嘉宾介绍：劳里•哈维拉提，芬兰文学学会民俗学档案馆馆长，学术兴趣主要为口头传统、数据管理和存档、史诗研究及《卡莱瓦拉》研究。田野调查的足迹遍布芬兰、俄罗斯、蒙古、中国、印度、孟加拉、肯尼亚等地。同时，还负责组织学术研讨会，筹划归档及数字化活动，为世界各地学生举办讲座、进行指导。

　　Guest：Lauri Harvilahti is Director of the Folklore Archives of the Finnish Literature Society. His current activities and interests include oral tradition, problems of archiving and management of data, epics, and Finnish Kalevala poetry. He has also carried out fieldwork in Finland, Russia, the Upper Altay (Russian Federation), in Mongolia, China, India, Bangladesh, and Kenya. He is also responsible for planning seminars, colloquia, planning archival and digitization activities and giving lectures and supervision for the students at home and abroad.

　　由中国社会科学院主办、民族文学研究所承办、芬兰文学学会、荷兰莱顿大学协办的中国社会科学论坛(2011•文学)以“世界濒危语言与口头传统跨学科研究”为主题，主要关注全球化时代人类在保持文化多样性与坚持可持续发展所面临的许多重要问题，强调不同文化背景和多学科之间的对话，主张从文化遗产学、口头传统研究、信息科学、传播学等多个领域对濒危语言与口头传统进行跨学科研究。本网记者在论坛上采访了芬兰文学学会民俗档案馆馆长劳里•哈维拉提(Lauri Harvilahti)、法国国家科学研究中心教授妮可•雷维尔(Nicole Revel)和美国密苏里大学口头传统中心主任约翰•迈尔斯•弗里(John Miles Foley)3位在濒危语言与口头传统研究领域具有影响力的国外专家和学者。此篇是系列访谈之一。

　　主持人：十分感谢您这两天为我们所作的精彩演讲。这次采访想提三个问题。第一个问题是，芬兰文学学会为史诗《卡莱瓦拉》建立了SKVR数据库，您能简要向我们介绍一下该数据库的特点和优势吗?

　　Presenter：Thank you for the inspiring lectures you gave us all these days. And we have three questions. The first question is that the Finnish Literature Society has established SKVR database of epic Kalevala. Could you please make a brief introduction of the characteristics and advantages of the database?

　　劳 里：我很乐意作个介绍。芬兰古诗歌数据库(简称SKVR数据库)里事实上包含了所有芬兰诗歌的原本，其中的一部分被用来创作《卡莱瓦拉》这部象征了芬兰的史诗。该数据库中储存有卷帙浩繁的来源于《卡莱瓦拉》印刷本的材料，共计27000余页，所以说这是个庞大的项目。

　　Lauri: My pleasure. Actually the Ancient Finnish Poems database (in short SKVR), is a database containing all the original poems, a part of them was used for composing the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The database contains all material from the printed volumes of the Kalevala poetry collection. The printed volumes consist of 27000 pages, so it has been a huge project.

　　主持人：您能谈谈该数据库的优势吗?

　　Presenter：Could you please give us a brief introduction of its advantages? What are the advantages of the database?

　　劳 里：好的。其优势在于，你可以不必翻阅纸质印刷本，而通过选择特殊的检索条件，如收集者、收集地点等等，就能完成快速检索。例如，搜索某个特定词汇，就能查到该词所有出现过的地方。

　　Lauri: Yes. The advantage is that you can make quick searches instead of using the printed volumes. The database enables searches by different criteria, for example, the collector and the place of collection, and so on. To give an example, by searching for a specific word, one is able to get all occurrences of that word as result.

　　主持人：这个数据库的运行必须稳定，尽量避免技术故障。

　　Presenter：The database must be stable to avoid any technical failures.

　　劳 里：对。数据库曾经出现过一些故障，但现在运行良好。当然，我们也正准备进一步对其进行改进。

　　Lauri: Yes, that’s right. Of course there were usually some failures but now it’s working very well. And there is also something we would like to change.

