The article studies the elaboration of projects for reforming the judicial system and proceedings in Kalmyk Steppe in the early 20th century. Archival materials of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia served as the basis for the research. Additionally, published sources by pre-revolutionary and contemporary authors were applied as well; the works are of great interest since those are empiric materials collected during corresponding expeditions and describing the structure of judicial bodies and their functions within the Kalmyk Khanate, thus establishing the basis for the further studies on the history of the traditional judicial system and proceedings. In the 19th century the judicial system and proceedings in Kalmyk Steppe were regulated by laws and enactments of the Russian state. The shallow analysis of the 19th century imperial legislative acts shows that as the Kalmyks were introduced into the common Russian legal framework the status of the Zargo as a judicial instance within the Kalmyk community got devaluated. In view of the actual state of judicial organization and proceedings in Kalmykia, there inevitably appeared a necessity for solving the issue of developing the court and investigative system in the steppe and its reorganization in order to enhance its efficiency. The microhistorical research of the region and its judicial system allowed to have a detailed look at the arrangements proposed by the Kalmyk People’s Supervisor and the Congress of Ulus (i.e. District) Curators within the projects for reforming Kalmykia’s judicial system. One of the basic problems was that when it came to hearings of cases, the Zargo had no unified court practices regarding the order and forms of judicial proceedings; the competence of the court was also not determined. The conducted analysis of projects for enhancing the efficiency of judicial system and proceedings in Kalmyk Steppe in the early 20th century has shown the mechanism of introduction of the Kalmyks into the common Russian legal framework by the 19th century imperial legislative acts. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the suggested arrangements developed on the basis of the administrative experience obtained by ulus curators during their service. The author concludes that the attempts to improve the efficiency of Kalmykia’s judicial activities made in the early 20th century were mostly of restructuring nature, i.e. contained proposals as to reorganize the activities but definitely introduced no essential changes - no special training, re-training or upgrade training programs were implied. Whereas the expertise of judges is a cue aspect in the delivery of justice.

Following the analysis of a wide range of sources - both published and newly discovered in the funds of the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia - the paper examines the final stage of Soviet construction in Kalmyk Steppe. With the use of fresh conceptual approaches, peculiarities of the following issues are considered: constitutional recognition of the national and state entity, the first representative and executive bodies of state power of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast. In the short aftermath of the Russian Civil War (late 1919 - early 1920), the Soviet rule in Kalmyk Steppe was completely restored and a new system of local government was established. Due to activities of Bolshevik supporters and the new authorities, a considerable assistance on behalf of the Government and People’s Commissariat for Nationalities (Narkomnats), the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast was institutionalized by the central authorities in 1920 - in accordance with the Soviet nationalities policy and the Constitution of the RSFSR. The Founding Congress of Soviets formed regional bodies of state power and administration as part of the corresponding unified and centralized system of Russia. The administrative division system of the autonomous oblast was determined by the boundaries and features of territories historically inhabited by the Kalmyk people. Kalmykia as a national and state entity obtained the status of a federal subject within the RSFSR on the principles of internal territorial self-determination. The paper concludes that the Bolsheviks’ program statement on granting the peoples of Russia the corresponding right on the principles of internal territorial self-determination was implemented in Kalmykia in 1920 in the form of a national and state entity following the model of a Soviet autonomy within the RSFSR. Due to the fact the Kalmyk people had been considerably allocated throughout separate territories for quite a long time, it took a number of years to determine and establish the precise boundaries between the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast and the neighboring governorates and oblasts (regions) which was generally completed in the late 1920s - early 1930s.

The article discusses the results of the archaeological survey of burials of the East Manych mound groups containing stone implements. Within the mound groups, 329 barrows containing 1 541 burials with 1 329 ones, i. e. most of them, dated back to the Bronze Age were excavated in the early 1960s in the course of conservation works in the construction area of the Chogray Reservoir. 476 burials were identified by the authors of the survey as those belonging to the Yamnaya culture, 854 burials - to the Catacomb culture. The present work has been performed within the project for processing of the results of the large-scale archaeological surveys conducted under the supervision of Prof. I. V. Sinitsyna and Prof. U. E. Erdnieva, for re-evaluation of the excavated monuments and introduction into scientific discourse of still uninvestigated aspects of studies regarding the materials from the East Manych mound groups. The conducted research has revealed various aspects relating to the cultural and chronological, gender and age peculiarities of the buried. The qualitative composition of the stone implements also reflects the social status of the buried. It is the professional specialization of craftsmen that is most vividly displayed in the investigated monuments.

The paper provides a general overview of the main features and characteristics of Tibetan theoretical works on music written in the 11th-19th centuries. It is generally recognized that a written document of any kind is in many respects a product of the culture and epoch of its creation. To understand a document more correctly a researcher should first learn the respective cultural background. Given below is a concise account of the cultural circumstances in which Tibetan traditional works on music theory appeared as well as some preliminary remarks on the contents and peculiarities of the Tibetan theoretical writings on music already known to contemporary researchers. In fact, works on music theory written by learned Tibetan lamas were not in the focus of traditional Buddhist education. Those were often included in voluminous encyclopedias - without being properly studied. Despite this obvious neglect of musical aspects by the Tibetan Buddhist community, the texts represented in the paper contain a lot of valuable information about Tibetan music theory and practice, Tibetan philosophy of music and music education. On studying these traditional Tibetan works on music theory, researchers would be able to draw a realistic historical timeline telling about the development of Tibetan music culture and, eventually, to introduce this local historical narration into the framework of the global history of music. It should be noticed that at present the articles by Russian researchers that deal with Tibetan music are quite few. A hope is expressed that the paper will help attract the attention of scholars engaged in different fields of research to the problem of investigating Tibetan music theory and traditional theoretical works.

