In memory of the Unique Scientist Gennady P. Melnikov

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Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba has organised and conducted IX International scientific conference «Bio-, Poly-, Translingualism and Language Education» (30 November - 02 December, 2023). The forum commemorates two anniversary events - 95th birth anniversary of Gennady P. Melnikov, our outstanding scientist and teacher and Chingiz Torekylovich Aitmatov, the remarkable Soviet Kirghizian Russian writer and social activist. These two names are linked not only because the year 2023 marks their anniversary. Both Gennady Melnikov and Chingiz Aitmatov are such great personalities, who in ancient times would have been called Teachers with a capital T. They are exemplary luminaries of mankind whose perspicacity extended beyond the usual horizons of knowledge and whose astute intellectual aspirations helped discover basic and salient features of the universe. They involuntarily and wishfully influenced their pupils’ perception of the universe and instilled in them a philosophic attitude to life and human value systems. Hence the presentations and the discourses by the participants of the Conference and the Forum turned out to be unusually informal and special. Let us focus in detail on the “Round Table” discussions on the intellectual heritage of Gennady P. Melnikov in terms of his profound foundational ideas, concepts, theories, Knowledge base, which impacted human thought. Chingiz Torekylovitch Aitmatov as a “master of thought” was widely known and the great worth and significance of his works bear testimony to his brilliant genius. Whereas Gennady P. Melnikov was not that well known among his contemporaries (though his countless followers span every nook and corner of USSR). This can be the case with other amazing scientists too, who were much ahead of their times. However, if we look to his ideas and concepts carefully, it becomes clear that Gennady P. Melnikov decades ago created a vast and intensive content for a scientific trajectory path, which he called “Systemology”. He pointed out the essence of multiple processes and orderly patterns in the existence of various objects and phenomena of very different nature, the pursuit of which has engaged the minds of many contemporary scientists. Based on their research on such phenomena scientists have proposed new and varied trends and directions for the progress of science. However, Gennady P. Melnikov’s Systemology offers a different approach: To look for and follow a common path and pattern, which are inherently generic to systems and their elements. And each of these elements is in itself also a system, but as a constituent ‘subsystem’ on a subordinate level to another ‘supra system’. According to Systemology a system at any level should be studied by researchers in all possible aspects: physical (material) and structural; synchronous and multi-temporal; static and dynamic; discrete and continuous; cognitive and virtual. This allows for extrapolation and intrapolation of ideas about the properties of an object and identify the areas as yet unexplored and to bring the inconsistent facts and various interpretations of the manifestations of the object into coherence. Ultimately all this supports the concept of Nature as a united entity, the oneness of nature. It was this aspect that was highlighted in the presentations of the “Round Table” participants. For the first time in more than 20 years since Gennady P. Melnikov left our world we managed to bring together about twenty of his students and followers, who knew him directly and experienced his teachings. The forum was well attended not only by his pupils, but also adherents of his teachings from different cities of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yakutsk) and guests from Belarus, Poland and India. The exchange of dialogues and conversations among the “Round Table” participants were unlike traditional speeches rendered at conferences. The stories of their experiences were shared, discussions were held without any time constraints - the only underlying order was inexhaustible interest with which every speaker was greeted by those present and consequently, the participants dispersed only late in the evening. Gennady P. Melnikov was a scientist-encyclopaedist. He began his scientific journey and reached its peak with his erudite and profound researches in the field of Physics. He was a Ph. D in Physic-o-mathematical sciences (technical sciences). But over a period of time he developed a deep interest in humanmachine communication. And it became clear to him that without understanding the phenomena of natural language it is impossible to teach a machine to communicate. It was in the 60-s of 20th century this fascination got him deeply involved with the science of languages. As he admits, he realised that no other science can evoke such interest in the mind to solve enigmatic puzzles posed by communication related activities as language sciences. At that time, he had already been invited to RUDN University as an expert in the field of Linguistics and as a teacher at Dept. of Linguistics. He also defended his Doctoral thesis and became a Doctor of Philological sciences. None of his students can boast of working on the facts of such diverse gamut of reality. That explains the presence of more philologists in the Forum. However, there were among us experts from other fields, who could apply the principles of our Teacher Gennady