Published on: 2026-10-15
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
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All-Russian scientific international conference “Languages of the Peoples of Siberia and Adjacent Regions” started work at Novosibirsk State University on October 14. The event will continue until October 17 and will also take place at the “Boiling Point – Novosibirsk” venue. The conference organizers are Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Humanitarian Institute (HI) of NSU. This year, the conference is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Turkologist, Doctor of Philological Sciences Natalya Nikolaevna Shirobokova (1946–2020), who headed the sector of Siberian peoples’ languages at the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and from 1990 to 2015 was a professor and head of the Department of Languages and Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia at the Humanities Faculty of NSU (now the Humanities Institute of NSU), and trained many specialists in this field.
The conference includes discussions on a wide range of issues related to various aspects of studying the languages of the peoples of Siberia and other Eurasian languages: phonetics, vocabulary, lexicography, morphology, word formation, syntax, and more. The focus is on the problems primarily addressed in the works of Natalia Nikolaevna Shirobokova – the characteristics of the phonetic systems of the languages of Siberia and neighboring regions; morphology of Turkic languages: the structure of tense fields, classification of verb forms, principles of organizing tense, aspectual, and modal subsystems in verb paradigms; research in the field of Turkic language vocabulary.
Opening the conference, the rector of NSU, a corresponding member of RAS Dmitry Pyshny emphasized the great importance of studying languages, including the languages of the small-numbered peoples of Siberia, since each language is a reflection of the soul, life, and culture of its speakers.
Director of the Humanitarian Institute of NSU, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Andrey Zuev said that for the institute’s employees, the memory of Natalia Nikolaevna Shirobokova is especially dear, since she was the one who stood at the origins of Turkological research direction at NSU and made an invaluable contribution to its development.
— Natalya Nikolaevna was not only an outstanding scientist but also a remarkable teacher and educator. She trained many specialists in Turkic languages, and surely among the conference participants there are numerous of her students, — he said.
Andrey Zuev called philology and history the most important among all sciences.
— History is the memory of humanity, and without preserving it, humanity cannot survive. Language is the means of communication without which the study of history and the preservation of memory are impossible. Therefore, knowledge of languages and their study is a crucial direction in scientific research, and the conference participants make a significant contribution to it by studying languages that function in today’s world as well as those that are no longer in use., — explained the director of GI NSU.
Head of the Department of General and Russian Linguistics at the State Institute of Novosibirsk State University, head of the sector of Siberian peoples’ languages at the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Natalya Koshkareva emphasized that NSU and IFL SB RAS have been inseparably connected since their inception.
— The first dean of the Humanities Faculty of NSU, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences Valentin Alexandrovich Avrorin (1907–1977), was simultaneously the first head of the Siberian Peoples Languages sector at the Institute of Economics and Industrial Production Organization, and later the head of the Ethnography and Siberian Peoples Languages sector at the Institute of History, Philology, and Philosophy of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (at that time the Institute of Philology did not yet exist; only in 2006 was it reorganized into an independent institution within the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The connection between educational activities and scientific work was and remains inseparable. Employees of the institutes and academic institutions taught disciplines related to the languages of the peoples of Siberia, and then NSU graduates engaged in scientific research at these institutes and taught their disciplines to new students., — said Natalia Koshkareva.
Director of the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences Igor Silantyev in his welcome speech shared with the conference participants memories of his experience working with Natalia Nikolaevna Shirobokova.
— Natalya Nikolaevna was a scientist with a true vision of linguistic and para-linguistic problems. This was reflected in the nature of her main works, which are of fundamental importance. In her scientific creativity, she leaned towards real research that allowed seeing the interaction of the languages of the peoples of Siberia in conjunction with geographical, ethnographic, and historical factors. For the sector of the languages of the peoples of Siberia at the Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, she was a foundational figure and raised an entire generation of scientists. We strive to follow her precepts and principles in our work., — said Igor Silantyev.
At the plenary session, Andrey Zuev gave a report titled “The Interaction of Russian Authorities with the Peoples of Northern Asia at the end of the 16th – beginning of the 20th centuries.” There was also a presentation of the dialectological atlas of the Turkic languages of the USSR edited by E. I. Ubryatova and N. N. Shirobokova, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philological Sciences, head of the department of Ural-Altaic languages at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), Anna Dybo, spoke online about Natalya Nikolaevna Shirobokova’s contribution to the comparative grammar of Turkic languages.
The conference is organized into five sections: “Grammatical studies of the languages of Siberia and adjacent regions,” “Lexical studies of the languages of Siberia and adjacent regions,” “Experimental-phonetic studies of the languages of Siberia and adjacent regions,” “Sociolinguistic and comparative-historical studies of the languages of Siberia and adjacent regions,” and “Pragmatic studies of the languages of Siberia and adjacent regions.”
As part of the conference, the exhibition “Study of the Indigenous Languages of Siberia at Novosibirsk State University: from Origins to Modernity” was opened, and the round table “Dialectological Studies of the Languages of Siberia and Adjacent Regions” was held.
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