Response plan:
1) Main historical periods in the development of the Russian language: Old Russian language as the common language of all Eastern Slavs, Russian language 14th – 16th centuries. - the language of the Great Russian people.
2) Stages and conditions of the formation of the Russian national language.
3) The concept of “national language” in its relation to the concept of “literary language”; territorial and social homogeneity of the national language.
4) The Russian language as a determining factor in the unity of the Russian nation.
5) Russian language is the state language of Russia and the language of interethnic communication.
6) Russian language and national identity. Reflection in the language of the worldview of the Russian people. The concept " language picture world" and the most important aspects of its study: the formation of cultural concepts, semantic fields and their lexical and phraseological content, the internal form of a word as an expression of the essential feature of the named phenomenon, speech etiquette, the manifestation of the Russian worldview in the word-formation and grammatical system.
7) The importance of comparative research in characterizing the ethnolinguistic picture of the world.
There are three periods in the history of the Russian language:
1) 6-7 – 14 centuries;
2) 15th – 17th centuries;
3) 18th – 21st centuries.
1) The early period of the History of the Russian language begins after the collapse of the Proto-Slavic language and the separation of the Common East Slavic language - the ancestor of the three East Slavic languages - Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. The Common East Slavic language, which is also called Old Russian, existed until the 14th century, that is, before the beginning of its division into three independent East Slavic languages. From this time on, we can talk about Russian proper, or the Great Russian language, which differs not only from the languages of the southern and Western Slavs, but also from the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages that are closest to it. The Great Russian language has also gone through a long path of development - from the language of the Great Russian people to the modern Russian national language - the language of the Russian nation. The history of the Russian language is the history of the Old Russian language, the language of the Great Russian people and the language of the Russian nation; The structure of the modern Russian language has developed from elements dating back to different eras of its development.
Borkowski identifies three periods in the history of language development:
1) the Old Russian period - the same as the source of all three modern East Slavic languages (from ancient times to the 14th century);
2) Old Russian period (15-17 centuries);
3) new, modern Russian language (since the 18th century).
The main boundary between different types literary language – pre-national and national period. For the Russian language, this is the border between the Middle Ages and modern times - the middle - second half of the 17th century. A distinctive feature of the pre-national period is that another language can act as a literary language, in this case Church Slavonic, according to Shakhmatov and Tolstoy. During the national period, the literary language changes its base: it focuses on dialect speech and is formed on a national basis. During this period, the oral form of the literary language begins to take shape.
Vostokov, Karamzin distinguish three periods: ancient (10-13 centuries), middle (14-18 centuries), new (from the end of the 18 century). This framework coincides with the chronology of historical changes.
The separation of the Eastern Slavs from the pan-Slavic unity (approximately in the 6th-7th centuries) in linguistic terms was accompanied by the development of such features that were inherent in all Eastern Slavs and distinguished them from the southern and western Slavs. These include the following phonetic features: the presence of h, zh in place of the ancient tj, dj: candle, boundary; full-voice combinations oro, ere, olo in place of the ancient or, ol, er, el: beard, shore; the presence of o at the beginning of a word with je in other Slavic languages: lake, deer, autumn, one.
The Eastern Slavs in the 6th-9th centuries occupied vast territories on the great waterway“from the Varangians to the Greeks”, i.e. territories from Lake Ilmen and the Western Dvina basin to the Dnieper, as well as to the east and west. In this territory, tribes or tribal unions formed in the 6th century, all of them speaking closely related East Slavic dialects and at different stages of economic and cultural development. On the basis of the linguistic community of the Eastern Slavs, the language of the Old Russian people was formed, which received its statehood in Kievan Rus. Language Old Russian people, which can be reconstructed from the written records of the 11th century, was characterized by a number of specific features, mainly in morphology and phonetics.
Instead of a tribal dialect, dialect areas become a linguistic unit, economically and politically gravitating toward a specific urban center, which subsequently becomes the center of a feudal principality. The Russian state, centered in Kyiv, which initially arose as the center of the territories of the Polyan tribe, was a weakly centralized state. The formation of a single state led to an increase in the stability of the dialects of certain territories in connection with the consolidation of separate groups population. The territorial consolidation of the population led to the formation of new territorial units - lands and principalities led by Kiev. Due to the fact that the borders of these lands and principalities did not always coincide with the former tribal boundaries, a redistribution of dialect features arose and a new dialect division of the language was formed. The language of the Old Russian people, being united in origin and character, received local coloring in different territories of its distribution, that is, it appeared in its own dialect varieties. This was facilitated by weak economic and political connections between different areas.
The development of the Kievan koine (common spoken language) played a role in strengthening the unity of the Old Russian language; it combined the features of the north (horse, veksha, istba) and native southern ones (for example, vol, brekhati, lepy). In the ancient Kiev Koine, sharp dialectal features were leveled out, as a result of which it was able to become a language that satisfies the needs of Kyiv in its connections with all of Russia, which strengthened the unity of the Russian people. The question of the development of the Old Russian language in the Kievan era is connected with the question of the origin of writing and the beginning of the development of the Russian literary language. 907 – agreement between Russians and Greeks, preserved in later lists. Consequently, writing among the Eastern Slavs originated long before the baptism of Rus' and Old Russian writing was alphabetic.
During this period, the literary language also developed, reflected in monuments of various genres. The first written monuments of the Old Russian language date back to the 11th century; The oldest inscription on a vessel found during excavations of the Gnezdovo burial mounds near Smolensk dates back to the beginning of the 10th century.
In the 10th century, with the adoption of Christianity, church books written in Old Church Slavonic began to arrive in Rus' from Bulgaria. This contributed to the spread of writing. The books were copied by Russian scribes who mastered the peculiarities of the Old Church Slavonic language. But Art.-Sl. the language absorbs the local language features. Thus, in the 11th-12th centuries, local varieties of Art.-Sl. were formed. language; the totality of these editions is called the Church Slavonic language. It was the common literary language of the Slavs throughout the medieval period. Texts on church topics, canonical and similar, were written on it. During this period, there were also secular genres of writing - recordings and comments of real historical events, descriptions of travel, texts of laws and private correspondence. The language of this writing is the Old Russian language, filled with words and forms of living East Slavic speech, it reflected the Koine.