P. Melnikov to other knowledge areas. More on this later. What was the content of the discussions on the Forum? Let us try to give an insight into the captivating presentations. At the very outset the floor for greeting the participants was given to Gen- nady P. Melnikov’s very first Ph.D scholar Kalpana Sundaram Sai, Professor, Dept. of Russian, Osmania University (Hyderabad, India). She in her flawless Russian talked about the valuable contributions of Gennady P. Melnikov to the development of science and towards inculcating scientific mindset in his mentees and associates. Then G.V. Vekshin, Professor, Dept. of Russian and History of Literature, Moscow Polytechnic University, talked about the concept of ‘Determinants’ introduced by Gennady P. Melnikov and how it can be applied to the research on language of Art and towards creating ‘linguistic poesy’. The concept of ‘Determinants’ is a core component of Melnikov’s ‘Systemo- logy’. Any system is organically adaptive. And its adaptation does not occur spontaneously. It is influenced by the main requirements (requisitions) of the ‘supra-system’ of a higher level to which the particular system is a constituent (supra-system with respect to the subsystem). Only then the unity and harmony of mutual consensus of all the countless levels of the processes of nature and society become possible. The endless process of functionally conditioned adaptation allows the elements to carry out their functions inside the system economically and with maximum efficiency. A scientist’s task is to identify these requirements and requests and trace exactly which properties of the elements of the system are consistent with the requisitions in order to explain why of several possible options for implementing a particular function of each of these elements exactly this and no other option has been fixed in a given system. This viewpoint was reflected well in the discourses by G.V. Vekshin and other researchers. A.F. Dremov (Moscow State University of International Relations, Moscow) explained the functional cause for the existence and origin of the Russian Case system and why the grammatical cases are essential (by the way this is one of the frequent questions asked by foreigners learning Russian language). M.E. Dubrovina (St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg) substantiated the inexplicable need to economise the use of affixes while constructing a sentence in Turkish language and explained how they are necessitated by the communication conditions typical to the Turkish language speaking people and to the associated function of the Context. E.E. Kirov (Moscow State Pedagogic University, Moscow) could combine the seemingly incompatible concepts put forth by several well-known Linguists into a unified theory for text comprehension, while pointing out ‘figurativeness’ as the most important ‘Determinant’ of Russian language. The very aim to reach perlocutionary effect with the core sense of the textual statements as the optimal result of a successful communication can cause a cathartic state in the interlocutor overcoming a certain state of tension. And the scientist considers that the works of Chingiz Aitmatov serve as a typical example. Melnikov’s Systemology makes it possible to find approaches to solve specific problems and to search for answers to various puzzles and riddles surrounding specific phenomena in languages. N.N. Efremov (Yakutsk Science Centre of Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Sciences) elaborated upon what constitutes a complex sentence in Yakutsk language. This is far from a trivial issue as the structure of complex sentences in the Turkish group of Altaic languages is very different compared to the languages of Port Royal. A.A. Kretov (Voronezh State University) explained the internal configuration of the complex formants of Russian word structure using the specific suffix ‘-nits(a)’ as example. He not only could describe the phenomenon itself, but also explain the significant and fundamental concept of measure in linguistics. Most importantly Melnikov’s ideas have found resonance in young researchers’ mind. Jaroslaw Kobylko (Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia / RUDN University) talked on Agglutinative and Inflexional (inflected) morphological types of languages with different systemic features. The live dynamics of adaptation of a particular language system depending on the dynamics of the requisitions posed by the supra-system was demonstrated. He cited examples from specific languages to illustrate how typology is closely related to various stages of development of language systems. The practical applications of the principles of Gennady P. Melnikov’s Systemology cannot be considered as simple or elementary research subjects. On the contrary they prove to be much more complex. Theoretical discourses and conclusions are only the first steps in practically implementing his teachings. The next step after the main set of his ideas have been understood and mastered to a certain extent - would be to proceed to their verification so that their relevant benefits and the possibility of applying them for pragmatic purposes become evident. Three presentations at the forum were devoted to this practical aspect of Melnikov’s teachings. Another interesting topic was raised by T.L. Liakhnovitch (Belarusian Agricultural Academy). It was on the most difficult and royal constituent of Russian sentence - the Russian Verb. The category ‘Aspect’ of Russian Verb has always evoked