Annotation of the results obtained in 2022
The work has been accomplished according to the plan: the project participants collected material, prepared articles for publication, read papers and presentations, organized an international conference. The project is interdisciplinary in nature, which is congruent to the essence of the semiotic scientific school. Researchers work in different areas of the humanities - linguistics (onomastics and ethnolinguistics), mythopoetics, ethnography and folklore, art criticism (painting, cinema), and also in social history. The material of the Balkan, Baltic and Slavic traditions is used. The points of contact and intersection of various thematic and semantic spheres show the universality of signs and models, and, at the same time, their specificity in relation to a particular discipline. During the first year, the project participants prepared and held a memorial conference "Semiotics in the Past and Present" with international participation (Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, USA) at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The conference brought together 50 speakers, among whom were scientists who were at the origins of semiotics (D.M. Segal, B. Meilakh, S.Yu. Neklyudov, S.M. Tolstaya, T.V. Tsivyan, A.K. Baiburin), as well as young researchers, see the program (https://inslav.ru/sites/default/files/2022_semiotikaprogramma.pdf). Presentations were made by 5 grant participants on the fundamental issues of the project (see individual reports). Each of the three days of the conference ended with memories of prominent representatives of the Moscow-Tartu school and members of the “structuralist sector” of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All reports were recorded on video and posted on YouTube (playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlKurE1sTDrTwTNhOaJmcuUfdpfU0dBsY). Based on the materials of the conference, a collection of articles is being prepared, which will be published in 2023. In progress there are two analytical reviews of the conference (by I.Sedakova, N.Zlydneva, M.Zavyalova), which will be published in Russian in the journal Slavic Studies and in English (with an emphasis on folklore and ethnolinguistics) in Folklore. Electronic Journal of Folklore. The project participants made 17 reports at Russian and international conferences on the topics of the project (including the mentioned conference and webinar). 13 articles, of which 5 in publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection database, 4 in the Scopus database, and 3 in RSCI journals are published and accepted for publication. The regular webinar "Semiotic Models in the Balcano-Balto-Slavica Cross-Cultural Space" was established, at which I.A. Sedakova, N.V. Zlydneva and D. Polyakov read their papers. Lectures were recorded and posted online. A web page of the project has been created, it highlights the main stages of the project and is used for uploading the videos (https://inslav.ru/page/semioticheskie-modeli-v-krosskulturnom-prostranstve-balcano-balto-slavica-0).

 

Publications

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Annotation of the results obtained in 2023
The plan for 2023 was fulfilled and even exceeded. Two conferences were held, two collections of articles were collected, edited and published with the participation of all the members of the project group. 20 articles were published, 2 articles were accepted for printing, 24 papers and presentations were read. 4 webinars on semiotics of ethnology, literary works, folklore and onomastics were held. One public lecture was delivered. International conferences and publications were replaced by Russian ones due to a number of circumstances, and they have significantly increased in number; the thematic range has been expanded. One more major theme - semiotic onomastics - became more relevant and clearly designed, and a block of joint works of linguists, folklorists and historians (I.A. Sedakova, M.V. Zavyalova, D.K. Polyakov, A.A. Leontieva) was outlined here. Two conferences were organised: 1. Round table "Balcano-Balto-Slavica and Semiotics" (27.04.2023) (program: https://inslav.ru/sites/default/files/balkanskie_chteniya_17_25-27.04.2023_programma_1.pdf) united all project participants and became an important milestone in the work on the grant topic. Each member of the group project presented a topic. 2. Scientific readings "Onomastics sub specie semiotics" (https://inslav.ru/sites/default/files/onomastika_sub_specie_semiotiki_-_programma_0.pdf) gathered both experienced semioticians and beginners in the field. Analytical reviews on all conferences are published in indexed journals. Two books of articles have been prepared for printing and published: 1.Balcano-Balto-Slavica and Semiotics / Ed. by I.A. Sedakova, ed. by A.B. Ippolitova. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2023. (Proceedings of the Round Table of Center of Lingua-Cultural Center Balcanica. 8.) 116 pp. : ill. The text of the collection is available on the website of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (https://inslav.ru/publication/balcano-balto-slavica-i-semiotika-m-2023). This collection became an additional publication, it replaced the announced collection of abstracts for the round table under the same title due to the interest of the academic audience to the papers read. 2.Semiotics in the Past and Present / Ed. by I.A. Sedakova, M.V. Zavyalova, N.V. Zlydneva, A.B. Ippolitova. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2023. 384 с.: ill. (ISBN 978-5-7576-0488-6). The collection includes 20 articles covering the main problems of field of modern semiotics, based on the proceedings of the conference "Semiotics in the Past and Present" (2022). Both collections have extensive prefaces (by M.V. Zavyalova, N.V. Zlydneva, I.A. Sedakova), revealing the history of semiotic research and the modern application of its methodology. The published articles analyze the history of semiotics within and outside the Moscow-Tartu Semiotic School with the aim of documenting achievements and applying the main ideas in the modern research (M.V. Zavyalova, N.V. Zlydneva, I.A. Sedakova). Semiotic essays by writers and essayists from the Balkan and Slavic countries little known in Russia are described, and the influence of the Moscow-Tartu school on semiotic studies in former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia is considered (D.K. Polyakov). Semiotic aspects of Lithuanian and Slavic mythology and demonology were investigated, parallels between folklore and ethnographic reality were characterized, the peculiarities of the poetics of oral folk art work were revealed (I.A. Sedakova, M.V. Zavyalova). The semiotic models of the calendar Bulgarian (Balkan) festive March and the category of space in childbirth rituals were studied (I.A. Sedakova). The possibilities of applying semiotic methods to the analysis of the visual texts – those by E. Viyralt, with the expressive essence of graphic images, allowing the scholars to talk about a special semiotic modality of passions (N.V. Zlydneva) are shown. On the data of the multicultural space of Balcano-Balto-Slavica the main binary oppositions were studied: "city - village", "archaic - modern", "native - foreign", "old - new", "male - female" and others. The focus was on a number of concepts, e.g. "youth", "border and frontier", "name", "time and space", which were analyzed in terms of their significance in the formation of semiosphere models, in ritual, textual, visual and other codes of language and culture. The conducted research allowed the members of the group to conclude that there is a great scientific potential of Russian semiotics, still insufficiently realized in many disciplines, in particular in modern art history and film theory (N.V. Zlydneva, D.G. Viren). Semiotic methods continue to be relevant for analyzing historical epochs in terms of their testimonial coverage. Semiotic methods are still considered valuable and productive in the study of languages, mythology, folklore and rituals of the Balcano-Balto-Slavica space.

 

Publications

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