Toward a History of the "Soviet Language" (Sovyaz): Archival Documents, Electronic Sources, and the National Corpus

2015 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-289
Author(s):  
Alexander Nakhimovsky
Keyword(s):  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Research ◽  
Revolutionary Period ◽  
National Corpus

The subject matter of this paper is the "Soviet language" (SovYaz for short), a variety of Russian that was used in official contexts during the Soviet period. The use of the term "Soviet language" does not signify a commitment to viewing it as a language or a dialect in the linguistic sense. The question of whether SovYaz is, in fact, a social dialect sensu stricto, is beyond the scope of this paper and irrelevant to its purposes, although the materials presented here may help clarify the argument. This study of SovYaz seeks to utilize three relatively recent developments: newly opened archives with previously unimaginable sources of linguistic data; abundant searchable texts in electronic form; and a powerful new research tool, the National Corpus of the Russian Language (NCRL). The goal is methodological--to illustrate an approach to the study of SovYaz made possible by these new developments. The paper makes extensive use of the following procedure. First, a feature of SovYaz is identified in two documents selected for close reading, one a newspaper article, the other a top-secret NKVD report. That feature is then traced through other sources, including NCRL. The evolution of the feature is followed from the pre-revolutionary period to later times, sometimes all the way to the 21st century. Finally, the feature is described in some detail. In my experience, the emergence of the National Corpus makes possible a research methodology that transcends a close reading of selected documents but works well with it.

RUSSIAN DIASPORA. SUMMATION AND RESEARCH PROSPECTS

2020 ◽  
pp. 130-143
Author(s):  
Irina V. Sabennikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Third Stage ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Significant Phenomenon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Principles

The historiography of any historically significant phenomenon goes through several stages in its development. At the beginning − it is the reaction of contemporaries to the event they experienced, which is emotional in nature and is expressed in a journalistic form. The next stage can be called a retrospective understanding of the event by its actual participants or witnesses, and only at the third stage there does appear the objective scientific research bringing value-neutral assessments of the phenomenon under study and belonging to subsequent generations of researchers. The history of The Russian Diaspora and most notably of the Russian post-revolutionary emigration passed to the full through all the stages of the issue historiography. The third stage of its studying dates from the late 1980s and is characterized by a scientific, politically unbiased study of the phenomenon of the Russian emigration community, expanding the source base and scientific research methods. During the Soviet period in Russian historiography, owing to ideological reasons, researchers ‘ access to archival documents was limited, which is why scientific study of the history of the Russian Diaspora was not possible. Western researchers also could not fully develop that issue, since they were deprived of important sources kept in Russian archives. Political changes in the perestroika years and especially in the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union increased attention to the Russian Diaspora, which was facilitated by a change in scientific paradigms, methodological principles, the opening of archives and, as a result, the expansion of the source base necessary for studying that issue. The historiography of the Russian Diaspora, which has been formed for more than thirty years, needs to be understood. The article provides a brief analysis of the historiography, identifies the main directions of its development, the research problematics, and defines shortcomings and prospects.

About the "supertask" ("sverhzadacha") of K. S. Stanislavsky... (about the history of the word supertask (sverhzadacha) in the Russian language)

2021 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-98
Author(s):  
I. I. Krivonosov
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Method Acting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Initial Term ◽  
History Of ◽  
Structural Methods ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Terminology System ◽  
National Corpus

The article is devoted to the history of the appearance and functioning of the word supertask (sverhzadacha) in the Russian language. Two lines of the lexeme functioning were distinguished: the first is associated with the etymology of the word, the second – with its use by K. S. Stanislavsky in the terminology system and the further entry of the unit into general use on the basis of determinologization. It is interesting that the second meaning has acquired the most widespread use. Only in the past two decades, the word has begun to lose its connection with the process of artistic creation. The purpose of the study was to briefly review the history of the word: from its first fixation in the Russian language and application by K. S. Stanislavsky (to designate one of the key concepts of Method Acting) up to modern contexts of use. The entry of the lexeme into the language was investigated using structural methods. The methods of contextual and distributive analysis were used to analyse both the contexts in which Stanislavsky used this word and the process of its fixation in the National Corpus of the Russian language. Statistical analysis was used to trace the dynamics of integration of the lexeme into the Russian language and its fixation in various spheres. The methods of component and comparative analysis were used to describe the formation mechanism of the initial term in the historical context. Borrowings of the term supertask (sverhzadacha) were found in other languages, indicating the spread of Stanislavsky’s system. The conclusion is drawn that the word supertask (sverhzadacha) functions in the Russian language mainly as a term from Stanislavsky’s system, gradually becoming determinologized and returning to the meaning conveying the logical sum of its constituent components.

