Historical linguistic analysis of Russian language facts at the present stage of philological education

The sociohistorical changes occurring in Russia in recent decades determine a particular interest in the national language history. Moreover, they foreground the comparative method in teaching Russian. The study aims to identify the main areas for enhancing the historical linguistic analysis of Russian language phenomena and to propose ways of achieving such improvements. To reach these goals, we analysed relevant scientific and methodological literature and summarised the experience of Russian language and literature school teachers, as well as of post-secondary educators. In addition, we examined Olympiad works on the history of the Russian language written by philology students and schoolchildren in years 6–11. The comparative method in conjunction with internal and comparative reconstruction, etymological analysis, cultural-historical interpretation, and dialectography was employed as well. The study indicates that the improvement of historical linguistic research is based on the analytic base expansion through using multisource material. The research reveals the main lines for enhancing historical linguistic analysis at schools and universities. Firstly, linguistic facts and phenomena must be represented systematically in the course of historical analysis. Secondly, factual material from early sources should be employed as a tool for a deeper understanding of linguistic facts and phenomena. We propose specific types of tasks which enable the above-mentioned lines to be implemented. Additionally, examples of completing standardised assignments are provided. The paper concludes that the presented directions for improving historical linguistic analysis of Russian language facts determine the axiological and fundamental nature of philological education.