Chukotsk or Chukchi: Some Thoughts on the Transposition of Soviet Geographical Names

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Sinclair, D.A., Topchy, V.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1961
• Subjects: Active layer; Thumb; Arctic; Chukchi
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/66731

. To some cartographers and gazetteer writers the transposition of Russian geographical names into English may seem a subject well suited for an arbitrary rule of thumb; but is it? . The reason for the current trend towards indiscriminate transliteration of Soviet geographical names is not far to seek. It is the simplest way to avoid the problems of adaptation, and at the same time enables all those who may now have a need to know the Russian version of the names to avoid learning the 32 letters of the Cyrillic alphabet - at the price of a minor distortion and some uncertainty in spelling and pronunciation. By the same token it is also the crudest manner of transposition. It literally deprives the English language of a galaxy of geographical names for a vast and increasingly important part of the earth. It is a way of dodging an issue instead of facing it. .