Buraev I. D., the founder of experimental phonetic research of the Buryat language

The year 2024 marked the 95th anniversary of the birth of I. D. Buraev, one of the most prominent scientists in Mongolian linguistics. He was the first one who researched Buryat phonetics with the use of experimental data. Also, he was the founder of the experimental phonetic school in Buryat linguistics. The article highlights the main stages of the scientific life of the scholar related to phonetics and phonology of the Buryat language. A historical background is provided concerning the formation and development of experimental phonetics in Buryat linguistics. Buraev was the first to apply Shcherba's phoneme theory to the sound system of the Buryat language. He developed the main differential features of phonemes and their allophones in the 1950s. In 1972, the Laboratory of Experimental Phonetics at the IMBT SB RAS was established upon his initiative. The laboratory staff investigated the intonation of various communicative types and accentuation of the basic dialect of the Buryat language (Khorinsky). During the 2000s, the research expanded to include not only Buryat dialects in Russia but also the Mongolian minority languages spoken in China. Historical phonetic data obtained from Mongolian languages alongside historical and folkloric evidence allowed the emergence of Buryat as a distinct language to be investigated. A conclusion was drawn about the decisive influence of the Tungus-Manchu and, to some extent, Turkic substrates on the formation of the modern sound structure of the Buryat language.