In the 80s of the 20th century the Oirat writing in «todo bičig» («clear script») was found in China. In 1987 it was published under the title «Mongɤol-un uɤeki-yin bičig» («The Origin of the Mongols») with the explanatory notes in the collection «The Oirat Historical Sources» in Inner Mongolia. Though its title is «The Origin of the Mongols», this does not correspond to its contents. It is especially devoted to the Oirats (Western Mongols), mainly to the events which had a direct bearing to the history of the Dzungar Khanate (1635-1758). It has been until very recently that the only sources of information on the Oirats and the Dzungar Khanate were the Mongol mediaeval chronicles, the Russian archival documents and the works of the Chinese traditional historiography. The study of such Oirat writings as «The Origin of the Mongols» permits to restore a more impartial picture of the past because it contains several interesting and valuable facts which are not available in other sources (about the high-ranking Tibetan lama Ense-khutuqtu, Yüm-Aɤa, the wife of the Dzungar ruler Batur-khungtayiǰi, Galdan Boshoqtu-khan). Though the author of «The Origin of the Mongols» treats the events from the perspective of the Ge-lugs-pa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, they contain reflection of some real historical events. This affords the possibility to watch them «from inside», to realize the logic of human doings in the past and some perception of reality.

The initial stage of the Kalmyk-Noghai relations history still remains low-studied in many respects in the historiography due to the lack of sources. The author considers the relations of the two nomadic ethnic groups on the basis of already known publications and the recently found Russian archival materials. At the beginning of the 17th century the two nations greatly influenced on the political situation in the Northern Caspian and neighbouring regions. The Kalmyk-Noghai relations developed towards escalation of conflicts by which the first decades of the 17th century were marked. First of all, it was connected with the arrival of Kalmyk Taishi Kho-Urliuk with his subjects to this area. Thus it should be noted that in the initial stage of relations between two nomadic peoples there was not only an armed opposition accompanied by mutual attacks, but also attempts to negotiate peace agreements. However, numerous conflicts arising in the Great Noghai horde and the internal war among the Kalmyks in 1625 did not allow to peacefully settle contradictions and quarrels regarding the territory.

For the first time, the article reviews the materials of the First General Population Census of the Russian Empire of 1897 in order to reveal the ethno-confessional composition of the residents in Astrakhan province of that time. The Census provides invaluable material for the analysis of the ethno-confessional structure of the population though it was not carried out specifically with the purpose of collecting this kind of data. However, it allows to see that the religious accessory was one of the basic parameters for the inhabitants of the Russian Empire of that time along with ethnic and other characteristics. At the same time, the Census organizers were particularly interested in, for example, what languages believers of various religions recognized as being their native. The author came to the conclusion that the First General Population Census of Russia is an extremely useful statistical source allowing us to imagine in greater details the ethno-confessional characteristics of both the Kalmyk steppe and the whole Astrakhan province at the end of the 19th century. Besides, the study demonstrates a great informative saturation of this type of data enabling it to be applied in numerous research depending on their goals. The experience of the quantitative analysis indicates that the census data is a valuable, multi-dimensional source of information which is not enough appreciated by researchers and still not in use 100 years after its publication.

The article considers the social and legal status of the elected officials of the Kalmyk steppe in the 19th century. Besides, the social and legal status of an aymac’s and hoton’s chiefs in the Kalmyk steppe in the 19th  century and that of a settlement’s heads in the 20th centuries are compared. Social status is a set of roles which a person is compelled to execute possessing a certain position in the society. Legal status is a part of social status regulated by the rules of law. The term “status” is translated from Latin as “a situation or a state of someone (something)”. In this regard, social-legal status can be defined as a legally fixed provision of a subject. The basic elements of legal status of an elective official are rights, freedoms and duties. The powers of elective offi cials of local governments commence on the date of a person’s appointment to a position but not on the date of elections, and expire on the day a position is taken by another newly elected official. This situation provided continuity of work of official bodies and officials’ responsibility for solving the matters of local significance. The most highly approved official signed a document confirming the status of a person appointed as an elective offi cial of local government for a certain term. In case an official holding an elective office in local governments violated his rights causing harm to property or neglected his official duties, his power could be stopped. So, an elected person’s power could terminate not only in connection with term’s expiration but also ahead of a schedule. The procedure of release or discharge from a position was initiated by the aymak’s chief who forwarded it to the manager of an ulus who in his turn directed the petition to the Management of the Kalmyk people. Age, sexual and property characteristics were the main symbols of the electoral system in elections of officials during the period under consideration. The author comes to the conclusion that the elections to local governments - ulus and aymac - allowed to change social and legal status in a traditional society.

The article reveals the specific features of relations among peasants in the late 19th  and early 20th centuries. The traditional isolation of family life characterized by preservation of patriarchal customs according to which orders of seniors were the law for all had a great impact on family formation in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to study the nature of family relationship among the rural population of Stavropol province developed under the influence of capitalist relations. The authors emphasize the topics of domestic relations and women’s status in the family. In general, family life of villagers in Stavropol province reflects common domestic formation of Russia’s peasantry, but as a consequence of historical conditions and types of economic relations, peasant family and matrimony have gained here specific features which are characteristic only of this area. The family refl ected some common features of the community it belonged to, reflected the properties of its social organization and structure. It was founded on the joint activities in the family - the community of people connected with bonds of wedlock, though every nation has got its own history of family life building. A modern family is a result of a long-term evolution and conservation of family traditions. It is possible to understand today’s collisions in a family only through knowledge of its historical features. Roots of all social institutes stem from a family.

