The Soviet Union actively tried to incorporate

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

ideals into the study of linguistics. Linguists had important positions in the early Soviet state, as they were needed to develop alphabets for languages that previously had never been written. In the 1920s, language began to be seen as a social phenomenon, and Russian and Soviet linguists tried to give a sociological explanation to features of language. At the same time, Soviet linguists sought to develop a "Marxist" linguistics, as opposed to the early theories that were viewed as

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

. Based on this, linguists focused more on the spoken forms of the language, and devoted more time to the study of non-standard dialects than previous linguists had done. This can be seen in the work of Boris Alexandrovich Larin and Lev Petrovich Iakubinskii. The leading linguist of the early Soviet era was Nicholas Marr, known for his

Japhetic theory In linguistics, the Japhetic theory of Soviet Union, Soviet linguist Nicholas Marr, Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr (1864–1934) postulated that the Kartvelian languages of the Caucasus area are related to the Semitic languages of the Middle East. ...

. The theory suggested that the Kartvelian languages had a common origin with the Semitic languages. He also applied the idea of

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

to the development of language. After Marr died, a likely ghost-written article credited to Stalin blasted Marr's theory, stating "Soviet linguistics cannot be advanced on the basis of an incorrect formula which is contrary to the whole course of the history of peoples and languages." Politically, World War II caused a rise in nationalism, which Japhetic theory argued against. This theory was never accepted outside the Soviet Union.THOMAS JOHN SAMUELIAN, "THE SEARCH FOR A MARXIST LINGUISTICS IN THE SOVIET UNION, 1917-1950" (January 1, 1981). Dissertations available from ProQuest. Paper AAI8117848.

Historical linguistics

In stark contrast to the "

splitters Splitter or splitters may refer to: Technology * DSL filter or DSL splitter, in telecommunications * Fiber-optic splitter * Hybrid coil, a three windings transformer * Power dividers and directional couplers, in RF engineering * Siamese connect ...

" of mainstream Western historical linguistics, the majority of prominent Soviet historical linguists were "lumpers" belonging to the

Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics The Moscow School of Comparative Linguistics (also called the Nostratic School) is a school of linguistics based in Moscow, Russia that is known for its work in . Formerly based at Moscow State University, it is currently centered at the (Institut ...

. These linguists, who were all staunch proponents of the Nostratic theory, included Vladislav Illich-Svitych,

Aharon Dolgopolsky Aharon Dolgopolsky, also spelled Aron ( he, אהרון דולגופולסקי, russian: Арон Борисович Долгопольский; 18 November 1930 – 20 July 2012) was a Russian-Israeli linguist who is known as one of the modern fo ...

, and Sergei Starostin.Старостин Г. С. и др. К истокам языкового разнообразия. Десять бесед о сравнительно-историческом языкознании с Е. Я. Сатановским. — Москва: Издательский дом «Дело» РАНХиГС, 2015. — С. 244—252. — 584 с. — , УДК 81-115, ББК 81.

References

{{Soviet Union topics, expanded Education in the Soviet Union Linguistic research Marxist theory

Historical linguistics

See also

References