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Finno Ugrian Languages and Peoples
English, Hungarian (translation)
- GenresLinguistics
248 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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July 20, 2007
Peter Hajdu's FINNO-UGRIAN LANGUAGES AND PEOPLES was originally published in Hungarian in 1963, and was expanded and translated into English by G. F. Cushing in 1974. The book is an introduction for laymen to the ethnic, linguistic, and cultural richness of these related peoples of Europe and western Asia. As it was originally written for a popular Hungarian audience, the Hungarian language is used as a basis for many of the linguistic comparisons.
The first part of the book is concerned with the languages in themselves. It begins with an introduction to the comparative method, the linguistic technique of determining the relationship between languages by searching for regular sound correspondences. It was through this process that the affinity of the Finno-Ugrian languages was discovered, and in a sense the entire field depends on it. Once Hajdu shows how this relationship is established, he discusses the questions that arise from it, such as the original homeland of the speakers of the proto-language, the relationships to other language families (mainly loan words from Indo-European), and the stages by which the language family broke up and its speakers dispersed.
The second part of the work treats individually each of the peoples speaking Finno-Ugrian languages: Mari, Mordvins, Finns, Hungarians, Udmurts, and so forth. This is a very basic history and ethnographic sketch, discussing such things as traditional wedding ceremonies, costume, music and poetry, etc. Unfortunately, the book does not have much information about the development of literary culture among the peoples in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the many tragedies that befell their writers during the time of Stalin. For a better view of 20th century events in these regions, see Rein Taagepera's THE FINNO-UGRIC REPUBLICS AND THE RUSSIAN STATE (Routledge, 1999), although its linguistic details are suspect.
The first part of the book is concerned with the languages in themselves. It begins with an introduction to the comparative method, the linguistic technique of determining the relationship between languages by searching for regular sound correspondences. It was through this process that the affinity of the Finno-Ugrian languages was discovered, and in a sense the entire field depends on it. Once Hajdu shows how this relationship is established, he discusses the questions that arise from it, such as the original homeland of the speakers of the proto-language, the relationships to other language families (mainly loan words from Indo-European), and the stages by which the language family broke up and its speakers dispersed.
The second part of the work treats individually each of the peoples speaking Finno-Ugrian languages: Mari, Mordvins, Finns, Hungarians, Udmurts, and so forth. This is a very basic history and ethnographic sketch, discussing such things as traditional wedding ceremonies, costume, music and poetry, etc. Unfortunately, the book does not have much information about the development of literary culture among the peoples in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the many tragedies that befell their writers during the time of Stalin. For a better view of 20th century events in these regions, see Rein Taagepera's THE FINNO-UGRIC REPUBLICS AND THE RUSSIAN STATE (Routledge, 1999), although its linguistic details are suspect.
Displaying 1 of 1 review