The article is devoted to researching the ideological processes among the Volga-Ural Muslims in the context of the contemporary Islamic World. Chronologically the research covers two periods crucial for the Volga-Ural Muslim community: that of the reformist movement at the beginning of the 20th century, and the new discourse formation stage during the Post-Soviet period at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries (so called Islamic Renaissance). The gap period of 70 years characterized by the atheistic propaganda in the Soviet Union eliminating development of any Islamic institutions significant for shaping religious ideology has been excluded from this research. The study provides some concise characteristics of the basic Islamic ideologies such as Traditionalism, Islamic Reformism, Islamism, etc. Their concrete realization in the intellectual structures of the Volga-Ural Muslims is discussed as well. The article expounds the sources of the ideological constructs, enumerates the main factors and religious institutions representing them, and investigates the goals and central religious beliefs of various groups as well as the spheres of influence of each group. It is stated that the main trends in the development of the Islamic community in the Volga-Ural region are similar to those worldwide. While at the beginning of the 20th century the most influential group to oppose official Traditionalism was Reformist Modernism, by the beginning of the 21st century it was Fundamentalism (be it its softer or harder forms) that gains sympathy of the majority of believers. Sometimes the popularity of various Islamic trends is in part inversely proportional to the state’s religious policy: the more a state supports one trend, the less popular it becomes with the population, and vice versa. The author suggests accepting a more differentiated approach towards religious dissidents, supporting various groups, and providing platforms for expressing the spectrum of opinions to the movements operating within the legal boundaries of the Russian law.

The article deals with the religious policy of the Soviet state in respect of the Baptist organizations of Kalmykia during the Great Patriotic War and post-war periods. The war contributed to the rise of religious sentiments among the Christian population of Kalmykia and the mitigation of religious repressive policy in the Soviet Union. On the occupied territories of Kalmykia, German authorities allowed free religious practice in order to gain sympathy of believers and bring them to their side. As a result, Baptists resumed their legal activities in Elista and in a few other settlements. After the liberation of Kalmykia from German occupation, the Soviet authorities registered the Baptist organization in Elista, but it did not happen in other communities. Most Baptists did not want to register their groups and operated illegally. The authorities were not interested in restoration of Baptist organizations and recommended the local officials to use various pretexts to prevent their registration. Except Elista, Baptists from other settlements held their prayer meetings and other religious events secretly. For their part the administration and the police took measures to prevent illegal activities of Baptist groups. The archival documents show that in 1941-1956 the Baptists of Kalmykia did not make any efforts to expand their activities and to involve new members. For this reason, the number of members of the Baptist communities gradually decreased in the post-war period.

The case of the Republic of Kalmykia is discussed as part of the research of the information-communication technologies development in the Southern Federal District within the modernization processes in the Russian society. Information-communication technologies have become an integral part of any sphere of human activities in the modern world. Since 2000s, they have been introduced to the work of all the ministries and departments of the Republic of Kalmykia as well as in all the other regions of the Russian Federation. The author distinguishes the three main trends of the information-communication technologies development in Kalmykia. They are 1) computerizing the republic as a starting point in developing the computer-aided informational technologies; 2) developing the telecommunication nets; 3) advancing the information technologies. It is pointed out that all these processes are interrelated and precede each other becoming a point of departure for the next stage. Some dispersion or “digital gap” existing in the development of informatization and computerization in the Center and in the Russian Federation subjects is obvious, however, in the last decades the Russian regions including Kalmykia have actively been participating in these processes considering them to be the key and priority principles and means for their progress. The analysis of the data from the first decade covering the period of active inclusion of the Southern regions of Russia into the information-communication field provides with quite extensive material to reveal the dynamics of indicators, tendencies and patterns characteristic of this process. Within the period under consideration, foundations for telecommunication nets development were laid, the local community became aware of the necessity to introduce information technologies as a means for increasing efficiency and competitiveness of business and a way for spreading, rotating and popularizing knowledge. First gradually, then intensively information technologies were adopted in management as well as in scientifi c and educational activities. The tendency toward increase in the number of computers connected to the Internet and web-sites created became obvious. In each house there is a computer which becomes an integral part of people’s everyday life - to some extend this fact can be considered as an indicator of improvement of the local population’s standard and quality of life. At the same time, there were a lot to be done for the republic to achieve all-Russia indicators and those of the neighbouring regions as in a number of parameters Kalmykia was behind some adjacent territories.

