Viktor Ivanovich Borkovsky – linguist and linguistics personality (to the 125^th anniversary of the birth

   The purpose of the article is to analyze the linguistic heritage and characterize the linguistic personality of academician V. I. Borkovsky (1900–1982).

   It is stated that he held leading positions in the field of Slavic studies and history of Russian in the 1940^s and early 1980^s.

   The relevance and innovation of the article lies in the fact that the activity of V. I. Borkovsky is revealed in the description of the diachronic processes of the Russian language: the publication of monuments of writing, participation in the deciphering of newly found birch bark letters, the development of problems of historical syntax of the Russian language, etc.

   The project of creating an «Encyclopedia of Slavic Linguistics» initiated by V. I. Borkovsky is being published for the first time. The initiatives of the scientist as editor of the journal «Russian language at school» (1950–1953) are described in detail. The article provides rare documentary evidence of the relationship between V. V. Vinogradov, B. Unbegaun and V. I. Borkovsky. The original features of his linguistic personality are noted: musicality, poetic talent, sense of style. The author talks about the environment of V. I. Borkovsky and his family ties with the Karsky dynasty. The main research methods used in the article are historical and linguistic, source studies, stylistic, linguistic personology, linguocultural. The results obtained are confirmed by the introduction of new archival data, a commented analysis of V. I. Borkovsky’s scientific activities based on historical facts and forgotten documents, a rethinking of the scientist’s contribution to linguistics of the 20^th century and the creation of an extraordinary linguistic portrait of the philologist against the background of historical, cultural and social events in science in the 1930^s and early 1980^s. The article can be used as an auxiliary material for lectures and classes on the history of linguistic studies and general linguistics, historical grammar of Russian and other Slavic languages. The analyzed materials fill in the little-known pages of the chronicle of linguistics of the 20^th century and give a fresh look at the nature of scientific connections and ideas of Soviet linguistics.

1. Avanesov R. I. The teaching of I. V. Stalin on language and dialect. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(1):1–14.

2. Avanesov R. I., Borkovsky V. I. Introduction. Paleographic and linguistic analysis of Novgorod birch bark letters. Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1955. P. 5–12.

3. Artsikhovsky A. V., Borkovsky V. I. Novgorod letters on birch bark (from the excavations of 1953–1954). Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958. 159 p.

4. Borkovsky V. I. E. F. Karsky. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(1):69–78.

5. Borkovsky V. I. The use of dialect data in works on the historical syntax of East Slavic languages. Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1958. 48 p. [Borkovsky 1958a].

6. Borkovsky V. I. Historical references on the syntax of the Russian language. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1952;(1):13–24.

7. Borkovsky V. I. Development by Soviet scientists of issues of historical grammar and dialectology of East Slavic languages. (In the post-war years). Moscow: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1955. 62 p.

8. Borkovsky V. I. Syntax of ancient Russian letters (simple sentence). Lviv: Lviv State University Press, 1949. 389 p

9. Borkovsky V. I. Syntax of ancient Russian letters (complex sentence). Lviv: Lviv State University Press, 1958. 185 p. [Borkovsky 1958b].

10. Borkovsky V. I. Syntax of fairy tales: Russian-Belarusian parallels. Moscow: Nauka, 1981. 236 p.

11. Borkovsky V. I. The teaching of Comrade Stalin about language and the tasks of linguistics Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1950;(5):18–27.

12. Borkovsky V. I., Kuznetsov P. S. [Rec.]. L. A. Bulakhovsky. Russian Language Historical Commentary on the Russian language. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(2):66–76.

13. Borkovsky V. I., Kuznetsov P. S. Historical grammar of the Russian language. Moscow: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1963. 512 p.

14. Bukatevich N. I. A. M. Selishchev. Old Slavonic language. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1953;(3):(77–80).

15. Bulakhovsky L. A. Linguistic heritage of A. A. Potebni. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1952;(2):72–81.

16. Vinogradov V. V. Questions of modern Russian word formation in the light of the works of I. V. Stalin on linguistics. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(2):1–10.

17. Zemskaya E. A. "Kazan Linguistic School" by Professor I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(6):61–73.

18. Kostomarov V. G. The works of academician A. I. Sobolevsky in the field of vocabulary, etymology and word formation. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1953;(6):60–66.

19. Nikitin O. V. "... Seeking linguistic bread" (letters of B. O. Unbegown to Russian scientists of the 1940^s and 1970^s ). Rusistika segodnya = Russian Studies Today. 1999;(3–4):84–146.

20. Nikiforov S. D. On historicism in teaching the Russian language at school. Russkii yazyk v shkole = Russian language at school. 1951;(4):28–37.

21. List of V. I. Borkovsky’s printed works. Academician V. I. Borkovsky (on the occasion of the 100^th anniversary of his birth). The study of the language of the Suzdal Chronicle / ed. by S. P. Lopushanskaya. Volgograd: Volga Publishing House, 2000. P. 108–120.

22. Tupikova N. A. The legacy of E. F. Karsky in the funds of the cabinet-Museum of V. I. Borkovsky at Volgograd State University and the importance of works on the study of Slavic writing for source studies. Slavyanskii mir i nacional’naya rechevaya kul’tura v sovremennoi kommunikatsii : sb. nauch. statei : v 2 ch.; V. A. Belozorovich (gl. red.) i dr. = Slavic World and national speech culture in modern communication : collection of scientific articles : in 2 parts; V. A. Belozorovich (ed.) and others. Grodno: Yanka Kupala Grodno State University, 2022. P. 23–30.

23. Tupikova N. A. The significance of V. I. Borkovsky’s works for modern research of Slavic languages. Nauchnoe nasledie akademika V. I. Borkovskogo i sovremennaya russkaya slovesnost’ : materialy Mezhdunarodnoi nauchnoi konferentsii / otv. red. D. Yu. Il’in = Scientific heritage of Academician V. I. Borkovsky and modern Russian literature : materials of the International Scientific Conference / D. Y. Ilyin (ed.). Volgograd: VolGU, 2015. P. 453–460.