A. A. Reformed - famous domestic linguist, professor. In 1962, for his labors, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philology even without defending a dissertation. One of the most famous and influential representatives of the Moscow phonological school. He was considered a specialist in spelling and graphics, semiotics, the history of linguistics, terminology and many other related fields. In 1947, he published the textbook Introduction to Linguistics, which became a handbook for many generations of Soviet philologists. It was thanks to him that the term "practical transcription" was introduced and settled.
Biography of a scientist
A. A. Reformed born in 1900. He was born in Moscow. His father was an outstanding professor of chemistry, his mother's name was Ekaterina Golovacheva. The uncle of the hero of our article was also an outstanding chemist, but Alexander decided not to follow in the footsteps of his father and his brother.
In 1918 A. A. Reformed becomes a graduate of the Flerov gymnasium, and then enters Moscow University. At the same time, she is fond of acting, she even begins to study at the theater school, which was opened at the Meyerhold Theater in 1920. But with the acting profession he went wrong. Soon Reformed returned to the university to concentrate on his studies. He studied under the Soviet linguist, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Dmitry Nikolayevich Ushakov, learned literary studies in the classroom of Mikhail Andreevich Petrovsky. In 1923, he received a diploma from the Faculty of Social Sciences. After that he entered the graduate school of the Russian Association of Research Institutes of Social Sciences, but left the institution in 1925.
Professional activity
A. A. Reformed begins with work as an instructor in a labor colony. Then, in various institutions, he worked as a proofreader, X-ray technician, and technical editor at a publishing house. In 1931 he entered the service at the research institute of the association of state publishing houses as a senior research fellow. So began the research work of Alexander Alexandrovich.
In 1934, he simultaneously begins to teach at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute, a little later he gets the position of head of the department of the Literary Institute. The heyday of his teaching and scientific career falls on the 50s, when he falls on the philological faculty of Moscow State University.
Phonetics Studies
Most interested in Reformed languages . On the basis of Moscow State University, he creates an experimental laboratory of phonetics. Since 1950, the same work has been developing at the Institute of Linguistics, which works at the Academy of Sciences. In this institution Alexander Reformed leads the sector of applied and structural linguistics. He remains in this post from the mid-50s to 1970. It is here that the future stars of the national philological school study with him - Viktor Alekseevich Vinogradov, Rebekka Markovna Frumkina, Igor Aleksandrovich Melchuk.
Only in 1971 he resigned as head of the sector due to his advanced age, but remained as a consultant.
Characteristic Reformed
The friends and close acquaintances of the hero of our article characterized him as an intellectual, an expert on national history and culture. He has a great interest in Russian life, while he was an avid chess player and a gambling hunter who did not miss the opportunity to once again go to the forest for booty. He was also remembered by many as a master of poetic impromptu. He managed to compose verses on a given topic from the sheet easily and very originally, he had no equal among his friends in this.
First of all, Reformed was a major linguist. Even going on vacation with his wife to the theater, listening to the opera aria, he noticed the characteristic and unique features of pronunciation, which he immediately began to search for scientific and linguistic explanations. He learned a lot from chess, adopting the principle of "redundancy of defense" from the theory of this ancient game. It was he who applied it in practice, studying the structure of texts.
Reformed died after a long illness in 1978 at the age of 77. The scientist was buried in the Vostryakovsky cemetery.
Personal life
The hero of our article was married three times. Serafima Nikanorovna Averyanova became his first wife in his youth. In 1921, their son Igor was born, who became a famous domestic chemist (he just decided to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather), studied transuranic elements. He died in 2008.
The second time the Reformed married his peer Nadezhda Vakhmistrova. She was a well-known literary critic, literary critic, and bibliographer in professional circles. In 1938, they had a daughter, Maria, who became an art critic.
For the third time, the hero of our article married the writer Natalia Iosina Ilyina, who was 14 years younger than him. She survived her husband, passing away in 1994. They did not have common children.
Scientific research
Reformed especially studied linguistics. At the same time, his early studies on the theory of literature were marked by the significant influence of the OPOYAZ, the so-called Russian formal school. In his views and convictions, the Reformed was extremely close to them. Proponents of this trend sharply criticized the previously widespread approach to art solely as a system of images, putting forward in contrast the thesis that art is the sum of the techniques of artists. Vladimir Mayakovsky was close to the OPOYAZ movement.
For example, Reformed in his monograph "Technical Edition of the Book", which was published in 1933, expressed innovative views on the semiotics of printed text, making the content of scientific work much wider than its name.
Phonology Issues
In the mid-30s, the hero of our article became interested in the study of phonology, as a result, became one of the founders and popularizers of the Moscow phonological school, actively promoted its concept, where it could only be done.
Reformatsky formulated his scientific views to the fullest extent in the reading book “From the History of Russian Phonology”, which was first published in 1970, as well as in the collection “Phonological Studies”, the name of which was very characteristic of the scientific style and character of the researcher. "Phonological studies" first saw the light in 1975.
Reformed also wrote pioneering works for his time, not only on phonetics and phonology, but also on theoretical issues of grammar, as well as vocabulary, features of word formation, terminology, writing theory, history of linguistics, machine translation, and other related linguistic fields. It is worth noting that he approached each of these industries with special responsibility, trying to tackle the most complex and insoluble problems at that time. For example, in Reformed linguistics dealt with issues of diachrony and synchrony. He approached all problems professionally, deeply and scrupulously studying every question. At the same time, during the development of the next study, he was able to convey his conclusions and results in the most accessible and simple language. So it became clear to almost anyone.
Role in the history of linguistics
It is noteworthy that at the same time, the scientific heritage that the Reformed left behind is completely small. He belonged to that unique type of researchers, who were much more interested in expressing an idea or hypothesis than then developing and studying it in detail.
In domestic linguistics, he remained primarily as the author of the repeatedly reprinted and very lively and accessible written textbook, which became especially popular among non-linguists. He was a temperamental and very bright scientist who constantly created a special creative atmosphere around him, and many talented students grew up in it. Linguistics also played a large role in the life of the Reformed.
You can learn more about the personality of Reformed through the memoirs of his colleagues, students and especially his third wife - Natalia Ilyina.
Linguistics Textbook
Of course, this work is the main legacy of the hero of our article. " Introduction to linguistics "Reformed - this is a fundamental work that contains the most complete and detailed information on all the main sections of Russian linguistics. It is noteworthy that this book can serve the reader not only as a full-fledged textbook, but also as a valuable and indispensable reference in many questions on the main problems of linguistics.
Initially " Introduction to linguistics" Reformed A . A. is intended for university students, but ordinary amateurs of Russian literature read it with interest.