Source Studies in Linguistics: Research of the Russian Formal Language Manuscripts of the Early 18th Century

Abstract

Argues that source studies need further development in Russian linguistics since involving a wider range of manuscripts into investigation may answer many questions that are actually faced by the historical lexicology and lexicography. It may also help to reconstruct the historical language development in detail. This approach is particularly relevant in the studies of the Russian language of the 18th century. While it is mainly based on the published texts, there is a lot of manuscripts that have not been studied yet but may greatly contribute to understanding of both the formal language developments and emergence of a new type of literary Russian language or the language of Russian nation. The special emphasis is to be put on research of the regional manuscripts which are also important for studying the formal language as they represent its local variations and local vocabulary which cannot be found in the records of the central institutions. The main issues of linguistic study stated above are considered on the example of the North Russian manuscripts of the early 18th century, namely the customs books of Kevrola, a town in the Archangel region.