Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-16
THE INFLUENCE
OF GEOGRAPHY
0NLANGUACES
Interesting Linguistic De.
v%elopments Traced Back
to Origin.

Russian language, while Slavic and
as such Indo-European, is at the same
time the transition speech between
the Indo-European and Uralo-AltAic
groups.
: '.As late as the twelfth century the
peoples. OF the basin of the volga
spoke purely Tartar dialects. The
wide and open steppes of Siberia, ex-
tending without break into Eastern
populations into the valleys Of the
Russian rivers which flow into the
Black Sea- The great Russian cities
of the %borderland between Europe
and Asia were either founded or
Slavicized after the eleventh century"
Leon Dominian writes in 1.-THE From
tiers of Language and Nationality in
Europe" about that time the
Slavic dialects Of the vistula and the
Dnieper began to blend with the
Asiatic languages of the, Okla. Kliasma
and Volga valleys. Modern Russian.
a mixture of Slavic and Tartar or
Monaghan words. was born Of the
blending. In a broader sense 1t is the
expression Of the union of Europe and
Asia to create a Russian nation, for
/ Russia is the product of the ancient
Russ or Ruthenian principalities and
the old Muscovite states. The former
were Slav and lay in Europe. The
latter were Tartar and belonged phys
ically to Asia. AS a nation the Rus
STA Of our time sprang into existence
at the end Of the seventeenth century.
Prior to that period, its western sec
ton is known to history as the land
| Of Russ or Ruthenia. Its eastern part
was Muscovy. Through the union OF
the eastern and western sections the
Russian empire of modern times
came into being. No literary monu-
ments antedate the birth of its nation
atty.
"In Russia the slav who is free
from Asiatic contamination Is rarely
met east of the thirty-ffth meridian
A line from Lake Ladoga to Lake H.
men and along this meridian to the
mouth of the Dnieper forms the di-
vide between the Russians of Europe
! and of Asia. The parting of the wa
ters belonging respectively to the
! Don and Dnieper is, from a racial
standpoint, the boundary between the
two groups. The Tartar in the Rus
sian appears east of this frontier
The Oriental customs which permeate
Russian life, the Tartar words of the
Russian language, all begin to assume
I intensity east of this dividing n
W1Illc " IlC "SSk 1IAC opAAAS SH
vast stretch of north Asiatic steppes
disappears. Thus the commonly &C
! cepted Ural frontier of European and
Asiatic Russia is unwarranted in the
light Of ethnic facts. The inhabitants
of the Volga lands are essentially
Asiatics. among whom the numerical
ly inferior Slav element has become
dominant.
"Asia's linguistic contribution tc
Europe. is the gift of it's unwooded
steppelands. The immense tract OF
monotonous country extending wes'
Of the Altai mountains to Europe is
the home of a family of languages
known as the Uralo-Altaic. Amons
these the highly vocalic branch OF
Finno-Ugrian travelled west with the
nomadic herdsnlen who used it. Ir
Europe it acquired the polish which
brought it to the forms recognized
respectively as Finish or Suomi and
Hungarian. Both enjoy the distinc'
ton of being the most cultivated Of
the great northern Asiatic family o.
languages. The case of Finnish is
especially remarkable owing to its
high development without loss Of its
original agg%lutinative character.
THE picture of this linguistic W
| luton a be painted only with the