The paper analyzes such important components of Chechen material culture of the 18th century as clothes, shoes, food, jewelry and crafts. During the period under consideration, the Chechen clothes had a lot of common Caucasian traits and at the same time had purely local, specific properties (signs) reflecting the moral, household and aesthetic tastes of the Chechens (chokhas, beshmets, robes, canvas, sheeting or silk shirts, canvas pants with leather stirrups, leather belts with metal buckles, etc.). The most common shoulder-worn upper garment of the Chechens was the burka, they also wore hats in accordance with the season. Their shoes were very similar to those of other North Caucasian peoples. Despite some local peculiarities, clothes of Chechen women also had a lot in common with clothes of women of the North Caucasus, etc. The sophisticated pieces of high jewelry and handicrafts, developed weaving and tanning industries, strong trade and economic relations with Oriental and European countries testify of the achieved level of Chechen material culture in the 18th century. For a long time, despite some certain changes in household activities, food of the Chechens and their main dishes have remained same and experienced no significant changes.

The production growth, industrial revolution, expansion of external and internal economic relations and prevalence of rationalizing attitudes contributed to the further development of scientific thought in the 19th century, collection of field data: folklore, archaeological, ethnographic materials, monuments of law, etc. in the national peripheries of the Russian Empire. Kalmyk Steppe inhabited by a non-Russian population which was of some interest not only as an object to be introduced into the common economic space of the Empire but also as an object of research - was not an exception. The article aims to determine the role of supervisory administration as administrative leverage in the formation and development of ethnographic science in Kalmyk Steppe in the latter half of the 19th century. With evidence from archival materials and published sources, the process of state-initiated ethnographic material collection was analyzed; the analysis revealed interest towards the material culture of the Kalmyks and the territory of Kalmyk Steppe (Astrakhan Governorate). At various times for various reasons, Kalmyk-inhabited territories were visited by a variety of people who published their observations and notes for a wide range of readers interested in manners and everyday life of the Empire’s peoples. Those include such persons as F.A. Bühler, J.V. Bentkowski, J.P. Dubrova, F.I. Leontovich, P.I. Nebolsin, M.G. Novoletov, etc. The article emphasizes that the trend was determined by the increase in economic growth rate, expansion of external and internal economic relations and prevalence of rationalizing attitudes which contributed to the further development of scientific thought, collection of field data: folklore, archaeological, ethnographic materials, monuments of law, etc. in the national peripheries of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. The paper analyses the contents of corresponding survey tools (questionnaires) and describes their appearances. Special attention is paid to the roles of the Governorate administration, Central office of Kalmyk National Directorate and Petrovskoe Society of Astrakhan Region’s Explorers in preservation of the Kalmyk people’s ethnic distinctiveness and identity. The research resulted in the author’s conclusion that supervisory administration represented by Kalmyk National Directorate (Directorate for Governing the Kalmyk People) acted as a special mediator between the scientific community and the Kalmyk population promoting further collection of ethnographic materials and, as a result, the very formation of Kalmykia’s ethnographic science. It was hardly possible to apply any other methods of field data collection during the mentioned period since there was no developed system of transport and social infrastructure. As is historically known, the population - especially representatives of elites - willingly assisted the researchers providing them with objects of material culture to be introduced into their collections as well as transport means, etc.

The article explores the ethnogenesis and ethnicity of the medieval Bayirqu people, one of the most influential tribes in the Tiele Turkic union. Though the issue was widely discussed in the last century, the researchers still have not reached a consensus. Thorough, objective and unbiased analysis of ancient Turkic and especially Chinese sources mostly testifies of the Turkic origin of the Bayirqu, due to the facts as follows: - the Bayirqu were governed by chieftains referred to as ‘eltebers’ and ‘irkins’; - the Tiele tribes, including the Bayirqu, were genetically close to the Tujue (Gokturks); - the Bayirqu language had little difference from the language of the Tiele and therefore, that of the Tujue. This is also supported by the fact that during the period of the Turkic khaganates there was no Mongolian ethnos as an ethnic unit. It emerged after the defeat of the Rouran khaganate when proto-Mongols started to form an ethnic group in the remote area of Ergenekon on the right bank of the Ergune (Argun). Formation and development of the Bayirqu is related to the east side of Lake Baikal. As a result of the mongolization of the territory that began in the late 1st millenium AD, the Bayirqu experienced dramatic changes in terms of their ethnic characteristics and gradually joined the Mongolian ethnic groups. There was a change of the language as well, and the mongolization process over, self-designation of the Bayirqu turned into ‘Barga’ (Bargut). This predetermined the Bayirqu’s entry into the union of Mongolian ethnic groups. The Bayirqu’s remote descendants now live in Northeast China.

