Editorial Principles
Editorial Principles of Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica
The Manuscript Materials and the Digital Edition
Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica (MCJS) refers to the notes recorded in and about the Tundra Nenets and Forest Nenets languages by Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852) during his field expeditions, archived in the National Library of Finland. Castrén carried out studies among the Tundra Nenets in 1842–1844 and again in 1846, and among the Forest Nenets briefly in 1845. The manuscripts in question contain a large collection of Tundra Nenets materials and a much smaller Forest Nenets corpus. Castrén made grammatical and lexical notes of both Nenets languages, while only the Tundra Nenets corpus includes folklore texts. MCJS represents by far the largest section of the entire Manuscripta Castreniana, and their publication history is accordingly very diverse. The manuscript materials themselves are heterogeneous and range from lexical data, grammatical paradigms, and linguistic commentary to folklore notes with translations into Swedish and Russian and accounts of ethnology, history, and statistics. Consequently, slightly different editorial principles have been applied to the linguistic materials (Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Linguistica) and to folklore notes (Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Folkloristica) as well as the section containing ethnological and other data (Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Ethnographica), the editorial process of which is currently less advanced. The manuscript of the grammar of the Samoyed languages nearly finished for publication by Castrén (volume MC VII Samoiedica 1 in the manuscripts) that was posthumously edited and published by Anton von Schiefner (Castrén 1855b) is not included in MCJS, as it deals not only with the Nenets languages but also the other Samoyed languages recorded by Castrén.
The digital edition of MCJS consists of the following sections within Castrén’s manuscripts:
MC VIII SAMOIEDICA 2: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 1 (mikrofiches 62–68)
- Grammaticalia pagg. 1–148
- Ordförteckningar pagg. 149–546
- Samojediska sagor pagg. 547–590
MC IX SAMOIEDICA 3: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 2 (mikrofiches 69–78)
- Samojediska talöfningar samt Grammatikaliska anteckningar (Kanin, Timan). Poemata et notae musicae pagg. 1–190
- Samojediskt Vocabularium (Archangelsk, Mesen, Nes, Izma, Kolva) pagg. 191–286
- Vocabularia pagg. 287–348
- (Utkast till jurak-samoj. ljudläran) pagg. 349–426
- Fragmenta grammaticalia pagg. 427–432
- Grammatikaliska Anmärkningar öfwer Samojed-språket pagg. 433–747
- Grammaticalia pagg. 749–867
- Utdrag ur Arkimandriten Vinjamens Samojediska Grammatik pagg. 869–906
MC X SAMOIEDICA 4: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 3 (mikrofiches 79–81)
- Grammaticalia et Vocabularia Pustosersk, Obdorsk etc. pagg. 1–248
MC XI SAMOIEDICA 5: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 4 (mikrofiches 82–85)
- Anmärkningar öfwer Jurakiskan (Plachina, Chantaiko) pagg. 1–194
- Anteckningar öfwer Jurakiskan i Dudinka och Tolstoj Nos pagg. 195–218
- Anmärkningar öfver den Kondinska dialecten af Samojediskan, gjorda i byn Toropkowa wid Obfloden 1845 om sommaren pagg. 219–294
MC XII SAMOIEDICA 6: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 5 (mikrofiches 86–91)
- Samojedisk ordbok (jur. samoj. - svensk) (resp. rysk.) alfabetisk ordbok; Tas, Dud, B, Ob, Tob, Knd, Bs) pagg. 1–410
- Samojedisk ordbok (Renskrivet exemplar) pagg. 411–518
- Vocabularia pagg. 519–532
MC XIII SAMOIEDICA 7: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 6 (mikrofiches 92–95)
- Etnographiska, Historiska och Statistiska Anmärkningar pagg. 1–272
- Varia pagg. 273–280
- Rysk handling (angående samojedernas språk och språkkunskap) pagg. 281–284
- Rysk handling (angående samojedernas från Bolsesemelska tundran omvändelse till kristendomen pagg. 285–310
- Rysk handling (angående samojediska namn) pagg. 311–340
MCJS Folkloristica consists of data in sections 2 (Ordförteckningar) and 3 (Samojediska sagor) of MC VIII SAMOIEDICA 2: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 1, and sections 1 (Samojediska talöfningar samt Grammatikaliska anteckningar [Kanin, Timan]. Poemata et notae musicae) and 2 (Samojediskt Vocabularium [Archangelsk, Mesen, Nes, Izma, Kolva]) of MC IX SAMOIEDICA 3: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 2. MCJS Ethnographica consists of section 1 (Etnographiska, Historiska och Statistiska Anmärkningar) of MC XIII SAMOIEDICA 7: JURAK-SAMOIEDICA 6 (sections 2–5 of this volume have not been edited yet). The remaining data belong to MCJS Linguistica.
