Traditional and Non-Traditional Values in Russia, Bulgaria and Slovakia: Ethnolinguistic, Comparative and Historical Dimensions

Authors

  • Irina Sedakova Institute of Slavic studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Marija Kitanova Institute for Bulgarian Language “Professor Liubomir Andreichin”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • Peter Žeňuch Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava
  • Nikita Gusev Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Keywords:

axiology, dynamics of the values, ethnolinguistics, folklore, paraliturgical texts, Balkan region, Bulgarian, Russian, Slovak

Abstract

The article embodies some results of a joint international research project on linguistic and ethnocultural dynamics of traditional and nontraditional values in the three countries of the Slavic world. First, the terminology in Russian, Bulgarian and Slovakian languages is analyzed, with the outcome that the term ‘value(s)’ as denoting an abstract notion is a recent development in Slavic languages. Second, the notions of the traditional and non-traditional values are characterized in a comparative way and the possible border (lexical, pragmatical, etc.) between them is marked. Thirdly, the dynamics of changes in the axiological hierarchy is investigated and the reasons for the changes of evaluation are defined with the examples by the development of several values (‘old age’, ‘friend’, etc.). Finally, axiological historical methodology is illustrated by the review of Russian-Bulgarian sources that give an opportunity to reflect on values. The study demonstrates its actuality as COVID-19 has spread all over the world, drastically changing the routines and preferences of people, correspondingly the hierarchy of values and its vocabulary. Language is at the center of this axiological study, being the main source of and engine for evaluation.

Author Biographies

Irina Sedakova, Institute of Slavic studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Irina Sedakova, Dr.Sc., Head of the Department of Typology and Comparative Linguistics and of the Center ‘BALCANICA, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. She is a philologist, specialist in the field of ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics and folklore. Her research interests are in the theory of language unions, problems of archaic and contemporary ritual systems, folk religion, and language of media, Internet and publicity.

Marija Kitanova, Institute for Bulgarian Language “Professor Liubomir Andreichin”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Marija Kitanova, PhD, DrSc., Professor at the Department of Ethnolinguistics, Institute of Bulgarian Language “Professor Lyubomir Andreychin”, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria. Her research interests are in the field of ethnolinguistics, linguo-culturology, dialectology, phonology.

Peter Žeňuch, Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava

Peter Žeňuch, PhD, DrSc. Professor, Leading Research Fellow at the Jan Stanislav Institute of Slavistics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia. He deals with the research of the linguistic, cultural and historical development of Cyrillic monuments in Slovak linguistic and cultural milieu, the application of Church Slavic and the Byzantine-Slavic tradition, culture and rite in Slovakia and in Carpathian area. He studies Slavic East and West
cultural-historical and linguistic relations.

Nikita Gusev, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Nikita Gusev, PhD, Senior Researcher at the Department of the History of Slavic peoples during the world wars, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. His research interests are in the field of traditional and modern culture, modernization and Westernization in the Balkans at the turn of the XIX and XX centuries.

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Published

2020-12-16

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2020): The Yearbook of Balkan and Baltic Studies

Section

Articles