A. A. Reformatsky is a famous domestic linguist, professor. In 1962, for his work, 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 an expert 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 reference book for many generations of Soviet philologists. It was thanks to him that the term "practical transcription" was introduced and established.
Biography of a scientist
A. A. Reformatsky was 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. Reformatsky became a graduate of the Flerov gymnasium, and thenenters Moscow University. At the same time, he is fond of acting, even begins to study at the theater school, which was opened at the Meyerhold Theater in 1920. But with the acting profession, he did not work out. Soon Reformed returns to the university to concentrate on his studies. He studied with the Soviet linguist, member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Dmitry Nikolaevich Ushakov, studied literary criticism in the classes of Mikhail Andreevich Petrovsky. In 1923 he received a graduate 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 activities
A. A. Reformatsky begins by working as an instructor in a labor colony. Then he worked in various institutions as a proofreader, X-ray technician, technical editor in a publishing house. In 1931, he joined the Research Institute of the Association of State Publishing Houses as a senior researcher. Thus began the research work of Alexander Alexandrovich.
In 1934, he simultaneously began teaching at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute, a little later he received a position as head of the department of the Literary Institute. The heyday of his pedagogical and scientific career falls on the 50s, when he enters the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University.
Phonetics research
Most interested in the Reformed languages. Based on MSUhe creates an experimental laboratory of phonetics. Since 1950, he has been developing the same work at the Institute of Linguistics, which works at the Academy of Sciences. In this institution, Alexander Reformatsky leads the sector of applied and structural linguistics. He remained in this post from the mid-1950s until 1970. It is here that the future stars of the Russian philological school study with him - Viktor Alekseevich Vinogradov, Revekka Markovna Frumkina, Igor Alexandrovich Melchuk.
Only in 1971, he resigns as head of the sector due to old age, but remains as a consultant.
Characteristic of the Reformed
Friends and close acquaintances of the hero of our article described him as an intellectual, a connoisseur of national history and culture. He is very interested in Russian life, and at the same time he was an avid chess player and a gambling hunter who did not miss the opportunity to once again go to the forest for prey. He is also remembered by many as a master of poetic impromptu. He was able to compose poems on a given topic from a sheet easily and in a very original way, among his acquaintances he had no equal in this.
First of all, Reformed was a great linguist. Even going on vacation with his wife to the theater, listening to an opera aria, he noticed the characteristic and unique features of pronunciation, which he immediately began to look for scientific and linguistic explanations. He learned a lot from chess, adopting the principle of "redundancy" from the theory of this ancient game.protection". It was he who applied it in practice, studying the structure of texts.
Reformatsky died after a long illness in 1978 at the age of 77. The scientist was buried at the Vostryakovsky cemetery.
Private 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 transuranium elements. Passed away in 2008.
For the second time, Reformatsky 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 Iosifovna Ilyina, who was 14 years younger than him. She outlived her husband, dying in 1994. They did not have common children.
Scientific research
Reformed especially deeply studied linguistics. At the same time, his early studies on literary theory were marked by the significant influence of OPOYAZ, the so-called Russian formal school. In his views and convictions, Reformatsky was extremely close to them. Supporters of this trend sharply criticized the previously widespread approach to art solely as a system of images, putting forward the thesis that art is the sum of artists' techniques. ToVladimir Mayakovsky was close to the OPOYAZ movement.
For example, Reformatsky, in his monograph "The Technical Edition of the Book", which was published in 1933, expressed innovative views on the semiotics of the printed text, making the content of scientific work much wider than its title.
Phonology issues
In the mid-1930s, the hero of our article became interested in studying phonology, and as a result became one of the founders and popularizers of the Moscow Phonological School, actively promoting its concept wherever possible.
Reformatsky formulated his scientific views as fully as possible in the anthology "From the History of Russian Phonology", which was first published in 1970, as well as in the collection "Phonological Etudes", the title of which was very characteristic of the scientific style and character of the researcher. "Phonological Etudes" was first published in 1975.
Also, Reformatsky wrote works, innovative for his time, not only on phonetics and phonology, but also on theoretical issues of grammar, as well as vocabulary, word formation features, terminology, writing theory, history of linguistics, machine translation, and other related linguistic areas. 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 linguistics, Reformatsky de alt with issues of diachrony and synchrony. To allproblems approached professionally, deeply and scrupulously studying each issue. At the same time, when mastering the next study, he managed 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 legacy that Reformed left behind is quite small. He belonged to that unique type of researchers who were much more interested in expressing some idea or hypothesis than then developing and studying it in detail.
In Russian linguistics, he remained primarily as the author of a repeatedly reprinted and very lively and accessible textbook, which became especially popular with non-linguists. He was a temperamental and very bright scientist who constantly created a special creative atmosphere around him, and in it he raised many talented students. Linguistics also played a big role in the life of the Reformed.
More details about Reformatsky's personality can be learned from the memoirs of his colleagues, students, and especially his third wife, Natalia Ilyina.
Textbook on linguistics
Of course, this work is the main legacy of the hero of our article. Reformatsky's "Introduction to Linguistics" 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 complete textbook,but also as a valuable and indispensable in many respects reference book on the main problems of linguistics.
Initially "Introduction to Linguistics" by Reformatsky A. A. was intended for university students, but simple lovers of Russian literature also read it with interest.