The use of mirrors in ritual practices as well as a vast variety of artistic images of the mirror and related motifs common in folklore and ethnographic traditions of different peoples had an obvious impact on the symbolic status of the mirror. The article aims to provide a reasoned analysis of the problem of semiotic peculiarities of the mirror as a symbol which determined its multifunctional and polysemantic role in religious and mythological beliefs of the Ossetians. The applied semiotic research method allows to consider the image of the mirror as a multiple set that bears numerous meanings in the ceremonial and ritual complex of the Ossetians. The study is based on a methodological framework defined in terms and principles of a structural and semantic analysis of ethnographic descriptions and folklore texts with elements of comparison and confrontment which significantly enhances opportunities for interdisciplinary studies. The analysis revealed the ambivalent nature of mirrors and peculiarities of their semiotic potential which stimulates the mythological imagination. With evidence from field study materials the feature of transcendence of the people’s world outlook connected with the mythologeme of the mirror has been considered, as well as mythological ideas of the mirror as a symbol of the feminine expressed through beliefs in generative powers of the item, thus, determining its role in the wedding rites. It is confirmed that the mirror is used in the wedding ritual due to its semantics and sacred relationship with women's patron saints ensuring a happy marriage and conferring the power of fertility. The work also analyzes the prototypicality of the mirror in the context of various magic ‘optical devices’ and introduces their symbolic meanings and semiotic nature. According to the research, Arvaydæn (Heavenly Mirror) semiotically correlates with ancient Indo-Iranian ideas of the three planes of space and is able to show all visible and invisible objects in the three worlds: the upper, middle and lower ones. The Heavenly Mirror can also display all events of past, present and future. Accordingly, the miraculous properties of the Heavenly Mirror including reproduction of objects and events in both the vertical and horizontal spatial-temporal plane is the result of its semiotic nature which distinguishes it from an ordinary mirror that reflects only ‘visible’ objects placed directly before it. In the end, the vast variety of folklore genres containing the ‘mirror’ motifs and its wide use in the ceremonial and ritual complex allow for the conclusion about a significant role of the mythologeme in the semiotic system of Ossetian traditional culture.

The revival of shamanism in Russia, including shamanism practiced by the Buryats who reside in the eastern part of the country, has recently been drawing increasing attention from both domestic and foreign scholars. As they notice shamanism’s growing influence on the modern society as a whole and its increasing importance for the well-being of its individual adherents, they are trying to analyze and understand the actual premises and the driving forces of this unexpected revival. Currently, they tend to explain it by either a strong impact of socio-cultural factors, such as general post-Soviet anomie, loss of universal moral guidelines, sudden erosion of values, and the subsequent rise of interest in traditional beliefs or, alternatively, by purely political reasons, such as liberalization of religious policies during the reforms of the late 1980s coupled with the gradual weakening of the state institutions and ideologies during the Soviet Union’s disintegration which eventually caused a political and ideological vacuum. The paper argues that this theoretical dilemma may be solved through the analysis of the similar process of the revival of shamanistic practices developing just across the border, i.e. among the Buryats residing in the Shenehen region of China. The traditional culture and the archaic shamanistic worldview of those people are almost identical to those of their kinsmen living in Russia but at the same time they were free from those dramatic political transformations of the late 20th century that took place in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. After elaboration on the peculiarities and specifics of the recent revival of shamanism among the Buryats of China, the paper eventually concludes that particular political transformations have only limited ability to shape the exact route that the process of revitalization of traditional beliefs may or may not take. At the same time, the major factors responsible for the revival of shamanism among the Buryats, and, presumably, among other nationalities of the region are still largely sociocultural by nature, the most important of them being the inability of the modern society to address the fears and everyday cares of ordinary people considering those insignificant.

The article describes loanwords in one of the understudied dialects of the Dargin language - the Kadar one. Kadar population had close contacts with the Kumyks, an indigenous Turkic-speaking people of Dagestan. The fact that a lot of words in the Kadar dialect were borrowed from the Kumyk language is also explained by that Kadar is geographically located in Buynaksk District of Dagestan, i. e. far from other Dargin villages. Kadar is surrounded by villages mainly populated with Kumyks. The close relationships of the native speakers of the Kadar dialect of the Dargin language with the Turkic-language speakers resulted in borrowings of their customs, traditions and some elements of words and word-formation peculiarities. Lexical borrowings from the Kumyk language in the Kadar dialect of Dargin language have significant phonetic and semantic features as compared to turcisms of Dargwa noted in research works of Dargin scientists. The authors of the article try to trace the ways of penetrating of turcisms into the Kadar dialect. The study aims to synchronously describe different ways of phonetic, morphological, lexical assimilation of these borrowings in one of the dialects of the Dargin language. The object of the study are verbal (oral) and non-verbal texts (collected during conversations with inhabitants of Kadar District) that actualize information about the turcisms. The subject of the study are the discursive practices about the processes of penetrating of the turcisms into the dialect. The field methods are as follows: participant observation and informal conversation, the method of memory boosting performed by the author of the article. The methods of analytical treatment of the materials: structural/functional, pragmatic and discourse analysis. The authors of the article describe the processes of assimilation of the Turkic borrowings and explain some of their peculiarities. The conclusions would be useful for further theoretical researches of the Kadar dialect of the Dargin language as well as for certain applied purposes. The complex theoretical observations data about the turcisms in one of the Dargin dialects included in the article are published for the first time and can be interesting for specialists engaged in the research of languages and their understudied dialects.