Works of secular literature written in Old Russian language, are divided into two groups: 1) chronicle stories and artistic-narrative literature: the works of Vladimir Monomakh (late 11th - early 12th centuries), “The Prayer of Daniel the Prisoner” (1st quarter of the 13th century), etc.; 2) monuments of a business nature and private correspondence (Birch bark letters).
The vast territory of Kievan Rus with its economically, ethnically and culturally diverse population began early to show tendencies towards disintegration. By the middle of the 12th century, and especially in the second half, the process of weakening Kyiv as general center and the process of strengthening new, local centers led to Kiev losing its leading role. Life began to concentrate around other centers in the north, northeast and northwest (Vladimir, Suzdal, Rostov, etc.). Feudal fragmentation is intensifying, which leads to deepening dialect differences in the Old Russian language. In written monuments of the 12th – early 13th centuries. a number of dialects of the Old Russian language are reflected. This was a period when the Eastern Slavs experienced a common process for all Slavs of the loss of the reduced ones, which entailed consequences that were different for the south and for the rest of the territory of the Old Russian language. According to the fate of the original e and o, which in position before the lost ъ и ь received lengthening and later diphthongization, according to the fate of the combinations of smooth with ъ and ь between consonants and other phenomena, the south and southwest of Ancient Rus' turned out to be opposed to the north and northeast. However, dialect differences were also observed there.
As a result of the processes dialect development in the 2nd half of the 12th – 1st half of the 13th centuries. On the future Great Russian territory, the Novgorod, Pskov, Smolensk, Rostov-Suzdal dialects and the Akaya dialect of the upper and middle Oka and between the Oka and Seim rivers developed.
Novgorod: okanye, g explosive, c - dental-dental, clattering, ê in place e;
Pskov: okanye, g plosive, v - labial-labial, e in place of e, clatter, combinations cl, gl are preserved, lisping consonants are pronounced in place of s, z, sh, zh;
Smolensky: g plosive, c – labial-labial, okanye, clatter, with e in place of e, but without ô;
Rostov-Suzdal: g-plosive, c – labial-dental, ê in place of e, ô okanye.
The dialect of the upper and middle Oka and between the Oka and Seim rivers: akanye, v – labial-labial, ê, ô, γ.
In addition to phonetics, these dialects differed morphologically, as well as in lexical features. Despite the existence of separate lands and principalities, in the 12-13th centuries. The unity of the ancient Russian people, which was formed as a result of long-term development, was preserved.
2) The beginning of the second period is the collapse of the single East Slavic language and the emergence of the language of the Great Russian people.
Strengthening the feudal fragmentation of Rus', further isolation northeastern Rus' from the western and southwestern during the period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, as well as as a result of the development processes of the western and southern lands as part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (and later Poland), the economic growth and the political strengthening of northeastern Rus' leads to the fact that in the 14th-16th centuries. The Great Russian state and the Great Russian people are taking shape.
Northeastern (Suzdal) Rus' becomes the center of gathering Russian lands and fighting the Golden Horde. Since the 14th century, the rise of Moscow, initially a small city of Suzdal Rus', began, which then turned into the political, economic and cultural center of the state. The lands located to the north, south and west of Moscow are gathered under the rule of the M. prince. Somewhat earlier, an elevation begins in the west Principality of Lithuania. Lithuanian princes captured Western Rus' back in the 13th century; in the 13th-14th centuries. raiding the southwest. In the 14th century, the Principality of Lithuania included the Galicia-Volyn land and Kyiv. In the 14th–15th centuries. On the territory of the Principality of Lithuania, the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages were formed on the basis of Old Russian dialects. The formation of two, rather than one, language here is explained by the comparative disunity of the various parts of this state formation, as well as by the fact that various lands were part of it at different times.
Evidence of the formation of the Great Russian nationality and its language was the emergence throughout the territory of the nationality’s settlement of new linguistic formations that were not characteristic of the languages of the Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities. Change of weak ъ and ь in combination with the previous smooth one in о and е, development of й, й in о, е. In the field of morphology, there is a loss of the vocative form, the replacement of sibilants with back-lingual ones in declension forms (nogE instead of nozE), and the development of plural forms. I.p. on –a (shore, forest), formation of imperative forms on –ite instead of –Ete, appearance of forms imperative mood with g, x, k in back-language verbs (help instead of help).
Structurally, the language of the Great Russian people was already close to S.R.Ya: there was a change from e to o, a functional unification of and, with their phonetic difference. A system of hard-soft and voiced-voiceless consonants was established, the old system of past tenses of the verb was lost, the types of declension were unified, etc.
The core of this territory was single in dialect terms, but the gradual expansion of the emerging state and the annexation of new territories was accompanied by an increase in dialect diversity, because in the annexed territories there were both north-east-r. and south-east-r. dialects. Both became dialects of the Great Russian language, with the leading role played by the Rostov-Suzdal dialect, which included the Moscow dialect. Moscow, which became a political and cultural center in the 2nd quarter of the 14th century, played a special role in unifying the norms of the Russian language. Unites around the Moscow Principality whole line other principalities, and in the 15th century a vast state was created - Moscow Rus'. In the 16th century, Moscow norms were gradually developed colloquial speech, which reflects northern and southern features. The colloquial speech of Moscow is reflected in business documents Moscow orders, and the language of these orders influenced the Old Russian literary language, which was reflected in the language of many works of the 15-17 centuries. In the literary language of the Moscow state, the book and written traditions of Kievan Rus continue to develop. At the same time, structural changes are increasing in the Russian spoken language, separating it from the book and written language. The Great Russian language is influenced by extralinguistic factors. Victory in the Battle of Kulikovo destroys the centuries-old yoke on Russian soil. The Ottoman Empire captures the Byzantine capital in 1453 and establishes dominance in the Balkans. Figures from the South Slavic and Byzantine cultures come to Muscovite Rus'. By the 14th – early 15th centuries. Slavic church books are being edited under the leadership of Metropolitan Cyprian to bring them to their original form, corresponding to the originals. This was the "second South Slavic influence". Russian writing is moving closer to Slavic.