Prokofiev and the Development of Soviet Composition in the 1920s and 1930s

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Patrick Zuk
Keyword(s):  
Reception History ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Periodical Literature ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
Musical Creativity ◽  
Source Materials

Chapter 2 examines the influence and reception history of Prokofiev’s music in his homeland from the 1920s until his death in 1953—a subject of absorbing interest for the light it sheds on the factors shaping Soviet musical creativity during the Stalinist period. His output became central to discussions of the ways in which Soviet composition could and should develop. However, Soviet responses to Prokofiev’s work were complex; it was regarded by some as evincing traits that were to be repudiated, and by others as displaying approaches worthy of emulation. The source materials consulted for this chapter include the contemporary musicological and periodical literature, as well as letters, diaries, and reminiscences of Prokofiev’s colleagues. The chapter also draws on unpublished archival documents from the late Soviet period, among them the reminiscences of Evgeny Golubev, Olga Lamm, and Iulian Krein.

scholarly journals The Great Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language as a Reflection of Economic Change: Semantic Dynamics of Words with the Root Torg-

2020 ◽  
pp. 167-180
Author(s):  
Roman I. Vorontsov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
Semantic Differentiation ◽  
Historic Change ◽  
Text Illustrations ◽  
Russian Linguistic ◽  
The Russian Language

The article deals with the dynamics of a fragment of the Russian linguistic worldview projected onto the experience of academic lexicography. Based on the data extracted from the three editions of the Great Academic Dictionary of the Russian Language (also referred to as the Dictionary), which serves as a reflection of the 80-yearlong history of the Soviet and Russian society, the sociocultural dynamics of a conceptual view of economy and trade is uncovered through its lexical, semantic and lexicographic realization. The aim of the research is to analyze the semantic dynamics of the words with root torg- [trade] based on the Dictionary data. This includes the study of the lexicographic interpretation of these words as well as the justification of new lexicographic solutions. The key attention is paid to a number of polysemantic words: torg, torgovat’, torgovat’sya, torgovlya, torgovyy. In the course of the research, the method of componential semantic analysis is applied together with the comparison of the entries from different editions of the Dictionary and with the selection of text illustrations by means of linguistic corpora. Two aspects of the semantic dynamics of the words with root torg- are discussed: 1) reflection of lexicographic principles adopted by the authors of the Dictionary and 2) lexical and semantic objectivation of the Russian linguistic worldview. The first aspect is represented by the trend of semantic differentiation typical of the Dictionary and manifested in both enlargement and specification of the word semantic structure. Syncretic meanings that can be seen in the first edition are later splintered into separate meanings or even shades of meaning (torgash, torgashestvo, torgovat’). The sociocultural dynamics is presented by a number of linguistic trends. The first trend is generating new collocations, and the adjective torgovyy shows here the highest productivity. Adjacent to it stands the active formation of compound words beginning with torgovo-. The second (controversial) trend is obsolescence of words and meanings: notions of the Soviet economy are going out of use (torg as a ‘trade institution’). The third trend is actualization of obsolete words and meanings, which is often only illusive. In the Soviet period, many notions of economy were considered inadmissible or typical of the Czarist era, hence, these words were defined as obsolete ones. However, the historic change of the early 1990s showed that this part of vocabulary was always commonly used, even in the Soviet texts that could not serve as a source of illustrations due to censorship. Thus, the considered aspects of the semantic dynamics of the words with the root torg- demonstrate the general way of conceptualizing the economic sphere by the Russians. It is mainly reflected in the social revaluation of the market relations, trade, and entrepreneurship. The lexical and semantic objectivation of this revaluation requires shrewd lexicographic solutions.

scholarly journals Language of Russian Charity: Verbs

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4 (202)) ◽  
pp. 293-310
Author(s):  
Valeria S. Kuchko ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Semantic Field ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Old Russian ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
National Corpus

