Articles

This article discusses various approaches used in describing the Chinese language basic unit of grammar. The problems faced by Chinese linguists along this path are due to the typological features of the Chinese language, where the word plays a peripheral role in the system, therefore units of all levels, from morpheme to sentence, were promoted to the status of the basic unit of the language in different periods. One by one we introduce problems, faced by Chinese linguists, as they are described in the most important works, along with the solutions they offer depending on the dominant theory of the linguistic history period. It shows how the views of scientists on the structure of the Chinese language and the choice of the basic (structural) unit of its grammar has been shifting due to the expansion of scientific knowledge about the typological features of languages. In contrast to previous periods, when a single view of the basic unit of grammar prevailed in linguistic research, today theories tend to pluralize. At the present stage, the search for ways to represent the Chinese language without the templates, developed with Western languages and European linguistics, has led to the emergence of several original concepts, hardly known to the Russian-speaking audience. The unsolved problem of defining a word, the difficulty of distinguishing units at the syntactic level in Chinese led to proposition of а sentence (clause), a syntagma (word group) and a character (taken on a new meaning) as the basic unit of the language structure. The validity of these approaches usually domestically described as those with Chinese characteristics requires discussion in the scientific community outside China and should be proofed or at least validated on a wide range of language concepts.

The article focuses on the analysis of elements of spoken language in Japanese commercials. Japanese colloquial speech is a structure that significantly differs from codified language which is reluctant to adopt any sort of change. Some of colloquial speech elements may even appear in other functional styles. The article describes main characteristics of Japanese colloquial speech in commercials seen on four language levels: phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic. It also examines primary tendencies applicable to these levels, and attempts to give possible reasons for usage such elements.

The article analyzes the understanding of agentivity by Japanese linguists both during the historical formation of this concept and in the context of the current functioning of this semantic category in the Japanese language. Agentivity is an important linguistic universal that influences the formation of both deep and surface syntactic structures, ultimately determining the characteristics of any linguistic structure. The current level of linguistic knowledge about how agentivity is represented in the Japanese linguistic discourse could be considered as insufficient; it does not provide a systematic understanding of the features of the Japanese perception of agency, even though the structure of the hierarchical relations of semantic and syntactic actants with the predicate in the Japanese language determines the functioning of all key grammatical categories. An array of Japanese-language and partly English-language works has been studied for more than 100 years, from the end of the 19th century to the end of the 21th century to perform several tasks: to determine the essence of the concept of “agency” in Japanese terminology; to identify and systematize the linguistic phenomena described by Japanese linguists to be determined by the agentive characteristics of the event participants; to clarify the significance of agentive features for various grammatical categories. It has been found that Japanese linguists are unanimously of the opinion that Japanese tends to exhibit low-agent properties which are expressed in the structure of Japanese voice, in the system of Japanese polite verbs, in the case marking of actants, in desiderative and potential constructions, etc. As further prospects for study, we see the investigation of Japanese-language linguistic papers on the role of agentive features in the formation of Japanese vocabulary and further systematization of agentive characteristics in the morphosyntactic aspect.

The history of the missionary movement in India was reflected in various types of sources: both in official documents and in letters from Church ministers. These texts contain unique information about the region and, at the same time, allow us to imagine the perception by Europeans of the image of the “other” - the pagans, the antipodes of the Christians. An example of such sources can be materials related to the name of Pastor Bartolomäus Ziegenbalg, who headed the Lutheran community in Southern India at the beginning of the XVIII century. The texts compiled by Ziegenbalg clearly show the division of the entire Tranquebar society into three large and specific groups: Christians (Christen), Muslims (Mahometaner / Mohammedaner / Muhammedaner) and pagans (Heiden). At first glance, the main criterion in this division turns out to be the religious factor, and the characteristic of the inhabitants of Hindustan is built according to the bipolar principle typical of early forms of thinking: “we” (Europeans, carriers of true knowledge and genuine culture) and “they” (ignorant pagans, barbarians). On closer inspection, the situation seems more complicated. Ziegenbalg’s critical attitude towards local European Christians creates a distinct effect of a certain detachment of the mission servants and their flock from Christening. The pastor introduces the concepts of “new Christians” and “old Christians”. The new ones are those who join the community from among the pagans. The old Christians, as expected, mean European Christians living in and around Tranquebar.