The regional peculiarities of the demographic processes in Kabardino-Balkaria, their interrelation with the social and economic development of the region, the tendencies of the current demographic situation are revealed in the article. The measures aimed at creating conditions for sustainable demographic development in Kabardino-Balkaria are discussed. During the period of modernization in Russia, a complicated demographic situation was characteristic of many regions of the country as well as of Kabardino-Balkar Republic. This fact determines the urgency of researching the demographic processes in order to implement a differentiated policy not only in the economy and social spheres but also in dealing with the population issues. The study of the demographic processes in Kabardino-Balkaria is conducted on the basis of new statistical information including the analysis of the all-Russia social and economic indicators. For the first time, the author analyzes the process of implementation of the State Programme “The Improvement of the Demographic Situation in Kabardino-Balkar Republic for the Period of 2007-2015”. Some special features characteristic of the demographic processes in Kabardino-Balkaria and basic trends of their development are revealed in the research. The conclusion is drawn that the migration processes influence on the demographic situation, social and economic development of the Republic. The results gained show that high natural population growth at low rates of economic development leads to labour-abundance and population migration. The measures aimed at creating the sustainable demographic situation are identified in the work. First of all, it is necessary to adopt legal acts on increasing a consumer goods basket in the country, to raise a monthly allowance for a child and to make it uniform in all the regions of the Russian Federation. Besides, it is significant to ensure full implementation of the Republican Target Programmes on developing the regional labor market, to create new workplaces, to increase wages and to boost housing construction in the Republic.

In recent years, the archaeological methods and technologies enable to compile more accurate and detailed modern maps and topographical plans. Combining satellite images and maps, scientists have the opportunity to evaluate conditions and geographical characteristics of archeological sites. Having used the methods of geoinformation systems and electronic technology, a GIS (geographic information system) of the Neolithic epoch settlement Dzhangar, which was first excavated and studied by Prof. Koltsov P. in 1979-1980s, was developed. This article deals with the preliminary results of the work on the territory of Oktyabrskii region of the Republic of Kalmykia. In the survey the data from the electronic map enabled the researchers to locate such burials as Kermen Tolga, Duker and Dzhangar settlements. Each enlisted monument has the description of its present condition and geographical characteristics as well as of the accurate location in the global positioning system. Moreover, on the site of Dzhanghar settlement the topographical filming location was carried out with the electronic tachometric device. As a result, it became possible to position the plan of the settlement Dzhangar with its geographical longitude and latitude, i.e. to define the position of the site on the world map. Thus, the performed work has shown that for a full-fledged study of the archaeological research history it is necessary to conduct fi eld studies, i.e to travel to the location of specific archaeological sites with the purpose of their preservation and further study using modern achievements of the scientific and technical progress.

The article discusses the research outcomes of preservation of the archeological findings which were excavated from the three barrow groups of the burial ground in the region of the river Vostochnyi Manych. The excavations were carried out by Prof. U.E. Erdniev and Prof. I.V. Sinitsin from 1965 to 1967 in the construction zone of Chograiskoe reservoir. Earlier the findings of the excavations of the burial grounds Lola I and II, Arkhara and Vostochnyi Manych (1965) have been studied and the results of the research have been published. In 1966, the series of excavations including 165 mounds with 677 burials were conducted. The fi rst 49 excavated mounds are located on the left bank of the river Vostochnyi Manych. The second group of the 83 burial mounds is situated 8 km to the west of the first group on the left bank of the same river. The third group of the 33 excavated mounds, which is a continuation of the second group, is located on the same bank of the river as well. The great majority of the burials excavated within this period date to Bronze Age and make 84.5% of the total number of the excavated burials in these three mound groups. The archeological findings from the 1966 excavations are stored in the Kalmyk Ethnographic Museum. The article provides a list of the findings stored in the Museum among which there is a big amount of pottery belonging mainly to the burials of the Bronze Age: 56 clay vessels of various sizes and colours, and 7 clay incense burners. The next type of findings is tools made of bones and stones which are more typical of the Bronze Age than of the other periods of history. The next group of items consists of metal tools including the mirror made of bronze. The iron items are presented more widely, thus there are two arrowheads, two swords, two pairs of stirrups, an akinak and a spearhead. The results of the excavations were highlighted in the series of the articles published on the archeological expeditions in Kalmykia from 1979 to 1991. The prolonged interval had a negative impact on the evaluation of the work carried out. The solution to this problem is to collect all the materials together, to create a common database of all the projects undertaken in Kalmykia which will allow not only to preserve the heritage, but also to reconsider the results of the work undertaken.

The first burial mounds with accompanying horse graves were excavated in the 19th century. Nevertheless, some horse graves in the Scythian barrows of the North Black Sea steppe are still insufficiently investigated. A few important questions, for example, whether the horses were killed before being placed in the burial pit or if they suffocated to death after being buried are still under discussion. The horse burial mound sizes and depth have never been taken into consideration and elaborated statistically. The analysis shows that the horse grave pits had special sizes and design features to accommodate the corpses in imitation of those alive. Traditionally horse graves are classified according to their shape. Mozolevsky divided them into three types: square, quadrangular and oval (slot-like). It seems quite appropriate that the shape and size of horse graves were determined by the number of buried animals. In most cases their length roughly corresponds to the size of a horse from its face to tail (2m) while its shape (square or quadrangular) depended on the number of animals buried in a grave. However, not only the width of a grave but its depth also depended on the number of horses per grave. Thus their length may vary from 2.13 to 3.4m; however, only two of them containing 4 animals and one containing 10 animals were over 3m long. Their depth varies from 1.0 to 2.5m but the graves which were over 2m deep had 4 animals (three of them) and 7 animals (one of them). Thus, the conclusion can be drawn that the depth of a grave directly corresponded to its length and width. The Scythian horses had a skillfully made ceremonial harness to emphasize the richness of the burial ceremony of a high status horse master. Therefore, this integrated analysis of burial mounds with their accompanying horse graves and bridle elements has shown that the horse graves in the Scythian tumulus was a sign of prestige and richness of their masters, but in fact accompanying their masters to the other world horses played a secondary role as a part of grave goods.

