Leo Shcherba is an outstanding Soviet and Russian linguist. The academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the RSFSR made an invaluable contribution to the development of psycholinguistics, lexicography and phonology. The specialist is one of the creators of the phoneme theory.
Lev Vladimirovich Shcherba founded the St. Petersburg Phonological School. Every philologist knows the name of an outstanding linguist. He was interested in studying not only Russian, but many other languages, their relationships. Shcherba's creativity has stepped up the development of domestic linguistics.
Start of activity
Shcherba's biography began in the city of Igumen in the Minsk region in 1880. The child was born on February 20 (March 3). Childhood and youth of the boy passed in Kiev. After the successful completion of the gymnasium in 1898, the graduate entered the university. For education, the student chose the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
The following year, the young man transferred to the University of St. Petersburg, choosing a historical and philological department at the university. After Professor Baudouin de Courtenay, Scherba began his studies under his guidance. As an undergraduate, he presented an essay entitled "The Psychic Element in Phonetics", which received a gold medal.
In 1903, after completing his studies, the mentor recommended a talented student for scientific work at the university. Lev Vladimirovich was sent abroad in 1906. His study of Tuscan dialects lasted a whole year. In 1907, after staying in Italy, the young man went to Paris. He studied pronunciation, independently worked on experimental material.
The student spent the autumn holidays 1907-1908 in Germany studying the peculiarities of the Luzicki language. The collected data, previously published as a separate publication, formed the basis of the doctoral dissertation. The completion of the trip went to Prague for the study of Czech.
Scientific activity
After returning to his homeland, Shcherba began work in the experimental phonetics office founded at the university in 1899. The young scientist regularly replenished the library, developed and used special equipment in practice. Since 1910, the linguist has organized classes in linguistics.
In the early twenties, scientists created a project for the future Linguistic Institute. Lev Vladimirovich understood that phonetics is closely connected with many disciplines, including neurology, physics, and psychiatry. For more than three decades, under his leadership, work was carried out to study the languages of the peoples of the Soviet Union.
The period from 1909 to 1916 was very fruitful. The scientist wrote two books, became a master, and then a doctor. Lev Vladimirovich was engaged in comparative grammar of Indo-European languages, constantly updating courses. In 1914, the scientist who became a doctor of philological sciences headed a student group studying live Russian.
The scientist worked on a change in teaching methods, tried to raise, transforming in accordance with the latest achievements of science. He adjusted his personal life. The wife of Shcherba was Tatyana Genrikhovna Tideman. Two children were born in the family, sons Dmitry and Mikhail. In the twenties, Lev Vladimirovich began work at the Institute of Living Word.
In 1929 he organized a seminar on experimental phonetics. In 1930, a Soviet linguist delivered author's lectures. Shcherba actively communicated with the artistic world. In the 20-30s, the scientist's laboratory turned into a research institution. The staff of its permanent employees was replenished, equipment was improved, the range of work was gradually expanded, specialists from all over the country came.
Phonetic method
The main direction was chosen to develop a phonetic method of teaching a foreign language and its implementation. The scientist was given special attention to the correctness and purity of the technique. All its manifestations were scientifically substantiated for conscious assimilation by their students.
An important role was given by a linguist to listening to records with foreign texts recorded on them. Ideally, all the training offered by the researcher was built on the proposed basis. The main thing was the selection of a specific system of speech material. The sound side of speech has always occupied the scientist. He believed that pronunciation and intonation were extremely important. This was part of the linguistic concept of Shcherba.
In 1924, the linguist became a member of the All-Union Academy of Sciences. He started to work in the Dictionary Commission. The tasks of this unit included the preparation and implementation of the publication of a dictionary of the Russian language. Lev Vladimirovich suggested his ideas on lexicography. In 1930, the scientist took part in the compilation of the Russian-French dictionary.
The academician developed the theory of differential lexicography. In brief, the result of a ten-year work of the linguist is presented in the preface to the second edition of the work. The principles of development and its system became the basis for work on other dictionaries.