In the book Slavic type of literary language, archaic spellings based on the South Slavic spelling norm are becoming widespread. A special rhetorical manner of expression emerges, rich in metaphors - “weaving words.” This complex of phenomena is called the second South Slavic influence. The folk-literary type of language was not subject to it. During this period the functions business language are expanding. New genres of business writing are emerging: legal codes, article lists of Russian ambassadors, “Domostroy”, “Stoglav”, etc. Spelling practice and word usage of business language influenced the formation of literary language norms. In the second half of the 16th century, book printing began in the Moscow state. The first printed book was “The Apostle” (1564). In 1566 the Book of Hours was published. Church grammar books, dictionaries, primers necessary for education and enlightenment are printed. The first printed educational books There were “Primer” (1574), “Slovenian Grammar” by Lavrentiy Zizaniy (1576), “Slovenian Grammar” by Meletiy Smotrytsky (1618).
3) In the 17th century, the Russian nation took shape. During this period, the relationship between the national language and dialects changes. The development of new dialect features stops, while the old ones remain stable. From the middle of the 17th century, a new period in the history of the Russian literary language began - the national one. Dialects are starting to level out.
The development of economic and political ties of Muscovite Rus', the growth of Moscow’s authority, and the spread of Moscow orders contributed to the growth of influence oral speech Moscow on the territory of Rus', the dialect of Moscow formed the basis of the national language. The formation of a new literary language was facilitated by the widespread dissemination of literature in the democratic strata of society, the language of which was formed on the basis of oral and business speech.
In 1708, a civil alphabet was introduced, in which secular literature was printed; the Cyrillic alphabet was used for religious purposes. In the literary language of the late 17th - 1st half of the 18th centuries. Book Slavonic, often even archaic, lexical and grammatical elements, words and figures of speech of a colloquial and business nature and Western European borrowings are closely intertwined and interact. The vocabulary of the language becomes more diverse, but stylistically disordered. There is a need to normalize the literary language. The first attempts to describe the norms of a literary language were made by A. D. Kantemir, V. K. Trediakovsky, V. E. Atoturov.
The leading role of transforming the Russian literary language in describing its norms belongs to Lomonosov. He is the founder of the science of the Russian language, who laid the foundation for the descriptive and comparative-historical study of the Russian language, and characterized the subject of linguistics as a science. In “Letters on the Rules of Russian Poetry”, “Rhetoric”, “Russian Grammar”, “Preface on the Use of Church Books and the Russian Language” he described the norms of the Russian literary language at all levels language system, showed the ways of historical development, created the doctrine of three styles.
He connected the theory of three styles with the national uniqueness of the historical development of the Russian literary language, which consisted in the long-term interaction and mutual influence of two elements: book-Slavic and Russian folk. Stylistic theory based the norm on those words, figures of speech, and grammatical forms that were neutral from a stylistic point of view, limited the use of Slavicisms and borrowings, and allowed the use of vernaculars in literary speech.
In the development of language, the role of individual author's styles gradually increases and becomes decisive. The greatest influence on the development of the Russian literary language of this period was exerted by the works of G. R. Derzhavin, A. N. Radishchev, I. A. Krylov, N. M. Karamzin. Their works are characterized by an orientation towards the living speech use. Moreover, the use of colloquial elements was combined with a stylistically targeted use of Slavicism. A major role in the normalization of the Russian literary language of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. played an explanatory dictionary of the Russian language - “Dictionary of the Russian Academy”.
In the early 90s. In the 18th century, “Letters of a Russian Traveler” and Karamzin’s stories appeared. They cultivated a descriptive language, which was called the Russian syllable. It was based on the principle of bringing the literary language closer to the spoken language, the rejection of the abstract schematism of the literature of classicism, and interest in the inner world of man. Karamzin set the goal of creating a language accessible to everyone: for books and for society, in order to write as they speak and speak as they write. The downside was that it was language oriented high society, included a large number of Gallicisms that were not in general use.
Writers of the early 19th century took a significant step towards bringing the literary language closer to the spoken language, updating the norms of the new literary language. By the 19th century, the genre and style of works of literature were no longer determined by the firm attachment of words, grammatical forms and designs. The role of the creative linguistic personality has increased, and the concept of true linguistic taste in the individual author's style has emerged.
The first third of the 19th century is the Pushkin period. In his work, the formation of the national Russian literary language is completed. In the language of his works, the basic elements of Russian writing and oral speech came into balance. He found such ways of merging three linguistic elements - Slavicisms, colloquial and Western European elements, which influenced the development of the norms of the national Russian literary language. This language has basically survived to this day. From this period begins the era of the new Russian literary language. In Pushkin’s work, unified, national norms were developed and consolidated, which linked together the oral and written varieties of the Russian literary language. The creation of unified national norms concerned not only the lexical and grammatical structure, but also systemic functional styles. Having finally destroyed the system of three styles, he created a variety of styles, stylistic contexts, welded together by theme and content, and opened up the possibility of their endless, individual artistic variation. All subsequent development of the Russian literary language was a deepening and improvement of the norms laid down in this era. In the development of the Russian literary language, the formation of its norms important role played by the language practice of the largest Russian writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries (Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, etc.). With Pushkin, a system of functional speech styles was finally established in the Russian literary language, and then improved. The second half of the 19th century saw a significant development of the journalistic style. He begins to influence the development of fiction. Scientific, philosophical, socio-political terminology appears in the literary language. Along with this, the literary language absorbs vocabulary and phraseology from territorial dialects, urban vernacular and social and professional jargons.
