Khusain Faizkhanov and the historical linguistics development

Abstract

The article discusses the activities of Khusain Faizkhanov and the results of his work in the areas related to linguistics. Based on available source materials and indirect information, the article characterizes Kh. Faizkhanov’s proficiency in various languages, which was demonstrated by him both in his educational and research activities. The article draws attention to the factors that influenced Kh. Faizkhanov’s linguistic skills development. The range of languages that Kh. Faizkhanov knew and used in his work was wide. If he could master some of the languages due to his origin and profile of education (Turkic, Arabic, Persian), he learned others on his own, achieving the level that enabled him to use them functionally for specific tasks (Russian, Chuvash). Kh. Faizkhanov equally excelled as a linguistic theorist, which is clearly evidenced by his own textbook on the Tatar language, as a philologist, which is reflected in his work with written monuments, and as a linguist, which follows from his ability to make important, in terms of historical linguistics, methodological conclusions on the interpretation of the Volga-Bulgarian epitaphs, involving the use of information from the Chuvash language.