One of the first references to “Japhetic” languages occurs in this piece which Marr initially delivered as a speech during the defense of his magisterial thesis (“On the question of the tasks of Armenian Studies,” 1899). The substance of this work was an in-depth philological exploration of a medieval Armenian collection of fables attributed to the thirteenth-century author Vardan Aygekc’i. Marr published his much-lauded analysis of textual parallels between Arabic and Syriac versions in a three-volume work (Thomas [1957]. The Linguistic Theories of N. Ja. Marr. Berkeley: University of California Press, 4; Brandist [2015]. The Dimensions of Hegemony: Language, Culture and Politics in Revolutionary Russia. Leiden: Brill, 198). This study, with its formidable textual apparatus and show of philological prowess, went on to become an enduring and widely cited classic in its field. The speech was more polemical. In it Marr makes the case for the expansion of Armenian studies by tying his personal scholarly commitments to the political ambitions of the Russian Empire. It is a matter of national prestige given that scholarly work on the Armenian language had previously been the preserve of foreign scholars. Marr accuses Western European scholarship of obscuring the linguistic ties between Armenian and Georgia, of dismissing medieval Armenian literature as derivative, and, in terms that seem to anticipate the Saidian critique of Orientalism, of regarding the peoples of the East as passive and immobile.

在这篇文章中第一次提到了“雅弗特”语言，马尔最初是在为他的权威论文辩护时发表的一篇演讲（“关于亚美尼亚研究的任务问题”，1899 年）。这部作品的实质是对中世纪亚美尼亚寓言集的深入语文学探索，这些寓言归于 13 世纪作家 Vardan Aygekc'i。马尔在三卷著作中发表了他对阿拉伯语和叙利亚语版本之间文本相似性的备受赞誉的分析（Thomas [1957] 。N. Ja. Marr 的语言学理论。伯克利：加州大学出版社，4；Brandist [2015] .霸权的维度：革命俄国的语言、文化和政治. 莱顿：布里尔，198）。这项研究凭借其强大的文本工具和语言学实力的展示，继续成为该领域经久不衰且被广泛引用的经典。演讲更具争议性。在其中，马尔通过将他个人的学术承诺与俄罗斯帝国的政治野心联系起来，为扩大亚美尼亚研究提供了理由。考虑到亚美尼亚语的学术工作以前是外国学者的专利，这事关国家声望。马尔指责西欧学术掩盖了亚美尼亚和格鲁吉亚之间的语言联系，将中世纪的亚美尼亚文学视为衍生文学，并且用似乎预示着赛义德对东方主义的批评的术语，将东方人民视为被动和不动的。