After 1917, there was a significant change in the language and its norms. The social base of native speakers is changing. Moscow, as a speaker of the capital's Koine, acquires the character of a multinational city; under the influence of these factors, language norms begin to change rapidly. The development of public education, publishing activities, the interest of the general public in literature and journalism, the emergence of radio, etc. led to the fact that the functions of the literary language became more complex and expanded. New conditions for the relationship between literary and non-literary languages have emerged. There are changes in the expressive coloring of some words (master, master). The language of the Communist Party and its leaders influences the literary language (for example, dizziness from success, catching up and overtaking). Extralinguistic factors influence the formation of new words and expressions (council, five-year plan, collective farm, sabotage). Enriched with special technical language in connection with achievements in science and technology, etc.
In Soviet times, academic grammars, normative dictionaries, books on speech culture and magazines played a big role.
In the 20th century, the vocabulary of the Russian literary language was significantly enriched. In particular, the development of science and technology contributed to the replenishment of the literary language with special terminological vocabulary, some shifts occurred in word formation and grammatical structure, and stylistic means were enriched.
Regulatory aspect speech culture
Lecture outline
5.1. Origin of the Russian language
5.2. Common language. Literary language
5.3. Extraliterary varieties of the Russian language
5.4. Language norms. Codification of norms
5.5. Types of dictionaries. Linguistic dictionaries
Origin of the Russian language
Modern Russian literary language. What is behind this concept? Is the language of A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky modern? Can the language of a document or textbook be considered literary? And how long has the language we use in speech activity been called Russian?
In order to answer these questions, let's take a closer look at each of the adjectives in this term.
Russian Our language, which is one of the East Slavic languages, became separated from the Old Russian language in the 18th–15th centuries. Modern is called the Russian language, which is the means of communication of the Russian nation, starting from the era of A.S. Pushkin (from about the 1830s) to the present day. A literary language- This highest form national language, historically formed in the process verbal communication and characterized by processing, compliance with the norm and the presence of functional styles.
Thus, modern Russian literary language – part of the popular (national) Russian language that corresponds to the linguistic norm.
A natural question arises: what language did our ancestors speak before the Russian language was formed? Science knows the answer: they used to communicate Indo-European language, which ceased to exist several thousand years ago. This language was the parent language not only for Russian, but also for other national languages, including English, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Swedish. Proof that different modern languages have a common ancestor (Indo-European language), a comparison of some words with similar semantics can serve, for example: Russian sky, Latin nebula (fog), German Nebel (fog) and ancient Indian nabhah (cloud). The similarity in graphic notation (in writing) is obvious; One can also assume a sound coincidence or correspondence between these words.
Many of Indo-European languages are more closely related to each other, forming groups: Slavic, Germanic, Romance, etc. The Russian language has closely related ties with other Slavic languages, since it belongs to the group Slavic languages, which includes three subgroups: eastern, southern and western. All Slavic languages go back to one source - Common Slavic ( or Proto-Slavic) language y, which existed until the middle of the 1st millennium (U-U1 centuries) AD. e., that is, until the tribes who spoke it, having settled in the vast territories of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, began to lose contact with each other. From this common Slavic language, the East Slavic (Old Russian) language, as well as the South Slavic (Bulgarian, Serbian, etc.) and West Slavic languages (Polish, Slovak, etc.) subsequently emerged.
On Old Russian language spoke and wrote in Kievan Rus, and before Tatar-Mongol invasion he was common language Eastern Slavs. In the XIV – XV centuries. as a result of the collapse Kyiv State Based on this language, three independent ones arose: Russian, Ukrainian And Belarusian languages, which then, with the formation of nations, took shape into national languages. However, the undoubted relationship of these three languages does not require special proof, since we can easily understand the content of a text created in Ukrainian or Belarusian language. Here, for example, is a fragment from the camera’s operating instructions in Ukrainian: “ Secure the lower edge of the rose plug with a thread or a fastener on the wrist strap to reveal it" Although only the word forms are identical to Russian (at least in sound) with a fixator on the wrist strap, the lower edge of the rose plug, it, but other correspondences can be easily established: nigtem (nail), shcheb (to), yogo (him) etc.
The main periods of formation and development of the Russian language are reflected in Table. 5.1.
Table 5.1
Main periods of development of the Russian language
| Periods | Stages of development | Chronological boundaries | ||||||
| Preliterate | Common Indo-European base language | approximately up to 3000 BC e. | ||||||
| Proto-Slavic language | approximately until the 5th – 7th centuries. n. e. | |||||||
| until the 11th century AD e. | ||||||||
| End of table. 5.1 | ||||||||
| Writing | Common East Slavic (Old Russian) language | from the 11th to the 14th centuries. | ||||||
| Language of the Great Russian (Russian) people | from the 15th century to the 16th century | |||||||
| Formation and development of the Russian national language | from the 17th century until the beginning of the nineteenth century. | |||||||
| Modern Russian language | from A.S. Pushkin to the present day | |||||||
In the Russian language, as in other languages, along with linguistic facts that developed independently, there are linguistic facts that came from other cultures. The fact is that there is not a single literary language in which all words are original.
The Russian national language has a complex and long history, its roots go back to ancient times.
Russian language belongs to the eastern group of Slavic languages. Among the Slavic languages, Russian is the most widespread. All Slavic languages show great similarities among themselves, but the ones closest to the Russian language are Belarusian and Ukrainian. The three of these languages form the East Slavic subgroup, which is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family.
Development of the Russian language in different eras passed at unequal rates. An important factor in the process of its improvement was the mixing of languages, the formation of new words and the displacement of old ones. Even in prehistoric times, the language of the Eastern Slavs was a complex and variegated group of tribal dialects, which had already experienced various mixtures and crossings with the languages of different nationalities and contained rich heritage centuries-old tribal life. Around the 2nd-1st millennium BC. From the group of related dialects of the Indo-European family of languages, the Proto-Slavic language stands out (at a later stage - around the 1st-7th centuries - called Proto-Slavic).
