Alliterativa Causa - 18-19 January 2013
A conference organized by the Folklore Society, the University of Tartu and the Warburg Institute
Click here to download the poster
Alliteration, the repetition of the initial sounds of words as for instance in ‘sessions of sweet silent thought’, is a widespread feature of verbal art. Yet its ‘rules’ and meaning vary greatly in different languages, periods and genres. This conference, which is a follow-up to a 2007 conference ‘Alliteration in Culture’ also held at the Institute, attempts to investigate some of the uses alliteration has been and is still put to. Presenters will discuss alliteration in verse in a variety of languages, including Icelandic, Georgian, Karelian, Estonian, Russian and English. And alliteration in prose will not be neglected either, with coverage of Finnish, Latvian, and Irish Gaelic examples amongst others. Genres under discussion will include proverbs, Lutheran hymns, laments and Arthurian legends.
Organisers: Jonathan Roper (Folklore Society) and Caroline Oates (Folklore Society/Warburg Institute)
Speakers: Will Abberley (Exeter), Daniel Abondolo (London), Ragnar Ingi Aðalsteinsson (Reykjavik), Frank Boers (Wellington), Susan Deskis (Dekalb), June Eyckmans (Ghent), Etunimetön Frog (Helsinki), Māra Grudule (Riga), Helena Halmari (Huntsville), Kristin Hanson (Berkeley), Judith Jefferson (Bristol), Tuomas Lehtonen (Helsinki), Seth Lindstromberg (Hilderstone), Mihhail Lotman (Tallinn), Maria-Kristiina Lotman (Tartu), Marcas Mac Connigh (Belfast), Ad Putter (Bristol), JOnathan Roper (London), Jeremy Scott Ecke (Little Rock)and Eila Stepanova (Helsinki)
Programme
Friday, 18 January 2013
10.00 Doors open and registration
10: 30 Alliteration in Nordic verse
Etunimetön Frog (Helsinki): Reading Alliteratively: Mythology, Oral Poety and Lexical Semantics in a Dead Language
Ragnar Ingi Aðalsteinsson (Reykjavik): Vocalic Alliteration in Icelandic
11.30 Tea (Common Room)
11: 45 Broad Perspectives on Alliteration
Seth Lindstromberg, June Eyckmans, Frank Boers (Hilderstone, Ghent, Wellington): Not all patterns of sound repetition make foreign language phrases easier to recall: the case of consonance
Daniel Abondolo (London): Synchronic means, diachronic ends: tools in the workshop of alliteration
Will Abberley (Exeter): ‘This Barbaric Love of Repeating the Same Sound’: Alliteration and ‘Primitive’ Speech in the Victorian Evolutionary Imagination
13.00 Lunch for speakers and organisers (Classroom 1)
Common Room open for delegates (Lunch is not provided for delegates)
14: 00 Alliteration in Eastern Europe
Eila Stepanova (Helsinki): Kallehen kandajazen kandamaista kaimatah: Variety and Flexibility of Alliteration in Karelian Laments
Jonathan Roper (London) : Lost, Gained and Found: the Fate of Alliteration in Translation
15.00 Tea (Common Room)
15:20 Alliteration in English verse
Jeremy Scott Ecke (Little Rock): Alliteration and Innovation: Rethinking the Alliterative Line
Ad Putter, Judith Jefferson (Bristol): Alliteration and Rhyme: The Awntyrs off Arthure
Wine reception sponsored by the Folklore Society (Common Room)
Saturday, 19 January 2013
10.00 Doors open and registration; Tea (Common Room)
10: 30 Alliteration and translation
Tuomas Lehtonen (Helsinki): Alliteration in Finnish Lutheran Hymns and Oral Kalevalaic Poetics: Religious, Cultural and Linguistic Shift during the Reformation
Māra Grudule (Riga): Adapting Luther to the Baroque: Sound Effects in Seventeenth-Century Latvian Poetry
Mihhail Lotman, Maria-Kristiina Lotman (Tallinn, Tartu): Alliteration, its form and functions in original and translated poetry
12:00 Lunch for speakers and organisers (Classroom 1)
Common Room open for delegates (Lunch is not provided for delegates)
13: 00 Alliteration and proverbs
Marcas Mac Connigh (Belfast): Alliteration in Irish-language Proverbs
Susan Deskis (Dekalb): The Authority of Alliterative Proverbs in Medieval England
14:00 Tea (Common Room)
14:20 Alliteration and authority
Helena Halmari (Huntsville): Alliterative patterns and language switching in Oxford, MS Bodley 649
Kristin Hanson (Berkeley): Formal Variation in the Alliteration of Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf: A New Verse Translation
15:30 Close
Fees and Registration for conference delegates
For one day ticket (either Friday or Saturday): £15.00 standard price; £10.00 for Folklore Society members and full-time students/retired
For two day ticket: £25.00 standard fee (£15.00 for Folklore Society members and full-time students/retired)
Please note these prices include tea/coffee in the morning and afternoon, but do not include lunch.
Please click here to register and pay online (Please note that in order to attend the conference you need to register and pay online in advance).
Illustration: Alliteration from Cato, De Agr., 141.