“The life of language”: S.I. Ozhegov’s correspondence of the 1930–1960s (on the anniversary of the scientist)

The answers of S.I. Ozhegov to the letters of people on the culture of speech, word usage, pronunciation norms and unknown letters from S.I. Ozhegov to M.A. Tsyavlovsky and F.P. Filin to S.I. Ozhegov published in the article for the first time. At the beginning of the article the laboratory of creative thought of S.I. Ozhegov, who responded to the questions of ordinary readers of the Dictionary of the Russian Language, is demonstrated. The topics raised by the scientist in the answers remain relevant in modern grammar and speech practice. S.I. Ozhegov’s notes (1950s-1960s) characterize him as an intellectual philologist capable of solving the most complex problems of communication and language life. Epistolary supplements the facts of S.I. Ozhegov’s biography and scientific activity during his work in Leningrad and later, when he headed the Department of Culture of the Russian Speech at the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The letter from S.I. Ozhegov to M.A. Tsyavlovsky (1931) is significant because it testifies to the linguist’s participation in the dictionary and editorial work on the preparation of the collected writings by A.S. Pushkin. The correspondence with F.P. Filin (1963) highlights the most difficult period – the 1960s, when S.I. Ozhegov was removed from the leadership of the scientific topic “The Russian language and Soviet Society”. The confidential tone of F.P. Filin’s letter is due to the long-standing acquaintance of colleagues (they address each other as “you”) and the proximity of philological interests (both were engaged in vocabulary work). The letters deserve attention not only as a fact of the history of linguistics, but also show the speech portraits of scientists, reveal their linguistic personalities, reflect the socio-cultural atmosphere of that time. The archive materials are accompanied by comments and a short introduction. The practical significance of the publication is to use the presented data to create review and analytical articles and monographs on the history of Russian linguistics in the 20th century, to recreate a reliable chronicle of the life of the Institute of the Russian Language in the 1960s and as a fact of the philological and epistolary tradition with its special style and culture of business communication.