Russkij jazyk za rubežom v XIX veke : nadgrobnyj kamen´ general-majora S. S. Gotovceva i znanie russkogo jazyka v Švecii

Russian Language Abroad in the 19th century: The Gravestone of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev and the Knowledge of Russian in SwedenThe article contains an analysis of the inscription on the gravestone of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev (1769–1809), preserved in the church if Bygdea in Sweden. Initially, the author provides some information in the history if Russo-Swedish relations, mainly if the 18th and 19th centuries, and describes the role of interpreters in military conflicts. The author also points to the importance of some grammatical works on the Russian language published in Swedish. The author sketches a portrait of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev, a military leader during the Russo-Swedish war of 1808–1809. In the article, particular attention is paid to the palaeographic analysis of the text on the gravestone: stylistic features of the inscription, analysis of spelling and distortion. The paper ends with some tentative conclusions concerning the level of knowledge of Russian in Sweden in the early 19th century outside the central administration.