(Ленинград, 1948 год, после первой поездки к гагаузам)

100th Anniversary of LIUDMILA POKROVSKAIA, Author of the Scientific Grammar of the Gagauz Language and Founder of Gagauz Studies (18.03.1925–07.10.2009) 

The emergence of the first scientific grammar of the Gagauz language, presented by Liudmila Pocrovscaia’s book "Grammar of the Gagauz Language: Phonetics and Morphology" (Moscow, 1964), was undoubtedly a historical and pivotal event in the life of the then little-known Turkic people – the Gagauz. The monograph became the scientific platform, the foundation upon which one of the branches of Turkology – Gagauz Studies – later developed. It can be said without exaggeration that Gagauz Studies as a science was born and nurtured by Russian scholars: largely thanks to Russian or Soviet Turkologists, the Gagauz language was introduced to the world, and the world opened up for the Gagauz. A whole series of outstanding Turkologists contributed significantly to the establishment and development of Gagauz Studies as a science in general and to the study of the Gagauz language in particular. Their interests covered various areas: history, linguistics, lexicography, folklore [V.A. Moshkov, V.V. Radlov, N.K. Dmitriev, Liudmila Pocrovscaia, N.A. Baskakov, E.R. Tenishev]. Based on the study of folklore materials by V.A. Moshkov, the Soviet linguist, specialist in Turkology and Turkic-Slavic language connections, Nikolai Konstantinovich Dmitriev (1898-1954) wrote a number of scientific articles in the 20s-40s of the 20th century and concluded that the Gagauz language is linguistically independent and suggested "considering the Gagauz language as a special language of the Turkic group" [Dmitriev N.K. The Structure of Turkic Languages. Moscow, 1962, p. 271]. Therefore, he deemed it necessary, in the post-war years, to work on the creation of the Gagauz language's writing system. It was through his initiative that the Commission on Gagauz Studies was organized under the Olya Academy of Sciences of the USSR, with the primary task of developing the Gagauz alphabet. Only through the persistent work of Russian linguists, despite resistance and a lack of understanding from republican leaders and national cadres, was the writing system for the Gagauz language adopted. \The scientific and educational activities of N.K. Dmitriev in the field of the Gagauz language were continued by his student Liudmila Pocrovscaia. The research materials, observations, and experiences accumulated over almost half a century were implemented in a coherent linguistic system – the scientific grammar of the Gagauz language. It can be confidently stated that Liudmila Pocrovscaia is the discoverer of one of the last young written Turkic languages. A Russian by nature, raised in a family of hereditary intellectuals, she not only had a scientific interest in the language of the then little-known Gagauz people, but she also learned the language, was able to understand and accept the lifestyle, customs, and culture of the people speaking one of the Turkic languages and practicing Christianity. And here, in southern Moldova, among simple but very hardworking people, far from her loved ones, Lyudmila Aleksandrovna found her second homeland and like-minded friends. There is no Gagauz in Moldova today who has not heard of Liudmila Pocrovscaia. It was her scientific research that became fundamental and made the Gagauz language part of Soviet and world Turkology. In the entire history of Gagauz philology, there is no figure more significant than Liudmila PocrovscaiaShe actively participated in the creation of the written system for the Gagauz and presented the projects of the first alphabet and the rules of orthography, which were approved by the Institute of Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Republican Scientific Session in Chișinău (“Orthographic Rules of the Gagauz Language,” Chișinău, 1958). \The monographs and textbooks written by Liudmila Pocrovscaia over the years: “Grammar of the Gagauz Language: Phonetics and Morphology” (1964), “Syntax of the Gagauz Language in Comparative Light” (1978), “Modern Gagauz Language (Course of Lectures)” (1997), “Syntax of the Modern Gagauz Language (Sentence)” (1999), have become the primary source of scientific knowledge about the Gagauz language for university professors and schoolteachers and are still in demand by the Gagauz studying their native language. In her works, the author systematized a vast linguistic material, introduced new scientific facts into academic use, provided a linguistically scientific interpretation of the phonological, word-formation, and grammatical systems of the modern Gagauz language, identified the specific features of the Gagauz language, its distinctive syntactic features, and convincingly proved the independence of the Gagauz language. The works of Liudmila Pocrovscaia are a solid scientific foundation for subsequent generations of Gagauz language researchers and open the way for further study of the morphemic and word-formation systems, the syntax of word combinations, the lexical-semantic system of the Gagauz language, and more. Lyudmila Aleksandrovna’s scientific-research, scientific-popularizing, scientific-pedagogical, and organizational activities in the field of Gagauz linguistics throughout her life, as well as her civic service to the Gagauz people and her multifaceted educational mission, made the Gagauz language part of Turkology and the subject of study for various sciences: history, ethnology, cultural studies, and ethnography. The name of Liudmila Pocrovscaiais forever etched in the history of the Turkic peoples, forever preserved in the history of the Gagauz people, always linked to the Gagauz language, and will remain forever in the memory of the speakers of the Gagauz language…