Actualistic Method and Its Structure

The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence and structure of the actualistic method, to describe it in detail from the point of view of a broad interpretation of the method as a complex logical unit of a heterogeneous nature, to clarify the expediency of applying the term actualistic method to scholarly publications of linguistic-historiographic studies, to identify the specifics of using the actualistic method in historiography of linguistics. The actualistic method as a complex logical unit of a heterogeneous nature is the object of study. The essence of the actualistic method, its structural features, and the scope of its application are the subject. Our results: 1. The general characteristics of the actualistic method are presented. 2. It is shown that the essence of the actualistic method is to use modern knowledge to study the past and predict the future. A certain object is studied in time, in development, in its formation as a system; the past of the object is studied on the basis of its reflection in the present. 3. It is noted that the use of the actualistic method is appropriate not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanities, in particular in linguistic historiography. 4. The thesis that the operational component of the actualistic method in works on linguistic historiography can be presented as a set of the following techniques and procedures: analysis of sources (linguistic texts) and synthesis of the data obtained, comparison, abstraction and logical historical-scientific reconstruction, which is central to the techniques and procedures and opposes the “assimilation of the past”, is substantiated. Conclusions: 1.In the structure of the actualistic method, it is advisable to distinguish three heterogeneous components: ontological, teleological, and operational. 2. The scope of the actualistic method covers both natural and human sciences. It is the most important tool of knowledge in linguistic historiography. 3. The specificity of the actualistic method as a method of research in linguistic historiography in comparison with the linguistic comparative-historical method is: a) the presence of a specific object and subject, b) differences in the operational (in particular, in the reconstruction procedure) and teleological components. We see the prospects for further research in an in-depth and more detailed study of the teleological and operational components of the actualistic method.