The divisions of the MCJS Digital Edition
MCJS Linguistica deals with the entire corpora of Castrén’s published and unpublished linguistic field materials of Tundra Nenets and Forest Nenets. In the course of the project, all of the original manuscripts will be published electronically and accompanied with commentary on both the earlier publications and the current understanding of the data.
MCJS Folkloristica contains the Tundra Nenets folklore manuscripts as well as the accompanying notes. Castrén’s records of sung, metrically organized Tundra Nenets folklore have been published by Schiefner in Castrén (1854) and in an edited form by Lehtisalo in Castrén (1940). Lehtisalo made minor changes to the transcription and the line structure of Castrén’s records, and while these changes have not yet been subject to a systematic comparison in the digital edition, they will constitute a major future task in the digital edition. Lehtisalo also made a number of changes in the order of the texts, which is discussed in the appendix article to the digital edition (Lukin 2017). The digital edition aims at organizing the texts in the way Castrén had intended, including his contemporary understanding of the classification of folklore, and reflecting their acquisition through the fieldwork process. In addition to the sung poetry, five Samoyed tales, included in the posthumous publications in Swedish (1857a) and German (1857b), are also published in the digital edition. Furthermore, the digital edition contains a number of previously unpublished texts, i.e., short individual songs, two translations of Orthodox liturgical texts, and a manuscript on Nenets songs. The value of Castrén’s folklore notes, from the point of view of the evolving paradigm of ethnology, of the Nenets genre system, and of the practice of performing Nenets epic poetry, is discussed in the appendix article (Lukin 2017), where the epic poems and tales are summarized in the section called the Description of the Material in Manuscripta Jurak-Samoiedica Folkloristica.
MCJS Ethnographica consists of Castrén’s non-linguistic remarks within the scheme provided on the Contents page of the Ethnologiska, historiska och statistiska anmärkningar manuscript together with scattered notes in other divisions of the collection. The notes’ character varies from well-structured ethnographic descriptions, which seem to be prepared for publication, to extremely scattered points on varying subject matters. These notes have not been published as such before, although some parts have appeared in Castrén’s published travelogues.
Changes in the text
The varying editorial principles with regard to the sections of Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica notwithstanding, the point of departure of the editorial work in the digital edition has always been to follow Castrén’s manuscripts as accurately as possible. The digital edition is, therefore, a ‘diplomatic’ documentary edition, which intends to present Castrén’s original records to the international academic audience for future research. At the same time, the digital edition incorporates texts in the current Tundra Nenets orthography for the purpose of making it accessible to a wider Tundra Nenets readership.
While the digital edition of Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica aims to present Castrén’s records to the readers as close to the original manuscript as possible, some changes proved to be inevitable when hand-written text was digitized.
In MCJS Linguistica, corrections that were in all likelihood made by Castrén himself at the time of the writing down of the material have been incorporated into the digital edition without further comment, and a limited number of purely graphic modifications have been carried out. The Swedish and Russian glosses appear, as a rule, in their original form, and any changes would be referred to in a special commentary.