The paper provides a phytonymic portrait of common chickweed (Stellaria media L.) in the Finno-Permic languages that form a branch of the Finno-Ugric language family, the other being that of the Ugric languages. Chickweed usually grows in damp shady places in gardens or parks, close to human habitation - in fields, along roads, on banks of ponds, ditches and lakes. The plant is widely considered a malignant weed. The study covers all the known common names of chickweed in the mentioned group of languages (numbering about fifty). Their origin as well as issues of the plant’s nomination have been studied. Most of the names of chickweed under consideration are found in the Baltic Finnic languages. Chickweed is a most severe weed but it is also used for medicinal purposes as well as for feeding cattle and poultry. Additionally, chickweed is used in folk medicine. All this is reflected in the names of the plant. Some names of chickweed are based on its other properties: its favorite place of growth (in damp shady places in gardens, parks and near human habitations - in fields, along roads, along shores of ponds, ditches and wastelands), the form of the whole plant and especially its flower, outward similarity of Stellaria media with other plants. Models according to which names of chickweed were created are often quite original and almost never repeat themselves even within separate languages. With some minor exceptions, names of chickweed can be easily etymologized. Many composite names of chickweed are results of this plant’s nomination based on two signs. A good amount of the collected phytonyms in the Finno-Ugric languages allows for a comprehensive research including etymological and structural semantic studies. The author of this article hopes to explore and describe the most common names of plants in the Finno-Ugric languages in his further works.

Folklore is an important segment of a linguistic picture of the world and is a part of culture of any nation. Paremiological units have been objects of linguistic research already. Due to complexity of their sign nature and ethnocultural originality, they have been studied in various aspects. Attempts to reveal steady criteria for differentiation between paremiological units were made in works of such researchers as V. I. Dahl, A. A. Potebnya, I. M. Snegirev, F. I. Buslayev, A. A. Molotkov, V. P. Zhukov, V. M. Mokiyenko, N. M. Shansky, Z. K. Tarlanov, etc. But the issue on differentiation between the terms ‘saying’ and ‘proverb’ still remains contestable in present-day linguistics. Some researchers (V. P. Adrianova-Peretts, I. E. Anikov, etc.) suggest not to differentiate between ‘saying’ and ‘proverb’ uniting them under one single term ‘paroemia’ (a paremiological unit). Perhaps, from the perspective of linguoculturology such differentiation is also not basic. But nevertheless, most researchers (Z. K. Tarlanov, L. G. Permyakov, Yu. P. Solodub, etc.) insisted on such differentiation. The article deals with the problem of differentiation between ‘saying’ and ‘proverb’ and determination of their linguistic status. Within a ‘broad’ understanding of phraseology, paremiological units can be also be viewed as part of the latter. Researchers have repeatedly noted than proverbs and sayings are the main source of phraseological units which often originate from reduced paroemias. In a general sense, distinctive marks, riddles, beliefs, superstitions, folksays, humorous sayings and tongue twisters are also - together with proverbs and sayings - designated as paroemias. Interdisciplinary nature of paremiological units should be noted as well. In domestic linguistics, proverbs and sayings are studied from the perspectives of folklore - as a minor genre of oral lore. Paroemias are considered in the contexts of both literary studies and linguistics. In recent years, paremiological units have become objects of numerous linguoculturological research studies within which those are viewed as microfragments of a linguistic picture of the world. In terms of linguistics, the criteria that lie at the root of differentiation between proverbs and sayings are as follows: semantic criterion, syntactic one, criterion of presence / absence of a figurative meaning. Interdisciplinary nature of paroemias is emphasized. The analysis of scientific literature on the topic under consideration allowed to identify the following distinctive features of proverbs and sayings: 1) proverbs are didactic by nature; 2) sayings contain no direct didactic message and are characterized by figurativeness of expression; 3) sayings depict features of events, a person or actions; 4) proverbs are expressed by narrative and hortatory sentences but do not take the form of interrogative ones; 5) sayings are expressed by not only narrative but also interrogative and exclamatory sentences; 6) the aspect of generality in the considered paremiological units is conveyed differently; 7) within a saying generality is occasional and is determined by actual functional and communicative conditions. The article provides a variety of viewpoints on the presented problem, describes the main features of proverbs and sayings and attempts to reveal structural and functional similarities and differences of the concepts.

It is a generally recognized fact that in the Abkhaz and Abaza languages (as well as in the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of languages in general) the stem of the verb is very rich in elements it can consist of and is capable of differentiating and expressing various local and directional meanings. It is possible due to the use of special verbal word-formative elements - preverbs. Such preverbs can be of two main groups: the directional preverbs and the local ones (also preverbs of local reference). Among the local preverbs there is another classification according to the meaning: they can be concrete and abstract. Concrete preverbs are characterized by more specific indication to a place of action (sometimes a state), while the abstract ones have a more common meaning. Moreover, in most cases the concrete preverbs can be easily associated with the initial words they originated from. This limiting feature makes them less productive both in terms of word-formation and semantics. At the same time, due to their structural simplicity and the vague links with the initial words, the abstract preverbs are more productive and create far more opportunities for polysemic (figurative) use. This article is devoted to the process of desemantization which occurs among local preverbs, both concrete and abstract ones, realized in a verb stem. Preverbs of local reference for the most part derive from different words with certain meanings. Consequently, to a greater or lesser extent, they preserve this meaning when realized in a verbal stem. However, there are cases when local preverbs lose their local semantics and give a verb another, figurative, meaning. This process is more visible among local preverbs of abstract meaning. It is pointed out in the article that during the process of desemantization preverbs of local reference fully or partially lose their local semantics and are realized in a verb stem in the function of a word-formative element. In most cases, though we cannot speak about a total grading of a local meaning, when preverbs of local reference undergo desemantization in the stem of the verb they also lose another important preverbal function - the grammatical one.

