Elisabetta RAGAGNIN

Research interests

The research interests of Elisabetta Ragagnin include the fields of linguistics, philology, cultural studies and literature of Turkic and Mongolic languages and peoples, as well as Silk Road Studies, covering a vast geographical area stretching from the Near East and the Caucasus to Central Asia and Mongolia. Within this broad range of interests, her focus is on Turkic and Mongolic linguistics, especially ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics and contact linguistics. She has undertaken extensive fieldwork on endangered Turkic languages and cultures of Mongolia and Iran. Old and Middle Turkic sources, particularly the trans-regional languages Chaghatay and Ajemi Turkic, as well as pre-classical and classical Mongolian literary monuments are also central to her research interests. Moreover, she has a broad interest in anthropology, ethnography and literature including Turkic and Mongolian culinary culture, Central Asian nomadic culture, shamanism, Turkic and Mongolian throat-singing, mediaeval and pre-modern odeporic literature, as well as Turkic and Mongolian oral literatures and folklore.

Qualifications

15/06/2023: Abilitazione scientifica nazionale (Habilitation) to Full Professor (10/N1 - Culture del Vicino Oriente Antico, del Medio Oriente e dell'Africa”)

2014: Abilitazione scientifica nazionale (Habilitation) to Associate Professor (10/N1 “Culture del Vicino Oriente Antico, del Medio Oriente e dell'Africa” and 10/N3 “Culture dell’Asia Centrale e orientale”)

2008: PhD (summa cum laude) in Turcology at the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz Doctoral dissertation: Dukhan, a Turkic variety of northern Mongolia: Description and Analysis

1996: Master Degree in Oriental Languages and Literatures (Persian, Turkic, Altaic and Arabic Studies) at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (108/110)

Positions Held

February 2020 onwards: associate Professor at the Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

April 2015-January 2020: Professor (W2) at the Department of History and Cultural Studies, Institute for Turcology, Free University Berlin

September - October 2017: Visiting professor at the Minzu University of China (MUS), Beijing

May 2015 – onwards: External affiliated researcher at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge (UK)

October 2013-March 2015: Research Associate, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge (UK)

June 2013: Winner of a Maître de conférences position in “Linguistique des langues turques” at INALCO (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales), Paris [refused]

October 2010- September 2013: Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin) at the department of Turcology and Central Asian Studies, Georg August University, Göttingen

October 2003-October 2010: Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin) at the Institute of Turcology / Altaic linguistics, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main

December 2001- February 2002: Visiting Fellow at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Institute of Advanced Study, La Trobe University, Australia

Honors and awards

2014: Honorary Doctorate awarded by the Azerbaijanian Academy of Sciences (Baku)

Editorship and Membership 

Editor-in-chief of the Book Series Hilâl: Studi turchi e ottomani, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice

Deputy editor-in-chief of the Book Series Marco Polo: Studies in Global Europe-Asia Connections, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari, Venice

Editorial board member of the Book Series Languages of Asia, Brill, Leiden

Editorial board member of the Journal Turkic Languages, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden

Editorial board member of the International Journal of Eurasian Linguistics, Brill, Leiden

Scientific Board Member of the Journal Acta Mongolica, Ulaanbaatar

Editorial board member of the Journal Mongolia: area and culture studies, Ulaanbaatar

Scientific Board Member of the Journal Türkologiya, Baku

Editorial board member of the Journal Tehlikedeki diller dergisi / Journal of Endangered Languages, Ankara

Scientific Board Member of the Book Series STRADE (Spiritualità e Tradizioni Religiose: Approcci, Discipline, Etnografie), FrancoAngeli: Milano

Elected member of: Academia Europaea (2023-)

Member of: International association of Mongolian Studies (IAMS)

Member of: Societas Uralo-Altaica (SUA)

Member of: Società Italiana di Glottologia (SIG)

Member of: Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE)

Member of the Executive Board of: Associazione per lo Studio in Italia dell’Asia Centrale e del Caucaso (ASIAC)

Member of the Executive Board of: Associazione Italiana di Studi Tibetani, Himalayani e Mongoli (AISTHiM)

