ON THE SPECIFICS OF ORIGIN AND FUNCTIONING OF THE EARLY YAKUT WRITING (LATE XVIII - FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY)
A.A. Borisov
Saint Petersburg Institute of History RAS, 7, Petrozavodskaya Str., St. Petersburg, 197110, Russia
Keywords: Yakuts, the earliest written language, appearance, functioning, features, the first half of the XIX century, missionaries, literacy, monuments, actors-devotees, policy
Abstract
The aim of the article is to draw attention to the nascent period of the early writings of the Yakuts, which played an important role in the history of the Yakuts and characterizes ethnic and confessional policy of Russia. In order to achieve the set goal the author describes the revealed texts and actors in the process. Although historians have admitted the existence of the written tradition before the Revolution of 1917, they questioned the extent of its spread. On the basis of the revealed texts the article attempts to show the historic features of origin and the nature of existence of the written tradition at the end of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century. Furthermore, it pays attention to the authors of these texts, some of them have been mentioned for the first time. The beginning of the period under study was marked by the spread of literacy among the Yakut population. This was possible thanks to the initiative of the state to create the Yakut writing, which was an important element of Russia’s policy. The author adheres to the concept of multiculturalism in relation to the national policy of the Russian Empire, that went through three stages of development. This policy was clearly manifested in the creation of writing for various peoples that were annexed into Russia at different times, including those ethnic groups that previously had not had written languages. Among the methods used in the article the leading position is taken by the retrospective, historical and comparative methods. Among the key research findings one should mention the setting of a problem of the early Yakut writing’s origin. Aside from the famous monuments of this writing the author identifies a number of new texts demonstrating the variety of genres - from literary to epistolary; identifies and characterizes the first actors of the process of formation of the early Yakut writing. These actors included representatives of the yakutized Russians and educated Yakuts.
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