Roundtable: Church Slavonic and the Romanian-Speaking Lands – Vladislav Knoll

This presentation marks the publication in 2024 of a trilogy dedicated to the use of Church Slavonic and other Slavic-based language varieties among Romanian-speaking communities in Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania from the late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period.

The work traces the evolution, diversity, and functions of Slavonic writing across the territories of present-day Romania and the Republic of Moldova. It highlights the dynamic interactions between Slavonic and other regional languages, offering fresh insights into a complex multilingual landscape.

From the earliest local Old Church Slavonic inscriptions to the cultural and spiritual legacy of Paisij Velyčkovs’kyj and his monastic community, the three volumes provide a comprehensive account of a remarkable linguistic and cultural tradition.

At this event, the author, together with invited experts in the field, will present and discuss the trilogy, opening a conversation on a fascinating and often overlooked chapter of Slavic philology.

Vladislav Knoll is a researcher at the Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. His recent research interests include the history of Church Slavonic with a focus on the Romanian-speaking area and theoretical issues related to the functioning of multilingualism and language development in the premodern period. He is the author of Church Slavonic and the Romanian-Speaking Lands (I–III, Prague 2024), Kašubština v jazykovém kontaktu (Kashubian in Language Contact, Prague 2012), Církevní slovanština v pozdním středověku (Church Slavonic in the Late Middle Ages, Prague 2019), and coauthor of Sintaxi contrastiva del català amb les llengües eslaves (Contrastive Syntax of Catalan with Slavic Languages, Andorra 2011).

Speakers

Constanța Burlacu (Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

Cristian Gaşpar (Department of Historical Studies, Central European University)

Mihail-George Hâncu (Institute for South-East European Studies of the Romanian Academy)

Joachim Matzinger (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Moderator

Ovidiu Olar (Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Zoom link

https://oeaw-ac-at.zoom.us/j/68220179336?pwd=UuPkrLldPNHzB3KDMmnkovQqvcl2it.1
Meeting ID: 682 2017 9336
Passcode: D81Ber