Already in Kievan Rus (9th - early 12th centuries), the Old Russian language became a means of communication for some Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and partly Iranian tribes and nationalities. Relations and contacts with the Baltic peoples, with the Germans, with the Finnish tribes, with the Celts, with the Turkish-Turkic tribes (Hunnic hordes, Avars, Bulgarians, Khazars) could not but leave deep traces in the language of the Eastern Slavs, just as Slavic elements are found in Lithuanian, German, Finnish and Turkic languages. Occupying the East European Plain, the Slavs entered the territory of ancient cultures in their centuries-long succession. The cultural and historical ties of the Slavs established here with the Scythians and Sarmatians were also reflected and separated in the language of the Eastern Slavs.
In the ancient Russian state, during the period of fragmentation, they developed territorial dialects and adverbs understandable for a particular destiny, therefore a language understandable to everyone was needed. It was needed by trade, diplomacy, and the church. It became such a language Old Slavonic language. The history of its emergence and formation in Rus' is connected with the Byzantine policy of the Russian princes and with the mission of the monastic brothers Cyril and Methodius. Interaction between Old Church Slavonic and Russian spoken language did possible formation Old Russian language.
The first texts written in Cyrillic appeared among the Eastern Slavs in the 10th century. By the 1st half of the 10th century. refers to the inscription on a korchaga (vessel) from Gnezdov (near Smolensk). This is probably an inscription indicating the owner's name. From the 2nd half of the 10th century. A number of inscriptions indicating the ownership of objects have also been preserved.
After the baptism of Rus' in 988, book writing arose. The chronicle reports “many scribes” who worked under Yaroslav the Wise. Mostly liturgical books were copied. The originals for East Slavic handwritten books were mainly South Slavic manuscripts, dating back to the works of students of the creators of the Slavic script, Cyril and Methodius. In the process of correspondence, the original language was adapted to the East Slavic language and the Old Russian book language was formed - the Russian translation (variant) of the Church Slavonic language.
In addition to books intended for worship, other Christian literature was copied: the works of the holy fathers, lives of saints, collections of teachings and interpretations, collections of canon law. To the oldest surviving written monuments include the Ostromir Gospel of 1056-1057. and the Archangel Gospel of 1092
The original works of Russian authors were moralizing and hagiographic works. Since the book language was mastered without grammars, dictionaries and rhetorical aids, compliance language norms depended on the author’s erudition and his ability to reproduce those forms and structures that he knew from exemplary texts.
Chronicles constitute a special class of ancient written monuments. Chronicler, outlining historical events, included them in the context of Christian history, and this united the chronicles with other monuments of book culture with spiritual content. Therefore, the chronicles were written in book language and were guided by the same body of exemplary texts, however, due to the specifics of the material presented (specific events, local realities), the language of the chronicles was supplemented with non-bookish elements.
In the XIV-XV centuries. the southwestern variety of the literary language of the Eastern Slavs was the language of statehood and the Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Principality of Moldova.
Feudal fragmentation, which contributed to dialect fragmentation, the Mongol-Tatar yoke, and the Polish-Lithuanian conquests led to the XIII-XIV centuries. to the collapse of the ancient Russian people. The unity of the Old Russian language gradually disintegrated. Three centers of new ethno-linguistic associations were formed that fought for their Slavic identity: northeastern (Great Russians), southern (Ukrainians) and western (Belarusians). In the XIV-XV centuries. On the basis of these associations, closely related but independent East Slavic languages are formed: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
In the XIV-XVI centuries. the Great Russian state is taking shape and Great Russian people, and this time becomes a new stage in the history of the Russian language. The Russian language of the Muscovite Rus era had complex history. Dialect features continued to develop. 2 main dialect zones took shape - Northern Great Russian approximately to the north from the line Pskov - Tver - Moscow, south of N. Novgorod and Southern Great Russian to the south from the indicated line to the Belarusian and Ukrainian regions- adverbs that overlapped with other dialect divisions.
Intermediate Central Russian dialects arose, among which the Moscow dialect began to play a leading role. Initially it was mixed, then it developed into a coherent system. The following became characteristic of him: akanye; pronounced reduction of vowels of unstressed syllables; plosive consonant “g”; ending “-ovo”, “-evo” in genitive case singular masculine and neuter gender in pronominal declension; the hard ending “-t” in 3rd person verbs of the present and future tense; forms of the pronouns “me”, “you”, “yourself” and a number of other phenomena. The Moscow dialect is gradually becoming exemplary and forms the basis of the Russian national literary language.
At this time, in living speech, a final restructuring of the categories of time occurs (the ancient past tenses - aorist, imperfect, perfect and plusquaperfect are completely replaced by a unified form with “-l”), the loss of the dual number, the former declension of nouns according to six stems is replaced by modern types of declension and etc. The written language remains colorful.
In the 2nd half of the 16th century. In the Moscow state, book printing began, which had great value for the fate of the Russian literary language, culture and education. First printed books became church books, primers, grammars, dictionaries.
A new significant stage in the development of the language - the 17th century - is associated with the development of the Russian people into a nation - during the period of the increasing role of the Moscow state and the unification of Russian lands, the Russian national language begins to form. During the formation of the Russian nation, the foundations of a national literary language were formed, which is associated with the weakening of the influence of the Church Slavonic language, the development of dialects ceased, and the role of the Moscow dialect increased. The development of new dialect features gradually stops, old dialect features become very stable. Thus, the 17th century, when the Russian nation finally took shape, is the beginning of the Russian national language.
In 1708, the division of the civil and Church Slavonic alphabet took place. Introduced civil alphabet, on which secular literature is printed.
In the XVIII and early XIX 19th centuries Secular writing became widespread, church literature gradually moved into the background and, finally, became the lot of religious rituals, and its language turned into a kind of church jargon. Scientific, technical, military, nautical, administrative and other terminology developed rapidly, which caused a large influx of words and expressions from Western European languages into the Russian language. Particularly large impact from the 2nd half of the XVIII V. The French language began to influence Russian vocabulary and phraseology.
