Urum, a Turkic Language of Pontic Greeks, Its Contact with Russian—And...

Jul 17, 2015 by

Urum, a Turkic Language of Pontic Greeks, Its Contact with Russian—And Curious Parallels with Yiddish

Some enthnolinguistic maps of the Caucasus region, such as the one reproduced from GeoCurrents, show “Greek” as one of the groups in south-central Georgia and bordering areas of northern Armenia. In actuality, these are Pontic...

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Is Fish “Who” or “What”?

Jun 22, 2015 by

Is Fish “Who” or “What”?

I was asked today whether ryba ‘fish’ in Russian is a “who” or a “what”. Fascinating question, as it turns out! “Who or what?” is a question of animacy, a feature that is both semantic and grammatical (morphological) in Russian. From...

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Is Saint Petersburg a Primate City?—And the Demographic “Tale of Two C...

Jun 13, 2015 by

Is Saint Petersburg a Primate City?—And the Demographic “Tale of Two Cities”

In the previous two posts (see here and here), I have discussed the concept of “primate city” and particularly how it applies to Russia, where two of the country’s largest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, are traditionally...

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The Tale of Two Cities—and the Journey between Them

Jun 12, 2015 by

The Tale of Two Cities—and the Journey between Them

[This post was originally published in November 2013] My previous post considered Moscow and Saint Petersburg to be Russia’s twin primate cities. The special role of these two cities is further highlighted by a consideration of the...

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Medvedev Could Care Less About Japan’s Reaction to His Visit to Kuril ...

May 14, 2015 by

Medvedev Could Care Less About Japan’s Reaction to His Visit to Kuril Islands

[This post was originally published in July 2012] As discussed in my earlier news post, tensions remain high between Russia and Japan over the legal status of the four Southern Kuril islands: Etorofu (Iturup), Kunashiri (Kunashir),...

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Japan to Seek Only Two Russian-held Kuril Islands

May 14, 2015 by

Japan to Seek Only Two Russian-held Kuril Islands

[This post was originally published in May 2012] The Japanese government offers to negotiate the return of two rather than all four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, in hopes that the proposed compromise might finally lead to a...

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