№ 2 (2024)

The article discusses the problems of ethnogenetic interpretation of archaeological cultures and the chronological determination of burial complexes using the example of the Kamlyuk mound. The source used is materials stored in the scientific archive of the Institute for Humanitarian Research of the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A short historiographical review of the history of the study and discovery of archaeological monuments on the territory of Kabardino-Balkaria is presented. The study applies methods of ethnographic and archaeological study, and uses the concept of “ethnoarchaeology”. Typological features of burials are highlighted, similar and distinctive features are compared and analyzed, and an ethnographic description of the funeral rite is given. The question of the relationship between the concepts of “archaeological culture” and “ethnicity” is considered. The ethnicity of burial complex builders is discussed in relation to ancient Bronze Age archaeological cultures (Maikop and North Caucasus) and the ethnic communities that have lived in this territory since antiquity. Attention is focused on the need for additional research, considering an interdisciplinary approach.

The essay investigates the specifics of the executioners’ responsibilities in the Kabardian Provisional Court, which operated from 1822 until 1858. This topic has been investigated through reports, orders, communications, journal judgments of the temporary court, resolutions and inscriptions of higher authorities, and so on. The requirements for establishing the post of executor have been explored. The staff of the execution corps is described. Within the framework of this issue, attention is paid to: 1) standards for applicants for this position; 2) the procedure for selecting personnel for the position of executor; 3) personnel who ensure the activities of executors. The sequence of service and the executors’ efforts are regarded. Executors’ communications with other institutions and authorities are classified into hierarchical and non-hierarchical categories. Certain assumptions were made concerning the executioners’ geographical structure. The primary job of the executors is regarded, as it pertains to the implementation of rulings issued by the Kabardian Provisional Court and the head of the Caucasian Line Center. The executor’s attention is focused on the expenses of performing this feature. It is found that the line officials had a significant role in coordinating the executioners’ activity.

The cultural growth of the Soviet multinational people resulted from the purposeful work of the RCP(b) – VKP(b) to eliminate the illiteracy of the population and organize universal education for school-age children. The policy of the Bolsheviks in the 1920s provided Soviet citizens with access to free education and the right of national minorities to study in their native language. The country faced internal and external challenges that required the diversion of serious state resources, but the field of education remained a priority for the Communist Party and was provided with state support. Understanding the Soviet experience of organizing school education in the conditions of the economic crisis of the early 1920s and the socialist modernization of the 1930s remains an urgent topic on the example of the not always successful results of educational reforms in the post-Soviet period. The concept of social justice, which was at the heart of the Soviet school, allowed Russian science to become the leading one in the world. USSR formed school education based on the traditional Russian educational concept and those innovations that were implemented by the Bolsheviks in the 1920 s and 1930 s. At the same time, it should be noted that the organization and functioning of the Soviet school pursued clearly expressed ideological goals.

The aim of the article is to consider the history of the creation, ideology and main stages of the activity of one of the main parties of North Caucasians in exile - the “People’s Party of the Caucasus Highlanders,” which functioned in Europe from 1926 until the start of World War II. The sources of this article were the documents from the archives of France and Russia, as well as articles by the leaders of this party. The party’s head, a Turkish citizen and the grandson of Imam Shamil - Said, is given special focus, as is the role of Polish politician and military figure Tadeusz Schetzel. The author investigates party membership, ideology, and the attitudes of its ideologists (B. Bilatti, T. Elekhoti, B. Baitugan, etc.) toward the “Caucasian Confederation” concept. This article aims to study the tools of the party’s activities (future war, League of Nations, etc.). There are four periods in the party’s activity: 1926–1930, 1931–1933, 1934–1936, 1937–1939. The author investigates both internal and foreign issues in the party. The “People’s Party of the Caucasus Mountain People,” on the one hand, did not have significant success in the socio-political life of North Caucasian emigrants in Europe in the 1920s-1930s, did not gain authority and respect among compatriots, but, on the other hand, it was a very important experience in the highlanders’ political activities and a very deep stage in the development of their political self-awareness.