The article is devoted to the topical issues of the comparative study of the dances of the Oirats and the Kalmyks - the genetically and culturally related ethnic groups. The dance culture of the Kalmyks is assumed to have been researched better than that of the Oirats, though on the whole many aspects remain insufficiently explored. The issues of the dance classification, the relationship of the dance culture and folk costume as well as the existence of the three “dialects” of Kalmyk dance corresponding to the three sub-ethnic groups of Kalmyks are discussed in the article. The necessity to involve the integrated approach considering resource chronology to determining the archaic layer and semantics of the Oirat and Kalmyk dances is highlighted. According to the author, the specific features of the sub-ethnic variation of the Kalmyk culture are associated with some ancient traditions, therefore the comparative study of the traditions of the Oirats of Mongolia (Derbets and Torguts) can provide some additional material for consideration. The Kalmyk ethnos development on the basis of the Oirat ethnic groups took place on the territory of the South of Russia in the multiethnic environment which determined the inclusion of some new elements into the culture. At the same time the Kalmyk culture preserves some archaic traditions originated in and connected with the Central Asian period of the ethnic history, so the problem of their possible influence on the traditional culture is open for discussion. Despite the differences in pace and movements, there are some semantic similarities and typological relationships in the dance traditions of the Oirats and the Kalmyks. Thus, on the one hand, it is important not to exaggerate the impact of the transformations occurred under the influence of the neighboring peoples’ cultures, and on the other hand, it is necessary to consider the influence made by the related Mongol culture on that of the Oirat taking into account that certain metamorphosis took place during the Qing Empire period. The comparative analysis of the Oirat and Kalmyk traditions and dance semantics appears to be challenging for research of the Kalmyk dance culture.

The article is devoted to the analyses of the omens of the Kalmyk people which testify the ethnic uniqueness of the people and allow to understand the nature of the folk beliefs and the core of the traditional way of life of the Kalmyk people. The folklore material analyzed in this research was gathered during the field study in the village of Tsagan-Nur of Oktyabrskiy region of the Republic of Kalmykia. The fairytales, legends, proverbs, prayers and mother’s covenant most of which are of religious character were recorded from two informants M. M. Boldyreva and E. H. Boldyreva. The author pays a special attention to the analyses of the omens told by the informants because they explain the nature of many customs and traditions as well. According to the informants, the highest criterion for the Kalmyks is Heaven where the deities live which patronize people that is why parents forbid their children to point a finger at the sky. In one of the legends told by the informants the horned snake relieves people and animals from diseases, and Kalmyks still consider a horn to be a sacred object and to have a curative effect. The Fairytale about a Girl Who Gave Birth to Serpents is imbued with great maternal love. Kalmyk people used to believe that children were destined to their parents by the deities, and that they would either ennoble their parents or upset them. People created proverbs like the following ‘Giving birth to a child, one doesn’t give birth to mind’ or ‘All five fingers are different’. They also invented signs such as ‘You should not hurt your mother, her blessing as a curse comes back to offenders’. The author analyses some omens justifying the ethics of worshipping mothers and seniors (Happiness comes when you respect elders) and those evidencing respect to a man - a breadwinner of the family. Thus, in her prayers to the Almighty the informant E.H. Boldyreva apologizes for her bad thoughts, for incautiously said words, mistakes, etc. Beliefs played an important role in children upbringing, taught love to a human being and reverence to the Nature. They were a kind of etiquette rules protecting from bad deeds, were they physical, spiritual or verbal. Kalmyks invested special meaning and wisdom, their heart and soul into any business they did (forthcoming deals started with the left side following the Sun’s movement); they baked dough of different shapes praising the Sky, the Sun, the Earth, various animals and birds and expressing their gratitude to them. Kalmyk-nomads were wise and virtuous, lived in harmony with the environment. Faith and fortitude helped our ancestors endure all the trials of life and become a role model for younger generations. To sum up, the analysis of the recorded folklore material provided with the information which allows to explain some omens of the Kalmyk people, to understand the role of Buddhism in bringing up a harmonious person, to evaluate the influence of the Buddhist culture on an individual’s development in the Kalmyk community.

The object of study in this research is the traditional fine art of the Kalmyks. The article is devoted to the analysis of the specific features of the local fine art in the Buddhist temple in Kalmykia. The pictures, sculptures, applications and embroideries wonderfully combine with the architecture of the Buddhist temple. Being perceived in the synthesis with the architecture, they serve as the decorative background, but at the same time they are the direct objects of veneration as well. The icons and the altar sculpture composition represent the centre of the temple or its residential space as well as the concentration of the Kalmyk’s esthetic attitude which has developed in the long process of ethno-genesis. The space in the temple expresses the unity of micro-and macro-cosmos (that of the man and the universe) which is portrayed in paintings and sculptures, and presents the historical genesis of art which appeals to believers from its walls and other constructions. The spiritual essence of Buddhism, its teachings received their material expression in the objects of worship, namely in the iconography and sculptures. Moreover, the set of the spatial art - architecture, sculpture and painting - form the ensemble of the ethnic identity. The Kalmyk Buddhist temple is a focal point not only of religious art, but also of arts and crafts related to processing of traditional materials. Craftsmen working with wood, metal and fabric created the decoration of the Buddhist temple which organically combines with the cult paintings and sculptures and reveals synthesis of the arts in the temple area preserving the artistic heritage of the Kalmyk people. The research justifies the significance of the analysis of the Buddhist temple art within the system of the traditional culture of the Kalmyks.

