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Re: Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
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Re: [NABOKV-L] Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)Actually, the Russian [b] and [b'] are different phonemes and the distinction is semantic (ob and Ob' are two different words, not "variants" of the same word) and has nothing to do with "consonantal mutation."
SK
----- Original Message -----
From: Stan Kelly-Bootle
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 6:30 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
Grigori: the deeper linguistic point is whether hard-b and soft-b are separate phonemes in Russian! The b-sound is simply influenced by the following vowel (hard a or soft yah). (As indeed is the s before the soft e!) The Russian syllables s’eb and s’eb’ are “semantically” identical. Don’s interesting connection between seb’ya and Sebastian, whether etymologically sound [sic] or not, cannot be faulted on the grounds of consonantal mutation.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 23/05/2010 11:47, "Grigori Utgof" <utgof@TLU.EE> wrote:
Dear Don,
Your explanation is great, but there's always be a matter of palatalization: the reflexive pronoun "себя" is pronounced with the soft [б'] (like in the Russian "ребята"), while the word "Sebastian" has the hard [б] in it (like in the Russian "башня"); see also: Русская грамматика. М., 1980. T. 1. C. 35-40.
All the best,
Grigori
On May 22, 2010, at 9:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
Food for (s)peculation.
"I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither of us knows"
None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
Tennis, anyone?
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SK
----- Original Message -----
From: Stan Kelly-Bootle
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 6:30 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
Grigori: the deeper linguistic point is whether hard-b and soft-b are separate phonemes in Russian! The b-sound is simply influenced by the following vowel (hard a or soft yah). (As indeed is the s before the soft e!) The Russian syllables s’eb and s’eb’ are “semantically” identical. Don’s interesting connection between seb’ya and Sebastian, whether etymologically sound [sic] or not, cannot be faulted on the grounds of consonantal mutation.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 23/05/2010 11:47, "Grigori Utgof" <utgof@TLU.EE> wrote:
Dear Don,
Your explanation is great, but there's always be a matter of palatalization: the reflexive pronoun "себя" is pronounced with the soft [б'] (like in the Russian "ребята"), while the word "Sebastian" has the hard [б] in it (like in the Russian "башня"); see also: Русская грамматика. М., 1980. T. 1. C. 35-40.
All the best,
Grigori
On May 22, 2010, at 9:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
Food for (s)peculation.
"I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither of us knows"
None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
Tennis, anyone?
Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/