The article describes composite adverbs in the Chamalal unwritten language which is necessary for further studies of the language vocabulary. The author tries to explore grammatical groups of complex adverbs. Relevance of the research corresponds to priorities in linguistics - to describe unwritten languages ​​of peoples small in numbers that are threatened with extinction; the current case deals with description of complex adverbs of the Chamalal language. The introduction provides a short overview of the unique ethno-linguistic Dagestan where on a relatively small area of 50 thousand sq. km. with a population barely exceeding 2 million people - more than thirty nationalities speaking different languages have been co-existing for thousands of years. It is important to note that multilingualism is a historically constituted objective reality of Dagestan. This reality is remarkable because it creates conditions and exceptional order problems that require extraordinary and scrupulous attitudes. The object of the study are composite adverbs of the Chamalal unwritten language. The subject of the study is the semantics and structure of complex adverbs. The aim of the study is the identification, classification and system analysis of the ways of composite adverbs formation, determination of their significance ​​and description of semantic features. The problem of the study is the identification, processing and systematization of the composite adverbs. The methods of the study are the lexical analysis and diachronic description.

The article describes the case paradigm of Classical Mongolian with evidence from Mongolian texts of “The Story of Prince Manibhadra” - a well-known monument of Buddhist translated literature of the 17th-18th centuries. “The Story…” originates from the Sanskrit Jataka story of Prince Sudhana translated into Tibetan and then into Mongolian as part of several Buddhist collections of Jataka and Avadana tales. Due to its intriguing plot, the story also existed in the form of separate manuscripts and, moreover, became widespread within the oral tradition of Mongolian peoples. Six texts written in Mongolian script were analyzed: five manuscript texts of “The Story…” and one text from the woodblock-print edition of the Kangyur (all of them stored in the archives of Saint Petersburg and Ulaanbaatar). With evidence from the mentioned texts, the paper considers the case paradigm of Classical Mongolian which includes nine cases as follows: the nominative, genitive, accusative, dative-locative, locative, instrumental, ablative, comitative and connective ones. The basic meanings and syntactic functions of the cases along with corresponding examples from the texts are described. Some peculiarities of the use of the cases in the texts under consideration are examined. In particular, the canonical text of “The Story…” from the woodblock-print edition of the Kangyur is characterized by the use of the similar genitive and accusative cases’ formants -i typical for texts of earlier periods, as well as the archaic dative-locative formant -da / ta; the locative case is also widely represented in the text while it is not that common in Classical Mongolian. Due to the examples it can be concluded that the text of the woodblock-print edition had been compiled prior to the other applied texts, most probably at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries when the actual norms of Classical Mongolian were being established. Additionally, the paper contains examples from the texts of “The Story…” which are translations from Tibetan and provide insight into the method of word-for-word translation applied by Mongolian specialists, namely, adherence to Tibetan syntax and morphology. For example, the instrumental particle -bar / -ber - like the Tibetan particle -kyis - accompanies the subject within a text which is not typical for Mongolian. Moreover, one of the texts contains a combination of the verb ‘qaγacaqu’ (‘to part from’) and the comitative indicator -luγ-a which could also be characterized as an attempt to adhere to the original text (in Tibetan the verb ‘bral ba’ requires an addition of the conjunction ‘dang’) - while according to the norms of Mongolian grammar the ablative formant -aca was to be applied.

The article aims to study the peculiarities of the conversational style with evidence from Kalmyk fairy tales recorded by the Finnish scholar G. J. Ramstedt. The purpose of the paper is to identify elements of the conversational style within folklore texts. Such research seems to be important enough due to the fact that linguistic and stylistic aspects of the conversational style both in folklore texts and the colloquial Kalmyk language have not generally been subject of any special studies. With evidence from fairy tale texts phonetically transcribed by G. J. Ramstedt, phonetic, lexical, phraseological, morphological and syntactic norms typical for the conversational style of Kalmyk are considered. The folklore texts contain a great number of elements characteristic of the conversational style at all levels of colloquial Kalmyk, such as ellipsis of vowel and consonant sounds, use of colloquial words and phrases, interjections, incomplete sentences, parcelings, etc. The analysis of the materials allows to conclude as follows: 1) creation of fairy tale texts is characterized by a low level of spontaneity, 2) fairy tale telling process is full of elements typical for the conversational style at all levels of colloquial Kalmyk, such as ellipsis of vowel and consonant sounds, use of colloquial words and phrases, interjections, incomplete sentences, parcelings, etc., 3) the informants are speakers of the Dorbet sub-dialect.

