REVISITING THE HISTORY AND REASONS FOR DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE LANGUAGE OF A.S. AIVAZOV AND HIS IDEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATES

Abstract

The article examines linguistic views of the classic of Crimean Tatar literature Asan Sabri Aivazov and his fellow writers of the period of cultural and political awakening in the Crimea in the late 19–first third of 20 century. The author of the study makes an attempt to refute the prevailing thesis that the literary and journalistic language of A.S. Aivazov is predominantly Ottoman-Turkish. With the help of linguistic and cultural, comparative-historical, textual analysis, the national features of his scientific and artistic works are highlighted. The semantic core of the concepts “Tatar”, “Turkic”, “Turkish”, “Ottoman” is determined in the minds of the Crimean Tatar literary intelligentsia and Russian academic circles of the mentioned period. The theoretical basis of the study is made up of the works of the classics of Russian Oriental studies and modern researchers of the Crimean Tatar language and literature V. Radlov, P. Falev, A. Samoylovich, A. Krymsky, B. Choban-zadeh, A. Aivazov, A. Odabash, I. Kerimov, A. Emirova, S. Chervonnaya, N. Yablonovskaya. The author comes to the conclusion that in Crimea the official language of the national press of the designated period was based on the democratic postulates put forward by the enlightener and ideologist of cultural and educational Turkism Ismail Gasprinsky – “Unity in thoughts, language, and deeds”.