‘Caucasian Tatar’ as Lingua Franca for a Russian Translator: Linguistic Studies and Teaching Activities of Timofey N. Makarov

 Introduction. The article attempts a comprehensive reconstruction of one significant historical episode — the consistent shaping of basic grammatical constructs for the universal Caucasian language in scholarly endeavors and pedagogical activities of Timofey N. Makarov. The original linguist would undertake his efforts in various sociocultural contexts, including Oriental Languages Department of Novocherkassk Gymnasium. T. Makarov’s legacy never received unambiguous assessments in the previous historiographic tradition, which was determined by a variety of factors (including those of opportunistic nature). Materials and methods. The to-be-introduced empirical material is reconstructed on the basis of documents contained in Collection 358 (‘Public Schools Directorate of Don Host Oblast’) at the State Archive of Rostov Oblast. In terms of methodology, the study rests on principles of microhistorical heuristics to be verified within a comparative reconstruction of intellectual plots (episodes) in a specified sociocultural context. Results and conclusions. T. Makarov considered ‘Caucasian Tatar’ to be the main language of the Caucasus serving as lingua franca for diverse highland communities. The original linguist would examine the artificial unification of dissimilar dialects by a geographical principle as a full-fledged linguistic construct with individual dialects be unconditionally understood in any point of the specified territory. Having been focused on practical training of professional translators, T. Makarov’s would maintain essentially instrumental attitudes to ‘Caucasian Tatar’. The Russian expert tended to underestimate significant differences between individual dialects, and insisted that full proficiency in one of the latter did make it possible to teach others characterized by similar lexical constructs.

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