many arguments and different opinions. There exists a unique scientific branch called ‘Aspectology’. The foreign students learning Russian language find the Russian Verb Aspect incomprehensible. T.L. Liakhnovitch has based the research on Gennady P. Melnikov’s ideas and construed that the quantitative category of the stages of the action implied by the verb is an addition to the binary category of the Russian Verb Aspect. The suffixes -nu-, -0/-, -e-, -i-, iiva-, denoting the category of stages through which an action (implied by the verb) passes, were a convenient criterion for dividing the Russian verbs into morphological classes. Furthermore, these morphological classes aid in presenting the verbs in an orderly manner with the help of morpheme matrix in the lexicographic description. The matrix notation makes it possible to present all the suffixes and prefixes of the verb forms in a systematised manner and also to clearly exhibit the grammatical and morphological information, etymological and word-formative relationships within the Verb System. Thus the matrix notation helps to develop language flair and facilitates the acquisition of morphemic and semantic Intuitions. N.V. Krashevskaia’s (Moscow Institute of engineers, geodesic, aerial photography and kartography) presentation was also dedicated to Russian Verb. The central theme of her speech dwelt on the third step apart from the two steps described above. (Application of theory to scientific research and verification of the results obtained in practicum). According to her the third step involves studying the resultant material achieved by putting the theory to practice. This material, she confirms, would allow us to make corrections to the existing scientific postulates. This also provides scope for further ideas, which could not have been arrived at speculatively at the first stage of purely scientific research, even though they are based on the concepts of Systemology. This was the case with Russian sentences comprising of reflexive verbs. All the conclusions proposed by N.V. Krashevskaia were the result of her mastering the basic principles of Systemology and by regularly applying them in teaching Russian language as a foreign language and also by observing and identifying the ‘unexplained’ areas in language teaching and then successfully interpreting them for foreign students. Actually, the postfix -sya- is not a formant of the Russian Reflexive Verb. It regulates the mutual relationship between the components of the typical and the minimal utterance as a closed system which is modified depending on its concordant relation to the real situation on one side and the intent and the plot of the utterance on the other side. However, the state and course of the content can be presented in a tabular form to a foreign audience reflecting the continuum scale of the subject of the utterance independently to the extent in which it is represented in the plot of the utterance. And finally, we come back to the theme with which we started the Round Table discussions - the briefing on the applications of Systemology to nonphilological areas. And the final presentation by the last Ph.D scholar of Gennady P. Melnikov Yu. A. Chukhno reflected this aspect. She is the Head, Centre for Psychological Adaptation (Moscow). She talked on G.P. Melnikov’s ideas on the act of ‘Predication’, which he believed, transforms an imagery in the interlocutor’s mind into another imagery influenced by the updated inputs by the speaker. This helps us to the possibility of drawing a system of ‘evolving predication’. For example, a coach (a specific and specialised psychologist, trainer - the term is still in its infancy) in his communication with the help of exclusively composed statements and some special techniques learns the cognitive imagery in the interlocutor’s mind and then carries out the ‘predication’ process in the required direction to achieve the goal of not simply correcting the information but correcting it thereby leading the interlocutor to a new level of cognitive imagery. This is definitely an Art. In conclusion we would like to convey our appreciation, regards and gratitude to the organizers especially to Uldanai M. Bakhtikireeva, Professor at Institute of Russian Language, RUDN University, for this unconventional, extremely bene- ficial and most interesting Forum. Without her efforts it would have been impossible to bring together this august gathering of associates, followers, mentees and pupils of Gennady P. Melnikov. Time for a huge ‘Thank You’. ‘Hats off’. In order to create and design a ‘School of Melnikov’ plans are afoot to open a lecture hall in memoriam of our Teacher. This would help the new generation of researchers to acquaint themselves with his ideas and concepts and also to design, update and modernize a website dedicated to the scientific activities of Gen- nady P. Melnikov and his followers.

About the authors

Nataliia V. Krashevskaia

Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography

Author for correspondence.
Email: breshka2@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0009-0009-6016-5740
SPIN-code: 1968-3148

aPhD, General Linguistics, Russian Language, Education Associate Prof., Dpt of Linguistics

4 Gorokhovsky Lane, Moscow, 105064, Russian Federation

Kalpana Sundaram Sai

Osmania University

Email: sskalpana52@gmail.com
PhD, Professor, Head, Dept. of Russian Amberpet, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

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