The article highlights the economic and political consequences of Dagestan's entry into Russia, starting from the end of the Caucasian War in the North-Eastern Caucasus and up to our time. This event had great progressive significance for the destinies of the Dagestan peoples. The peoples of Dagestan, who were at the stage of feudalism, were drawn into the economic, legal and cultural field of capitalist Russia, which predetermined the rapid development of bourgeois relations in the region in industry and the agricultural sector. Being part of the Russian Empire, and subsequently the USSR, Dagestanis took an active part in all significant socio-political events in the country. A particularly great flourishing of the economy and culture of Dagestan was observed in the 1960–1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and a paradigm shift in the state and social structure of Russia, the peoples of Dagestan expressed their desire to remain part of it. In the new geopolitical situation, Dagestan turned out to be the southernmost outpost of Russia, through which the Russian Federation protects its geoeconomic and geostrategic interests in the region.

The article defines the role of debt obligations in the system of regulation of public relations among the Balkarian population of the Nalchik district of the Tersk region in the last third of the XIX – early XX century. For this purpose, the practice of resolving disputes and conflicts on them in the Nalchik Mountain Verbal Court, rural (village) and mediation courts is considered. It was established that at that time, debt obligations of this group of the population arose within the framework of a wide range of property relations (arising from contracts of begenda or ortak; violations of the terms of loans from the Kabardian public sum; non-fulfillment of the terms of contracts for the purchase and sale of land, agricultural products, livestock; violations of the terms of marriage agreements (payment kalyma), etc.). It is concluded that the main form of liability for this category of disputes was material or monetary compensation in an amount equivalent to the damage suffered, which establishes its typological similarity with other groups of public relations regulated at that time on the basis of the norms of customary law of the Balkars.

The article examines two accounts dedicated to the Khivan campaign of Prince Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky, by the contemporary Scottish physician and diplomat John Bell. One of them was included in Bell’s book “Travels from St. Petersburg through Russia to Various Parts of Asia” (in Volume 1, containing the notes on the trip to Persia) published in 1763 and translated into Russian in 1776. Researchers have not widely known about the other account until now, as it is only contained in the unpublished (not even in English) manuscript entitled “Sundry Anecdotes of Peter the First,” preserved in the archives of the National Library of Scotland (Glasgow). Both texts are presented in the article in toto. The one from the travel book – in a new translation made especially for this article; the one from the collection of anecdotes about Peter the Great is published for the first time. A brief analysis is provided, involving documents and publications dedicated to this topic. The significance of these accounts lies in the fact that they belong to a person who was a contemporary to the event: J. Bell was in Persia when they occurred (it was there that the soldiers of Bekovich’s detachment who had escaped captivity managed to flee), and the majority of accounts of the event known in the literature were recorded and published half a century and more after the campaign.

The article examines the legality of using pre-revolutionary authors’ works not only as historical but also as historiographical sources, drawing on materials from Russia’s administrative and legal policy in the North Caucasus in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This approach opens up new avenues for extracting information from previously known scientific works, because, in addition to data on the topic under study, the historiographer considers the author’s personality, level of education, intelligence, literary quality of the text, the goals of the article or book, the concepts defended, the ideological positions of the publication/publisher’s editorial board, and so on. This approach expands the informative significance of the publications under study, helps to comprehend their place among other works on the research topic.

The article assesses the study’s core concept – “historiographical source” – in regional and all-Russian historiography. The analysis of the potential of the materials presented in pre-revolutionary historiography allows the entire corpus of historiographical sources to be divided into several hierarchical groups: monographs (books), collections of documents, articles summarizing works, reviews, obituaries, reference materials, documents of local lore organizations, and so on. This article employs certain categories of historiographical sources.