Authors consider interaction of factors of Tuareg nationalism/ separatism and Islamist radicalism/jihadism in Mali. They show the influence of the Arab Spring on the development of the processes of growth of Islamist radicalism and Tuareg separatism in the northern regions of this country. Authors analyze the fourth Tuareg uprising, the Islamist revolution in Azawad that took place in the summer of 2012, the Islamist offensive in southern Mali in 2013 and its impact on relations between Bamako and Tuareg nationalists, as well as a new jihadist offensive in recent years. It is concluded that the central government of Mali and the Tuareg nationalists again turn out to be situational allies, since they now face one main enemy that threatens the existence of both the Malian state and potential real Tuareg autonomy, Azawad - Islamist jihadi radicals.

Russian Freemasonry in China - an extremely interesting phenomenon, it was markedly different from the Masonic lodges of the Western Diaspora of Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong. There was no specific “Russian” Masonic lodge in China, Freemasonry among the natives of Russia in the 1920-1930's turned into an arena of political struggle and mutual accusations, the opposition of conservative, monarchist, socialist and other ideas. It also turned out to be closely connected with moral and esoteric quests, intertwined with Roerichism and mysticism. Another feature was that, unlike Westerners, Russian Freemasons have never raised the question of the possibility of participation of the Chinese in the activities of the lodges, or on cooperation with the Chinese administration. Russian Freemasonry and the parallel anti-Masonic movement lived their own, active, but closed life. Accusations of Freemasonry were a traditional way of settling scores between various Russian groups, and the term “Freemason” became a formula for accusations of the worst sins. The Sungari Lodge in Harbin was founded on the wave of the opening of new Masonic organizations across northeast China on July 5, 1928, and operated for twelve years. In opposition to Freemasonry among the Western diaspora, which was not painful to discuss, was not politicized and did not serve as an arena for clashes between various groups, Russian Freemasonry in China was closely related to the search for new meanings of transformation of society, the discovery of “friends” and “enemies”, and it reflected the deep debate in the Russian émigré environment.

This article is devoted to the 120th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding scientist Alexander Andreevich Guber. This is a tribute to the memory of his life and activities associated with Moscow State University, with the IVYA at Moscow State University, where he taught courses on the history of Indonesia for the first time and made great efforts to found a new department of the history of the countries of the Far East and Southeast Asia, the head of which he remained until the end of his days.

Index of the journal’s articles and materials published in 2022.

In the XVIII century, the first Lutheran priests arrived from the Saxon city of Halle to the south of Hindustan, in the city of Tranquebar. As employees of the Danish Royal Mission, they worked among pagans, studied their languages, translated texts of Holy Scripture and other Christian literature into local languages, printed these translations in the printing house they established, and taught local children in schools. They regularly sent detailed reports on their work to Germany. In addition to information about the God-pleasing activities of Lutheran pastors, these reports contained detailed information about the region: natural and climatic conditions, political structure, daily lives of the local population, religion and cults, etc. The first years of the mission’s existence in Tranquebar, the main work was conducted under the leadership of Pastor Bartolomäus Ziegenbalg (1682–1719), who lived in India from 1706 until 1719. In this article, the missionaries’ reports, most of which were compiled by Ziegenbalg, and his letters from India are used as the main sources. The key problem to which the article is devoted is the understanding of the Indian institute of caste by European settlers of the beginning of the XVIII century. The missionaries made attempts to interpret the caste system, comparing it with the traits of the social organization of Europe familiar to them. They did not fully understand the nature of caste and caste ideology. However, they considered the existence of the caste system as the main obstacle to the spread of Christianity in India.