Researcher of the Section of Germanic languages
Mirra Gukhman was a specialist in Germanic linguistics, language theory and linguistic typology.
PhD, Dr.habil. (1955), Professor (1940), Researcher of the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Associate of the Association for the Study of Germanic Languages and Literature.
Mirra Gukhman was the Founder and Head of the Task group on the history and theory of literary languages at the Institute of Linguistics. She headed long-term scientific cooperation with the scientists of the Central Institute of Linguistics, The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities on the development of the German literary language. She was a winner of two significant awards – Konrad Duden (1984) and the Brothers Grimm, given for her contribution to the research into the German language.
Mirra Gukhman was born in a doctor's family, where German was the language of communication. She graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of the Azerbaijan State University (1925). Then she studied in graduate school in Leningrad, where she defended her PhD thesis on the origin of the Gothic verb structure (1936). From 1936, Mirra Gukhman worked at Moscow State Linguistic University. After the Second World War, she studied at the Military University of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (at the time the Military Institute of Foreign Languages), since 1950 – at the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Her Dr.habil. thesis was devoted to the evolution of collateral oppositions in ancient Germanic languages and the formation of the passive voice system. Mirra Gukhman obtained her degree in 1955.
Such outstanding linguists as Nikolai Marr, Viktor Zhirmunsky, and Ivan Meshchaninov played an important role in the scientific biography of Mirra Gukhman. Her early works, devoted to the problems of Indo-European studies and comparative-historical linguistics, were based on their ideas.
Mirra Gukhman laid the foundations for the scientific study of the Gothic language in universities, compiling the textbook "The Gothic Language" (1958). She was a co-author and co-editor of a 4-volume "Comparative Grammar of Germanic Languages" (1962-1966) and a 3-volume "Historical and Typological Morphology of Germanic Languages" (1977-1978).
Mirra Gukhman is the author of numerous works on the general theory of language, historical typology, the history of the German literary language, and the functional stratification of language. The task group of the Institute of Linguistics on Theory and History of Literary Languages (1977) brought together specialists in different languages and was an important experience in creating collective monographs that manifested new linguistic problems based on the records of languages of different areas and structures, i.e. types of supradialectal forms of language, functional stratification of language, linguistic standard and typology of formalization processes.
Mirra Gukhman developed an authoritative theory of the literary language, which is reflected in the section "Literary language" in the coauthored monograph "General linguistics. Forms of existence, functions, history of language" (1970) and Gukhman's speech at the presentation of the Duden-Award in Mannheim (1984) – "Literary language and culture".
The definition of the typical features of the literary language formulated by Mirra has become generally accepted. The work on this problem had the following steps: 1) a certain degree of processing and the associated selectivity; 2) shortage of spontaneity in speech; 3) more or less multifunctionality, which creates stylistic diversity and functional-stylistic variation; 4) tendency towards control, correlated with selectivity; 5) a certain level of homogeneity, which does not eliminate the possibility of territorial and social variation; 6) supradialectalism, which reveals itself in various forms of separation from the dialect.
Publications about M. Gukhman
- Feudel, G. Mirra Moisejevna Guchmann zum fünfundsiebzigsten Geburtstag // Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung. 1979, № 32. S. 201-205.
- BelobratowA.W. Guchmann Mirra Moisseewna // Internationales Germanistenlexikon. 1800-1950. Hrsg. von Christoph König. Berlin, 2001. S. 633-634.
In World War II
Civilian, Defense Language Institute.
Awards
Selected publications
Monographs
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Gotskij jazyk. Učebnoe posobie. [Gothic language] — M., 1958.
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Proisxoždenie stroja gotskogo glagola. [The origin of the structure of the Gothic verb] — M.; L., 1940.
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Ot jazyka nemeckoj narodnosti k nemeckomu nacional’nomu jazyku. [From the language of the German people to the German national language] – M., Nauka, 1955—1959.
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Razvitie zalogovyx protivopostavlenij v germanskix jazyka. [Development of collateral oppositions in the Germanic language] – M., Nauka.1964.
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Jazyk nemeckoj političeskoj literatury èpoxi Reformacii i Krest’janskoj vojny. [The language of German political literature during the Reformation and the Peasants' War] – M., Nauka, 1970.
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Zur Ausbildung der Norm der deutschen Literatursprache im Bereich des Verbs (1470—1730). Tempus und Modus). — Berlin, 1980. (together with N. Semenjuk)
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Istoričeskaja tipologija i problema diaxroničeskix konstant. [Historical typology and the problem of diachronic constants] – M.: Nauka,1981.
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Istorija nemeckogo literaturnogo jazyka. Č. 1, IX-XV vv. [History of the German literary language. Part 1, 9-15 centuries] – M.: Nauka, 1983. (together with N. Semenjuk)
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Istorija nemeckogo literaturnogo jazyka. Č. 2, XVI-XVII vv. [History of the German literary language. Part 2, 16-17 centuries] – M.: Nauka, 1984. (together with N. Semenjuk and N. Babenko).
Articles and coauthored monographs
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Lingvističeskaja teorija L. Vajgerbera // Voprosy teorii jazyka v sovremennoj zarubežnoj lingvistike. [L. Weigerber's linguistic theory // Questions of the theory of language in modern foreign linguistics] M., 1961. – P. 123–162.
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Ponjatie sistemy v sinxronii i diaxronii // Voprosy jazykoznanija. [The concept of a system in synchrony and diachrony // Questions of linguistics], 1962. – P. 25–35.
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Grammatičeskaja kategorija i struktura paradigm // Issledovanija po občšej teorii grammatiki. [Grammatical category and structure of paradigms // Research on the general theory of grammar] M., 1968. – З. 117–174.
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Tipologičeskie issledovanija // Teoretičeskie problemy sovetskogo jazykoznanija. [Typological researches // Theoretical problems of Soviet linguistics] M., 1968. – P. 89–90.
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O sociologičeskom aspekte rassmotrenija nemeckogo literaturnogo jazyka // Norma i social’naja differenciacija jazyka. [About the sociological aspect of the examination of the German literary language // Standard and social differentiation of language] M., 1969. – P. 5–25. (sovmestno s Natal’ej Semenjuk)
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Vzaimodejstvie dialektnyx arealov i razvitie naddialektnyx form v donacional’nyj period. (Na materiale germanskix jazykov) // Èngel’s i jazykoznanie. [Interaction of dialectal areas and the development of supra-dialectal forms in the pre-national period] M., Nauka, 1972. – P. 208–232.
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About the external and internal stimuli in the typological transformation of inflectional systems // Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung. Bd. 33. H. 1. Berlin, 1980.
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Deutsche Sprachgeschichte und Literaturgeschichte // Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und ihrer Erforschung. Berlin; New York, 1984. – P. 19–28.
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O predmete istoričeskoj tipologii // Lingvističeskaja tipologija. [About the subject of historical typology // Linguistic typology] M., 1985. – P. 19–25.
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Literaturnyj jazyk i kul’tura // Voprosy jazykoznanija. [Literary language and culture // Questions of linguistics]б 1991. – P. 115–126.
The material has been prepared by N. Babenko