This article studies Russian verbs which name the action of gratuitous material assistance to those in need, i.e. благотворить, благотворительствовать, благодетельствовать, меценатствовать, жертвовать, спонсировать, and their few derivatives. The author focuses on the history of their origin and use in the Russian language, the development of their meanings, semantic features, and functioning in the text. The analysis of these characteristics of the life of the word in the language allows the author to identify and formulate some norms of the use of these verbs in modern charity discourse for those who speak and write about charity. The study is based on historical and modern lexicographic sources, such as explanatory dictionaries of the Old Slavic Language, Old Russian Language, Russian language of different time periods, as well as examples of word usage, retrieved from The National Corpus of the Russian Language. In spite of the fact that the verbs studied realise the predicate of a situation of charity and designate the subject’s action of providing a poor or deprived object with material support, they considerably differ in terms of time of their appearance in the language, periods of usage, and semantic capacity. The analysis demonstrates that there is no verb that could claim the status of a nuclear verbal lexeme of the semantic field of charity: the word with the widest neutral semantics благотворить has almost fallen out of use, the verbs благодетельствовать and меценатствовать have a narrower application, while жертвовать imposes semantic restrictions on the choice of words for the positions of the object and the instrument of charity, and in the case of the verb спонсировать a specific context of “market” charity is important, in which the subject receives a certain benefit from their contribution.

scholarly journals The History of the Aginsk Steppe Duma in the Documents from the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatiya (1839-1904) Has Been Published

2020 ◽  
pp. 950-959
Author(s):  
Victor N. Kazarin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
East Russia ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The 19Th Century

The review of an anthology on the history of the Aginsk Steppe Duma published by drs. B.V. Bazarov, B.T. Zhalsanova, L.V.Kuras notes that hundreds the new archival documents offer a holistic view on the governmental politics concerning one of large ingenious peoples of East Russia. The composers have identified and presented documents reflecting various aspects of local self-government of the Aginsk Duma created on the basis of M.M. Speransky’s Statute on the Inorodtsy of 1822. The review contains a brief characteristic of the archival documents corpus systematized in volumes and argues their information value. The documents contain data on the officials of the Duma, personnel structure in dynamics from its foundation to its termination. The edition offers an array of documents on tax policy pertaining to indigenous population, public censures, correspondence on administrative and land disputes at the turn of the 19th century. Authors-composers have published family lists of the Aginsk buryats. The review underscores the information value of the commentary included in all volumes of the edition, the nominal indexes numbering hundreds of surnames. The illustrative component of this three-volume edition is also emphasized: there are rare photos of officials of the Aginsk department, meetings of tsesarevitch Nikolai Aleksandrovich in Transbaikalia in 1892, deputy of the State Duma, descendants of families from the Transbaikal steppes in the Soviet period. The review emphasizes the importance of such edition for studying governmental policies concerning ingenious peoples, balance of government and local self- government, social and economic and cultural development of East regions in the Imperial period. Materials of the three-volume edition open numerous unpublished documents to researchers. The review notes its value for historians, local historians, archivists, museums employees, and those researching their family tree.

L. V. Scherba – a Theoretician and Practitioner of Russian Lexicography

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 95-101
Author(s):  
E. G. Stukova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
History Of ◽  
General Scientific ◽  
High Level ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Very High ◽  
Made In

The article analyses some aspects of lexicographic activity of L. V. Scherba: it examines his contribution into the development of the theory of lexicography, gives a survey of the dictionaries compiled with his participation in the 1920s–30s of the XX century, introduces to the scientific community some little-known facts of his lexicographic activity of the period. In addition to a general scientific overview of special literature and the analysis of his «Dictionary of the Russian Language», the article presents facts of the archival documents from Saint Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The article deals with such unknown or little-known facts as L. V. Schera’s personal participation in the 1920s–30s in a number of lexicographic projects in Moscow and Leningrad: he took part in the compilation of «Lenin’s» dictionary of the Russian language, made in Moscow, A. S. Griboyedov’s «Woe from Wit» dictionary. A special page in the history of L. V. Scherba’s lexicographic activity became his work as a member of the Dictionary commission of the Academy of Sciences, his being an editor of a number of issues of the «Dictionary of the Russian Language» under the general edition of A. A. Shahmatov, and also compilation of the IX volume of the «Dictionary of the Russian Language» edited by N. S. Derzhavin. The article gives a brief analysis of the materials of the only published first issue («И – Идеализироваться») of this volume. The article summarizes important and topical for the theory of lexicography L. V. Sherba’s observations and statements resulting from his considerable practical dictionary making work. The article gives a brief account of concrete lexicographic material testifying for a very high level of the scientist’s lexicographic work.

