Commemorative activities
28 октября 2018 года
Languages and Folklore of Southern Arabian Ethnicities: Main Directions of Recent Russian and International Studies
The main objective of the Conference was to represent that day state of Semitic linguistcs branch and to outline the key points of its development.
The Modern South Arabian group of languages is being one of the most unique and archaic within the Semitic language family. According to contemporary linguistic classification, South Arabian languages were the first to separate from the Western Semitic branch, thus, they are not closely related to any language of the group. Though research into South Arabian languages is crucial for comparative history and synchronic typology of the Semitic family, for many decades they have been overlooked by scholars. The significant progress has been made recently in this branch of Semitic linguistics, largely due to the pioneering discoveries by Russian researchers of Soqotri language and culture.
The publication of the second volume of the “Soqotri Folklore Collection,” created and compiled by a group of Russian scholars, led by Professor V. Naumkin, the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was one of the most notable events of the Conference. This fundamental work was to be published by the renowned Dutch publishing house Brill almost simultaneously with the celebration of the Institute’s 200th anniversary.
Almost all Russian specialists in the Modern South Arabian languages took part in the Conference, representing different generations and spheres of interests within the South Arabian studies (descriptive and historical grammar, collection and analysis of new texts, folklore studies, visual documentation of nature and living conditions). Moreover, scholars from France and Great Britain – two countries boasting leading schools of South Arabian studies – also participated in the event. Finally, this Conference was the first one in Russia where a qualified native speaker of both continental South Arabian Languages (Mehri and Jibbali) was involved.