To the question of the origin of ethnolinguistic studies (ethnos - language - culture)

The article examines the issue of the connection and interaction of such significant phenomena as ethnos, language and culture in the process of formation and transition to the anthropocentric paradigm. The author traces the formation of ethnolinguistic approach in Europe, USA and Russia in the 18th - 20th centuries. Sharing common views on the importance and inextricable connection between language and culture in order to preserve ethnic diversity, each scientific school has contributed to the development of this area. Various material (Indo-European and Indian languages), the initial level of the theoretical basis of the research influenced the further setting goals, methods and results. The article focuses attention on the interdisciplinary nature of research into the triad of ethnos, language and culture. An interdisciplinary approach contributes to a more complete disclosure of the content side of each of the components of this trinity in order to identify the national specifics of a particular ethnic group. The philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists and linguists of the 18th - 20th centuries, working in the framework of the ethnolinguistic direction, provided a wide range of questions for further research. The German scientists focused on the questions related to national language, with the analysis of its internal structure. The American researchers paid special attention to the concept of cultural pluralism, giving the priority role to the language in the construction of reality. In the Slavic ethnolinguistic tradition, the key task was to preserve and study various cultural forms of folk art. The relevance of the topic is due to the growing interest of the scientific community in a comprehensive and deeper study of folk art culture, where language is perceived, on the one hand, as part of an ethnic group and culture, reflecting and preserving the ethno-cultural specifics of the people who speak it. On the other hand, language can be viewed as an independent cultural and historical phenomenon that has special features and influences ethnos and culture.