 Participation in research projects

-Scientific member of: Spoke 9 – Cultural Resources for Sustainable Tourism (CREST) -  PNRR Changes (Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Sustainable Society) (current)

-Marco Polo Elettronico: Ca’ Foscari Research Project (project leaders: Eugenio Burgio & Antonella Ghersetti & Marina Buzzoni, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), 2012-2014

My contribution: analysis of Mongolic and Turkic lexemes

https://virgo.unive.it/ecf-workflow/books/Ramusio/main/index.html

-Le domande degli angeli. L’idea della morte nell’Islam, nello sciamanesimo turco-mongolo e nel Cristianesimo: una migrazione di riti, simboli e credenze: Prin 2008 (head of division: Maria Pia Pedani, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

My contribution: research on Turkic and Mongolic death terminology

https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/media/pdf/books/978-88-97735-10-6/978-88-97735-10-6.pdf

 Member of the following research groups:

“Lexical constraints”, University of Amsterdam (https://lexicalrestrictions.com/research-group/)

“Serial Verbs Constructions across Modalities", University of Amsterdam (https://aclc.uva.nl/content/research-groups/serial-verb-constructions/serial-verb-constructions.html)

Fieldwork sojourns

2022: (October-November): Mongolia

2019: (April): Azerbaijan

2018: (August): Mongolia

2017: (August-September): Mongolia

2016: (October): Azerbaijan

2016: (August-September): Mongolia

2015 (October): Iran; (mid-August – mid-September): Mongolia; (March): Iran

2014 (April-May, October-November): Azerbaijan; (September): Mongolia

2013: (March): Mongolia; (September): Iran

2012 (April-October): Silk Road expedition (from Venice to the Jade Gate, through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang and Gansu/China)

2011 (August-October): Mongolia

2009: (September): Mongolia

2008 (August): Mongolia

2006 (August-September): Russian Federation (Tuvan Republic)

2002 (August-September): Mongolia

2001 (August-October): Mongolia

2000 (August-November): Mongolia

1999 (August-September): Mongolia

1998 (August): Mongolia

 Conference participation and invited lectures (selection)

Code-copying in Uyghur-Uriankhay (Tuhan) (Invited talk). 5th Conference of Mongolic Linguistics, 15-18 August 2023, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar

Марко Поло судлал: Судалгааны шинэ үр дүн ба одоо хийж буй судалгаа / Marco Polo Studies: new discoveries and ongoing researches. In: The 12th International Congress of Mongolists “Pax Mongolica and historical experience” under the auspices of the President of Mongolia Khurelsukh Ukhnaa, 09-14 August 2023, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Mongolic layers in Sayan Turkic varieties in Mongolia (Invited talk). In: New trends of Mongolic Studies in Europe, International workshop, L’Orientale University, Naples, May 29, 2023

Further notes on Mongolic elements in Uyghur-Uriankhay (Tuhan) (Invited talk). In: Turkish and Mongolian Studies: Sir G. Clauson and Talat Tekin’s Contributions (International Symposium), Istanbul University, Istanbul, November 28-29, 2022   

Minority Turkic languages in language contact situations in Iran: case studies. Invited lecture at: Austrian Academy of Sciences Institute of Iranian Studies &  Wiener Sprachgesellschaft, Wien, December 6, 2022 

Marco Polo: Venetian ambassador for cultural diversity along the Silk Roads (& Samuela Simion (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Davide Rizzi (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Adiya Munkhtsetseg (National Council of Language Policy, Ulaanbaatar), and Yondonryenchin Munkhbat (Mongolian Academy of Sciences). In: 6th Annual International Conference of IASS (the International Association for Silk-Road Studies) “The Roles of Intellectuals for Enhancing Cultural Diversity along the Silk Roads, November 24 & 25, 2021      

Crossroads, watchposts and isoglosses: sighting of Altaic ostension. In: 64th Permanent International Conference of Altaic Studies (PIAC), Budapest, Karoly Gaspar University, August 21-26, 2022        

The Mongolic languages: History, evolution and typology: (online) Invited Lecture at: La Sapienza University, November 18, 2021