Lingvodoc Platform to Process Dictionaries of Old Kalmyk: Preliminary Results Reviewed

Introduction. Investigations of sources written in Old Kalmyk Clear Script (todo biciq) (17th–20th centuries) as part of academic Mongolian studies have been continuous for more than 150 years. However, in modern Kalmyk studies there can hardly be found any generalizing works on Kalmyk historical grammar. Besides, there is still a problem of digitizing all Clear Script texts (including lexicographical works) to form a corresponding database. Meanwhile, the study of such sources shall make it possible to describe the process of development — in a diachronic aspect — of the Kalmyk (Oirat) language which has been isolated from other Mongolic languages in differing ethnic and cultural environments of European Russia. Goals. The paper aims to describe some preliminary results dealing with the system of Old Kalmyk vowels and received through the analysis of Old Kalmyk bilingual dictionaries conducted on the Lingvodoc linguistic platform. Materials. The study examines five dictionaries of Old Kalmyk, namely: an anonymous 18th-century Russian-Kalmyk dictionary, dictionaries by V. Diligensky, P. Smirnov, N. Lvovsky, and A. Pozdneev. Results. The Lingvodoc-based insight into the Old Kalmyk vowel system throughout the five examined dictionaries has revealed some vowel concordances, such as u (ü) / o (ö), e / i — and analogues of the latter have also been found in Turkic languages. The u > o transition is traced in N. Lvovsky’s dictionary which suggests the registered (source) dialect involved can be associated with the modern Dorbet one characterized by the same process. The linguistic platform and its tools have been instrumental in identifying transitions similar to the ones observed in the examined dictionaries — in Kazakh, Bashkir, and Tatar languages together referred to as Kipchak Turkic ones. Moreover, our analysis of techniques once employed in the dictionaries to transcribe long vowels of Old Kalmyk has actualized and clarified some conclusions of D. Pavlov who had also investigated the issue.

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