SEARCHING FOR SPELLING (A BRIEF EXCURSION INTO THE HISTORY OF THE ISSUE)

The article deals with the history of the search for the orthography normalization, which took place in France in XVII-XVIII centuries, and the reception of some European ideas in the works of the Russian philologist V.K. Trediakovsky. In France during the 16th century authors and typographers used different orthographic systems, which allowed them to develop some successful techniques, such as the introduction of superscript. The use of different graphic possibilities could be accompanied by the theoretical reflexion. On the one hand, it was suggested that orthography should be brought closer to pronunciation; so, for instance, Louis Meigret in a treatise of 1550 explicitly suggested writing according to phonetics. Other authors, such as typographer and lexicographer Robert Etienne, insisted on maximal adherence to the etymological principle that allows to keep, first, a link with Latin and, second, with the links within the stemming nests. The role of a regulating authority was played by the Académie Française, which for two centuries had been laying the foundations of modern orthography. The French Academy from the very beginning decided to correlate orthography with the written tradition, following the principle, formulated by Claude Vaugelas, "bel usage", which meant following the best examples of orators and authors of the 17th century. But gradually the requirement to follow tradition gave way to the need to build a "systematic" orthography, based on the rules. The main innovations in the field of orthography were introduced by the French Academy in the third edition of the dictionary (1740). The theories of Louis Megre and Claude Vogel influenced V.K. Trediakovsky. He perceived ideas on the advantages of phonetic writing (L. Meigret, G. Girard), on the role of 'usage' in language processes (C. Vaugelas) and on the importance of «общий разум» ('common sense') for the creation of a linguistic theory.