Connotative proper names of the post-Soviet period: features of understanding and reproducibility

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-190
Author(s):  
Irina V. Kryukova ◽  
◽  
Oksana V. Vrublevskaya ◽  
Tamara V. Khvesko ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Speakers ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Two Stages ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Post Soviet Period

The paper presents the results of an experimental study of the proper names that have changed or acquired emotional and evaluative connotations over the last 30 years (the connotative names used in a figurative sense in the texts of different genres). The experiment, 200 respondents from Volgograd and Tyumen involved two stages: first, the degree of names recognition was determined, second, the level of reproducibility of these names in a figurative meaning was identified. Socio-political situation changes tend to lead to significant semantic shifts in the meaning of well-known connotative names. Of particular relevance is the post-Soviet period, a new stage in the history of modern Russia, due to having affected both the economic and political processes in the country and the value priorities of Russian society reflected in the language of the last three decades. Psycholinguistic methods for studying lexical semantics, namely, the method of addition and synonymous replacement and the method of restoring incomplete utterance, were applied to establish the features of understanding and reproducibility of connotative names of the post-Soviet period by native speakers of the Russian language. The results allow ranking the names according to the degree of recognition (low, medium, or high) and marking the levels of reproducibility (names with stable or lost connotations). The regional and age peculiarities of understanding and reproducing the connotative names of the post-Soviet period are noted. The prospects and relevance of the lexicographic description of the connotative names are determined.

Desertion control commissions as one of the types of quasi-judicial bodies in the early Soviet period (on the example of the Tambov district commission to combat desertion)

2020 ◽  
pp. 210-216
Author(s):  
Alla G. Fakurdinova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Parallel System ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Administrative Proceedings ◽  
Revolutionary Period

We analyze the regulatory framework for the formation of Desertion Commissions of various levels – emergency agencies that existed in the early Soviet post-revolutionary period. The relevance of the study is determined by the widespread use of quasi-judicial forms, both in retrospect and in the modern legal field: the introduction of mediation procedures, administrative proceedings. Quasi-judicial institutions in the Soviet model of statehood occupied a significant place and accompanied a parallel system of people’s courts. A study of quasi-judicial bodies and their powers in retrospect allows us to clarify both the theoretical value and the practical implementation of the justice forms. The aim of the study is to reconstruct the history of the Desertion Commissions in their hierarchy on archival materials of the Tambov Governorate and regulations. The research methods were the formal legal analysis of historical and legal acts of the Soviet era: a comparative analysis of the powers and activities of quasi-judicial bodies and people’s courts. We establish the emergency powers of the Desertion Commissions, based on the principles of mutual responsibility, hostage, at the same time, we substantiate the existence of elements of judicial mediation in the framework of their activities.

scholarly journals A. A. Petrov. Istoriya izucheniya tunguso-manchzhurskih yazykov v Rossii (Ocherki i issledovaniya) [The history of the study of the Tungus-Manchu languages in Russia (sketches and researches)]

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 67-70
Author(s):  
Aleksey A. Burykin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Far East ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
The North ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Independent Work ◽  
Revolutionary Period ◽  
North Siberia ◽  
Post Soviet Period

This publication is a review of a new book by A. A. Petrov devoted to the history of the study of the Tungus-Manchu languages in Russia from the 18th century till the beginning of the 21st century. Reference books of this type on the Tungus-Manchu languages and other languages of the peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of Russia have not been published for over 70 years, and they are especially relevant due to the increase in the volume of publications on these languages, a significant part of which are regional publications of universities and Siberian scientific centers. The main part of the book is the literature on the Tungus-Manchu languages dating back to the 20th century. It is divided into three periods: the pre-revolutionary period (1900—1917), the Soviet period (1917—1991), and the Russian post-Soviet period (1992—2000). There is a certain logic in this: the biographies of most researchers of the older generation fit into one period, and each period reflects certain trends in views on the subject and asks of the study. The book includes a number of supplements for reference. These applications make the book by A. A. Petrov a convenient textbook for students of specialized universities, a guide for refresher courses for teachers of the Tungus-Manchu languages and independent work of teachers, and a guide for foreign researchers who may have difficulties with the Russian bibliography on the subject. A. A. Petrov’s book is unambiguously useful as an everyday reference book of literature on the Tungus-Manchu languages, although, of course, researchers of biographies of scientists as well as researchers of some special problems of studying Tungus-Manchu languages will turn to other sources that provide special requests.

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