A Palimpsest of the Past By Josh Marshall March 14, 2022
“One of the many fascinating dimensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is that rooted in language. When this story moved to the center of our news in the United States almost a decade ago I had the rough and incorrect sense that Ukrainian was something like a deep regional dialect of Russian – distinct but certainly mutually intelligible. But this is not the case. One of my guides in learning about this has been our Josh Kovensky, who is a fluent Russian speaker and lived in Ukraine for three years working as a journalist before coming to TPM. He’s described it to me as more like the difference between some of the more proximate Romance languages, like Spanish and Italian. He describes being able to get some of the gist of what someone is saying in Ukrainian. But it’s imperfect at best. Basically it’s someone speaking a different language. I have also heard it compared to the difference between English and Dutch – two closely related West Germanic languages which are not remotely mutually intelligible.” [Balance behind paywall]
The distinction between a dialect and a languge is hzy. One of the regulars on CompuServe's old Science Fiction forum mentioned that he frequently had to translate between his Yorkshire relatives and his London coworkers. And I wonder just how mutually intelligible were the Scots in which Robbie Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne" and "To a Field Mouse" and the English in which he wrote "Rape of the Lock." Those were considered separate languages prior to the Act of Union and Scottish nationalists are now trying to resurrect the distinction. I have heard it said that, "A language is a dialect with an army," and it seems to me there is a great deal of truth in that.
My wife's family come from northern Japan (Fukushima Prefecture, so not really far north]. When her youngest aunt became engaged to a fellow from the greater Tokyo area, her father came down to negotiate the marriage, and she had to translate. Their written language was mutually comprehensible, but not the spoken language. In addition to the difficulties inherent in premodern travel, for hundreds of years Japanese were legally tied to their places of residence--they were not free to move. There was an internal passport system that was strongly enforced [sneaking around the customs stations was punishable by death--which increased the profits of smugglers as long as they weren't caught]. After five hundred years of civil wars, people were willing to put up with a lot in exchange for peace.
Putin Signs Law to Seize Foreign Aircraft [Click] So Russian airlines will not be able to lease airliners for the foreseeable future, in addition to quickly running out of spare parts.
That last note is not clear. Russia defaulted the first time on the Tsarist bonds, then on Soviet bonds in 1998, and the expected upcoming default on their dollar-denominated bonds would be this coming Wednesday. They have a 30-day grace period. They have the money, but can't access it.
Ian Bremmer interview [Click] Quotes David Petraeus: “Putin has swallowed a porcupine.” Bremmer: “I think that there is no scenario where the Russians occupy Ukraine and this goes well for them. Frankly, the Russians should hope their army loses in Ukraine, because that would be much better for the Russians economically and strategically in the long term.”
Next house over, our neighbours all have Covid. They're all vaxed and boosted, except the youngest who has had one dose and was to get her second next week. They're having it rough. So I brought them medication today along with two kinds of homemade soup, plus sipping broth, Saltines, cough drops, and two kinds of M&Ms. I just left it outside the door, went to my car and texted to say it was there. You know...drop off and run.
A Palimpsest of the Past
ReplyDeleteBy Josh Marshall
March 14, 2022
“One of the many fascinating dimensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is that rooted in language. When this story moved to the center of our news in the United States almost a decade ago I had the rough and incorrect sense that Ukrainian was something like a deep regional dialect of Russian – distinct but certainly mutually intelligible. But this is not the case. One of my guides in learning about this has been our Josh Kovensky, who is a fluent Russian speaker and lived in Ukraine for three years working as a journalist before coming to TPM. He’s described it to me as more like the difference between some of the more proximate Romance languages, like Spanish and Italian. He describes being able to get some of the gist of what someone is saying in Ukrainian. But it’s imperfect at best. Basically it’s someone speaking a different language. I have also heard it compared to the difference between English and Dutch – two closely related West Germanic languages which are not remotely mutually intelligible.” [Balance behind paywall]
The distinction between a dialect and a languge is hzy. One of the regulars on CompuServe's old Science Fiction forum mentioned that he frequently had to translate between his Yorkshire relatives and his London coworkers. And I wonder just how mutually intelligible were the Scots in which Robbie Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne" and "To a Field Mouse" and the English in which he wrote "Rape of the Lock." Those were considered separate languages prior to the Act of Union and Scottish nationalists are now trying to resurrect the distinction. I have heard it said that, "A language is a dialect with an army," and it seems to me there is a great deal of truth in that.