Its further development is already closely connected with the history and culture of the Russian people. The 18th century was reformist. IN fiction, in science and official business papers the Slavic-Russian language is used, which has absorbed the culture of the Old Church Slavonic language. In everyday life it was used, in the words of the poet-reformer V.K. Trediakovsky, “natural language”.
The primary task was to create a single national language. In addition, there is an understanding of the special mission of language in creating an enlightened state, in the field of business relations, its importance for science and literature. The democratization of language begins: it includes elements of living oral speech ordinary people. The language begins to free itself from the influence of the Church Slavonic language, which has become the language of religion and worship. The language is being enriched at the expense of Western European languages, which primarily affected the formation of the language of science, politics, and technology.
There were so many borrowings that Peter I was forced to issue an order to limit foreign words and terms. The first reform of Russian writing was carried out by Peter I in 1708-1710. A number of letters were eliminated from the alphabet - omega, psi, Izhitsa. Letter styles were rounded and Arabic numerals were introduced.
In the 18th century society begins to realize that the Russian national language is capable of becoming the language of science, art, and education. M.V. played a special role in the creation of a literary language during this period. Lomonosov, he was not only a great scientist, but also a brilliant language researcher who created the theory of three styles. Possessing enormous talent, he wanted to change the attitude towards the Russian language not only of foreigners, but also of Russians, he wrote “Russian Grammar”, in which he gave a set of grammatical rules and showed the richest possibilities of the language.
He fought for Russian to become the language of science, so that lectures would be given in Russian by Russian teachers. He considered the Russian language one of the most powerful and rich languages and cared about its purity and expressiveness. It is especially valuable that M.V. Lomonosov considered language a means of communication, constantly emphasizing that it is necessary for people to “harmonize the common affairs of the current, which by combining different thoughts controlled". According to Lomonosov, without language, society would be like an unassembled machine, all parts of which are scattered and inactive, which is why “their very existence is vain and useless.”
Since the 18th century Russian language becomes a literary language with generally accepted norms, widely used in both book and colloquial speech. The creator of the Russian literary language was A.S. Pushkin. His work enshrined the norms of the Russian literary language that later became national.
The language of Pushkin and writers of the 19th century. is a classic example of literary language up to the present day. In his work, Pushkin was guided by the principle of proportionality and conformity. He did not reject any words because of their Old Slavonic, foreign or common origin. He considered any word acceptable in literature, in poetry, if it accurately, figuratively expresses the concept, conveys the meaning. But he opposed the thoughtless passion for foreign words, as well as the desire to replace mastered foreign words with artificially selected or composed Russian words.
In the 19th century A real struggle unfolded for the establishment of language norms. The collision of heterogeneous linguistic elements and the need for a common literary language raised the problem of creating unified national language norms. The formation of these norms took place in a sharp struggle between different trends. Democratic-minded sections of society sought to bring the literary language closer to the people's speech, while the reactionary clergy tried to preserve the purity of the archaic “Slovenian” language, incomprehensible to the general population.
At the same time, an excessive passion for foreign words began among the upper strata of society, which threatened to clog the Russian language. It was conducted between the followers of the writer N.M. Karamzin and Slavophile A.S. Shishkova. Karamzin fought for the establishment of uniform norms, demanded to be freed from the influence of the three styles and Church Slavonic speech, and to use new words, including borrowed ones. Shishkov believed that the basis of the national language should be the Church Slavonic language.
The flourishing of literature in the 19th century. had a great influence on the development and enrichment of the Russian language. In the first half of the 19th century. the process of creating the Russian national language was completed.
There is active (intensive) growth in the modern Russian language special terminology, which is caused primarily by the needs scientific and technological revolution. If in early XVIII V. terminology was borrowed by Russian from German language, in the 19th century. - from French, then in the middle of the twentieth century. it is borrowed mainly from in English(in his American version). Special vocabulary has become the most important source of replenishment vocabulary Russian general literary language, but the penetration of foreign words should be reasonably limited.
Thus, language embodies and national character, and the national idea, and national ideals. Each Russian word carries experience, a moral position, properties inherent in the Russian mentality, which are perfectly reflected by our proverbs: “Everyone goes crazy in their own way,” “God protects the careful,” “Thunder will not strike, a man will not cross himself,” etc. And also fairy tales , where the hero (soldier, Ivanushka the Fool, man), getting into difficult situations, emerges victorious and becomes rich and happy.
The Russian language has inexhaustible possibilities for expressing thoughts, developing various topics, and creating works of any genre.
We can be proud of the works of great people written in Russian. These are works of great Russian literature, the works of scientists well known in other countries. To read the original works of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol and other Russian writers, many study the Russian language.
The deeper we go into history, the less indisputable facts and reliable information we have, especially if we are interested in intangible problems, for example: linguistic consciousness, mentality, attitude to linguistic phenomena and the status of linguistic units. You can ask eyewitnesses about events of the recent past, find written evidence, maybe even photo and video materials. But what to do if there is none of this: native speakers have long been dead, material evidence of their speech is fragmentary or completely absent, much has been lost or has been subject to later editing?
It is impossible to hear how the ancient Vyatichi spoke, which means to understand how very different they were written language Slavs from oral tradition. There is no evidence of how the Novgorodians perceived the speech of the Kievites or the language of the sermons of Metropolitan Hilarion, which means that the question of the dialect division of the Old Russian language remains without a clear answer. It is impossible to determine the actual degree of similarity of the languages of the Slavs at the end of the 1st millennium AD, and therefore to accurately answer the question of whether the artificial Old Church Slavonic language created on South Slavic soil was equally perceived by the Bulgarians and Russians.
