Seventeenth–Eighteenth Century Official Kalmyk Letters and Their Synchronic Russian Translations as Interaction of Writing Traditions: Analyzing Letters of Ayuka Tayiji (Khan) and Their Russian Translations

Introduction. Official correspondence is a form of dialogical interaction, and the text inevitably reflects some results of the mutual influence of different writing traditions. The Kalmyk-Russian and Russian-Kalmyk official correspondence in the aspect of interacting writing traditions has attracted the attention of linguists but the issue has remained somewhat understudied. Researchers have primarily focused on lexical borrowings. Still, it is as relevant to analyze the functioning of specific elements of the lexical system in original and translated narratives, which would characterize the influence of one language on another. Goals. The article seeks to identify lexical and grammatical features in private and official letters of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka and their synchronistic Russian translations, which would characterize the writing traditions of official texts that had developed by the eighteenth century and resulted from cross-cultural contacts. Materials and methods. The study focuses one letters of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka written from 1685 to 1724 and addressed to representatives of central and regional Russian authorities, as well as on the surviving synchronistic Russian translations of those official letters. The specified sources are stored at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and Kalmykia’s National Archive. The paper analyzes the use of anthroponyms and calques from the Russian standard signature formula in the original and translated texts. The analysis is secured through the use of the descriptive and comparative methods. The undertaken insights take into account some cultural and linguistic specifics of the functioning of the mentioned lexical and grammatical means. Results. The analysis into Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka’s letters and their synchronistic Russian translations reveals certain features inherent to the functioning of anthroponyms characteristic of different writing traditions. The number of uses of the addressee’s personal name proves significant enough: the single use of the addressee’s name in the original Kalmyk official letter — and its multiple repetition in the synchronic translation are characteristic features of different official text design traditions in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The influence of seventeenth-eighteenth century Russian records keeping practices on Kalmyk private and official documents can be traced in the functioning particulars of two- and three-component patterns of official personal names of Tayiji (Khan) Ayuka’s addressees, as well as in the use of one Russian-language calque — the formula γar talbiba (‘Have put my hand onto this’) which serves as a certifying element together with a seal impression. The functioning of addressees’ anthroponyms corresponds to the practice of naming officials which was widespread in the late seventeenth century. The identified signature formula was actively used in Kalmyk official letters from 1698 to 1704, and shows a certain dependence on the addressee.

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