Monograph celebration

Last year, several ΔiaLing members published a monograph:

 

 

We would like to give them the opportunity to present their monographs and we will toast with them on this success. This presentation and celebration will take place on the 28th of February, starting at 4 pm, in room 3.30 (Camelot) of the Blandijn. You are all very welcome to join!

Bernat Bardagil-Mas (UGent) – “Language documentation and revitalization of Mỹky, in Brazilian Amazonia”

This presentation discusses recent language documentation and revitalization work among the Mỹky and Manoki nations in Brazilian southern Amazonia, as well as the revitalization of the traditional jakuli genre of dance and music. Mỹky is an isolated indigenous Amazonian language spoken in north-western Mato Grosso, in Brazil, by two communities: the Manoki (Iranxe) and the Mỹky (Monserrat 2010; Bardagil 2023). The two communities went through different contact periods with colonial Brazilian society, which resulted in different sociolinguistic situations. While the Manoki dialect of the language is severely threatened, with only three members of the community (~400) being able to speak it today, it is spoken as a first language by most of the Mỹky group (~100).
Since 2019 I have been working alongside the Manoki community to preserve and reclaim their indigenous language, which led to the creation of the Watjuho Ja’a Collective and the organization of several intensive schools for Manoki language, and to several initiatives to reinforce musical and spiritual community practices that are closely connected with the orally-transmitted heritage of this threatened indigenous nation.

Leonid Kulikov (UGent) – “Gandharva and Njörðr: an etymological and comparative-mythological perspective”

In my talk I will discuss some minor deities (demons) of the Indo-Iranian pantheon such as Gandharva(s) and their possible Indo-European parallels outside Indo-Iranian. In particular, I will focus on some features of Njörðr and other Nordic Vanir gods in order to show their structural similarities with the Gandharva(s), foremost, their importance for such issues as sexuality and fertility. Special attention will be paid to the etymology of the names of these gods. I will further demonstrate that this comparison may shed some light on the anthropogonic views of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and to figure out how they envisaged the origin of humankind and the role of (minor) gods in this emergence of humans.

Eleonora Serra (UGent) – “Epistolary formulae and writing experience in sixteenth-century Florence: an analysis of the Ricasoli private letters”

Thanks to the ongoing interest in private letters as sources for reconstructing language variation and change in the past, epistolary formulae have attracted increasing attention cross-linguistically. Studies showing that low-status writers and women relied heavily on formulae when writing their letters have hypothesised that formulae served primarily as aids for little experienced writers. However, other studies have shown that formulae could perform different functions related to group practices and self-representation. I investigate this issue in the context of sixteenth-century Florence, where letter-writing was becoming increasingly codified. Drawing on little-known archival material and focusing on the epistolary closing, I track the use of formulae across the private letters of three women from subsequent generations of one family, the Ricasoli, and compare it to the use of their brothers. These three women differed markedly in their degree of writing experience, in keeping with the increase in female literacy that was affecting the Florentine patriciate. The results show that the woman of the last generation used more formulae, that a writer’s use of formulae throughout their lifetime did not necessarily decrease with an increase in writing experience, and that it was not always the case that women used more formulae than men. This suggests that, in Renaissance Florence, optional epistolary formulae played a role as social conventions and not only, or primarily, as formulation aids for little experienced writers.