Kalmyk Dictionary in the Work of P. S. Pallas: Grapho-Phonetic Analysis of Consonants

Introduction. The foundations of fieldwork with informants and with sounding speech began to be laid in the Russian academic “field” in the 18th century, and this process is undoubtedly connected with the name of Peter Simon Pallas, who conducted expeditions through the territories of the Russian Empire on behalf of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. His famous work entitled “Comparative dictionaries of all languages and dialects, collected by the right hand of the most Hight Person”, published in 1787–1789, is a unique lexicographic source that creates a wide field for scientific research, interpretation of the phonetics of languages of that time, and besides, is the first experience of creating an etymological dictionary in the history of comparative studies. The purpose of the study is a grapho-phonetic analysis of the consonant system reflected in this lexicographic source, which is necessary for the reconstruction of the phonetic system of the Kalmyk language of that period, which is of great importance for the historical dialectology of the Kalmyk language. Materials. The study is based on the list of Kalmyk words and expressions, which includes 531 units, some of which are represented by different spelling variants. Results. A system of graphemes denoting consonant sounds is described. The series of correspondences of consonant graphemes in the dictionary of P. S. Pallas with the modern literary Kalmyk language, as well as with the Proto-Mongolian reconstructions of H. Nugteren, which allowed for a grapho-phonetic analysis of the Kalmyk dictionary of  P. S. Pallas. A table has been compiled with the data on regular consonant reflexes (i. e., at least three examples). There is a slight difference between the phonetics of the Pallas’ dictionary. The changes reflected in Pallas’ dictionary are systemic in nature, as reflected in the schedule, the pro-Mongolian reconstructions and the current state of the Kalmyk language. The differences from the modern literary language are mainly in the historical changes that have occurred in consonants.

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