The issue of corruption is one of the most discussed in the Russian society, and has always been a “hot” topic for the Russian mass media. The theme of corruption often appears to be connected with the issues of power, bureaucracy, oligarchy, the shadow economy, etc. Combating corruption is one of the key factors of economic success. It is a generally recognized fact that the economy of Russia and in particular that of the Moscow region is actively developing today. The objective of this research is to investigate the anti-corruption policy of the modern Russia implemented at the regional government level, for instance the case of Moscow is considered in this article. In the study the effectiveness of the anti-corruption measures implemented in the context of economic development of Moscow is analyzed and the role of the Mayor S. Sobyanin in the implementation of this anticorruption policy is assessed. The subject of the study is the implementation of anti-corruption policy at the present stage of the capital’ development, in particular the introduction of new technologies and application of international experience is evaluated. Corruption always causes damage - direct or indirect - to public interest, and unless an effective barrier is set, it rapidly develops affecting new spheres. One of the most effective ways of combating corruption is to ensure the maximum transparency in the activities of officials. In light of above, the main task is to prevent the institutionalization of corruption when it becomes an integral part of the society, leads to degradation of social values and paralyzes the activities of the legal institutions. To use new Internet technologies in order to achieve transparency in the state body activities, to provide objective and reliable information, to actively involve public are practices to be guided by in combating corruption.

Interdisciplinary analysis of the economic factor as one of the main markers of ethnicity is relevant and in demand. Considering ethnicity Kalmyk social scientists mainly analyze linguistic, religious and historical characteristics of ethnic groups. This article discusses an economic factor as a basis for social manifestations of ethnicity of Kalmyks. The author uses the definition according to which the concepts of an economic-cultural factor of ethnicity and a production niche of ethnos are equivalent. Consideration of a wide range of statistical and empirical data allow to make a conclusion that the changes in the production niche of ethnic groups lead to the transformation of ethnicity. Being nomadic people, since the end of the 19th century the Kalmyks have gradually turned to a settled way of life, moreover, have assimilated the experience of the new types of labour (crop growing, fodder production, agricultural machinery). As a result, many aspects of the ethnicity of this ethnos have undergone great changes. The modern culture is characterized by blurring of specific ethnic characteristics (housing, clothing, food). The analysis of the results of the last 2010 Census shows that the Kalmyks, being the largest ethnos of the Republic, own and are engaged in subsistence agriculture to a much lesser extent than other numerous ethnic groups residing in Kalmykia, for example groups representing the Republic of Dagestan (Darghins, Avars). The author believes that it is necessary to continue the study of the influence of socioeconomic factors on the ethnic identity and the processes of changing ethnicity.

Purpose: Due to the natural global migration processes intensifying formation of structural space of a certain territory and influencing some regional features, rapid changes in the socio-cultural space of the region as well as in its ethno-social structure take place. In this article we will consider some factors contributing to the changes in the ethno-social structure of the Republic of Kalmykia, specifically, interrelation between the urbanization process and educational strategies of the various ethnic groups living in the republic will be discussed. Methods: The methods of the structural functional analysis, statistical analysis, sociological quantitative method of survey have been used in the research. Results: The main factor causing massive migrations from rural areas to the city is of economic character. Usually the intensive growth of cities is preceded by crisis in the traditional system of agriculture and growth of rural unemployment. According to the All-Russian Census of 2010, we see that the Kalmyks, Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and Koreans prevail among the city-dwellers. At the same time, such ethnic groups as Dargins, Avars, Chechens and Turks-Meskhetins are at the early stages of urbanization in Kalmykia. The number of urban population among them is insignificant and grows very slowly. The analysis of the statistical data reveals that almost the equal number of Kalmyks has higher, secondary professional or secondary general education. The highest percentage of the population with postgraduate education is observed among the Kalmyks. 31,7 % of Russians have secondary professional education - that is the biggest percentage of the whole population. The smallest percentage of people having higher education is among Avars, Dargins and Chechens residing in the Republic of Kalmykia. However, the tendency to active resettlement to the capital of the republic challenged by educational migration has been outlined among Dargins and Chechens recently. Discussion: The study of the migration processes in Kalmykia involving the use of the statistical data has exposed some interconnections between the social mobility of various ethnic groups and their educational strategies which in their turn influence on the ethno-social structure of the region

Developing the methodological instrument for monitoring the efficiency of the state financial control over the budget management in the subjects of the Russian Federation is a relevant issue for the financial control reforming and budgetary policy strengthening at the regional level. The article presents a number of the main characteristics, key criteria as well as efficiency rating of the regional budget management. The suggested in the article methodology is practically oriented and universal which presupposes the possibility of its implementation in evaluating the control efficiency in various regions with the following opportunity to compare the obtained results. The advantage of the proposed methods for determining the efficiency control is that the obtained results allow to estimate conditions and to elicit the calculation divergences for budget control management at the regional level. The practical implementation of the proposed mathematical tools used in determining the criteria and efficiency measurements provide acceptable circumstances for objective and transparent control of the budget execution results in the subjects of the Russian Federation. Moreover, the application of the given methods is suitable both for individual financial inspectors and state financial control agencies as well as for expert and analytical actions.

