M. V. Lomonosov’s Phonetic Terminology in German Translations (Exemplified by the Material of “Russian Grammar” and Its German Translation)

Abstract

The article concerns the study of M. V. Lomonosov’s “Russian Grammar” sections which describe the phonetic structure of the Russian language, including segmental and suprasegmental levels, as well as the corresponding paragraphs in the German translation of this grammar made by Johann Stavenhagen in 1764. The main purpose of studying these text sources is selection of phonetic terminology used by Lomonosov and its comparison with German terminology in the structural and semantic perspective to establish conformity between Stavenhagen’s translation solutions and the author’s intentions in the terminological sphere. The relevance of the work is determined by the fact that at present there are practically no comparative studies devoted to the study of Lomonosov’s grammar and its translation into German in terms of parallel text metalanguage. Russian linguists have mostly focused on the original Russian text published in 1755, plenty of publications being concerned with its description and analysis, as well as with the historical and linguistic aspect of the German version of Lomonosov’s grammar design. The main research methods are those of vocabulary structural, semantic, definitional, and comparative types of analysis. While studying the selected Russian vocabulary, we have identified five thematically different terminological groups: 1) terms characterizing the suprasegmental level of utterance (intonation and prosody), 2) terms nominating articulation organs, 3) terms used to classify vowels and consonants, 4) terms of graphics and orthography, 5) units of articulation. Terminological units found in previous grammatical publications make up its main part. The author’s terminology, introduced for scientific use by Lomonosov himself appear to be a smaller part of the selected vocabulary. When translating the “Russian Grammar”, Stavenhagen primarily resorted to literal translation of phonetic terms employed by Lomonosov, and in some cases to a descriptive way of conveying the semantics of certain Russian terms in accordance with the norms of the German language of that time. A terminological comparative analysis allows identifying a number of orthographic and morphological doublets in the Russian and German phonetic terminological systems. The use of doublets agrees with the author’s and translator’s wish to make a grammar text more understandable to the reader.