The first russian linguistic questionnaire

Abstract

This article examines a brochure “Idea et desiderata” (1773) by H. L. Ch. Bacmeister which includes parallel texts in Russian, German, French and Latin. The text is essentially an instruction to the collection of linguistic material that has not been previously any content analysis. We analyze the relationship of this text with “Russian grammar” by Schlözer and the concept of “different languages” which underlies the language differentiation in the Pallas dictionary. The brochure consists of three parts: the instruction, the questionnaire and the example. The instruction contains information about transcription and data which are to be collected. The questionnaire is not a list of words but sentences containing basic vocabulary and grammar. The example is a translation of a Bible quotation. The article contains a page of translation from Russian into Arabic. The article suggests a place for Bacmeister’s composition in the history of linguistics: Bacmeister’s recommendations for collectors of linguistic material may be considered as a first guide to field linguistics, first in Russia.

Keywords

• hartwig ludwig christian bacmeister
• august ludwig schlözer
• questionnaire
• collecting of language datamaterial
• multilingual dictionary