The viewpoint on dividing the pre-revolutionary periodical press into two major trends: officially protected and liberal democratic. The contribution of the most prominent scientists and local historians to the development of a historiographical tradition on the investigated topic is evaluated. Materials from the pre-revolutionary periodical press are revealed, containing information about the evolution of views and scientific concepts of a number of authors, which determine the sound of the problem under discussion, bear the imprint of time, and allow a closer look at the flavor of the era under study.

The article is devoted to the peculiarities and prospects of the source analysis of planning and accounting activities and periodic reporting of the Prosecutor's office of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Region in 1925-1926. For this purpose, the plans of regional and district prosecutor's offices, checklists for collecting information on the current activities of regional prosecutor's offices, notebooks for recording the participation of public prosecutors in court sessions, statements on the movement of inquiries, investigative cases, cases of press revelations, monthly statements, survey reports, characteristics, literary (text) and "digital" (quantitative) reports (with elements of statistical generalization), summary reports on personnel and current activities, semi-annual reports on the work of the Prosecutor's office of the KBAO and district prosecutor's offices, crime reports, etc. It was established that information on the personnel composition, plans and accounting of daily work, the management of assistants, the organization of the activities of prosecutors, the effectiveness of work with the rural population, the quality of supervisory activities, the state of crime, interaction with court authorities, criminal labor institutions, preventive activities to combat crime were subject to accounting etc. It is assumed that the analysis of the planning, accounting and reporting documentation of the Prosecutor's office of the KBAO in the second half of the 20s of the twentieth century has a further research perspective for studying the features of the formation and development of the mechanism of the young Soviet state and its system of law enforcement agencies, the dynamics of the cadre and the regional specifics of supervisory activities for compliance socialist legality in the territory of the KBAO and the fight against crime, etc.

The article examines the study of the everyday life of the population of Kabardino-Balkaria during the Great Patriotic War in Russian and foreign historiography. The article pays particular attention to controversial issues that require an analytical approach. Research by historians devoted to the problems of the relationship between government and society, labor and normalized everyday life of the population is analyzed. The research reveals that there is not sufficient understanding of the experience of state and public associations in organizing social protection of the population. Problems related to state policy and public initiatives to provide targeted support to the most vulnerable categories of the population and assistance to the front have been studied. A study of publications on the state of medical care and living conditions of the population does not provide an objective picture of the problem under consideration, since many of them lack a comparative analysis with all-Russian and regional indicators. The works of historians provide a detailed analysis of the issues related to information and ideological work, particularly in shaping the public consciousness of the population. At the same time, it has been established that the forms and methods of forming patriotic values of the civilian population in the rear remain undisclosed. The study of works related to the study of the daily life of the Balkar population in the conditions of a special settlement made it possible to determine conceptual approaches to the problem under study and to identify the characteristic features of its transformation at different stages. Characteristics of collections of documents and archival sources are given. Authors conclude that Russian and regional historiography reflect, to some extent, the study of the everyday living conditions of various population groups. However, the everyday life of the inhabitants of Kabardino-Balkaria has not been studied based on modern principles and methods of historical science.

The article highlights one of the key moments in the formation of the North Caucasian peoples’ national literature in the process of their integration into the USSR’s shared cultural space. The author notes that, despite the unity of the socio-social and economic systems of the region, the proximity of their cultures, the systems of verbal creativity of the mountain peoples had their own specific features, manifested not only at the general philosophical and conceptual levels but also in the models of apperception themselves. On the examples of poetic texts by K. Khetagurova, B. Pacheva, K. Mechieva, the essence of the reflex transformation process is considered in sufficient detail and, convincingly, its specific techniques and mechanisms are determined. The departure from the plastic “textured” sensation leads to an organic understanding of ideological and responsible symbolism, anticipating the flourishing of national poetry within the boundaries of ethnically authentic apperceptive models. The latter, in turn, received a complete and perfect expression, as in the work of K.Kuliyev, as well as in the poems of his followers, who developed sensitive, materialized ideas on a new, symbolic level of their interpretations..

