Languages of the World - Russian, Slavic, and the Beauty of Case

<lang>Russian</lang><br><ldata>IE:Slavic - Russia</ldata>

Света - Дорога в аэропорт (feat. KRP)

(Sveta - Doroga v aeroport, 'Approaching the airport')

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# #crappypuns

I hate Russian stacking dolls.  They're so full of themselves.

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# Russian, Slavic, and the Beauty of Case
### LING 1020 - Will Styler

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## Today's Agenda

* Person and number labels

* Slavic Languages

* Russian

* Grammatical Relations

* The Beauty of Case

* Why translating Dostoevsky is really, really tough

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# We've got a lot of ground to cover today!

* (Sorry!)

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# 1sg?  3pl!?  2sg?!?!

WTF Linguists!!

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### Person and number labels

Linguistic shorthand to refer to participants in conversation

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People are usually talking to somebody, about themselves and others.

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### First person

Refers to the speaker (and his/her group)

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### First person singular (1sg)

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### First person plural (1pl)

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### Second person

Referring to the listener(s)

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### Second person singular (2sg)

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### Second person singular (2pl)

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### Third person

Referring to somebody outside the conversation

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### Third person singular (3sg)

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### Third person plural (3pl)

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### Person and Number shows up everywhere!

* Pronouns

* Verb conjugations

* Case markers

* Adjectives (sometimes)

* Changing something to match the person/number is called "agreement"

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### English pronouns

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">1st</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">I</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">we</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">2nd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">you</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">y'all</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">3rd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">he/she</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">they</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>
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### Spanish pronouns

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">1st</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Yo</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Nosotros</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">2nd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Tu/Usted</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Vosotros/Ustedes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">3rd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">El/Ella</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Ellos</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>

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### English Verb forms for "Judge"

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">1st</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">I judge.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">We judge.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">2nd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">You judge.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Y'all judge.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">3rd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">He judges.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">They judge.</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>
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### Spanish Verb forms for "Judge"

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">1st</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzgo.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzgamos.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">2nd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzgas.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzgáis.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">3rd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzga.</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">Juzgan.</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>

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### Person and number are really important!

So, when it's marked, we linguists write it down.

* That's why you'll see "1sg", "2pl", "3sg" all over!

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## "Isn't today about Russian?"

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(OK, OK, let's talk Slavic!)

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### Slavic

(in green)

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### Features of Slavic Languages

* Rich Case Systems

* Cyrillic Writing System

* Complex Consonant Clusters

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### Slavic Languages

* Polish
* Belorussian
* Ukrainian
* Czech
* Slovak
* Bulgarian
* Macedonian
* Sorbian
* Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian/Montenegrin
* Russian

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<lang>Russian</lang><br><ldata>IE:Slavic - Russia</ldata>

## Russian and I go way back...

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# Why I love Russian

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### The sound system is awesome

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### The writing system doesn't suck

* (Yes, English, the truth hurts)

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### Cyrillic Writing System

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### Cyrillic is used in:

* *Slavic* - Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Ukrainian

* *Non-Slavic* - Abkhaz, Bashkir, Chuvash, Erzya, Kazakh, Kildin Sami, Komi, Kyrgyz, Mari, Moksha, Mongolian, Ossetic, Sakha/Yakut, Tajik, Tatar, Tuvan, Udmurt, Yuit

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### Transliteration

Writing a language using a non-native writing system

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**достопримечательности москвы**

(dostoprimechatelnosti moskviy)

'Places of interest in Moscow'

<danger>We will transliterate in this class, but we are bad people for doing it, and should feel bad</danger>

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### Different motion verbs depending on method of movement and return

* Ходить (hodit) - To go by walking (there and back)
* Идти (idti) - To go by walking (one way, progressive)

* Ездить (yezdit) - To go by transport (there and back)
* Ехать (yekhat) - To go by transport (one way, progressive)

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### Prefixes for motion verbs

* У- - "From, away"
	* 'Я улетаю в ночь' - "I'm flying away tonight"
	* 'Уходить' - "Go away"

* Об- - "Around"
	* 'Я oблетаю' - "I'm flying around (a city)"
	* 'Oбходить' - "To walk around"

* С- - "Down from"
	* 'Я схожу с ума' - "I'm going crazy"

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### Two words for "blue"

<h1 style="color:blue">Синий</h1>

<h1 style="color:cyan">Голубой</h1>
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### The Case System!

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## "Case System?"

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## "Case System?"

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Let's back up for a second.

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### "Jony chased Dieter"

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## "How do we know who did what to whom?"

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### Grammatical Relations

How a language marks who did what to whom

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### English uses word order to mark grammatical relations.

