Article

Name: Book review: Strategies for Knowledge Elicitation: The Experience of the Russian School of Field Linguistics. Tatiana B. Agranat, Leyli R. Dodykhudoeva (Eds.). Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2021. x + 247 p.

Authors: Vera S. Maltseva

Institute of Linguistics, Moscow, Russia

In the section Рецензии

Abstract:

The collective monograph under review presents a comprehensive examination of the methodological approaches defining the Russian school of field linguistics. The volume is organized into four sections based on geographical and sociocultural contexts. The first section is dedicated to fieldwork experience with languages spoken in the European part of Russia. The chapters in the second section focus on the languages of the Asian part of Russia, namely Siberia and the Far East. The third part presents articles on Pamir languages, spoken in Tajikistan, within the post-Soviet space. The concluding section of the volume details the field-work conducted by Russian linguists in Vietnam and Mexico. The introduction situates modern practices within a historical framework, identifying three pivotal Soviet-era scholars whose methods shaped contemporary Russian fieldwork. These are Ivan Zarubin, a researcher of Pamir languages in the first half of the 20th century, Nikita Tolstoy, the founder of ethnolinguistics who studied the dialects of Polesie, Ukraine, and Alexander Kibrik, who organized linguistic expeditions for the Linguistics Department of Moscow State University and whose fieldwork was primarily associated with the languages of Dagestan. The contributors of the volume adapt the methods of the mentioned scholars to the current linguistic landscape, where many indigenous languages face extinction. Beyond classical elicitation, the monograph examines novel technical avenues for language documentation alongside the evolving ethical standards. Significant emphasis is placed on sociolinguistic variables and the necessity of collaborative interaction between linguists and language communities.

Keywords: field linguistics, languages of Russia, languages of Pamir, linguistic methodology, ethnolinguistics

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