Alexandrina Cernov (24 November 1943 – 5 June 2024; uk, Александріна Чернова, Aleksandrina Chernova) was a Ukrainian academic, literary historian and

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

ethnicity. An honorary member of the Romanian Academy, she was

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

at the

Chernivtsi University Chernivtsi National University (full name Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, uk, Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича) is a public university in the City o ...

. Cernov was a relevant figure of the Romanian minority of Ukraine and an advocate for their minority rights. She apported significant contributions to Romanian cultural life in Ukraine and published studies regarding the Romanians in Ukraine as well as handbooks for use in their schools.

Biography

Alexandrina Cernov was born on 24 November 1943 in

Hotin Khotyn ( uk, Хотин, ; ro, Hotin, ; see other names) is a city in Dnistrovskyi Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi. It hosts the administration of Khotyn urban hromada, one of the ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

(now Khotyn, Ukraine). She studied at the (then known as the High School No. 32) in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

and later graduated from the University of Bucharest in 1961. From 1962 to 1966, she studied at the Faculty of Philology at the

, being from 1971 to 2002

at the Department of Romanian and Classical Philology of the university. In 1989, she presented her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

thesis ''Lingvostilistica comparată (româno-rusă) a limbajului poetic'' ("Comparative (Romanian–Russian) linguo-stylistics of the poetic language") in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ), also known as Kishinev (russian: Кишинёв, r=Kishinjóv ), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Republic of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial center, and is located in the ...

, in the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 1940 ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(now

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

). Cernov was a founding member of the Mihai Eminescu Society for Romanian Culture in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...

(), which was the first

cultural society authorised to exist within the Soviet Union. She was the organization's vice president in 1989 and its president from 1990 to 1994. In 1992, she became an honorary member of the Romanian Academy. Since 1994, she was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the quarterly history and culture journal ' ("The Voice of Bukovina"). She had been a founding member and director since 1995 of the publishing house Editura Alexandru cel Bun in Chernivtsi. In 1998, she was part of the staff of the

Romanian Cultural Foundation The Romanian Cultural Foundation ( ro, Fundaţia Culturală Română) is a Romanian non-governmental organization created in 1990 by writer Augustin Buzura, with the objective of stimulating cultural, artistic and scientific creations, promoting Rom ...

. Cernov worked in the redaction of

-language broadcasts for television broadcasts in Chernivtsi and at

Radio Ukraine International Radio Ukraine International (Ukrainian: ''Всесвітня служба "Радіо Україна"''), abbreviated RUI, is the official international broadcasting station of Ukraine. As a section of Suspilne and working from studios located i ...

. She was a relevant figure of the Romanian minority in Ukraine and an advocate for their minority rights. She criticized Ukraine's 2019 law "On protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language" regarding the extent of the use of the

Ukrainian language Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...

in the country, stating that it would affect the Romanians in Ukraine "very seriously". As of 2022, Cernov lived in Chernivtsi. Cernov died on 5 June 2024 in the

Putna Monastery The Putna monastery ( ro, Mănăstirea Putna) is a Romanian Orthodox monastery, one of the most important cultural, religious and artistic centers established in medieval Moldavia; as with many others, it was built and dedicated by Stephen the G ...

in Putna, Romania. Her funeral took place on 7 June in the monastery, and she was buried in its cemetery. The funeral was attended by various relevant Romanian academic, diplomatic and ecclesiastical figures.

Work

Cernov published articles and studies in the fields of comparative poetry, linguo-stylistics and

translation theory Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. She was also the author of several Romanian language and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

handbooks for use in schools of Ukraine's Romanian minority. Her academic interests included the history and culture of the region of

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...

, the situation of the Romanians in Northern Bukovina, the status and

stylistics Stylistics, a branch of applied linguistics, is the study and interpretation of texts of all types and/or spoken language in regard to their linguistic and tonal style, where style is the particular variety of language used by different individu ...

of the Romanian language, the history of Romanian literature,

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and comparative poetry. Cernov published the following books: * ''Gramatica comparativă româno-rusă. Fonetică și lexicologie''. Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. 1975. * ''Cernăuți, 1408 – 2008''.

Romanian Cultural Institute The Romanian Cultural Institute ( ro, Institutul Cultural Român, ICR), headquartered in Bucharest, was established in 2004 on the older institutional framework provided by the Romanian Cultural Foundation and before 1989 by the Institute for ...

. 2008. * ''Drama românilor din regiunea Cernăuți: masacre, deportări, foamete în 1940-1941, 1944-1947''. Editura Nicodim Caligraful. 2019. * ''Destinul bisericii românești din nordul Bucovinei în perioada sovietică: credință, limbă, identitate''. Editura Nicodim Caligraful. 2020. She also published the following school handbooks: * ''Pagini alese din literatura română și universală''. Chernivtsi: Editura Alexandru cel Bun. 2008. * ''Literatura română și universală, manual pentru clasa a VIII-a''.

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

: Svit All-Ukrainian Specialized Publishing House. 2008. * ''Literatura română și universală, manual pentru clasa a IX-a''. Lviv: Svit All-Ukrainian Specialized Publishing House. 2009.

Honours and awards

Cernov received the Award of the Romanian Cultural Foundation (1994), the Commemorative Medal "150 years since the birth of Mihai Eminescu" (2000, given by the Ministry of Culture of Romania) and the

National Order of Faithful Service The National Order of Faithful Service ( ro, Ordinul Național "Serviciul Credincios") is the second highest national order of Romania, with the Order of the Star of Romania being the highest national order. Originally it was established as the M ...

in the ranks of "Officer" (2004) and "Commander".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernov, Alexandrina 1943 births 2024 deaths People from Khotyn Ukrainian people of Romanian descent Romanian women academics Ukrainian women academics Romanian literary historians Ukrainian literary historians Romanian philologists Ukrainian philologists Minority rights activists University of Bucharest alumni Chernivtsi University alumni Academic staff of Chernivtsi University Honorary members of the Romanian Academy Recipients of the National Order of Faithful Service Burials at Putna Monastery