A contribution towards Finno-Ugric source materials: Where can I find the literature?
(English version of the German "Quellenkunde" page for the students of Finno-Ugric studies at the University of Vienna; English translation courtesy of Andrew Malcovsky)
Finno-Ugric linguistics has existed as an established field for more
than a hundred years. Many of the classic sources are still
indispensable, but the volume of research (when compared to the
ÒgreatÓ languages of European philology) is still rather
small, and the researchers are scattered in many countries and
institutions. This means that:
- A large portion of the literature exists in languages other than
English (or German) – one cannot shy away from Russian,
Hungarian, Finnish or Swedish...
- Only a small amount of the material is available online: the most important sources exist only in print.
- As yet there is no single “Portal for Finno-Ugric linguistics” on the internet.
Most on-line Finno-Ugric corpora and reference works are accessible
only to registered users (or to users of university libraries). The
important exceptions:
- Kaino, the corpus server of
the Research Center for the Languages of Finland, offers texts (Old
Finnish and others, the collected works of Michael Agricola, in Modern
Finnish: the New Year's Speeches of the Presidents of Finland,) word
lists and indexes (Karelian Dictionary, a glossary of Veps) etc.
- Keeleveeb: Links to Estonian dictionaries and language software.
- Eesti Keele Instituut: Links to Estonian dictionaries, lexicons, and linguistic materials (e.g., audio samples of Estonian dialects).
One can find Finno-Ugric linguistic literature with the help of
Bibliographie der uralischen Sprachwissenschaft 1830-1970 was published in three volumes from 1976-1986. (I: Ugric, 2: Finnic-Permian/Ob-Ugric/Samoyedic, 3: Index of Authors).
Bibliographia Studiorum Uralicorum 1917–1987, The
result of an international bibliographic project, published
1989–1993 in four large volumes (Archaeology, Ethnography and
Folklore, Linguistics, Literatures). The linguistic portion of this
project continues to appear within the framework of the URBIS databank:
Urbis is now hosted by the Tartu University Library (English-language entrance page here) and presently contains over 7,000 published articles and monographs from 1998–2000.
A regular bibliography was published in Soviet Estonia under the title of Bibliographia Uralica on Soviet Uralic studies. A general index from 1918-1985 was published in 1988-1989.
In the University of Vienna's OPAC
there are (mostly) works which are available either there or elsewhere
in the Vienna University Library system. In looking for sources one can
also search other electronic library records, not simply for titles
which can be ordered from Inter-Library Loan but also since:
- Keyword indexing can be better in other libraries: a search for
“Kasus” returns no Fennistic results in OPAC, but in Helka
the search “sijamuodot” obtains dozens of relevant works,
of which many are actually in OPAC.
- Other libraries may have special editions of journals or
compendia indexed – and these whole works may then be located in
the University of Vienna library.
- The work may be published in a collection of monographs (e.g. Nyelvtudományi Értekezések = NytudÉrt, Castrenianumin toimitteita, Suomi, Mémoires de la Société Finno-Ougrienne = MSFOu = Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia = SUST, Studia Fennica, Tietolipas, Studia Uralo-Altaica (SUA), Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica...), which have not yet been fully cataloged in the OPAC system.
The most important bibliographic catalogs for Finno-Ugric purposes are:
A few examples of important Finno-Ugric handbooks with extensive
bibliographies (on specific topics, e.g. “history of Khanty
vowels” or “The Partitive in Finnic ”) are
- Abondolo, Daniel (ed.) 1998: The Uralic Languages. London: Routledge.
- Erelt, Mati (ed.) 2003: The Estonian language. Linguistica Uralica Supplementary series 1. Tallinn.
- Hakulinen, Auli & al. 2004: Iso suomen kielioppi. Helsinki: SKS.
- Keszler Borbála (Hg.) 2001: Magyar grammatika. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó.
- Laanest, Arvo 1982: Einführung in die ostseefinnischen Sprachen. Hamburg: Buske.
- Osnovy finno-ugorskogo jazykoznanija I-III (1974-1976). Moscow: Nauka.
- Sinor, Denis (ed.) 1988: The Uralic Languages. Leiden etc.: Brill.
Unfortunately, the most important series are only rarely found
online – or access is limited to the most recent years, or the
publications are accessible only to users in the proper environments
(for example many of the Finnish linguistic journals are accessible
through the Elektra Interface
but only through Finnish university networks). However, many have
tables of contents online, some even in databases with the ability to
search for keywords.
For many important periodicals, general catalogs have appeared in print, often with thematic indexes and glossaries.
NB: Periodicals contain not only articles, but also important information on important monographs, such as reviews.
Some important periodicals and series are:
- in Finland:
- Virittäjä, the most important linguistic
journal in Finland, published four times a year. (Almost) all articles
are provided with English-language abstracts. At the publisher's
website Kotikielen Seura
there is a database of Virittäjä – one can search
articles here by author, title, year or keyword search.
English-language abstracts from the 1990s are online as well, and in
recent years, more and more earlier articles have been published online
in PDF format (listing of downloadable articles by year and by author).
- Sananjalka, the journal of Suomen kielen seura in Turku, in Finnish (with English or German-language abstracts). Tables of contents, thematic indexes, and glossaries available in PDF format.
- SKY Journal of Linguistics, the journal of the Finnish Linguistic Society (mostly in English). Table of contents, and since 2004, full-text contents online.
- Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne (JSFOu) = Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja (SUSA), Table of contents online. Starting from Vol. 91, full-text version online.
- Finnisch-Ugrische Forschungen (FUF), published “in irregular editions” (usually once every 1-3 years). Articles in German or English, Tables of contents and (from 1996) English-language abstracts online.
- irregularly published monograph series of the Finno-Ugrian Society (tables of contents and occasionally abstracts online):
- Journals and monographs of the Finnish Literature Society (SKS): Studia Fennica (Linguistica/Ethnologica/Historica), Suomi, Tietolipas, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia (SKST). Information at the publisher's homepage: www.finlit.fi
> Verkkokirjakauppa (Online Bookshop) > Hakulomake (Advanced
Search), or link directly to the publications at “Julkaisusarjat
(Publication Series)”.
- in Estonia:
- in Hungary:
- Others:
Sometimes it is worth being able to search for names. (X. Y. is
supposed to be an expert in this field, but what has she published and
where?). Additionally, personal homepages hosted by a university often
contain peer or publications databases, such as JULKI at the University of Helsinki oder the publications database of associates of the University of Tartu. . A single institution even has a thematic online bibliography, the Finnish as a Foreign Language Bibliography in Jyväskylä.
It can also be a good idea to search other institutions' homepages
for relevant course syllabi or directories of examination materials.
Some universities maintain local bibliographies of MA and PhD theses
or thematic bibliographies, such as the Finnish department in Jyväskylä. There is a central database of all Fennistics theses and dissertations in Helsinki, where the student union of OSMA manages an index of theses in preparation.
Updated 14 January 2010
johanna.laakso@univie.ac.at