Evgeniy V. Golovko

Doctor of Science in Philology, corresponding member of Russian Academy of Science, Head of the Department of the National languages of Russia, Institute for Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences; Editor-in-Chief of “Acta Linguistica Petropolitana”

Research interests

• Eskimo-Aleut languages
• languages in contact
• culture and language change
• language and identity
• ethnography of speaking
• language and culture
• sociolinguistics

Biography

In 1979, Professor Golovko graduated from St. Petersburg State University Philology Department with a specialization in English translation. From 1979 through 1984, he studied at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR, Academy of Sciences (now Institute of Linguistic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences), first as an intern researcher, then as a full-time graduate student. He studied the grammatical structure of the Aleut language and the language of the Naukan Eskimos. The results of the Aleutian research were published in articles, dictionaries, and language textbooks. Professor Golovko has also participated in the collaborative authorship of  several monographs from the Labratory of Typological Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Since the mid-1980s, his experience teaching at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute has interested him in minority languages and language policy issues. Since the early 1990s, his research interests have continued to shift towards a sociolinguistic / cultural anthropological perspective. From 1993-1997, he participated in “Traveling Between Continents: Interethnic Contacts in the Bering Strait Area,” a project whose primary focus was the social organization of interethnic relations, but also worked to record and interpret oral history. From 1998-2000, he participated in “Creole Communities in Northeastern Siberia: An Ethnographic Study of Ethnic Identity, Social Status, and Political Power,” a project whose focus was the problem of (self-)identification in Russian communities from Siberia and the Far East. Since the mid-1980s, Professor Golovko has been interested in the problem of linguistic influence, particularly the influence of other languages on Russian, as well as the peculiarities of new languages (pidgins, creoles, etc.). In recent years, his interest in cultural and linguistic change has been reflected in a project geared towards the descendants of Russian colonists currently residing in Alaska.

Courses Taught (in various years)

European University at St. Petersburg, Dept. of Anthropology

Anthropology of Ethnicity (with S. Shtyrkov)

Linguistic Anthropology

New Languages

New Identities

Ethnography of Speech

Language and Power

Language and Culture

Siberia: Introduction to the Region (IMARES course)

St.Petersburg State University, Dept. of Philology

Sociolinguistic Methods of Research

Language and Self-identification

Ethnography of Speech

Introduction to Linguistics

Herzen State Pedagogical University, Dept. of the Peoples of the North

Eskimo Language

Aleut Language

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Anthropology Department

The Nature of Language

Language and Culture

Language Contact

Research Projects

2013-2015

"Language Change in Non-written Languages",  RHF

2012-2014

"Stories about Traditional Culture in the Siberian and Far East Peoples' Languages", financed by the Presidium Program, RAS

2010, 2012

Participation in the project “Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages,” advised by M. Krauss, financed by the US National Science Foundation

2011-2013

“Stories about Traditional Culture in Far Eastern Folk Languages,” financed by the Presidium Program, RAS

2011

Participation in the project “Moved by the State,” advised by P. Schweitzer, financed by the US National Science Foundation

2009-2010

Participation in the project “Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages,” advised by M. Krauss, financed by the US National Science Foundation

2009-2011

“Russian-Language Influences on the Languages of Minorities Residing in Russia,” financed by the Presidium Program, RAS

2008-2010

“Typologically Rare and Unique Phenomena in the Languages of Russia,” financed by the RSF

2003

“A Description of the Medny-Aleut Language,” supported by the ACLS

1998-2000

“Merging Cultures in Northeastern Siberia: History, Ethnicity, Politics,” financed by the US National Science Foundation

1997-1998

“A Dictionary of the Naukan Eskimo Language,” financed by the Fulbright Foundation

1993-1997

“Traveling Between Continents: Interethnic Contacts in the Bering Strait Area,” financed by the US National Parks Service

1994

Work on the language of the Medny-Aleut, financed by INTAS

1991

“Indigenous Languages in Educational Institutions,” financed by the Leningrad Association of Polar Explorers and the French Academy of Sciences. Fieldwork in Chukotka, Kamchatka, and the Commander Islands on the international expedition “Scientists of the World to the Far North”

1982, 1985, 1989

Fieldwork in the Commander Islands, financed by the USSR Academy of Sciences

1980, 1990

Fieldwork on Eskimo languages in Chukotka, financed by the USSR Academy of Sciences

Fieldwork

1979

Anadyr, Chukotka, studying the grammatical structure of the Eskimo language

1982 (June-July), 1985 (July-September), 1988 (May-June)

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Nikolskoe, studying the sociolinguistic situation of the grammatical structure of the Aleut and Medny-Aleut languages

1990 (June-August)

Anadyr, Lavrentia, Uelen, Lorino, Chukotka, collecting lexical materials and studying the grammatical structure of the Eskimo language

1991 (April-May, August-September)

Sociolinguistic research on the status of the education of the languages of the peoples of the north in the cities and towns of Chukotka, Kamchatka, and the Commander Islands on the international expedition “Scientists of the World to the Far North”

1993 (Agusut-October), 1995 (June-July)

Anadyr, Lavrentia, Uelen, Lorino, Chukotka, working on the project “Traveling Between Continents: Interethnic Contacts Across the Bering Strait”

1994 (May-June), 1996 (July-August)

Nome, Cape Prince of Wales, Little Diomede Island, Teller, Shishmaref, Anchorage, Fairbanks working on the project “Traveling Between Continents: Interethnic Contacts Across the Bering Strait”

1998 (September-October), 1999 (July-August)

Yakutsk, Sakha, working on the project “Creole Communities in Northeastern Siberia: An Ethnographic Study of Ethnic Identity, Social Status, and Political Power”

2008 (August-September)

Kodiak City, Port Lions, Ouzinki, working on the project “Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages”

2009 (August-September)

Anchorage, Kenai, Ninilchik, working on the project “Documenting Alaskan and Neighboring Languages”

2010 (August-September)

Anchorage, Dutch Harbor (Unalaska Island), transcribing records of the defunct dialect of Atta Island, recorded on wax cylinders in 1909

2011 (August-September)

Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, Nikolskoe, studying the social and cultural traces of the Medny-Aleut in the Bering Strait, as well as documenting the Medny-Aleut language

2012 (October)

Anchorage, transcribing records of the defunct dialect of Atta Island, recorded on wax cylinders in 1909

2014 (December)

Anchorage, working with Aleut language speakers, transcribing records of the defunct Aleut dialect (Attu Island)