Tatar-Russian bilinguаl dictionаries compiled by missionaries in Xixth century

Abstract

One of the valuable sources for historical linguistic research is bilingual dictionaries. They allow to provide the documented proof concerning the role and the place of certain languages in the history of culture during certain historical periods, the relationship of these languages, including their connection with third languages. At the same time, dictionaries are the indicator of linguistic modification, i.e. the innovations that appear in the language under the influence of religious, social factors, manifested as linguistic variability at different linguistic levels of the language, including lexicographic one. The bilingual Tatar-Russian dictionaries of the XIXth century are considered as the objects of two cultures: Tatar and Russian, as well as the modification of the language content. Studying bilingual dictionaries, the authors set the goal to determine the role of dictionaries compiled by missionary societies in the development of modern Tatar literary language, to characterize the lexical composition of dictionaries. In the linguistic aspect, the study of Tatar-Russian and Russian-Tatar dictionaries is associated with the analysis of Tatar language vocabulary development patterns, including literary language, dialects and professional terminology. On the basis of this specific linguistic material, the origins and the stages of evolution can be established, they can determine the chronological framework for the emergence and the transformation of individual words or the whole groups and categories of words in the Tatar language. Keywords: dictionary, bilingual dictionary, lexicography, Tatar language, modification, missionary.