Certainly, painstaking work historians of language bear fruit: research and comparison of texts of different genres, styles, eras and territories; data from comparative linguistics and dialectology, indirect evidence from archeology, history, and ethnography make it possible to reconstruct a picture of the distant past. However, one must understand that the analogy with the picture here is much deeper than it seems at first glance: reliable data obtained in the process of studying the ancient states of language are only separate fragments of a single canvas, between which there are white spots (which ancient period, the more there are) missing data. Thus, complete picture it is precisely created and completed by the researcher based on indirect data, fragments surrounding the white spot, known principles and the most probable possibilities. This means that errors are possible, different interpretations the same facts and events.
At the same time, even in distant history there are immutable facts, one of which is the Baptism of Rus'. The nature of this process, the role of certain characters, the dating of specific events remains the subject of scientific and pseudo-scientific discussions, but it is known without any doubt that at the end of the 1st millennium AD. the state of the Eastern Slavs, designated in modern historiography as Kievan Rus, adopted Byzantine Christianity as the state religion and officially switched to Cyrillic writing. No matter what views the researcher holds, no matter what data he uses, it is impossible to avoid these two facts. Everything else regarding of this period, even the sequence of these events and the cause-and-effect relationships between them are constantly becoming a subject of dispute. The chronicles adhere to the version: Christianity brought culture to Rus' and gave writing, while at the same time preserving references to treaties concluded and signed in two languages between Byzantium and the pagan Russians. There are also references to the presence in Rus' pre-Christian writing, for example, among Arab travelers.
But in this moment Another thing is important for us: at the end of the 1st millennium AD. The linguistic situation of Ancient Rus' is undergoing significant changes caused by changes in the state religion. Whatever the situation was before, new religion brought with it a special linguistic layer, canonically recorded in written form - the Old Church Slavonic language, which (in the form of the Russian national version - an edition - of the Church Slavonic language) from that moment became an integral element of Russian culture and Russian linguistic mentality. In the history of the Russian language, this phenomenon was called the “first South Slavic influence.”
Scheme of the formation of the Russian language
We will return to this scheme later. In the meantime, we need to understand from what elements the new linguistic situation in Ancient Rus' began to take shape after the adoption of Christianity and what in this new situation can be identified with the concept of “literary language”.
Firstly, there was an oral Old Russian language, represented by very different dialects that could eventually reach the level of closely related languages, and almost no different dialects (the Slavic languages by this time had not yet completely overcome the stage of dialects of a single Proto-Slavic language). In any case, it had a certain history and was developed enough to serve all areas of life ancient Russian state, i.e. had sufficient linguistic means to not only be used in everyday communication, but also to serve diplomatic, legal, trade, religious and cultural (oral folk art) spheres.
Secondly, the Old Church Slavonic written language appeared, introduced by Christianity to serve religious needs and gradually spread to the sphere of culture and literature.
Third, there had to be a written state-business language for conducting diplomatic, legal and trade correspondence and documentation, as well as serving everyday needs.
This is where the question of the proximity of Slavic languages to each other and the perception of Church Slavonic by speakers of the Old Russian language turns out to be extremely relevant. If the Slavic languages were still very close to each other, then it is likely that, learning to write according to Church Slavonic models, the Russians perceived the differences between languages as the difference between oral and written speech (we say “karova” - we write “cow”). Therefore, on initial stage the whole sphere writing was given to the Church Slavonic language, and only over time, in conditions of increasing divergence, Old Russian elements began to penetrate into it, primarily into texts of non-spiritual content, and in the status of colloquial ones. Which ultimately led to the labeling of Old Russian elements as simple, “low”, and the surviving Old Slavonic elements as “high” (for example, turn - rotate, milk - Milky Way, freak - holy fool).
If the differences were already significant and noticeable to native speakers, then the language that came with Christianity began to be associated with religion, philosophy, and education (since education was carried out by copying the texts of the Holy Scriptures). The solution of everyday, legal, other material issues, as in the pre-Christian period, continued to be conducted using the Old Russian language both in the oral and written sphere. Which would lead to the same consequences, but with different initial data.
An unambiguous answer here is practically impossible, since at the moment there is simply not enough initial data: from early period Very few texts from Kievan Rus have reached us, most of them are religious monuments. The rest was preserved in later lists, where the differences between Church Slavonic and Old Russian may be either original or appearing later. Now let's return to the question of literary language. It is clear that in order to use this term in the conditions of the Old Russian language space, it is necessary to adjust the meaning of the term in relation to the situation of the absence of both the very idea of the language norm and the means of state and public control of the state of the language (dictionaries, reference books, grammars, laws, etc.).
So, what is literary language in modern world? There are many definitions of this term, but in fact it is a stable version of the language that meets the needs of the state and society and ensures the continuity of information transmission and safety national worldview. It cuts off everything that is factually or declaratively unacceptable for society and the state at this stage: it supports linguistic censorship, stylistic differentiation; ensures the preservation of the riches of the language (even those unclaimed by the linguistic situation of the era, for example: charming, young lady, many-faced) and the prevention of the entry into the language of things that have not stood the test of time (new formations, borrowings, etc.).
How is the stability of the language version ensured? Due to the existence of fixed language norms, which are labeled as an ideal version of a given language and passed on to subsequent generations, which ensures the continuity of linguistic consciousness, preventing language changes.
It is obvious that with any use of the same term, in this case it is “literary language”, the essence and main functions of the phenomenon described by the term must remain unchanged, otherwise the principle of unambiguity of the terminological unit is violated. What is changing? After all, it is no less obvious that literary language XXI V. and the literary language of Kievan Rus are significantly different from each other.
