Latinisation of the Russsian writing in the XVIII-th–XIX-th centuries

Abstract

The paper discusses the role of the Latin alphabet in Russian writing in the XVIII–XIX cent. The Old Russian language adopted the Cyrillic script during the 10-th century at about at the same time as the introduction of Eastern Christianity into the territories inhabited by the Eastern Slavs. The printed Russian alphabet began to assume its modern shape when Peter I introduced his civil script in 1708–1710. The reform eliminated several letters, all diacritics and accents from secular usage. Some of the Russian letters looked like the Latin letters. Throughout the 19-th century projects of introduction of Latin alphabet into Russian writing appeared. Pro-Western Russian intellectuals (V.G. Belinsky) considered that the adoption of the Latin script for the Russian language completed the reformation of the Russian society in a European manner. On the other side, the Slavophile elements considered that the logical result of Peter I’s refom had to be the transliteration of all the languages of the peoples of the Russian Empire to the Cyrilic script.