As for Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Folkloristica, special care has been taken in the digital edition to include the numerous deletions, additions, and clarifications, even if they may make the records somewhat arduous to read. The main concern here involves the records made in the initial phase of Castrén’s fieldwork, when he was still learning the Tundra Nenets language and developing a coherent transcription system for it. The so-called ‘first hand’ of Castrén has been taken as the starting-point for the sake of consistency, and all of the many deletions and additions are presented as such, even, in contrast with the practice of MCJS Linguistica, in cases where it is clear that they were made immediately to correct a mistake. Numerous notes and clarifications made by Castrén are included in the digital edition in the form of comments, including both contextual information related to the interpretation of the folklore texts, most likely made by the informants, and lexical clarifications, notably adding the basic form or some inflected forms as well as the meaning of a particular word. Consequently, the Tundra Nenets folklore texts have not been ‘normalized’ or ‘standardized’ in any manner, insofar as one of the aims of the project is to represent the development of Castrén’s transcription system and the process of recording ethnological material in the course of his fieldwork.
Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Ethnographica is based on manuscripts written mostly in Swedish, and only occasionally representing Tundra Nenets expressions, such as place names and short stretches of ritual poetry. This is why the editorial principles follow those adopted in editing Castrén’s field notes and diaries representing similar kind of manuscript data within Manuscripta Castreniana Personalia II. Itineraria 1-2: the changes made by Castrén are shown in pink and minor additions in blue. His longer additions and comments, often appearing at the end of the page, are shown in grey. Manuscript pagination is shown in all texts published from manuscripts. If the pagination has been changed, which is the case towards the end of Ethnographiska, historiska och statistiska anmärkningar and in the Strödda ethnographiska anmärknigar, it is indicated. The transcription of the Swedish text shows unclear or illegible words or expressions with < >; the length of the illegible word is shown with <---->. Additionally, parts of words abbreviated by Castrén have been placed within square brackets [ ].
The notes included in the transcription of the Swedish text have been used to provide the texts with explanations. In addition, place names and Tundra Nenets words or expressions have been commented on. Normalised interpretations, following the contemporary Cyrillic orthography of Tundra Nenets expressions, are represented in the editorial notes. In the commentary notes, names in Cyrillic script have been transliterated according to the scholarly standard. If it has not been possible to identify a place or fully reconstruct a personal name mentioned by Castrén, his own spelling is given. Tundra Nenets is represented in the notes in Cyrillic letters. The Latin transliteration is given in the English translation.
Experts in different fields have joined in writing the commentary, and every note with a commentary is marked with the commentator’s initials. KL=Karina Lukin represents the default commentator. The other experts include TaS=Tapani Salminen, TS=Timo Salminen, RL=Roza Laptander, and UMF=Ulla-Maija Forsberg.
In addition to the transcription of the text, Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica Ethnographica also provides an English translation of the manuscript. The translation represents a so-called normalised version of Castrén’s manuscript in the sense that the additions, often placed on the top or bottom of the page, have instead been integrated in the text.
The Principles of Encoding Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica
Manuscripta Castreniana Jurak-Samoiedica has been encoded in XML form (eXtensible Markup Language) according to the Guidelines of TEI consortium. (TEI: P5 Guidelines 2007). The xml/TEI files are represented in the edition in html.
The starting point of the encoding has been firstly to represent the structure of Castrén’s notes and secondly to avoid complicated structures. One folklore text has been encoded in a single file. The columns that have been used by Castrén to separate the Tundra Nenets version of the sung poetry and its translation into Swedish or Russian are treated as different divisions (<div>), which are further divided into pages and lines (<pb>; <l>). Each line has been given a number using the xml:id attribute so that the line numbers in both divisions correspond to each other. The <linkGrp> element has been used to link the corresponding lines to each other in the xml/TEI file.
In the encoding of the texts themselves the elements <del> and <add> have been used to encode the deletions and additions, and Castrén’s comments are encoded with the <note> element and the xml:id attribute MAC. The underlining has been encoded with the element <hi>. The unavoidable parts that could not be encoded because of the quality of the text have been encoded with <unclear>.
In the prose texts the elements <p> (paragraph) and <ab> (anonymous block) have been used.
Karina Lukin & Tapani Salminen 2018