* "Jony chased Dieter"

* "Kevin waved to Niloo"

* "Niloo waved to Kevin"

* "Will ate his tofu wistfully"

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### ... but that's not the only way!

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### Morphemes

The smallest unit of a word which has meaning in a language

* *Jony ate Dieter**'s** food pellet**s***

* *I am sing**ing** in the rain*

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### Russian tacks morphemes onto words to mark grammatical relations

* We call these morphemes "case markers"

* Nominative Case - "The Subject"

* Accusative Case - "The Object"

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### Grammatical Case

Tacking morphemes onto words to indicate their role in the sentence

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### Russian Case Marking

* Soboka videt kochku
* dog-NOM see-3sg CAT-ACC
* "The dog saw the cat"

* Kochka videt sobaku
* cat-NOM see-3sg dog-ACC
* "The cat saw the dog"

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### Russian Case Marking

* Ya tebya vizhu
* I-NOM you-ACC-INF see-1sg
* "I see you"

* Ti menya videsh
* You-NOM I-ACC see-2sg
* "You see me"

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If we put the sentence "Niloo hugged the turtle" into Russian, the proper cases would be...

A) Niloo - NOM, Turtle - ACC

B) Niloo - ACC, Turtle - NOM

C) Niloo - NOM, Turtle - NOM

D) Niloo - ACC, Turtle - ACC

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If we put the sentence "Niloo hugged the turtle" into Russian, the proper cases would be...

<correct>A) Niloo - NOM, Turtle - ACC</correct>

B) Niloo - ACC, Turtle - NOM

C) Niloo - NOM, Turtle - NOM

D) Niloo - ACC, Turtle - ACC

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***Nominative and Accusative cases are really common!***

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<lang>German</lang><br><ldata>IE:Germanic - Germany</ldata>

* Der Hund beißt den Mann.
* The-NOM dog bite-3sg the-ACC man.
* 'The dog bites the man.'

* Der Mann beißt den Hund.
* The-NOM man bite-3sg the-ACC dog.
* 'The man bites the dog.'

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<lang>English</lang><br><ldata>IE:Germanic - All over</ldata>

<center>
<style type="text/css">
.tg  {border-collapse:collapse;border-spacing:0;}
.tg td{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:24px;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg th{font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:24px;font-weight:normal;padding:10px 5px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;overflow:hidden;word-break:normal;}
.tg .tg-e3zv{font-weight:bold}
</style>
<table class="tg">
  <tr>
    <th class="tg-031e"></th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular Nominative</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural Nominative</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Singular Accusative</th>
    <th class="tg-e3zv">Plural Accusative</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">1st</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">I</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">we</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">me</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">us</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">2nd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">you</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">y'all</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">you</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">y'all</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td class="tg-e3zv">3rd</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">he/she</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">they</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">him/her</td>
    <td class="tg-031e">them</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</center>
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<lang>English</lang><br><ldata>IE:Germanic - All over</ldata>

* I see him
* I-NOM see he-ACC

* He sees me
* He-NOM see-3sg I-NOM

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<lang>Geonosian</lang><br><ldata>??? - Geonosis</ldata>

<img class="big" src="img/geonosian.jpg"> 
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So, Nominative and Accusative cases are really useful!

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### ... but Russian has more cases!

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## The Russian Case System

* Nominative Case - "The Subject"

* Accusative Case - "The Direct Object"

* Dative Case - "The Indirect Object or Recipient"

* Genitive Case - "The Possessor"

* Locative Case - "The Location"

* Instrumental Case - "The Tool"

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### Dative Case

Marks the indirect object, or recipient of an item

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### Dative Case

* Kevin dayot tsveti Lisye
* Kevin-NOM give-3sg Flowers-ACC-PLUR Lisa-DAT
* "Kevin gave Lisa flowers"

* Enchiladi mne dala Niloo 
* Enchilada-ACC-PLUR 1sg-DAT give-PAST-FEM Niloo-NOM
* "Niloo gave me Enchiladas"

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### Dative as "Goal"

* Ya pomogayu Kevinu
* 1sg-NOM help-present.1sg Kevin-DAT
* "I'm helping Kevin"

* Mne zvonil Barack Obama
* 1sg-DAT call-past.masc Barack Obama
* "Barack Obama called me"

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If we put the sentence "Jony gave Dieter some pellets" into Russian, the proper cases would be...

A) Jony - ACC, Dieter - DAT, Pellets - NOM

B) Jony - NOM, Dieter - DAT, Pellets - ACC

C) Jony - NOM, Dieter - ACC, Pellets - DAT

D) Jony - DAT, Dieter - ACC, Pellets - NOM

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If we put the sentence "Jony gave Dieter some pellets" into Russian, the proper cases would be...

