Semyon Andreyevich Novgorodov (, the older orthography ; ; February 13, 1892 – 28 February 1924) was a
Yakut politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
and
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, the creator of a
Yakut written language
A written language is the representation of a language by means of writing. This involves the use of visual symbols, known as graphemes, to represent linguistic units such as phonemes, syllables, morphemes, or words. However, written language is ...
.
Early life
Semyon Andreyevich Novgorodov was born in the 2nd Khatlinsky
nasleg of Boturus Ulus (now Boltoginsky nasleg of
Churapchinsky Ulus of
Sakha). His father was poor, but later acquired some wealth. He taught his son to read
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic ( ) is the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language and the oldest extant written Slavonic language attested in literary sources. It belongs to the South Slavic languages, South Slavic subgroup of the ...
. Later, Novgorodov studied under sexton Andrey Vinokurov, who taught him
Russian and arithmetic. Then he visited the private school of exiled I. T. Tsypenko in
Churapcha. As Semyon was a brilliant pupil, in 1905 he entered
Yakutsk
Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...
Realschule
Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...
(Реальное училище). During his time at the college, Novgorodov read widely. Novgorodov started to collect Yakut folklore, his works were published in the first Yakut literature magazine ''
Saqa sanata'', which was published in 1912–1913.
Yakut writing
As the earliest Yakut writing was invented by Russians, it didn't reflect some features of the
Yakut language
The Yakut language ( ), also known as the Sakha language ( ) or Yakutian, is a Siberian Turkic language spoken by around 450,000 native speakers—primarily by ethnic Yakuts. It is one of the official languages of the Sakha Republic, a republic ...
well. Novgorodov's first writings used a mixture of the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. After Novgorodov graduated from Realschule, he taught in Yelovsky elementary school and
Vilyuy
The Vilyuy ( rus, Вилю́й, p=vʲɪˈlʲʉj; , ''Bülüü'', ) is a river in Russia, the longest tributary of the Lena (river), Lena. About long, it flows mostly within the Sakha Republic. Its basin covers about .
History
The river is first ...
municipal school. In 1913 he came to
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and entered the Arab-Persian-Turkish class of the Oriental department of
St. Petersburg University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...
. In December 1913 Novgorodov participated in the All-Russian Congress of Popular Teachers, where he presented a paper about teaching in the national languages of indigenous peoples and the necessity of schoolbooks in the Yakut language.
One year later, Novgorodov entered a Mongol-Manchu-Turkish class. In 1914, on the instructions of Russian Committee on the Exploration of the Central and East Asia, he collected folklore in
Tattinsky Ulus,
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
. Summer holidays of 1915 he spent in
Ufa Governorate
Ufa Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire with its capital in the city of Ufa. It was created in 1865 by separation from Orenburg Governorate. On June 14, 1922 the governorate was transformed i ...
, where he practiced the
Tatar language
Tatar ( ; or ) is a Turkic languages, Turkic language spoken by the Volga Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar ...
of the Tatar colonists and collected folklore of
Tiptär Tatars.
Exploring a variety of different writing systems, he was attracted by the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...
. He argued for the adoption of this alphabet to the Yakut language. Some Yakut intelligentsia led by poet A. Ye. Kulakovsky opposed him, advocating Cyrillic. Novgorodov's arguments were these:
# Yakut Cyrillic writing had only fifty years of history, and the majority of Yakuts were illiterate.
# There was no convention on the use of the script and it was used in two variants: Betling (the Academic variant) and Khitrov (the Missionary variant).
The main difficulty was caused by numerous
umlauts and brevity and duration signs. Novgorodov found that they reduced the speed of writing. Further, the missionary variant was totally incorrect with respect to pronunciation.
As a public figure
Novgorodov spent the winter of 1916–1917 teaching in a
Yakutsk
Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...
school. His ''The Main Problems of Yakut Intelligentsia'' was published in ''Yakutskie Vedomosti'' newspaper. Novgorodov supported the
February Revolution
The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...
of 1917. He participated in many meetings and was even elected to the Public Security Committee of
Yakutsk
Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...
