Andrey Zaliznyak
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n linguist who specializes in the research of linguistic monuments of Old Novgorod.
Zaliznyak was born in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and studied in the Moscow University before moving to the Sorbonne
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
to further his studies with André Martinet
André Martinet
André Martinet was a French linguist, influential by his work on structural linguistics....
. He was admitted into the Soviet Academy of Sciences as a Corresponding Member in 1987. Ten years later, he was elected a full academician
Academician
The title Academician denotes a Full Member of an art, literary, or scientific academy.In many countries, it is an honorary title. There also exists a lower-rank title, variously translated Corresponding Member or Associate Member, .-Eastern Europe and China:"Academician" may also be a functional...
.
Zaliznyak's first monograph, Russian Nominal Inflection (1967), remains a definitive study in the field. Ten years later, he published a highly authoritative Russian Grammar Dictionary, which went through several reprints and provided a basis for Russian grammar software.
In 1982, Zaliznyak turned his interests towards the birch scrolls
Birch bark document
A birch bark document is a document written on pieces of birch bark. Such documents existed in several cultures. For instance, some Gandharan Buddhist texts have been found written on birch bark and preserved in clay jars....
which have been unearthed in Novgorod since 1950s. He has co-edited all publications of newly-discovered birch scrolls since 1986. As the number of these ancient documents exceeded 700, Zaliznyak summed up his findings in the monograph Old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect is a term introduced by Andrey Zaliznyak to describe the astonishingly diverse linguistic features of the Old East Slavic birch bark writings from the 11th to 15th centuries excavated in Novgorod and its surroundings...
(1995), which comprised the texts and comments of every birch scroll discovered.
In 2003, Zaliznyak published the first comprehensive study of the Novgorod Codex
Novgorod Codex
The Novgorod Codex is the oldest book of Rus’, unearthed on July 13, 2000 in Novgorod. It is a palimpsest consisting of three bound wooden tablets containing four pages filled with wax, on which its former owner wrote down dozens, probably hundreds of texts during two or three decades, each time...
, the earliest extant East Slavic book, which had been sensationally discovered three years earlier.
In 2004, he published a study of the Tale of Igor's Campaign which examined all the significant linguistic arguments concernings its authenticity. Zaliznyak contends that no 20th-century (let alone 18th-century) forger could have reproduced the grammatical subtleties of the 12th-century Old East Slavic language.
As of 2005, Zaliznyak reads lectures in the Moscow University, University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
, and University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. For more data on his work, see Old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect
Old Novgorod dialect is a term introduced by Andrey Zaliznyak to describe the astonishingly diverse linguistic features of the Old East Slavic birch bark writings from the 11th to 15th centuries excavated in Novgorod and its surroundings...
, Novgorod Codex
Novgorod Codex
The Novgorod Codex is the oldest book of Rus’, unearthed on July 13, 2000 in Novgorod. It is a palimpsest consisting of three bound wooden tablets containing four pages filled with wax, on which its former owner wrote down dozens, probably hundreds of texts during two or three decades, each time...
, and the Tale of Igor's Campaign.
Honors
- In 1997 Zaliznyak received the Demidov PrizeDemidov PrizeThe Demidov Prize was a national scientific prize in the Russian Empire awarded annually to the members of the Russian Academy of Sciences. One of the most prestigious and oldest scientific awards in the world, its traditions influenced other awards of this kind including the Nobel Prize...
for his linguistic works. - He was awarded the State Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian FederationState Prize of the Russian Federation is a state honorary prize established in 1992 as the substitute for the USSR State Prize. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award was significantly changed making them closer to such awards as Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin...
in 2007. - Solzhenitsyn PrizeSolzhenitsyn PrizeThe Solzhenitsyn Prize is a a non-governmental Russian literary award established by the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1997.The $25,000 prize is awarded for "works in which troubles of the Russian life are shown with rare moral purity and sense of tragedy, for consecutiveness and...
, 2007
Major works
- Andrey Zaliznyak. Russkoe imennoe slovoizmenenie. Moskva, 1967.
- Andrey Zaliznyak. Grammaticheskij slovar' russkogo jazyka. Moskva, 1977, (further editions are 1980, 1987, 2003).
- Andrey Zaliznyak. Grammaticheskij ocherk sanskrita. Appendix to Russian-Sanscrit dictionnary, ed. by V.A. Kochergina, Moskva, 1978.
- Andrey Zaliznyak. Drevnenovgorodskij dialekt. Jazyki slavjanskoj kul'tury: Moskva. 2004.