マルのヤフェット理論とスターリンの批判後のソ連言語學界

抄録

The Yaphetic theory of N. Marr and his followers had been propagated during last twenty years as the genuine Marxist theory of language. In June 1950, Stalin published his famous article, "On Marxism in Linguistics, " and gave Marr's theory a decisive blow. Being no linguist, he had to rely on critics of Marr, principally Prof. Chikobava at Tiflis University. Although his criticism created a sensation in the USSR, we can find little other than propositions usually found in text-books of comparative linguistics. In recent years the Yaphetic theory has met the strong opposition of the Moscow linguists headed by Academician Vinogradov. This opposition was based on traditional, i. e. comparative-historical linguistics. After Stalin's criticism, the Institute of Language and Thought, the citadel of Yaphetic theory, was dissolved, and in July 1950, a new Institute of Linguistics was established. Vinogradov, who had been accused by Marrists of being "reactionary, " was elected director. A review of the work of this new Institute in the last months indicates clearly that the currently-prevalent trend in Soviet linguistics is based on the comparative-historical method. The present day Soviet linguists emphasize historicism.