova (2002), p. 1001^{[permanent dead link‍]}: "Rusinistica, or Carpatho-Rusyn studies - a social science discipline focusing on the history of an Eastern Slavic people inhabiting the northern and southern slope of the Carpathian mountains and living within the borders of several Eastern and Central European countries."

[FOOTNOTEGreenberg2004151-4] Greenberg 2004, p. 151.

[1]

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