Nikolai Marr | |
|---|---|
| ნიკოლოზ იაკობის ძე მარი (Georgian) Николай Яковлевич Марр (Russian) | |
 Nikolai Marr, circa 1930s | |
| Born | Nikoloz Iakobis dze Mari (1864-12-25)25 December 1864 |
| Died | 20 December 1934(1934-12-20) (aged 69) |
| Known for | Japhetic theory |
| Academic background | |
| Education | St Petersburg University |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Linguistics |
Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr (Никола́й Я́ковлевич Марр,Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr;ნიკოლოზ იაკობის ძე მარი,Nikoloz Iak'obis dze Mari; 6 January 1865 [O.S. 25 December 1864] — 20 December 1934) was a Georgian-bornhistorian andlinguist who gained a reputation as a scholar of theCaucasus during the 1910s before embarking on his "Japhetic theory" on theorigin of language (from 1924), now considered as pseudo-scientific,[1] and related speculative linguistic hypotheses.
Marr's hypotheses were used as a rationale in the campaign during the 1920–30s in theSoviet Union ofintroduction of Latin alphabets for smaller ethnicities of the country. In 1950, the "Japhetic theory" fell from official favour, withJoseph Stalin denouncing it as anti-Marxist.[citation needed]
Marr was born on 6 January 1865 [O.S. 25 December 1864] inKutaisi, Georgia (then part of theRussian Empire).[2] His father, James Montague Marr (1793–1874), was an Englishman of possible Scottish descent who moved to the Caucasus in 1822 to work as a trader, before moving into horticulture, and worked with theGurieli family ofGuria.[3] His mother was a youngGeorgian woman (Agrafina Magularia).[4] Marr's parents spoke different languages (James spoke English and Agrafina spoke the Gurian dialect of Georgian), and thus could hardly understand each other.[5] When Marr was 8 his father died, leaving the family in difficult circumstances.[6]
In 1874 Marr was accepted into a Kutaisi boarding school, after his mother successfully secured funding from the local authorities for him. While a good student, Marr was nearly expelled as he was often in conflict with the school administration.[6] He enteredDepartment of Oriential Studies [ru] atSt Petersburg University in 1884, where he specialized in Caucasian languages, and simultaneously studied Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Syriac, among others. Working underViktor Rosen [ru], the head of the department, Marr mainly worked withmanuscripts.[6] He completed his master's degree in 1899, with his thesis titledThe Collection of the Parables of Vardan.[7]
After graduating Marr taught at the university beginning in 1891, becoming dean of theOriental faculty in 1911 and member of theRussian Academy of Sciences in 1912. From 1892 until 1917 he undertook yearly excavations at the ancientArmenian capital ofAni.[8][9]
After a visit to Turkey in 1933 Marr developed influenza, followed several months later by a stroke. He died from complications of these ailments inLeningrad on 20 December 1934.[10][11]
Marr gained recognition with his Japhetic theory, postulating the common origin ofCaucasian,Semitic-Hamitic, andBasque languages. In 1924, he went even further and proclaimed that all the languages of the world descended from a singleproto-language which had consisted of four "diffused exclamations":sal, ber, yon, rosh.[12] Although the languages undergo certain stages of development, his method oflinguistic paleontology claims to make it possible to discern elements of primordial exclamations in any given language. One of his followers wasValerian Borisovich Aptekar, and one of his opponents wasArnold Chikobava.
In 1950 Marr's theories were criticized in a discussion inPravda, culminating in a June 20, 1950 article by Stalin, "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics".[13] After that point Marr's theories were largely abandoned by Soviet linguists, and an emphasis on Russian language research was promoted instead.[14]
Selected works:
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