DeleteMy wife's family come from northern Japan (Fukushima Prefecture, so not really far north]. When her youngest aunt became engaged to a fellow from the greater Tokyo area, her father came down to negotiate the marriage, and she had to translate. Their written language was mutually comprehensible, but not the spoken language. In addition to the difficulties inherent in premodern travel, for hundreds of years Japanese were legally tied to their places of residence--they were not free to move. There was an internal passport system that was strongly enforced [sneaking around the customs stations was punishable by death--which increased the profits of smugglers as long as they weren't caught]. After five hundred years of civil wars, people were willing to put up with a lot in exchange for peace.
DeleteThe internal passport system lasted almost 300 years.
Delete‘Completely demoralized’: US railroad workers pushed to the brink [Click] Workers are under intense strain amid grueling schedules, staffing reductions, union contract negotiations and an arcane attendance policy system—while the railways make record profits.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Subsidy That Empowers Putin [Click] “Ending America’s foolish subsidies for ethanol could aid Ukraine.”
ReplyDeleteThis is a rather long interview (just short of an hour) but I think it is more than worth the time: Ukraine: Demoralised & incompetent, Putin’s army is doomed | Taras Kuzio interview [Click] I should put it on a par with the article by Francis Fukuyama [Click] although their backgrounds and perspectives are different.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia: Taras Kuzio [Click] Given his name, I suspect his parents or grandparents came from Poland or thereabouts.
China has expressed some openness to providing military and financial aid to Russia, US cable suggests [Click]
ReplyDeleteDocument Shows Plan to Storm Government Buildings [Click]
Film Crew Was Present at January 5 Meeting [Click]
Trump Says There Is ‘a lot of love’ Behind Putin’s War [Click]
Putin Signs Law to Seize Foreign Aircraft [Click] So Russian airlines will not be able to lease airliners for the foreseeable future, in addition to quickly running out of spare parts.
Russia could default on its government debt on Wednesday [Click] But they will have another month after the due date. CNN thinks this would be the first Russian government default since the Revolution, but it would actually be the second, althoughthe 1998 post-soviet default was eventually made good. [Click]
That last note is not clear. Russia defaulted the first time on the Tsarist bonds, then on Soviet bonds in 1998, and the expected upcoming default on their dollar-denominated bonds would be this coming Wednesday. They have a 30-day grace period. They have the money, but can't access it.
DeleteU.S. Sewer Data Warns of a New Bump in Covid Cases [Click] Doesn’t surprise me one bit.
ReplyDeleteU.K. Mulls Housing Refugees In Oligarch Mansions [Click] Works for me!
Democrats Say Trump Is Breaking Campaign Law [Click] If I remember correctly, the Federal Election Commission can’t really do much.
Ian Bremmer interview [Click]
ReplyDeleteQuotes David Petraeus: “Putin has swallowed a porcupine.”
Bremmer: “I think that there is no scenario where the Russians occupy Ukraine and this goes well for them. Frankly, the Russians should hope their army loses in Ukraine, because that would be much better for the Russians economically and strategically in the long term.”
Next house over, our neighbours all have Covid. They're all vaxed and boosted, except the youngest who has had one dose and was to get her second next week. They're having it rough. So I brought them medication today along with two kinds of homemade soup, plus sipping broth, Saltines, cough drops, and two kinds of M&Ms. I just left it outside the door, went to my car and texted to say it was there. You know...drop off and run.
ReplyDeleteLovely thing to do.
DeleteGood on you, listener. Rotten luck they have, but it's a good reminder for the rest of us not to drop our guard.
DeleteI both expect and hope that none of them come down with complications.
Delete