Genre and stylistic characteristics of texts from the archive of Oleksandr Dovzhenko

Abstract

Background. The article analyzes the genre and stylistic characteristics of texts from the Dovzhenko archive, samples of which were published for the first time in Ukraine in 2024 on the 130th anniversary of the writer and filmmaker's birth as part of the online project "Oleksandr Dovzhenko: Digital Collection" on the website of the Central State Archive-Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine (CSMALA). The texts under consideration include diary notes, creative and pictorial archival documents (letters, statements, protocols, excerpts from protocols, etc.). The texts not only highlight various milestones in Dovzhenko's life and work, but also represent the language of the time, which can be used in Ukrainian as a foreign language classes to familiarize foreign communicators with the language policy of Ukraine. The texts from the writer's archive are indicative of the bans on the Ukrainian language in the official business sphere in the twentieth century.

Methods. General scientific and linguistic methods were used to analyze the texts from O. Dovzhenko's archive. The system of methods and techniques used made it possible to answer the following questions: what language was used in Dovzhenko's time, what linguistic means were characteristic of the texts of that period, and whether the samples of the analyzed documents can be used in the educational process of foreign students studying philology.

Results. Having familiarized ourselves with the documents and various texts in O. Dovzhenko's archive, we came to the conclusion that there is a genre diversity of several styles: artistic, official business, mass media and epistolary. The texts of these styles can be used in classes with foreign communicators studying philology as part of the disciplines that study the functional styles of the Ukrainian language, which will help familiarize students not only with the linguistic features characteristic of a particular style, but also with the language policy of the time, the literary process of Ukraine and its participants. However, samples of the texts presented in O. Dovzhenko's archive should be presented to a foreign audience with extensive commentary, due to screen-linguistic factors that may cause difficulties for non-native speakers.

Conclusions. The analyzed materials have shown that the language of Dovzhenko's time has characteristic features of the twentieth century. Among the documents are tests in Ukrainian and Russian, handwritten and printed, purely textual and with illustrations. The genre and stylistic diversity of texts from the archive shows that Russian was used in official business speech during Dovzhenko's period, as evidenced by the minutes, excerpts from minutes, and information references written exclusively in Russian. However, private letters, posters, pages from magazines, notes, i.e. texts of mass media and fiction style were written in Ukrainian in most cases in compliance with the norms of the literary language.