In the 19th century all reading textbooks for elementary school in the Perm Governorate were published in Russian. The meanings of many words were incomprehensible for the children who spoke Komi-Permyak. In order to bring the two languages closer, the teacher Yermolay Yevdokimovich Popov created the first primer for the Komi-Permyak schools based on the Russian alphabet. It came out as a supplement to the regional address-calendar and reference book for the clergy of the Perm eparchy in 1894.
The primer had 15 pages and was divided into several parts. The first sections consisted of individual words that were used to teach the letters of the Russian alphabet and the rules of reading. The teacher translated the words into Russian and gradually introduced new names of objects to the children. At the second stage of learning, the words and expressions in the primer were written in both Permyak and Russian. The students read texts on their own, compared the two languages, and did the translation without the teacher’s help.
The words and phrases in the primer were distributed by topic. First, there was basic vocabulary about people and their daily life: home, furnishings, food, and pets. Next were the names of buildings, carriages and utensils. At the end of the primer, there were translations from Permyak into Russian of all the words in the alphabetical order, with the stresses marked.
The Komi-Permyak language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group and the Uralic language family. It has four major vernaculars and several dialects. The main phonetic peculiarity of the language is that everything is written as it is heard. Many consonantal letters in a word, especially the combinations of “dz”, “dj”, “tsh”, are typical for this language. The writing of the Komi-Permyak language has changed four alphabets over the last two centuries.
Yermolay Yevdokimovich Popov was born in 1859 in the village of Kekur, Perm Governorate. He worked as a senior teacher in the Kudymkar two-class boys’ school, headed a literacy school, was a member of the commission of the Ministry of Public Education, developed a system of examinations, studied the history of his people and language. After the primer in the Komi-Permyak language, Yermolay Yevdokimovich published another book — an ABC book and the first book for reading in Komi-Permyak schools.
The primer had 15 pages and was divided into several parts. The first sections consisted of individual words that were used to teach the letters of the Russian alphabet and the rules of reading. The teacher translated the words into Russian and gradually introduced new names of objects to the children. At the second stage of learning, the words and expressions in the primer were written in both Permyak and Russian. The students read texts on their own, compared the two languages, and did the translation without the teacher’s help.
The words and phrases in the primer were distributed by topic. First, there was basic vocabulary about people and their daily life: home, furnishings, food, and pets. Next were the names of buildings, carriages and utensils. At the end of the primer, there were translations from Permyak into Russian of all the words in the alphabetical order, with the stresses marked.
The Komi-Permyak language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group and the Uralic language family. It has four major vernaculars and several dialects. The main phonetic peculiarity of the language is that everything is written as it is heard. Many consonantal letters in a word, especially the combinations of “dz”, “dj”, “tsh”, are typical for this language. The writing of the Komi-Permyak language has changed four alphabets over the last two centuries.
Yermolay Yevdokimovich Popov was born in 1859 in the village of Kekur, Perm Governorate. He worked as a senior teacher in the Kudymkar two-class boys’ school, headed a literacy school, was a member of the commission of the Ministry of Public Education, developed a system of examinations, studied the history of his people and language. After the primer in the Komi-Permyak language, Yermolay Yevdokimovich published another book — an ABC book and the first book for reading in Komi-Permyak schools.