A) Jony - ACC, Dieter - DAT, Pellets - NOM

<correct>B) Jony - NOM, Dieter - DAT, Pellets - ACC</correct>

C) Jony - NOM, Dieter - ACC, Pellets - DAT

D) Jony - DAT, Dieter - ACC, Pellets - NOM

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### Genitive Case

Marks possession

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### Genitive Case in Action

* Ya vizhu sharik Ponga
* 1sg-NOM see-1sg ball-ACC Pongo-GEN
* "I see Pongo's ball"

* Michael Bay samaya bolshaya problema Amerikiy
* Michael Bay single-NOM large-NOM problem-NOM America-GEN 
* "Michael Bay is America's biggest problem"

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If we put the sentence "Will stole the dragon's iPad" into Russian, the proper cases would be...

A) Will - ACC, Dragon - NOM, iPad - GEN

B) Will - NOM, Dragon - GEN, iPad - ACC

C) Will - GEN, Dragon - ACC, iPad - NOM

D) Will - NOM, Dragon - ACC, iPad - GEN

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### Locative Case

Marks the location of events

* (this is also called the "Prepositional Case")

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### Locative Case in action

* Ya zhivu v Broomfielde
* 1sg-NOM live-1sg in Broomfield-LOC
* "I live in Broomfield"

* Pongo hochet byt na dvore
* Pongo-NOM want-3sg be in outdoors-LOC
* "Pongo wants to be outside"

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### Instrumental Case

Marks an object being used

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### Instrumental Case in Action

* Niloo pishet karandashom
* Niloo-NOM write-3sg pencil-INST
* "Niloo writes with a pencil"

* Ya yem borscht so smetanoy
* 1sg-NOM eat borscht-ACC with sour.cream-INST
* "I eat borscht with sour cream"

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# So...

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## The Russian Case System

* Nominative Case - "The Subject"

* Accusative Case - "The Direct Object"

* Dative Case - "The Indirect Object or Recipient"

* Genitive Case - "The Possessor"

* Locative Case - "The Location"

* Instrumental Case - "The Tool"

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(OK, relax, we're done with the heavy stuff)

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English can handle Nominative and Accusative.

* ... but Dative?  We just can't even.

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This is a problem for translators.

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("Crime and Punishment")

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# "упокой господь мертвых, а живым еще жить!"

(Upokoy gospod myotvikh, a zhivim eshyo zhit!)

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*Upokoy gospod myotvikh, a zhivim eshyo zhit*

* out-rest-IMP God-NOM dead-ACC, but living-DAT still to.live

* “God give peace to the dead, the living have still to live!” - Constance Garnett

* “May the Lord grant rest to the souls of the dead, and let life be the realm of the living!” - David McDuff

* "May the Lord grant rest to the dead, but the living have still got to live!" - Pevear and Volokhonsky

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### This isn't just a problem for English

* "Que el Señor dé paz a los muertos y deje vivir a los vivos." - No translation credit
	
	* "May God give peace to the dead and let the living live."

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## Let's go a bit deeper

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*Upokoy gospod myotvikh...*

* out-rest-IMP God-NOM dead-ACC

* The "u-" means that the rest is "from here".

* The verb is a command, to God.

* The dead are not "recieving" rest (dative), but they're being rested (accusative).

* "Souls" are not mentioned

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*...a zhivim eshyo zhit*

* but living-DAT still to.live

* The act of living is what continues

* The living are *not* doing the living.

* Dative means they are "recieving" their living.

* Living isn't obligation ("must still live", "have to live")

* "Let Life be the realm of the living?"
	* Really?

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"упокой господь мертвых, а живым еще жить!"

* "God, take the dead away to rest, but those living still have the gift of a life to live"

* **... but that's a *terrible* English sentence.**

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### Accuracy vs. Flow

* "God, take the dead away to rest, but those living still have the gift of a life to live" - *Will*

* “God give peace to the dead, the living have still to live!” - *Garnett*

* "May the Lord grant rest to the dead, but the living have still got to live!" - *Pevear and Volokhonsky*

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### Translation is an art, not a science

* You can't capture Russian nuance in English, and vice versa

* All translations "favor" either the original or new language

* Learn which you prefer, and use it.

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# "All translations are well-meaning lies"

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## Wrapping up!

* Person and number is really important in language

* The Cyrillic writing system doesn't suck.

* Grammatical Relations mark who did what to whom

* Case is important, and will come up over and over

* Russian has an awesome case system

* Translation is *really* hard.

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## In Recitation:

Working with Case!

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## Next time: Niloo presents 'Languages of Iran'

<correct>No reading</correct>

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<huge>Thank you!</huge>

http://savethevowels.org/world/slides/lotw_5.html