Purpose: The main purpose of the article is to analyze normalized forms of Russian place names within the creation of the State Catalogue of Place Names in 2011-2013. Methods: Since 2011 the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography has been creating the State Catalogue of Place Names on basis of the Place Names Registers of all Russian federal subjects. Every register must be approved by executive and legislative authorities. Comparison of place names registers of twenty regions of the Russian Federation before and after approval makes it possible to detect spelling variants of names and features of their normalization. Results: The analysis of the Place Names Registers revealed orthographic, phonetic, morphological, syntactic and lexical variants of place names. The orthographic variants are caused by variation of unstressed vowels in word stems; vowels after hushing sounds; use of letter ё ; joined-up, hyphenated and separate writing of place names; use of capital and lower case letters; writing of ordinal numerals in word-groups. The normalized forms of the place names described in the article reveal the cases of non-observance of the Russian orthographic rules which may be caused by ignorance of the rules, institutionalized traditional writing of place names, and use of orthographic rules of languages used in Russia. Discussion: The place names normalization needs an integrated approach taking into account observance and delimitation of the orthographic rules of the Russian and other languages spoken in Russia, traditional use of place names by local population, features of place names such as proper names and specifics of regional toponymic systems.

The article examines the origin and further development of a pasigraphy, a universal written language project, its place and its functional role in the history of linguistics. The article reveals the similarity of approaches to pasigraphy in Europe and Russia, as well as a stimulating role of Chinese characters for projects of this kind. A project by H. G. Murr, unknown, in fact, to the wide public, is considered in the article. G. W. Leibniz’ supporter and advocate, H. G. Murr following on Leibniz’ interest to China and his linguistic studies of the Chinese attempted to employ the Chinese characters and Carl Linnaeus’s systematics to create pasigraphy, a project of an interdisciplinary nature. Murr’s Chinese project did not go down as a serious one in the history of linguistics but it did not render Murr’s linguistic activity entirely useless, either, since the author managed to demonstrate a general linguistic paradigm, some useful information on language and culture in China, as well as made an essential contribution to popularizing Leibniz’s ideas. It was J.S.Vater who offered a full and systematic critical analysis of pasigraphic systems to reveal the ways they are constrained by language structure; long before Humboldt he had demonstrated that the aposteriori pasigraphy is just not possible due to differences in the structure of the significatum.

This paper presents description of the semantic annotation principles in the National Corpus of the Kalmyk language (www.kalmcorpora.ru) which is agglutinative with rich morphology. The Kalmyk language belongs to the Mongolian language family and is used by the Oirats in Xinjiang (China) and the Kalmyks living in the Lower Volga region of Russia. The corpus of the Kalmyk language is open data of the Kalmyk texts of different styles from 1950-2012 but it mainly includes literary works and newspaper articles. The model of morphological analysis is based on the formal description of inflectional types and paradigms without which the corpus could not have automated language processing. The semantic annotation is a crucial step in the project development because the Kalmyk language belongs to the endangered ones, that is why it is necessary to create conditions for thorough and systematic research of the language facts on the wide range of textual materials with particular word collocations. Children can learn grammatical rules and vocabulary, however, it is difficult to acquire how a certain word “works” in the context, and without this knowledge we are not able to produce natural speech. Owing to the availability of semantically-based computerize queries and the information deriving from semantic annotation with or without combination of morphological description in the Kalmyk corpus, we can receive relatively distinct material for researching various linguistic phenomena. The work on semantic annotation is based on the list of lexical units from the Kalmyk-Russian dictionary [1977] edited by B. Muniev. In other words, we use dictionary-based approach to annotation. Combining different methods for processing the list of words, we analyze them from four aspects: 1) lexical and grammatical characteristics (revealing categories in the part of speech); 2) thematic characteristics (one list of themes for all parts of speech); 3) word connotation (negative, positive or both of them); 4) information on word derivatives (it is not the main purpose of annotation, however, we try to point out some of them in cases where it is easy to discover them). The semantic annotation is based on the faceted and tree classification, as a result we do not have a clear ontology of lexica but in the process of work we realize that it is difficult to give unambiguous characteristics because of word polysemy. In some cases, we add some specific operators to the universal taxosonomical classification to emphasize the existence of branched systems within some word groups in the Kalmyk language, for instance the system of animals’ marking depending on their age and gender. These marks are necessary to convey cultural peculiarities reflected in the language. We analyze lexical units of all parts of speech, except linking words, which make almost 27 thousand units. Two third of all the words have more than one mark in each group of annotation. The result of this annotation is accessed as a closed database (corpus) but we will have opened and published it by the end of 2014. At the moment, we are searching for and emending mistakes in the program code of the morphological analyzer.

