Derivation theory (on the 85th anniversary of professor Leonid N. Murzin)

The article is devoted to the main tenets of derivation theory, founded by professor of Perm State University Leonid N. Murzin (1930-1996). Derivation theory was worked out at Perm Linguistic School in the 1970s. This theory is aimed at the study of language from the dynamic point of view. The chief issues solved within the framework of derivation theory focus on the nature of language and speech activity. The major concept of the theory is derivation, considered as a mental process that results in the production of communicatively important units. We are intended to describe the conditions of derivation theory birth, ana­lyse its main theses and characterize the periods of its development. The theory helps to explain the mecha­nism of language units production in the process of speech activity. Within its methodology, derivation theo­ry combines two opposite approaches, statics and dynamics, by means of complementary principle.