The article is based on little-known published and archival materials and considers the interaction between Russian scientists specializing in Mongolian studies and Buryat intellectuals. The paper describes the interaction as an important part of the discipline which appeared as a trend in Oriental studies and rapidly developed in the early 20th century. With a focus on the cooperation between Russian university professors and Buryat intellectuals, the author of the publication introduces a number of adjustments to the concepts developed in the historical literature. It is concluded hereby that the main problem one faces within the given context is that when it comes to studying the history and culture of Mongolian peoples, each of the scientists, his personal scientific heritage is considered separately; they are isolated from one another with no attention paid to the cooperation between the Orientalists which, in its turn, results in the wrong idea about the development of Mongolian studies in Russia in general as well as the contribution of certain scientists to the development of this sphere of Oriental studies. Moreover, it implicates an incorrect vision of how the scientific community evolved from among the national intellectuals and how scientific views were formed with the direct participation of native speakers, local intellectuals and researchers from Russia’s leading center of Mongolian studies. The rich epistolary heritage of V. Kotvich and Ts. Zhamtsarano confirms the importance of such cooperation. Excerpts from their letters also testify of their scientific contacts with other Russian Orientalists, such as B. Vladimirtsov, A. Rudnev, S. Oldenburg. V. Kotvich was a well-known expert in Mongolian languages and history. In 1903 the first of the two Russia’s initial Oriental Associations was set - the Russian Committee for the Exploration of Central and East Asia. Professor V. Kotvich was a member of the Committee. V. Kotvich, A. Rudnev, B. Vladimirtsov (members of the Committee) cooperated fruitfully and directed activities of the Buryat researchers Ts. Zhamsarano and B. Baraydin who also became acknowledged experts in Mongolian studies. For example, it is due to Ts. Zhamsarano’s support that V. Kotvich’s 1912 scientific trip to one of the most interesting places of Mongolia - the Orhon Valley famous for archaeological and written artifacts - became possible. The cooperation between V. Kotvich and Ts. Zhamsarano had a great impact and led to considerable scientific results.

The paper presents analysis of a new kind of educational courses based on multidisciplinary approach. The course synthesizes the methodologies and advances of regional studies and regional geography, cultural and cross-cultural studies and communication, oriental studies, civilization studies, second language acquisition and second language teaching. The course is a part of a wider language program elaborated and implemented at NRU HSE (Saint Petersburg) and bases essentially on the inclusive strategies of Arab countries study, primarily language learning techniques (Arabic). It requires preliminary commandment of elementary course of Arabic. This study aims to analyze a year’s experience of constructing the Arab countries studies course and its teaching process, and to evaluate the merits and demerits of its aspects, taking into account the peculiarities of the academic activity, language skills, basic dictionary, and comparative analysis of several similar courses. The importance of the formation of linguacultural studies competence of Arabists is linked to several factors. The most important of them is that there appeared certain common traits amongst Arab peoples, the knowledge of which may facilitate mutual understanding between different cultures. Also we must take into account the fact that each Arab country is a unique socio-cultural unit, which bears the imprint of the ethnic specificity and individual features of geography and historical development. Formation of the linguacultural studies competence of Arabists is the way to educate them in the true tolerance, because background in cultural and ethnic spheres plays a crucial role in communication. In order to become interculturally effective one need to understand the concept with all its components. However, few courses have this culture-based teaching component of Arabic, so the status of Arabic is underestimated or ignored. These issues create a kind of a challenge for the teachers. In view of this background and taking into account positive and negative impacts, we consider the central question that motivates this paper: whether it is worth combining the teaching of these aspects and at the same time increasing the language level, to be precise - Arab countries and Arabic language, to highlight the most important issues with training listening, reading and speaking skills, and to explore the ways to implement this course in the program of the second year students with the beginner level of Arabic language.

With evidence from Ossetian fairy tale prose (magic fairy tales), the present work is the first attempt to consider expression of distinctive national components and features in translated texts. In addition to proverbs, sayings, phraseological units and interjections, realia-words also act as ‘expressers’ of unique national features in folklore texts. Realia-words usually comprise proper nouns, names of holidays, customs, dishes, beverages, clothes, dances, fairy tale and mythological characters, etc., i. e. words that basically bear some ethnocultural specificity. The work considers cases when partitive and full realia-words are used in folklore texts as well as means of their translation into the target language, reveals most optimal solutions for retaining the national color of the source text. In particular, on the basis of a comparative and contrastive analysis of the same texts in different languages the following means are considered: transformation / transliteration, analogous substitution, descriptive and calqued translation of lexical units. The research established that it is mechanical reproduction which provides optimal translation solutions when it comes to interpret words reflecting national and cultural distinctive features of a source text and comment on some ethnographic issues. To cross cultural hurdles translators often use the method of analogous substitution - substitution of original units by their analogues in the translation language - and that of descriptive translation (or explanatory translation) - explanation of the meaning of a realia-word. Such means of translation of culture-specific words may erase the national color but help express the denotative content of a realia. Cases of word-for-word translation of components of a foreign realia are quite rare in the translated magic fairy tales. Calque allowed the translators to avoid the excessive exoticism when depicting the national images (characters) of the original text.

