Liveblogging Kalamazoo (Thursday 7:30-9 pm)

[hrj]

Session 183: New Work by Young Celtic Studies Scholars

Ornament and Incarnation in Insular Art (Ben C. Tilghman, Walters Art Museum)

The title was typoed in the schedule as “Ornament and Incantation …” which sounded quite intriguing. Discusses the use of artistic style for the dating of artifacts, e.g., cross-comparing jewelry and manuscripts with similar ornamental styles to localize one or the other. This is a preface to his main theme about the use of ornament to express the incarnation of God. Examples taken from the Gospels of the Book of Durrow, relating the relationship of the symbols of the evangelists to their framing ornamental motifs to symbolic values of either the evangelists themselves or their symbolic function in relation to Christ. (Don’t try too hard to unpack that.) Switching to the Book of Kells, the “unfinished” ornament at the beginning of Matthew leads the eye further in with gradual elaboration from page to page. He suggests this is a deliberate technique (rather than an unfinished project) with the progression then being “incarnated” with the explosion of ornament of the major decorated pages. It goes on into more and more minute detail. I feel like I’m listening to a theological exegesis rather than an art history critique, in part because if feels like faith is a key part of receiving the interpretation. Maybe sometimes the lack of ornament really is an unfinished artwork?

Diminutive Expressions in Middle Welsh (Karolina Rosiak, Adam Mickiewicz Univ.)

This is the paper I really came to the session for – who could resist Welsh linguistics? Her paper is part of a larger exploration of mode and how diminutives relate to mode. (I assume I’ll find out what she means by “mode” somewhere in here.) Diminutives can be snthetic, i.e. indicated by grammatical form such as sound-symbolism (“tiny” vs. “teeny”), by grammatical displacement, e.g., referring to the addressee in the 3rd person. But they can also be formed by word-formation processes, e.g., compounding, suffixing, reduplication. Another method is by analyitc diminutives, i.e., where the overt semantic form indicates diminutive size, e.g., in Welsh the use of “bach” (small) as an endearment. The diminutive process can create a change in the denotational meaning (e.g., the Welsh conversion of unitary plurals, such as “pryf” insects, worms, to singulars “pryfyn” (insect, worm). Or diminutives can change the connotation meaning, e.g., endearments. But some change connotational meaning negatively. Pragmatic usage of diminutives can depend on the nature and relationship of the interlocutors (when not simply denotational), such as adult to child.

We now get a survey of different analytic methods of forming diminutives in all Celtic languages. And a survey of the Welsh sources used for her study. Earliest examples come from place-names, which don’t speak to the pragmatics of interpersonal use. Examples use “-ig”, “-yn”, “-an”. Some personal name evidence, esp. for the “-an” suffix.

Catalog of suffixes:

-an from Late Brit. –agn-; retains grammatical gender of root word, may occur interchangeably with other suffixes such as “-ig” with similar meaning

-yn (m), -en (f); different gendered forms, suffixed form retains gender of root, this is the suffix used to form singulatives of plural roots

-ig < Brit. –iko-; primarily forms feminine diminutives, but this can be overridded by the semantics of the root in the case of animate (esp. human) references

-ach < Brit. –akkos; usually conveys derogatory meaning, forms mostly masculine nouns

-os; neutrally diminutive

-ell; rare
-cyn (m), -cen (f); only attested at later period (me: I’ve always interpreted this one as a borrowing of English “-kin”, I mentioned this in the Q&A and it turns out other opinions concurr)

Compounds, e.g., “man” (small) prefixed to form close compound

What Is This Meat Product? What’s at Stake in Translating “Aislinge meic
Conglinne” (Lahney Preston-Matto, Adelphi Univ.) -- Paper was moved earlier in the day … good thing I wasn’t counting on hearing this one.

Comments

[aastg.livejournal.com]

That last one sounds like it would have been really interesting. I read a translation of it, oh, probably 30 years ago. Is there a good *current* one that you're aware of?

[hudebnik.livejournal.com]

I work at Adelphi, and I see Lahney around campus every few days; I can ask her when she gets back from Kzoo. Or, of course, you could e-mail her yourself :-)

[(Anonymous)]

The speaker said her translation is coming out in spring 2010.

But how as "mode" defined?

[(Anonymous)]

Forgive me if I was not reading carefully, but did you get a clear definition of the term?

Re: But how as "mode" defined?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

From context, I think she was using it to mean something in the range of "register" or "pragmatic purpose".

[countess-e.livejournal.com]

OK. That's it. I give. I am SO GOING TO KALAMAZOO.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

If you really truly decide to come, we could be roommates in the dorm and I could introduce you to all the cool kids.

[countess-e.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a lot of good company. We'll talk.

[(Anonymous)]

hello, the author of the presentation here. I did not talk about any modes in my paper. What I did say was that the paper constituted a part of a larger REASEARCH PROJECT into diminutive expressions in Welsh. Hope that helps. :)