. At the First Free Congress of Yakut Peasants, Novgorodov presented his
IPA-based new Yakut alphabet and spoke about the necessity of publishing the first Yakut primer (in collaboration with V.M. Ionov). The congress supported him, and during spring and summer 1917 Novgorodov, with the help of N. Ye. Afanasyev, remade the primer, which was named ''saqalɯ: suruk bicik''. This alphabet was not the IPA at all, as some characters were unable to be represented in local presses.
In autumn 1917 he returned to
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
to continue his education. In summer 1918 he was contracted as an interpreter to a hydrographic expedition to the
Lena River
The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East and is the easternmost river of the three great rivers of Siberia which flow into the Arctic Ocean, the others being Ob (river), Ob and Yenisey. The Lena River is long and has a capacious drainage basi ...
's delta. However, the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
disturbed his plans. Thus, he ultimately spent 4 months working in Ehirit-Buhachat Aymak of
Irkutsk Governorate. As he studied Mongolian, he fluently spoke
Buryat language
Buryat or Buriat, known in foreign sources as the Bargu-Buryat dialect of Mongolian, and in pre-1956 Soviet sources as Buryat-Mongolian, is a variety of the Mongolic languages spoken by the Buryats and Bargas that is classified either as a lan ...
and participated in local meetings. In March 1919 he published several articles where he argued for a chair of Yakutology in
Irkutsk University and noted to the similarity of modern Yakut and ancient Turkic, found in
Orkhon inscriptions
The Orkhon inscriptions are bilingual texts in Middle Chinese and Old Turkic, the latter written in the Old Turkic alphabet, carved into two memorial steles erected in the early 8th century by the Göktürks in the Orkhon Valley in what is modern- ...
. Later his theory was verified by other scholars.
In September 1919 Novgorodov reached
Yakutsk
Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...
and joined the ''Saqa aymaq'' cultural society. As the
Kolchak government didn't support his ideas, he was pleased with the return of Soviet power. He became the head of the
Yakutsk Oblast Exploring Department, the head of its linguistic section, a participant of expeditions to the eastern
uluses of
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
, a lecturer of propagandist and pedagogy courses, a head of the committee for Yakut schoolbooks. As the region had a problem with printing-plants, Novgorodov was entrusted to buy in Central Russia in 1920.
In 1922 he published the re-written primer, ''basta:nnɯ suruk bicik''. In the same year, the Yakut language was introduced in schools of
Yakut ASSR. In 1923, the new Yakut font was made in
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
. Another primer, ''suruk bicik'' and a book for reading ''a:ʃar kinige'' were published. This primer was much better than the others and consisted of five parts: fiction, history, geography, medicine and folklore. In 1923–24 the primer was spread all over Yakutia and
likbezy (special schools for illiterates) started their work. As new presses appeared in the republic, it became possible for the local leaders to print their own newspapers and the first of these, ''
kɯ:m'', was published in 1923. Until 1930, when Yakut was switched to
Jaꞑalif, more than 200 books were published in the Novgorodov alphabet, including 30 schoolbooks. A new alphabet gave a major impulse to the development of Yakut culture.
In 1922 Novgorodov graduated the university and along with M. K. Ammosov represented Yakutia in
Narkomnats (Peoples' Committee for Nationalities). He participated in the commission for
delimitation
Electoral boundary delimitation (or simply boundary delimitation or delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries of electoral precincts and related divisions involved in elections, such as Federated state, states, counties or other municipalities ...
of
Yakutia
Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
's borders. Also Novgorodov was a deputy of IX Congress of the Soviets, elected by Yakutsk Governorate Congress of the Revolutionary Committee.
Semyon Novgorodov died of
uraemia in the prime of his life at February 28, 1924.
[Евдокия Коркина. ''Семён Андреевич Новгородов. Жизнь и судьба'']
/ref>
Publishing
*
'
* '' ttp://ilin-yakutsk.narod.ru/1992/61.htm Якутский язык и грамота в качестве необязательных предметов'
* ''Первые шаги якутской письменности''
References and footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novgorodov, Semyon
1892 births
1924 deaths
People from Churapchinsky District
People from Yakutsk Oblast
Yakut people
Linguists of Sakha
Linguists from the Russian Empire
Sakha-language writers
Linguists from the Soviet Union
Russian scientists