“EUGENE ONEGIN” AND PROBLEMS OF LINGUISTICS

The novel in verse by Pushkin “Eugene Onegin” is examined in the article from an unusual point of view. Its essence is to show that in the “encyclopedia of Russian life,” which undoubtedly is Pushkin’s text, an important place is occupied by the poet’s reflections on language and languages, on speech and texts in which language is embodied. Characterizing language as native, foreign, strange, meager, proud, and speech as affectionate, tender, enthusiastic, dry, Pushkin intuitively came very close to the Saussurean dichotomy “language and speech” or even Shcherba’s trichotomy “linguistic material, linguistic system and speech activity”. The poet draws attention to something that will become the subject of research only in the next century. Many thoughts and observations anticipate the provisions of modern linguistics, as well as psycho- and sociolinguistics. The article analyzes Pushkin’s attitude to such issues as neologisms and their entry into the language, the problem of linguistic purism, the degree and nature of proficiency in foreign languages, diglossia, genres and types of oral and written speech, personal name and its semantic halo and some others.