　　主持人：在建设数据库的过程中遇到的主要困难是什么?

　　Presenter：What are the major difficulties during the process of building the database?

　　劳 里：这是个好问题。当我们在90年代初期开始建设该数据库时，扫描器并不像今天这样先进，而且在当时的芬兰也缺乏必要的技术支持。在扫描之后，我们需要将全部数据转换成XML格式，以创建独立的数据平台。

　　Lauri: That’s also a good question, because you know, in the process when we were starting it in 1990s, the scanners were not so good as there are nowadays and we didn’t have enough knowledge in Finland. And after the scanning we have to make the corpus in XML form ready in order to create a platform independent solution.

　　主持人：在资金方面有困难吗?或者还有其他困难?

　　Presenter：Are there any financial difficulties or some other difficulties?

　　劳 里：该数据库由芬兰文学学会出资支持，资金方面没有问题。但我们必须进一步寻找资金支持，以不断对数据的关键特性进行改进。

　　Lauri: The database is financed by the Finnish Literature Society and it works very well. But we have to find financing in order to enhance some essential features of the corpus.

　　主持人：看来，这个数据库的成功运转凝聚了大家集体的努力。在改进数据库方面，不知您有何计划?

　　Presenter：So, it is many people’s contribution that makes the database a successful one. And we have another question. Do you have any plans to improve the database and can you share it with us?

　　劳 里：我们的确有些计划。目前我正在筹划的最为重要的构想之一，就是为这些数据建立一个语义网，这样一来，我们就能将《卡莱瓦拉》与诗歌原本相结合，从而追溯伦洛特——这位《卡莱瓦拉》的收集者——在他的编辑过程中所使用过的诗歌。

　　Lauri: Yes. Sure we have. One of the biggest ideas I hold in my mind now is to make a semantic web version of the corpus. In that way, we could incorporate the semantic Kalevala we already have with the original poems, and we would be able to trace the original poems that Elias Lonnrot – the compiler of the epic – used in his editing process.

　　主持人：看来这个数据库需要借用许多语言学知识了。

　　Presenter：So a lot of linguistic knowledge will be employed into the database.

　　劳 里：是的。这个工程很庞大，我们现在正在筹划，准备实施。

　　Lauri: Sure. It is a huge project and we are now just planning to start it.

　　主持人：目前，《卡莱瓦拉》在数据库中有英语版和芬兰语版。

　　Presenter：At present it has its English version and Finnish version.

　　劳 里：《卡莱瓦拉》的一部分——而并非全文——已经译为英文，但在不久的将来，全文都将有其英文对译版。我们的最终目标就是建立该史诗的全文电子版，使其能够全球共享。

　　Lauri: One version of the semantic Kalevala is a limited English version. But the whole text has not yet been translated into English but in the future, of course, yes. Since our final goal is an e-edition of the epic that could be internationally used.

　　主持人：我们希望有一天《卡莱瓦拉》也有中文版。

　　Presenter：We hope one day we can have its Chinese version.

　　劳 里：《卡莱瓦拉》已经有中文译本。但真正的难题在于翻译、注释原诗歌时的语言问题——诗歌原本所用的古芬兰语今天已知者甚少。将来我们或许可以创建一个语义学的《卡莱瓦拉》，凭借它能够快速检索到《卡莱瓦拉》中语词的中文表述。至于这一点何时可以实现，我不知道。但技术发展如此迅猛，或许在不久的将来就能成真。

　　Lauri: The Kalevala has been translated into Chinese, but the difficulty is translating and annotating the original poems in the poetic language – not even all the Finns understand all the words. But in the future maybe we would be able to create such a semantic version and would be able to find the right concepts in Chinese. But when will it happen, I don’t know. The good thing about the technology is the fact that it develops in such a speed.

　　主持人：非常感谢您!

　　Presenter：Thank you very much.