in Russian spelling improvement and standardization projects
of 1930–1956
The paper deals with traditionally problematic and not fully settled issues of Russian
spelling – the spelling of double consonants in borrowed words. The peculiarities of regulation of the spelling concerned in the number of normative sources of the 18–20 centuries are
specified. The author considers the views of some linguists on possible reasons for this variable writing and proposals for eliminating the diversity that is characteristic of spelling practice
both before and after the 1917th – 1918th spelling reform. A detailed analysis is made of the
materials of eleven projects of Russian spelling improvement and standardization, which were
elaborated by spelling commissions in the period from 1930 to 1956. The paper provides a
description of normative settings of the projects that differ in character and content: prescriptive, built in the form of a traditional spelling rule-explanation and the recommendation to the
writer to refer directly to the dictionary. Common views on approaches, validity and expedi-
ency of normative principles considered in the context of spelling discussion of 1964 and the
subsequent discussion of this issue are revealed. Consideration is given to the formulation of
the double consonant spelling rule in loanwords in the complete academic reference book
(2006), and examples of variable spelling from modern practice are provided. The source base
of the research, along with explanatory, spelling dictionaries and draft rules, were unpublished archival documents of the Russian Academy of Science.
Durnovo N. N. K voprosu o reforme russkogo pravopisaniya [On the question of the
Russian spelling reform]. Russkiy yazyk v sovetskoy shkole. 1930, no. 3, pp. 110–116.
Gavronov N. F. K voprosu o pravopisanii inoyazychnykh slov s udvoennymi
soglasnymi [On the question of spelling of foreign words with double consonants]. In:
Problemy sovremennogo russkogo pravopisaniya [Problems of modern Russian
spelling]. Moscow, Nauka, 1964, pp. 116–130.
Grech N. I. Spravochnoe mesto russkogo slova [The reference place of the Russian
word]. St. Petersburg, 1843, 140 p.
Grot Ya. K. Spornye voprosy russkogo pravopisaniya ot Petra Velikogo donyne
[Controversial issues of Russian spelling from Peter the Great to the present day].
St. Petersburg, 1876, 461 p.
Grot Ya. K. Russkoe pravopisanie [Russian spelling]. St. Petersburg, Imp. Akademiya nauk, 1894, 159 p.
Grot Ya. K. Filologicheskie razyskaniya [Philological research]. St. Petersburg, Tip.
Ministerstva putey soobshcheniya, 1899, 468 p.
Kartoev M. U. Orfografiya zaimstvovannykh slov [Spelling of loanwords]. Abstract
of Cand. philol. sci. diss. Moscow, 1982, 20 p.
Nechaeva I. V. Problemy orfograficheskoy kodifikatsii inoyazychnykh zaimstvovaniy [Problems of codification of the spelling of foreign loanwords]. In: Lingvisticheskie osnovy kodifikatsii russkoy orfografii [Linguistic fundamentals of Russian
spelling codification]. Moscow, Azbukovnik, 2009, pp. 213–239.
Nechaeva I. V. Aktual’nye problemy orfografii inoyazychnykh zaimstvovaniy [Relevant problems of spelling of foreign loanwords]. Moscow, Azbukovnik, 2011, 168 p.
Nikolaevskiy N. Ob uporyadochenii orfografii [About the regulation of spelling].
Uchite’skaya gazeta. 1937, no. 23 (2289), 27 November.
Obnorskiy S. P. Russkoe pravopisanie i yazyk v praktike izdatel’stv [Russian
spelling and language in the practice of the publishing houses]. Izvestiya Akademii nauk
SSSR. Otd. obshchestvennykh nauk. 1934, no. 6, pp. 455–483.
Panov M. V. Ob usovershenstvovanii russkoy orfografii [About the improvement
of the Russian spelling]. Voprosy Jazykoznanija (Topics in the study of language). 1963,
no. 2, pp. 81–93.
Superanskaya A. V. Napisanie zaimstvovannykh slov v sovremennom russkom
yazyke [Spelling of borrowed words in modern Russian language]. In: Problemy
sovremennogo russkogo pravopisaniya [Problems of modern Russian spelling]. Moscow, Nauka, 1964, pp. 69–100.
in Russian spelling improvement and standardization projects
of 1930–1956 // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2020. № 4. Pp. 322–334. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/73/22.