In modern folklore studies the regional component is one of the most important and perspective directions. The surge in research of a phenomenon of folklore, folklore tradition, traditional culture of the Kalmyk people and the increase of the public interest in this field are observed in Kalmykia today, and it can be considered to be obvious. The oral folklore of the Kalmyks as verbal expression of the people’s wisdom transferred from generation to generation represents the unwritten code of rules of behavior, “strategy of the correct life”. Understanding the value of folklore and need for its preservation creates preconditions for upbringing of a socially and morally adequate person familiar with the customs, traditions and mentality of the people. The modern scientific paradigm is characterized by an integrative tendency for different disciplines development in line with humanitarian perspective. The sphere of folkloristic research within this tendency includes various issues concerned with a folklore text, in particular features of organization of its semantics. Folklore is known to be a research object of different sciences. Every science looks for something that interests it: for philologists the folklore is important as the art of words, the subject of their scientific research is a folklore text; ethnologists study folk customs and rites, ethnomusicologists deal with folk music, ethnochoreographers study national dances, specialists in drama investigate spectacular and game forms of folk art, art critics analyze national arts and crafts. In recent years, the tendency for integrated study of folklore, language, ceremonies and folk art as components unifying spiritual culture of the kalmyk people has become distinctly notable. The folklore demands a broader view on possible prospects of its research. Today, the availability of the necessary corpus of texts allows for developing its integrated and comprehensive study at different levels (textual, stylistic, etc.). In order to improve the efficiency of scholarly reseach and Kalmyk folklore teaching, in our view, it is important to identify current trends and tendencies in the research and teaching of this discipline, to defi ne the basic methods for field studies, collecting and systematizing folklore materials, to indicate the main principles of textual and publishing work, to evaluate the entire resources of the Kalmyk folklore and their role in creating a multicultural educational environment. The study of any folklore text should only be conducted with regard to its genre characteristics. The behavioral norms in the most explicit forms are embodied in paroimia (proverbs, omens and others). One of the key issues in paroimiology is the problem of defining proverbs. Under the proverb we understand an utterance with generalized semantics. The proverbial genre is characterized by two main pragmatic functions, namely modeling and instructive. In conclusion, the authors emphasize the importance of implementing heuristic and educational potential of Kalmyk folklore in the system of national education of the Republic of Kalmykia. The folklore is a means of communication and socialization, the basis for spiritual, moral and aesthetic development of a person shaping his\ her ethnic identity which requires the introduction of folklore components to the regional education system. The authors hope that the issues discussed in this article will contribute to developing the science-based principles of folklore study for training purposes.

Proverbs reflect life experiences of previous generations, that is why in their proverbs the Kalmyk people underline the importance and necessity of deference to elders and ancestors whose names are traditionally mentioned when meeting anyone. Ignorance of the names of fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers was regarded as a bad manner. Kalmyks connect the name with the notions of honour and dignity which, according to the proverb, are more significant than life. A person’s decent behaviour, his relationship with older and younger members of the family, clan and community are governed by some relevant expressions. The ideas of goodness and love, not only attachment to mother, but also gratitude, respect, devotion, compassion and forgiveness to others and even offenders should dominate relationships. Special attention is paid to the aphorisms aimed at perception of motherhood and at developing sense of love, respect and gratitude to mother. Numerous proverbs point out that harmony, well-being and prosperity in family depend on woman’s wisdom and her ability to resolve any conflict. Father as the head of family, the keeper of his ancestors' traditions and customs, a successor of a clan should have unlimited respect. A person focused on education and learning is respected and honoured as a teacher as in all times Kalmyks have appreciated reading, writing and science, and daily practice convinced that learning had no age limit. Industry and respect to any kind of work is cultivated from childhood through proverbs, personal example and inclusion in the collective labour. The aphorisms reveal high evaluation of work not only as a source of livelihood, but as the main meaning of life. According to some popular concepts, labour and thrift are the basis of human material prosperity. At the same time, love to one’s native land, a sense of patriotism are expressed so brightly by Kalmyks that in the native country the land seems softer than in a far away one. The highest expression of love to the motherland is the willingness to give one’s life for it without fearing enemies.

The study of the written heritage of Mongol ethnic groups has a long tradition. The largest collection of Mongolian manuscripts and xylographs in Russia are concentrated in St. Petersburg and Ulan-Ude, some are stored in Elista and Kyzyl. In Mongolia the richest manuscript collections can be found in the State Public Library and the Institute of Language and Literature of Mongolia in Ulan Bator. During the last few years, the researchers from the Institute of Language and Literature and the Institute of History at Mongolian Academy of Sciences, the Center for Study of Oirat history and culture, Mongolian State Pedagogical University as well as from other institutions have been actively conducting integrated ethnological, linguistic, historical, ethnographic, folklore and other types of fi eld studies. This article is based on the findings of the field research within the International Scientific Expedition to Uvs (in Russian - Ubsunursky) aimag of Mongolia in July-August, 2013. Its participants investigated the Oirat culture, traditions, manuscript heritage and the history of Buddhist monasteries. The materials on the written heritage of Western Mongols were gathered both in monasteries and private collections and filed in the electronic sources. Out of 18 monasteries existing in Uvs aimag, the expedition members visited three. Each monastery has its own library where mainly Tibetan xylographs are stored. In Uvs aimag the most interesting collections have been found in the private libraries of some of the somons’ residents most of whom are so called arats herders - the guardians of the book culture. According to our survey, the manuscripts were passed down from generation to generation. As a rule, the books are kept in the honored place in the yurt (either in a box or wrapped in cloth) in one of the son’s family (not always in the youngest) and read on a regular basis. If the owners do not know the Tibetan or Oirat languages, translators or Lama are invited to read them. Tibetan texts are often transliterated in Cyrillic. One of such collections is held in Mr. Battsogta’s family and includes one Oirat manuscript as well. This manuscript was translated by the famous Oirat educator, politician, founder of the Oirat writing (1648) Zaya Pandita Namkaydzhamtso (1599-1662). Thus, the preliminary analysis of Mr. Battsogta’s private collection allows to make the conclusion that those manuscripts are primarily either didactic sources or religious and ritual literature or ethical and edifying texts related to household in Uvs aimag. Further research and description of the written heritage of the Western Mongols is anticipated within this study.

