Russian Linguistics at the National University of Uzbekistan: History, Traditions, Heritage
The study is designed to comprehensively assess the contribution the scientific and pedagogical staff of the Department of Russian Linguistics of the National University of Uzbekistan made to linguistics and methods of teaching the Russian language durning the 80 years of the history of the department (since 1942). The sources for the study were data from the archive of the National University, documents from the Office of Slavic Studies at the Department of Russian Linguistics, records of conversations with employees and graduates of the Faculty of Philology, information about the biographies of scholars and professors. The research was carried out on the basis of historical descriptive, cultural comparative, sociological, and biographical methods. The authors comprehensively analyze the research work of the department during eight decades, the most important information about the life and professional path of the department’s staff (G.I. Kolyada, E.Sh. Miroshnik, V.A. Nizinskaya, D.D. Ilyin, L.L. Kim, A.N. Tikhonov, and others). Many of the staff members were natives of various regions of Russia and devoted themselves to the preservation of the Russian language, the development of the Russian-speaking scholarly space, which still serves as a fruitful intercultural cooperation between Uzbekistan and Russia and all countries where the positions of the Russian language are traditionally strong. The authors emphasize that it was the Department of Russian Linguistics that initiated the establishment of strong and long-term scientific ties with higher educational institutions in Russia, and the foundations of this interaction were formed back in the Soviet period. The authors characterize scholars’ participation in the formation of the leading directions of the 20th-century linguistics (historical Russian studies, synchronic linguistics, Slavic studies, comparative linguistics); note the attention the staff of the department pay to the study and teaching of modern Slavic languages; assess the most significant achievements, including the original theories that contributed to the creation of scientific schools, well-known in the 1970s-1980s; analyze various forms of research and teaching activities of the staff of the department at the current stage of its history. The authors of the article conclude that the academic traditions developed at the department are promising in relation to new tasks and modern conditions of scientific and educational activities in the Republic of Uzbekistan.