The article examines the life and work of the Russian-speaking Adyghe (Kabardian) poetess Inna Inalovna Kashezheva. The purpose of the work is a comprehensive study of her creative heritage in the evolution of national literatures and the domestic literary process. The research uses methods of literary analysis, synthesis, description, as well as comparative-historical, cultural-historical, socio-historical methods. The structure of the work includes an introduction, two sections in which the authors conduct an analysis of literary texts and translations, as well as a conclusion. The introductory part highlights the main stages of I. Kashezheva’s life and creative path. A biobibliographical certificate is presented, and the poetess’s birth date is determined using current opinions from literary scholars, critics, publicists, and friends and acquaintances. Issues concerning the formation of creativity are explored, the first publications of poetry are studied, previously undiscovered works and books are placed into scholarly circulation (a collection of translations of poems by I. Kashezheva “Laabze” / “Mark”; a two-volume collected works, etc.). The article examines lifetime publications and books that were published after her departure and additionally include works of art, articles about life and work, dedication poems/messages from I. Kashezheva from colleagues in the pen, as well as her translations, interviews and essays about poets of Kabardino-Balkaria. In the main research part of the article, an analysis of poems and songs is carried out; the main motives of poetry, the structural and compositional features of the works, which together constitute the poetic ethnocode of I. Kashezheva, are identified. The results obtained in the future will contribute to a further, more in-depth and extensive monographic study of the poetry of I. Kashezheva, restoring a complete picture of the evolution of her work.

The article recreates the history of the collections, writings and publications of Abaza fairy tales from 1929 to the present time. In this regard, the activities of A.N. Genko, T.Z. Tabulov, K.V. Lomtatidze, V.B. Tugov, V.N. Meremkulov and others are highlighted. The question is raised considering the need to bring together the entire existing body of folklore material, systematize it and reissue it in a separate series in several volumes, broken down by genre. The article also traces the study of Abaza fairy tale prose in the works of V.B. Tugov, V.N. Meremkulov, P.K. Chekalov, the contribution of each scientist to the formation of national folklore is briefly outlined. Such comprehension allows us to draw a line under the work done to date and, relying on the existing scientific base, to continue the modern study of national folklore.

This article considers the lexical layer of the language, the study of which contributes to a more in-depth understanding of the culture, life, traditions of the people. Outdated vocabulary, represented by historicisms and archaisms, is one of the under-explored layers of vocabulary and is the most mobile level of language in which various changes constantly occur. The reasons for archaization can be different, i.e. they can be associated with social transformations in the life of society, and can also be because of linguistic laws. The article attempted to lexical semantic classification of outdated words found in the texts of the Karachay-Balkarian heroic epic “Narts.” The results obtained showed that outdated words of the Karachay-Balkarian language can be combined into the following thematic groups depending on their belonging to certain spheres of life: military terminology, class position, human activity, objects and phenomena of nature, names of weight measure, distance, etc. It should be noted that in the texts of the Nart epic, in addition to outdated substantive vocabulary, there are adjectives and verbs. It should also be noted that, in epic texts, lexical archaisms prevail over semantic ones.

The article focuses on the vocabulary of the Karachay-Balkar language. In it, the zoonymic lexeme börü ‘volk’ is treated to a multidimensional analysis, its word-formation intentions are disclosed, its representation in such levels of vocabulary as phytonyms, anthroponyms, and toponyms, as well as in the creation of phraseological units, is highlighted. The research observes that the zoolexeme under discussion is differentiated by ethnocultural components important to Karachai and Balkars, who are more archaic in nature. In its most generic form, the wolf appears in the people’s worldview as a living person, or totem. It is viewed as a predator that harms cattle, as an animal that heals maladies and defends against bad spirits, and as a link between the worlds of the dead and the living. In animal stories, the wolf is frequently punished for his greed by losing to other animals, both wild and domestic. In the Karachay-Balkarian Nart epic, it gives rise to the Nart family, which is consistent with the beliefs of other Tengri-era peoples. The corpus of Karachay-Balkarian proverbs and sayings reveals cognitive qualities applicable to both wolves and humans, which are defined by the ethnic group’s mindset. The studied factual data allows us to discuss both the universal and idioethnic aspects of the wolf image. The börü zoolexeme is an essential component of the zoomorphic cultural code in the Karachay-Balkarian naïve worldview, as well as the linguistic one.