The article is devoted to the outcomes of the research on the oral stories about the Mighty Hero Yobogon Mergen undertaken with the aim to compare their Xinjiang-Oirat and Kalmyk versions. The folk stories about this hero have been published and studied by scholars such as B. B. Okonov, E. D. Muchkinova, D. E. Basayev, N. Buuva, S. Baazr, E. Badma, P. Dambipelj, Yuzmya, T. Namjil, and G. Gomb. The study of the available versions of the stories allow for distinguishing the two groups of works: the historical stories based on real events and legends. Thus, the researcher N. Buuva states that the story about the hero Yobogon Mergen published in the series of folklore monuments titlted “Khan Tengri” reflects some real events in the Oirat history. In all Kalmyk and Oirat versions, Yobogon Mergen - a foot hero - appears as a man of gigantic power whom no one can defeat. No horse is able to carry him, eighty oxen in one harness cannot move him, and five hundred men cannot lift him up. The image of a foot hero is an archaic one which is proved by the content of the studied texts: while picturing a strong, good shot, brave hero, the stories echo an ancient naming ritual related to initiation rites. According to the plot of Yobogon Mergen’s legends, the hero is an orphan or was caught out of water by childless old man and woman. He skillfully wields a bow - a traditional weapon of nomads. Yobogon Mergen shoots through the feather of a mythical bird Garuda making the Sun shine over Beijing, he also shoots down two heavenly stars from the Pleiades (in Xinjiang versions), with one shot disperses darkness over Tibet, and fulfills the order of a guardian-säküsen to hit a saiga without damaging its fell so that an arrow goes right through natural openings of an animal (in Kalmyk versions). Thus, it can be concluded that the stories about the warrier Yobogon Mergen relate to the Oirat mythology, pre-Buddhist beliefs, religious notions of Buddhism as well as Oirat rituals and traditions.

The issues of ecological education as an important component of humanitarian ecology is considered in the article. The humanitarian ecology is a new trend aimed at developing the knowledge of ethics and the moral bases of person’s interaction with the environment. The modern ecological situation assumes reconsideration of individual’s relationship with the nature surrounding him\her. The environmental education development and new ecological outlook formation demand scientific justification. Today in the situation of ecological crisis, one of the most important issues is to find new approaches to teaching ecology. The article provides some examples of the work in the field of ecological education conducted actively by the scientists-ecologists in order to promote scientific knowledge in Kalmykia.

Inclusive education is not only time consuming but difficult for implementation, either. That is why the trivial solution to this problem does not exist. Practical activities in the region to replicate various integrative forms of education for children with disabilities shows that desire of individual citizens and government organizations is not enough to resolve this issue. Therefore, we need to create certain organizational and pedagogical conditions for inclusive education implementation which will provide for its successful realization. The complex of organizational and pedagogical conditions for effective functioning and development of the investigated phenomenon requires a number of objective and subjective factors and is characterized by a set of praxeological measures to optimize operating conditions of this phenomenon in present-day education which finally improves controllability of educational process as a whole. Certainly, conditions highlighted in the article are presented in general term and appropriate for fulfilling the task under consideration. The analysis of the results of this practical research will confirm the validity of its assumptions

The research focuses on the regular word-formation models which are taken up in the scope of forming the semantic competence as an ability, knowledge and readiness to express one or another meaning on basis of splitlevel language tools which include affi x formants. Mastering regular affi xes is one of the requirements of Federal State Standard and exemplary programs of English language: these word-formation elements are a subject of special attention and control in interim and fi nal assessment. Mastering affi xation patterns as a method of forming the semantic competence provides understanding of transformation which takes place in the process of derivation inside the word-formation model. Examining the different types of semantic transformations and considering them in the process of creation of methodological techniques allow for actualizing the studying process. The research of the word creation process in ontogenesis and its comparison with the process of studying the word formation models induced us to defi ne the controlled word creation as a methodological technique used in the process of teaching the semantic competence. It is an active educational and cognitive method in mastering regular word-formation models which includes reception, combined preparation as well as a set of tasks directed to realization of derivational potential of the wordformation model in specially created conditions.

Review on: Maksimov K. Kalmykiia v sovetskuiu epokhu: politika i realii [Kalmykia in the Soviet Era: Policy and Realias]. Elista, Gerel Publ., 2013. 464 p. (In Russ.).