Article

Name: The Great Patriotic War in the biographies and memoirs of linguists

Authors: Oleg V. Nikitin

Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation

In the section Review

Abstract:

The publication presents and comments on scholarly and biographical data regarding the fates of the staff of the Institute of Language and Thought (USSR Academy of Sciences) during the Great Patriotic War. Archival documents and materials illustrate the tragedies and ordeals faced by scientists, detailing their lives and work during the Siege of Leningrad, in evacuation, and on the home front. Special attention is given to the organization of humanities research and scholarly directions from 1941 to 1945. Emphasis is placed on the contribution of Academician I. I. Meshchaninov in consolidating the efforts of linguists to address urgent theoretical and practical issues during the war. The correspondence featured in the book serves as a valuable record of the multifaceted work of Russian linguists in historical and bilingual lexicography, Russian and indigenous grammar, general phonetics, dialectology, and classical philology. The correspondence also underscores broader issues shaped by wartime events, such as language policy and the “turn toward the historiography of Russian philology” (L. V. Shcherba). Moreover, the book incorporates personal narratives from eyewitnesses, providing a multifaceted perspective on the events.

Keywords: history of linguistics, the Great Patriotic War, Academy of Sciences, Institute of Language and Thought, personalities of linguists, correspondence of linguists, philological memoirs

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