The article studies Karachay-Balkar fairy tales that constitute a considerable part of the national oral tradition. When defining the term “a household fairy tale”, the author reconsiders the accepted folkloristic views on the term “a novel fairy tale” which is also applied to household fairy tales with a considerable prevalence of plot elements depicting adventures of separate fairy tale characters - since due to its genre modification it cannot be referred to this type of folk prose. The paper also analyzes theoretical studies on household fairy tales and appraises a number of works by predecessor researchers (A. Z. Kholaev, A. I. Karaeva, F. A. Urusbieva, etc.). In terms of national folkloristics, the article provides the historically first sub-genre classification of the Karachay-Balkar household fairy tale which is a gem of the inherited folk oral and spiritual tradition. Thus, Karachay-Balkar household fairy tales can be subdivided as follows: 1) family and household fairy tales (about family relationship, women, unfaithfulness, guile and love); 2) fairy tales about padishahs, sultans, landowners (bai) and feudal lords; 3) fairy tales about wisdom, quickwittedness and inventiveness of a shepherd; 4) fairy tales about witches - turnskins (‘obhur’), daemons (shaytan) and forest spirits - Agach-Kishi and others; 5) legendary fairy tales about prophets and historical figures; 6) humorous fairy tales including compositions about mullahs, effendis; 7) fairy tales about morality in the family, community and everyday life; 8) fairy tales about the world of things and origins of home-cooked food. The conducted studies of approximately 100 texts have allowed for the conclusion that their content peculiarities explicitly designate every single composition as belonging to a definite sub-genre. Special attention is paid to the motifs of family, love, enmity and revenge within a rural community as well as those of morality and denunciation of sinful priests. The analysis of a vast range of materials concerning Karachay-Balkar fairy tales in comparison with diverse compositions of Oriental, Turkic and Caucasian peoples revealed both the similarities of plots, motifs and the ethnic peculiarities of the considered texts.

So far the genre of the Kalmyk household fairy tale has not been a subject of special folklore research despite the generally accepted fact that household fairy tales of the Kalmyks are of exceptionally high artistic merit. They have a well-defined specificity that manifests itself in peculiarities of their plots, the system of images and characters, originality of artistic and expressive means. The universal classification of genres can be well applied to Kalmyk fairy tales, though there are some specific features; there are magic, household, satirical, heroic fairy tales and fairy tales about animals. In terms of artistic contents and plot typology as well as functions of characters, household fairy tales can be classified as follows: 1) about cunning and dexterous people, thieves; 2) about wise guessers; 3) about fairy tale characters’ pursuits of happiness; 4) about married couples; 5) about clergymen; 6) about fools. The preliminary examination of plots of Kalmyk household fairy tales and their topics has identified that they contain oppositions as follows: “clever - fool, silly”, “rich - poor”, “generous - avaricious”, “good - evil”. Nowadays one of the main goals of Kalmyk folklore studies is to explore and publish the plots of Kalmyk household fairy tales. Comprehensive textual studies of the Kalmyk household fairy tale are actual enough since separate fairy tale plots of the Kalmyks - recorded from various taletellers and at various times - have numerous versions. Preparation and publication of unique Kalmyk household fairy tales within “The Corpus of Kalmyk Folklore” is of great importance for preservation, revival and enrichment of the national cultural heritage.

The article discusses the issues relating to the history of medieval Mongolian literature the basis of which was laid in translated written texts. The author performs a textual analysis of two Mongolian translations of the well-known Buddhist literary monument - “The Sutra of the Wise and the Fool” (Tib. ‘dzangs blun zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-po’i mdo). The translators of these texts are the famous Mongolian writers of the 17th-18th centuries - Širegetü-guši-čorǰi (the late 16th-early 17th cc.) and Toyin-guši (the early 17th c.). The translation of the sutra made by Širegetü-guši-čorǰi and known under the name “Silaγun onoltu” (“[The Sutra bestowing] the fastest acquisition of knowledge”) is most often mentioned in literature. The second translation - the one performed by Toyin-guši - is almost unknown to the general scholarly public. Its transliterated text was published by Ts. Šagdarsüren in 1989 in Budapest. In the preface, the Mongolian scholar expresses V. Heissig’s hypothesis according to which both the translations could have been made by the same translator. However, Šagdarsüren considers that the similarities could be caused by the rules of alliteration and the principles of Dandin’s composition on poetic theory - Kāvyādarša or “Mirror of poetry” (Mong. ǰokistu ayalγun-u toli) - medieval writers adhered to. The author of the article shares the opinion established in the Mongolian studies community according to which Širegetü-guši-čorǰi followed the principles of semantic translation (from Tibetan into Mongolian) and Toyin-guši adhered to the principles of literal translation. It is concluded that both the translators are distinguished erudites with perfect expertise in Buddhist dogmatic literature and Tibetan. The last mentioned was important for understanding of the Tibetan original text and its adequate translation into the native language. The language expertise of both the translators is approximately identical since they lived and worked at approximately the same period. The results of the analysis reveal prospects for further typological research of the history of origins and development of Buddhist literature among Mongolian peoples.

