Talking to the enemy…: the military phrasebooks by the litterateur Osip Senkovskii (1828) and Lieut.- General Nikolai Biasi (1941). Part 1
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The article offers a comparison between two military phrasebooks the “Pocket-book for the Russian soldiers on the Turkish frontline” (Karmannaia kniga dlia russkikh voinov v turestkikh pokhodakh) (St. Petersburg, 1828) by Osip Ivanovich Senkovskii (1800–1858) and the “Concise Russian-German military phrasebook for a private soldier and subaltern” (Kratkii russkonemetskii razgovornik dlia boitsa i mladshego komandira) (Moscow, 1941) by Lieut.‑Gen. Nikolai Nikolaevich Biiazi (1893–1973). The author argues that these types of scholarly and literary production cannot be considered as ‘phrasebooks’par excellence, since such reference books could be hardly used on the battlefield. The research makes it evident that these “phrasebooks” were designed as “teach yourself” manuals of colloquial Turkish and German and adapted to the needs of a non-specialist audience. The first part of the provides information regarding the origins and reasons for compiling the phrase-books and analysis of their composition.
Source: Orientalistica
Author: Nikolaj I. Serikoff
Institution: Institute of Oriental Studies
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4225751512