How the Kursk-Oryol Dialect Became the Basis of the Russian National Language (On the History of the 1950 Linguistics Debate)

Abstract

In 1950, during the “linguistics debate”, Joseph Stalin declared the Kursk-Oryol dialect the foundation of the Russian literary language. This statement puzzled linguists. However, due to the political situation, which did not allow this statement to be questioned, the postulate regarding the Kursk-Oryol dialect was accepted as a cornerstone of the study of the Russian literary language until the denunciation of Stalin’s cult of personality. The origins of this term remain unknown, although various theories were proposed from the outset. The first explanation, published in 1956, was suggested by Viktor Vinogradov. Following him, for over half a century, other hypotheses were put forth, all converging on the notion of Stalin’s misunderstanding. The author of this article argues that Stalin formulated the term deliberately, and that it was not changed even under the influence of even such authorities as Sergei Ozhegov and Viktor Vinogradov. As evidence, the author presents a previously unknown letter from Garma Sanjeev on the issue of the Kursk-Oryol dialect, preserved in Stalin’s archives. Regarding the term itself, the author hypothesizes that it originated from Stalin’s or his aides’ misinterpretation of information previously published in linguistic literature. To substantiate this, the article cites several points from the works of linguists, including Alexei Sobolewsky and Alexei Shakhmatov. Based on these works, the conclusion is drawn that Stalin’s formulation of the Kursk-Oryol dialect was derived from a misinterpretation of Alexei Sobolewsky's theory, which identified the Old Kiev dialect as the proto-Great Russian dialect.

DOI: 10.31168/2305-6754.2024.2.05