The article describes a Buddhist text in Clear Script relating to the gso-sbyong class and discovered in Uvs Province (Western Mongolia) under the title “Bacaq barixu yosun orošibo” - from the perspective of the tradition of home prayers of the Kalmyks. The Oirat manuscript deals with matsg - the one-day Mahayana Buddhist vow - that could be taken by both laity and clergy. Since the tradition is one of the few exact Mahayana vows to be observed by both laity and clergy, it is quite widespread in Tibet, Mongolia and Kalmykia. The text provides recommendations as to how to self-prepare and take the vow and what one is to keep abstinence from once it has been taken. A person who takes the vow undertakes to observe the Eight Precepts and, thus, abstain from: 1) taking life, 2) taking what is not given, 3) lust and non-virtuous behavior, 4) telling lies, 5) using intoxicating substances, 6) entertaining oneself, using cosmetics and decorative accessories, 7) sitting on high and big thrones (chairs) without corresponding need, 8) eating after noon. The matsg vow could be taken not only from priests but also from lay persons who observed the Five Precepts (upasaka vows, in Kalmyk uvshin samnr). Various aspects of the tradition of fast days have been covered in works by E. P. Bakaeva, G. Yu. Badmaeva, V. K. Shivlyanova but no comparative analysis of matsg vow manuals (manuscripts) of the Western Mongols and Kalmyks has been conducted. According to historical sources, the basis for the tradition among the Oirats was laid by Zaya Pandita Ogtorguin Dalai (1599-1662) in the 17th century. Additionally, the paper attempts to analyze some linguistic peculiarities of the Oirat text which is most probably a translation from Tibetan, namely: the use of the written form of the present tense suffix -mui corresponding to the Tibetan particle ‘o; the use of the verb üyiledkü (‘to do’) as an auxiliary (similar to the Tibetan byed ‘to do’) and syntactic constructions that are rather characteristic of the Tibetan language structure.

The history of Enlightenment thought of the North Caucasus in the 80-90s of the XIX century manifested a reorientation of the ideological beliefs, caused by the collapse of expectations for the civilizing mission of the tsarist government and its «educated bureaucracy.» Illusions of the «intellectual mentorship» as a form of a dialogue with the government and rational correction methods of administration in the region were replaced by a concept of a critical thinking personality as the main driving force of progress. The present article views the poetic interpretation and implementation of the theses of P. L. Lavrov’s theory of narodism in the creativity of K. L. Khetagurov within the context of socio-philosophical quest of the North Caucasian creative intelligentsia of that time. Purpose: analyzing the number of poems included in “The Ossetian lyre” collection (“Iron fandyr”) by Kosta Khetagurov for presenting a reasoned evidence that the postulates of the Russian ideologist of narodism P. L. Lavrov, and namely, the idea of “indebtedness” to the people, were perceived by the classic of the Ossetian literature as a personal moral, artistic and philosophical imperative. Methods: comparative contrasting and hermeneutic-interpretative methods were used in the study to understand the synthesis of the elements of the extra-textual reality and features of the poetics of the texts of the poems. Results: the study of the poems of “The Ossetian lyre” collection viewed as consistent reflections of the various stages of “critical thinking”, discussed by P. L. Lavrov, and enabled to identify these texts as a semantic and motivational unity structured in a certain way. Step transition from one type of consciousness to another (“Meditation” contains the idea of “justifying” the idle state lamenting isolation from the “soil”, in the “Hope” the thought is active and aimed at the process of creative and spiritual growth, and in the poem “If to... “- a searching, dynamic thought, at the level of dreams, ideas comes out to the synthesis of “one’s individual”, national and universal, worldly) contributes to the comprehension of the most important fragments of the poet’s artistic vision of the world, who in his poetry and public discourse considered himself as a citizen of the world (”The whole world is my temple, my love is my shrine / The overall universe is the homeland of mine!”). The core of this compositional and semantic unity is the idea of “paying the debt” to the people, clearly formulated by K. L. Khetagurov in his program poem “Commandment”. Discussion: The use of new interpretative approaches to the microcycle distinguished within the internal structure of the collection “The Ossetian lyre” as a kind of the author’s “dialogue” with philosophical theses put forward in the “Historical Letters” (1870) by P. L. Lavrov and enabled to advance a new reading of this cycle of poems, necessitating the correcting of intonation and semantic accents in them with the view of transferring attention from the traditional social dimension to the factor of personal development, and the growth phase of individual and social consciousness.

The family is the basic unit of children’s socialization and education. The significant role of the family and parents has been described in a number of works by prominent historic and modern authors. According to the researchers, behavior patterns of the parental family are subsequently adopted and reproduced by an individual and are applied in establishment of social contacts. With evidence from a survey conducted in schools of the Republic of Kalmykia in 2015, the article examines a teenagers’ assessment of the main activities of the parental family. The most appreciated (by the teenagers) parental behavior patterns are related to such aspects as treatment of old people, relations with friends and attitude to work. The least supported realms are those of relations between parents and organization of leisure time. The analysis of children’s answers by the categories of gender, place of living and nationality testifies that teenagers’ assessment of parents’ organization of leisure time, distribution of household duties between parents depends on the gender and place of living. Influence of the nationality factor became evident in the assessment of educational strategies adopted within a family. Comparison of the results of the 2004 and 2015 surveys testifies that the activities of the family most approved by children are still - “treatment of old people” and “attitude to work”. Significant changes are there in the assessment of organization of leisure time: a share of children satisfied with how parents spend their leisure time has increased.