Kyiv sees presentation of world-famous linguist’ s book
The Kharkiv-based AKTA publishers’ presentation of The Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language , by Yury Sheveliov, attracted a large audience of academics. This was a major event — and not only for the narrow circle of scholars who deal with such a specific branch of philology as phonology. Previously, one had to be proficient in the English language to read this book, published in Heidelberg in 1979. The value of this fundamental study by the most well-known 20th- century Ukrainian linguist lies in debunking the widespread myth about the alleged existence of a “common Eastern Slavic” language. Sheveliov came to this conclusion as long ago as the 1950s. To prove his viewpoint, the linguist processed a huge array of written manuscripts dating from the times of Kyiv Rus to the late 18th century, also making use of the materials based on modern Ukrainian and its dialects.
Sound is the first thing that allows one to distinguish one language from another and single out a language’s particular features. Historical phonology allows the tracing of the establishment of a certain language’s phonetic system, putting emphasis on the inherent ways of development and formation. This is Sheveliov’s claim in this study. He sets out to prove that the Ukrainian language developed independently of the other Slavic languages by means of phonology. The scholar invented a unique method of studying the history of Eastern Slavic languages, which has also been employed by other countries’ researchers working with the Serbian, Macedonian, Slovak, and Belorussian languages. All that the academician regrets is that he never found an individual who would agree to research the Russian language from this viewpoint. Even today, Sheveliov’s conclusions look strikingly exquisite, but this does not mean his theses will not trigger debates among the academy. This was pointed out in the speech by Vasyl Nimchuk, director of the Institute of the Ukrainian Language under the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Yet, in spite of this, Mykola Zhulynsky, director of the Shevchenko Institute of Literature, believes that The Historical Phonology of the Ukrainian Language can only be compared, in terms of fundamentality, to Mykhailo Hrushevsky’s A History of Ukraine-Rus . The academician thinks these two studies make it possible to trace the Ukrainian people’s genesis.
Sheveliov himself considered The Historical Phonology the most important work of his career and was greatly interested in having the book published in his homeland. According to the AKTA editor-in- chief, Leonid Ushkalov, he very carefully selected the translators. Both Serhiy Vakulenko and Andriy Danylenko, on whom the academician’s choice fell, lived up to his expectations. It took many years to prepare the publication, and the scholar was able to see the pilot copy. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Ukrainian Free Academy of Sciences in the US, and International Renaissance Foundation sponsored the translation and publication in Ukraine.
The 1054-page volume is supplied with detailed maps of Ukrainian dialects and an extensive bibliography. The book is already on sale at a price of 98 hryvnias. Although the print run — 500 copies — is very modest at first glance, the academics who attended the presentation took a philosophical view of this fact. Of course, taking into account the number of central and regional libraries, higher educational institutions, and the specialists who study this subject, this figure may indeed seem small, says Olena Huzar, head of the native language department at Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk State Pedagogical University. Nevertheless, Ms. Huzar is still optimistic. The publishers are going to keep the computerized typeset intact, which will help greatly to increase the print run should there be demand for it. Besides, it was announced at the presentation that the Renaissance Foundation would hand The Historical Phonology over free of charge to Ukraine’s largest universities and libraries as part of the national book publication program.
Yury Sheveliov (1908-2002) was born and raised in Kharkiv. Like another renowned Ukrainian linguist, Oleksandr Potebnia, he graduated from the local university. Sheveliov worked in Kharkiv, Lviv, and emigrated in 1943. He was a professor at London, Harvard, and Columbia Universities, and was an honorary professor at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy.
