Iosif Cherapkin (, ) (, Staryye Verkhissy (), today's

Penza Oblast Penza Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Penza. As of the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, its population was ...

– March 18, 1935) was a

Moksha ''Moksha'' (; , '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'', and ''mukti'', is a term in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, liberation, '' nirvana'', or release. In its soteriological and eschatologic ...

enlightener, educator, and linguist.

Biography

During

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, Cherapkin was conscripted into the Russian Imperial Army. He finished teacher's seminary in 1906 and worked as teacher in his village school. For his activity aiming to popularize school education in

Moksha language Moksha (, ) is a Mordvinic languages, Mordvinic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic family, spoken by Mokshas, with around 130,000 native speakers in 2010. Moksha is the majority language in the western part of Mordovia. Its closest relativ ...

he was banished to Siberia. He returned in 1912 and enrolled

Moscow University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

and studied history and philology. He lived in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and returned home in 1915. He welcomed

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

and joined

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Bolshevik

Korenizatsiya Korenizatsiia (, ; ) was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific Soviet republics. In the 1920s, the policy promoted representatives of the titular nation, and ...

(nativization) policy was aimed at de-Russification. The government established ethnic autonomies and republics with their own governments in Russia. They supported minorities and even ethnic Russians working in said governments were required to learn the local language and culture of the given Soviet republic or autonomy. All parties and political activity were banned in Soviet Russia and in 1921 he was arrested as suspect supporter of 'SR' (Social-Revolutionary party) but soon released as his guilty was not proved. Cherapkin met Makar Evsevʹev and was influenced by him. He described

dialects and divided them in 3 groups: Spassk, Krasnoslobodsk-Temnikov and Insar dialects. Krasnoslobodsk-Temnikov dialect was chosen as the basis for the Moksha literary language. He completed the work on the grammar and described phonetics, morphology and syntax. In 1924 he worked as a secretary in Moksha newspaper Од веле ('New Village') and as a lecturer in Saratov State University in 1929. In 1931 he started working as a Moksha teacher in Saransk komvuz (Communist High School, today's

Mordovian State University N.P. Ogarev Mordovia State University () is a public university located in the city of Saransk in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. The university offers bachelor's and master's degrees in various academic fields. History The Agronomy Pedago ...

), Saransk Pedagogical Institute (today's Evsevʹev Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute) and Research Institute for Mordvinian Culture (today's Mordovian Scientific Research Institute of Language, Literature and Economy).

Medieval Moksha writing

Cherapkin was the first to identify Medieval Moksha writing in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

uncial script Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek and Latin, as well as Gothic, and are the current style for ...

in 1929.

Notable works and death

His first Moksha-Russian dictionary with grammar was issued in 1931. He used plausible neologisms (e.g. Moksha terms for parts of speech, socio-political terms etc.) and prepared first school textbooks in Moksha literary language which were issued in 1933–1934. He died in 1935. After the end of

korenizatsiya Korenizatsiia (, ; ) was an early policy of the Soviet Union for the integration of non-Russian nationalities into the governments of their specific Soviet republics. In the 1920s, the policy promoted representatives of the titular nation, and ...

course by 1938 the new and old terms were banned and replaced with abundance of Russian loans. As well as school textbooks and education in Moksha language except for 1–4 years of study in Elementary schools in order to help children shift to Russian as language of instruction. All the Moksha books, journals and newspapers were withdrawn from the libraries. Some Moksha and other Finno-Ugric languages books, journals and manuscripts were digitalised in 21st century and accessible at National Library of Finland.

Family

Cherapkin's spouse's name was Lukeria. They married after he returned from

. They had 11 children (including 3 children of his deceased brother Grigoriy): Nikolay, Iosif, Agrippina, Anna, Ekaterina (other names are unknown). Nikolay Cherapkin later became writer and literary critic.

Bibliography

*Черапкин И. Г. Диалекты мордвы-мокши бывшей Пензенской губернии oksha dialects of Former Penza Gubernia/Учёные записки Саратовского университета. 1930. Issue.3.8. pp. 19–31 *Черапкин И. Г. Самоучитель мокша-мордовского языка для русских oksha Language Self-study Manual for Adults Ч. 1-я. Под ред. Л. Е. Бажанова. Саранск, Мордиздат, 1932 *Черапкин И. Г. Мокша-мордовско-русский словарь с грамматическим справочником oksha-Russian Dictionary and Grammar Guide — МордГИЗ, 1933

Translations

*Интернационалсь (

The Internationale "The Internationale" is an international anthem that has been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. It has been a standard of the socialist movement since ...

Eugène Pottier Eugène Edine Pottier (; 4 October 1816 – 6 November 1887) was a French revolutionary, poet, song-writer, and freemason. He is most known for writing the lyrics of "The Internationale", a left-wing anthem. Life and work in Paris Pottier g ...

)// Валда ян (Bright Way), monthly journal. 1928, No 3(4), May. p. 18 (in

) *Максим Горький. Тядясь (Maxim Gorky. Mother)/ Колхозонь эряф (Kolkhoz life) journal, 1933 (in

)

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

* *
National Library of Finland
*{{cite web, title=Iosif Cherapkin's Biography, url=http://stverhiss-school.narod.ru/qwerty5.htm, ref=Mokshen Pravda, language=ru

1884 births 1935 deaths Linguists from Russia Russian Finno-Ugrists Moksha people 20th-century linguists Moscow State University alumni