Smerechynsky, Serhii

Smerechynsky, Serhii [Смеречинський, Сергій; Smerečyns'kyj, Serhij], b 21 September 1892 in Mechetna, Balta county, Podilia gubernia, d May 1954 in Zymovne, Belgorod oblast, RSFSR. Archivist and linguist. As director of the Vinnytsia Archives, he published articles on the predicative instrumental and nominative (1928), on relative clauses in the Ukrainian language (1929) and a book of essays on Ukrainian syntax in relation to phraseology and stylistics (1932), in which he advocated the use of vernacular constructions in all fields of speech and writing, including science and journalism. He was assailed for this stance by Communist Party critics, such as Hryhorii Sabaldyr and O. Matviienko. During the terror in the 1930s he was arrested and imprisoned. He was posthumously ‘rehabilitated’ in 1989.

[This article was updated in 2021.]