A written monument of Siberian writing “A brief description of the Ostyak people” by Grigory Novitsky: historical and cultural analysis

Abstract

Introduction. The written monument of Siberian writing “A brief description of the Ostyak people” contains a unique description of the life of the indigenous population of Siberia, the Ostyaks, made by a historiographer Grigory Novitsky on the basis of personal observations. The article analyses the structure and content of the monument, presents a historical information about the time of creation and its authorship, notes the historical and cultural significance of the source. The objective of the article is to carry out its historical and cultural analysis, including the analysis of its structure and content. Materials and Methods. The study was based on the material of the Siberian written monument of the early XVIII century “A brief description of the Ostyak people” by G. Novitsky. To obtain objective conclusionsthe author employed descriptive and comparative methods. When analyzing the structure, content and information value of the text, the methods of component analysis and structural-semantic were used. Results and Discussion. The article presents the historical and cultural analysis of the first ethnographic work on Siberia. It contains an analysis of the description of the life and culture of the Ostyaks who historically lives in Siberia, the location of their lands and contacts with other peoples. The book is noted to contain reliable information about the history of Siberia, its borders and natural wealth, the indigenous peoples living in this region, the Tatar tribes, their rulers, the initial reign of Khan Kuchum, the foundation of the first towns of Siberia, as well as the conquest of Siberia by Ermak. In detailed way the text shows the area that at that time was inhabited by the Khanty. Historically, the representatives of various language groups lived here. The text of the written monument provides the information about the diversity of cultures and languages on the territory of Siberia. The rich and varied ethno-cultural linguistic material of the written monument witnesses the state of the Russian literary national language in the period of the formation of its norms. Conclusion. The text of the written monument, containing an extensive description of the Siberian lands and the peoples living there, is a valuable historical and ethno-cultural material for researchers, the evidence of the processes that took place in the Russian language during the formation of its norms.

Keywords

• a written monument of siberian writing
• the ostyaks
• information content
• historical
• cultural and ethnocultural significance