The article examines the onomastic space of poetry by the outstanding poet of the 20th century Rasul Gamzatov. This study reveals the role of proper names in the poet’s work, reflects the importance of onyms in the realization of the creative idea of the works, in reflecting the individual author’s picture of the world. The article classifies proper names according to semantic and structural categories. The analysis of onyms is conducted and their place in the “core-periphery” system of the onomastic field is determined. In the onomastic space of the works of the author under study, it was possible to identify the following types of onyms that can be classified as paratextual: designation, title, epigraph, dedication. During the analysis of the onomastic space, it was established that proper names, both intertextual and paratextual, play an important and organic role in the stylistic system of the author’s texts, since, possessing a wealth of semantic connections, complex associations and connotations, contribute to the formation of the general imagery of Rasul Gamzatov’s works.

The article examines the linguistic features of various subcultures, which is an urgent problem of modern linguistics. This is because of their wide and rapid spread among young people. A special case of this type of linguistic personality is the emo linguistic personality, which is the object of this study. The study of linguistic material, which is an emic discourse, allows you to cover the intellectual sphere of the personality, the linguistic personality of EMO, characterized by its worldview, worldview, which is based on the emic philosophy of death and immortality. The purpose of the article is to identify the linguistic features of the EMO subculture, reflecting the philosophy, life values and principles of its representatives. The article summarizes new material on the topic under study, taken from EMO forums, which allows us to identify certain specifics of the subcultural language of EMO kids. Based on the study, several deliberate phonetic, spelling, and grammatical distortions of words have been detected, resulting in the development of occasional words, some of which may be conditionally recognized. An attempt was made to determine the ways of creative expression in the speech of emo subculture members. The examination of EMO forums revealed that aphorisms are often used in the speech activity of representatives of this subculture, which may be classified relativistically into groups. It has been shown that language is an important means of representing the philosophy and life beliefs of representatives of the emic subculture, which encourages the free expression of one’s own feelings.

The article examines two phonetic phenomena of English and Kabardino-Circassian spontaneous speech – assimilation of consonants and elimination of consonants and vowels in the flow of speech. In general, the processes occurring in live speech, if they are not known, can turn into a factor that complicates the perceptual assessment of the utterance. This circumstance results in various kinds of difficulties in communication, especially in a situation of casual communication, a characteristic feature of which is reliance on an incomplete communication style. In the course of the study, the works of authoritative Russian and foreign phoneticians have been analyzed, attention has drawn to the overload of the concept of assimilation in the presence of terms that can more accurately describe a certain phonetic phenomenon, an attempt is made to systematize the presented data and answer the question of how regular the phenomena of assimilation and elision are: in English spontaneous speech, assimilation often occurs at the junction of morphemes, and consonant elision occurs with a large confluence (clusters) of consonants, vowel elision occurs in an unstressed position; Kabardian spontaneous speech is characterized by regressive assimilation, the elimination of the vowel at the end of the morpheme.

The article is dedicated to the study of the metaphorical potential of the lexemes "ne" and "eyes" in the Kabardino-Circassian and English languages. The relevance of the study is due to the need for a comparative study of visual metaphors in the Kabardino-Circassian and English languages, which will reveal the specific features of the national picture of the world of the studied languages. In the course of the work, the empirical material was studied using various linguistic methods and the most productive visual metaphorical models in Kabardino-Circassian and English were identified. The author comes to the conclusion that metaphorical images in the studied languages largely coincide, which can be explained by the universality of the biological functions of the eye as an organ. The paper notes a higher nominative density of the metaphorical model "Eyes are love" in the Kabardino-Circassian language and a higher metaphorical potential of the lexeme "ne".