G.M.SUNGATOV, F.KH.ZAVGAROVA REVIEW OF THE BOOK BARABA TATARS. CHAPTERS OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. F.YU.YUSUPOV, F.S.SAYFULINA, O.R.KHISAMOV, I.G.GUMEROV (KAZAN: KAZAN UNIVERSITY, 2013, 668 P.) Gafur Masgutovich Sungatov, Republican Centre for the Development of Traditional Culture, 66/33 Pushkin Str., Kazan, 420015, Russia, [email protected]. Fanzilya Khakimovna Zavgarova, Republican Centre for the Development of Traditional Culture, 66/33 Pushkin Str., Kazan, 420015, Russia, [email protected]. The collection titled “Baraba Tatars. Chapters of Intellectual Culture” by F.Yu.Yusupov, F.S.Sayfulina, O.R.Khisamov and I.R.Gumerov deals with the ethnic history and the features of lan- guage, traditions, and everyday life of Baraba Tatars, who live in Siberia. The collection includes a scientific and analytical article about the origin of Baraba Tatars, and describes their close linkage with other Turkic tribes of West Siberia since ancient times. Besides the materials which the authors collected in different periods of their research, the collection is supplemented with songs recorded by such scholars as V.V.Radlov, L.V.Dmitrieva, D.G.Tumasheva, and composer A.Klyucharev, who studied Tatar folk music. The collection contains samples of the authentic speech of Baraba Tatars, whose population has been shrinking annually and today, they are among the endangered peoples of Russia. This work provides an opportunity to notice and learn phonetic, lexical and grammatical dis- tinctive features of the Baraba dialect for training broad-minded and well-educated philologists. The collection is also important for historians, ethnographers and those who explore the intellectual culture of the nation. Key words: folklore, Siberian Tatars, the Tatar language, intellectual culture. Collections are being created with the aim to tic geography and comparative-historical methods. preserve languages, which include the languages of He has analyzed the grammar of the Tatar dialect ethnic groups and certain aspects of their life and language as a holistic system and has devoted his folklore. They are seen as an important way of re- monographs to phonetics, lexis, and grammar of flecting the changes which have taken place some Tatar speeches. The second author, throughout the historical evolution of the nation. It F.S.Sayfulina, is a literary theorist who has been should be mentioned, that these books, published teaching in Tobolsk Teacher Training Institute for by contemporary linguists, literary scholars, and many years, where she can hear Siberian Tatars’ folklore experts as their common work, are taking speech every day. Linguist O.R.Khisamov and lit- their rightful place in Tatar philology. This article erary scholar I.R.Gumerov have done a lot to con- presents a review of one of these collections enti- tribute to this publication. This collection is a valu- tled Baraba Tatars. Chapters of Intellectual Cul- able source for learning the ethnic history of ture. One of the authors is F.Yu.Yusupov, a Baraba Tatars, their language peculiarities, tradi- scholar who has spent 60 years working on this tions, everyday life, and above all, the origin of book and has visited all the regions where the other Turkic people and their language develop- Tatars live. While working on his master’s and ment. doctorate theses, he recorded the native speakers’ According to the well-known scholar authentic speech, collecting valuable factual mate- D.G.Tumasheva, who studied the Siberian Tatars’ rial, and published many scientific works based on dialects, the Baraba dialect occupies a middle posi- the results of his research. He has conducted re- tion among three Siberian Tatar dialects: the To- search into Tatar dialectology and has become one blsk-Irtysh and the Tom dialects still retaining the of the first Turkic linguists. F.Yu.Yusupov has features of antiquity. Scholars define the Baraba made a great contribution to the development of dialect as a bridge connecting the Tatar language Turkic linguistics with his studies based on linguis- with the ancient Turkic language. 230 TATARICA: REVIEWS V.V.Radlov recorded the samples of Baraba ples. The fact that the texts are given in two lan- Tatars’ authentic speech and oral folk arts artifacts guages enhances its importance for both philologi- in the 19th century, and this was an important stage cal and culturological research. Moreover, it is so- in studying Turkic Tatars. These works of the cially and psychologically significant for the Rus- scholar were appreciated at the time. sians living among the Tatars. The authors set the Another important aspect of this collection is following goals. The first is to acquaint people, the idea of publishing the national cultural heritage who believe themselves to be Baraba Tatars with- that was collected by scholars in different centuries out knowing their own language, with their na- based