COPIUS Summer School in Uralic Etymology

The COPIUS network of Uralic studies, hosted by the University of Vienna, will organize a Summer School in Uralic etymology from 9 to 13 August 2021.

The summer school will be organized in online form via Zoom. The course will consist of lectures dealing with methodological questions of etymology and historical lexicology and particular problems of Uralic etymology (such as the reconstruction of Proto-Uralic lexicon, role of language contact and loanwords in Uralic etymology and the relationship of historical phonology and etymology).

Most of the lectures will be taught by Sampsa Holopainen (post doc scholar in the University of Vienna & Austrian Academy of Sciences) but the summer school will include guest lectures by specialists of various Uralic languages and areas of etymology: Johanna Laakso (professor, University of Vienna), Janne Saarikivi (docent, University of Helsinki) and Juho Pystynen (researcher, University of Helsinki).

In addition to lectures, the course will consist of daily group work, discussions and reading assignments during and before the course. Workload will be three lectures + group work session via Zoom daily (+ the assignments). Also (voluntary) social program via Zoom is planned.

The language of tuition is English. The readings during the course will depend on the students’  language skills, but the pre-course readings will be in English (reading knowledge of Finnish, Hungarian or German is useful but not necessary).

The students will earn 3 credits for participation in the course and completion of the required assignments.

This will be an introductory course to etymology aimed primarily to students of Uralic (Finno-Ugric) linguistics. Also students of other languages are welcome to apply, but basic knowledge of either one or more Uralic languages or basic compact of the methods of historical-comparative linguistics is highly recommended.

The deadline for applications is 15 July. Please send your applications via e-mail to sampsa.petteri.holopainen@univie.ac.at. The applications should contain the following information: name, e-mail address, academic affiliation and a short description (3–5 sentences) of your interests and reasons to attend this course.

The students will be informed about their acceptance by 20 July and the pre-course reading materials and more information on the program will be sent by 25 July.

For further information, please contact Sampsa Holopainen (sampsa.petteri.holopainen@univie.ac.at).