on a single principle. It contains samples tional genius and character; the second is to intro- from V.V.Radlov’s collections, the texts of lin- duce the dying cultural property of Baraba Tatars guists L.V.Dmitrieva, D.G.Tumasheva and other to as many people as possible. The authors man- dialectologists, songs which were recorded by aged to cope with the difficulties of translating A.Klyucharev, and extremely interesting folk folkloristic texts. The examples of the book, con- songs from the book by poet M.Sadri A Trip to the taining cultural facts specific to this ethnic group Irtysh, describing his expedition in the year of only, are presented in a way which makes them 1940. Consequently, this book has aroused great comprehensible and easy to understand by people interest on the part of the representatives of sci- with a different mentality. The translators should ence, education and culture from the Novosibirsk know all the peculiarities and details of the given region and its authorities. examples of Baraba Tatars’ speech, recorded in The book opens with an article exploring the different periods, to reveal the meaning of every origin of the Baraba Tatars, their fatherland in single word, suffix and particle, they should feel West Siberia and their connections with other Tur- “the breathing” of the language. All this requires a kic tribes since ancient times. It deals with the profound theoretic knowledge and a great experi- main stages of the Baraba Tatars’ development as ence in transcribing and translating ancient linguis- an ethnos, the cultural and social conditions under tic phenomena which are not found in the literary which they lived, and a historiographic review of language or other dialects; obsolete for Baraba the scientific research connected with this tribe. Tatars’ speech but preserved in folkloristic texts. According to the introductory article, the popu- The authors of the book coped with this task. lation of Baraba Tatars is currently not more than According to the great scholar L.N.Gumilev, 8,000 people. Kazan Tatars, who moved to the some Turkic people, even though not connected in Baraba plains in the 19th and 20th centuries and set- any way, can understand each other’s language, tled among the local people, should be included in and this is a unique phenomenon. The scholars this number. Unfortunately, their numbers are de- consider Siberian Tatars’ colloquial language to be creasing year by year. This is the reason many in- the dialect of the Tatar language. Baraba Tatars ternational organizations enter Baraba Tatars on learned to read the Tatar literary language in Soviet the list of the endangered peoples of Russia. With times. Over the last years the connections with the this in mind, the book about the cultural heritage of Volga region Tatars have become less close and the Baraba Tatars is very timely. the influence of their literary language has signifi- The examples in the collection are given in the cantly decreased. It is a great regret that this ethnic transcription developed by V.V.Radlov, which group with its rich cultural heritage, long history contributes to the scientific significance of the and language and preserved ancient linguistic phe- book. V.V.Radlov used a special type of transcrip- nomena is dying. tion in the Cyrillic alphabet as well as specific The book Baraba Tatars. Chapters of Intellec- symbols used to better express the features of the tual Culture contains a collection of unique mental Baraba Tatars’ language. Even after a hundred and artifacts of Turkic people, dastans. Some of them fifty years, his transcription can show the melody are published with the variations preserved by of the authentic speech of those times. This method Baraba people. The authors explain it by the fact enabled the scholar to preserve all features of the that this epic-lyrical genre has been preserved by language for the next generations. Hopefully, the Siberian Tatars, who live far from busy highways, tune, the melody of the dying Baraba Tatars’ particularly in Baraba region. Besides, these works speech will be saved in the written form owing to have a stable form and structure. In the second half the examples of the collection. of the 19th century, V.V.Radlov wrote down one The book differs from other collections as it Baraba Tatar’s full variation of the dastan Idegay. has Russian translations of authentic speech exam- Even this single fact testifies to the scientific value 231 G.M.SUNGATOV, F.KH.ZAVGAROVA of the cultural heritage belonging to our kindred merous examples of these phenomena in different ethnic groups which are losing their place in his- genres, such as variations of the dastan Ajtuka, tory. contributed by L.V.Dmitrieva and M. Sadri, which The toponymy of different regions is a sphere they recorded during their expedition with the as- which demands special research and various stud- sistance of F.Yu.Yusupov.