The main changes occur in the ways of maintaining the stability of a language variant and the principles of interaction between subjects of the linguistic process. In modern Russian, the means of maintaining stability are:
- language dictionaries (explanatory, spelling, spelling, phraseological, grammatical, etc.), grammars and grammar reference books, textbooks of the Russian language for school and university, programs for teaching Russian language at school, Russian language and speech culture at university, laws and legislative acts O state language- means of fixing the norm and informing about the norm of society;
- teaching Russian language and Russian literature in secondary schools, publishing works of Russian classics and classical folklore for children, proofreading and editing work in publishing houses; mandatory exams in the Russian language for school leavers, emigrants and migrants, a compulsory course of the Russian language and speech culture at a university, state programs to support the Russian language: for example, the “Year of the Russian Language”, programs to support the status of the Russian language in the world, targeted holiday events (their financing and wide illumination): Day Slavic writing and culture, Russian Language Day - a means of forming carriers of the norm and maintaining the status of the norm in society.
The system of relations between the subjects of the literary language process
Let's go back to the past. It is clear that it is complex and multi-level system there was no maintaining the stability of the language in Kievan Rus, as well as the very concept of “norm” in the absence scientific description language, full language education and a language censorship system that allows you to identify and correct errors and prevent them further dissemination. Actually, there was no concept of “error” in its modern sense.
However, there was already (and there is enough indirect evidence of this) awareness by the rulers of Rus' of the possibilities of a single literary language in strengthening the state and forming a nation. Strange as it may sound, Christianity, as described in The Tale of Bygone Years, most likely, was indeed chosen from several options. Chosen as a national idea. Obviously, the development of the East Slavic state at some point was faced with the need to strengthen statehood and unite the tribes into a single people. This explains why the process of conversion to another religion, which usually occurs either for deep personal reasons or for political reasons, is presented in the chronicle as a free, conscious choice from all the options available at that time. What was needed was a strong unifying idea that did not contradict the key, fundamental worldview ideas of the tribes from which the nation was formed. After the choice was made, to use modern terminology, a broad campaign was launched to implement the national idea, which included:
- bright mass events (for example, the famous baptism of Kiev residents in the Dnieper);
- historical justification (chronicles);
- journalistic support (for example, “The Sermon on Law and Grace” by Metropolitan Hilarion, which not only analyzes the differences between the Old and New Testaments and explains the principles of the Christian worldview, but also draws a parallel between the correct structure of the inner world of a person, which Christianity gives, and the correct structure of the state , which is ensured by a peace-loving Christian consciousness and autocracy, protecting from internal strife and allowing the state to become strong and stable);
- means of disseminating and maintaining the national idea: translation activities (actively begun under Yaroslav the Wise), the creation of one’s own book tradition, schooling3;
- the formation of an intelligentsia - an educated social stratum - a carrier and, more importantly, a relay of the national idea (Vladimir purposefully educates the children of the nobility, forms the priesthood; Yaroslav gathers scribes and translators, seeks permission from Byzantium to form a national senior clergy etc.).
For successful implementation The “state program” required a socially significant language (language variant) common to the entire people, with high status and a developed written tradition. IN modern understanding main linguistic terms these are signs of a literary language, and in the linguistic situation of Ancient Rus' in the 11th century. - Church Slavonic language
Functions and characteristics of the literary and Church Slavonic language
Thus, it turns out that the literary language of Ancient Rus' after Epiphany became the national version of Old Church Slavonic - the Church Slavonic language. However, the development of the Old Russian language does not stand still, and, despite the adaptation of the Church Slavonic language to the needs of the East Slavic tradition in the process of forming a national translation, the gap between Old Russian and Church Slavonic begins to grow. The situation is worsened by several factors.
1. The already mentioned evolution of the living Old Russian language against the background of the stability of literary Church Slavonic, which weakly and inconsistently reflects even processes common to all Slavs (for example, the fall of the reduced: weak reduced ones continue, albeit not everywhere, to be recorded in monuments of both the 12th and 13th centuries. ).
2. Using a model as a norm that maintains stability (i.e., learning to write occurs through repeated copying of a model form, which also acts as the only measure of the correctness of the text: if I don’t know how to write it, I have to look at the model or remember it ). Let's consider this factor in more detail.
We have already said that for the normal existence of a literary language it is necessary special means, protecting it from the influence of the national language. They ensure the preservation of a stable and unchanged state of the literary language for the maximum possible period of time. Such means are called norms of literary language and are recorded in dictionaries, grammars, collections of rules, and textbooks. This allows the literary language to ignore living processes until it begins to contradict the national linguistic consciousness. In the pre-scientific period, when there is no description of linguistic units, a means of using a model to maintain the stability of a literary language becomes a tradition, a model: instead of the principle “I write this way because it is correct,” the principle “I write this way because I see (or remember) ), how to write it." This is quite reasonable and convenient when the main activity of the bearer of the book tradition becomes rewriting books (i.e. reproducing texts by hand copying). The main task of the scribe in this case is precisely to accurately follow the presented sample. This approach determines many features of the ancient Russian cultural tradition:
- a small number of texts in the culture;
- anonymity;
- canonicity;
- small number of genres;
- stability of turns and verbal structures;
- traditional visual and expressive means.
If modern literature does not accept erased metaphors, unoriginal comparisons, hackneyed phrases and strives for maximum uniqueness of the text, then ancient Russian literature and, by the way, oral folk art, on the contrary, tried to use proven, recognized linguistic means; to express a certain type of thoughts, they tried to use traditional, accepted by society design method. Hence the absolutely conscious anonymity: “I, by God’s command, put information into tradition” - this is the canon of life, this is the life of a saint - “I only place the events that happened in traditional form, in which they should be stored." And if a modern author writes in order to be seen or heard, then the ancient Russian wrote because to communicate this information he had to. Therefore, the number of original books turned out to be small.
However, over time, the situation began to change, and the model, as the guardian of the stability of the literary language, showed a significant drawback: it was neither universal nor mobile. The higher the originality of the text, the more difficult it was for the scribe to rely on memory, which means he had to write not “the way it is written in the sample,” but “the way I think it should be written.” The application of this principle brought into the text elements of living language that conflicted with tradition and provoked doubts in the copyist: “I see (or I remember) different spellings the same word, which means there is a mistake somewhere, but where? Either statistics helped (“I’ve seen this option more often”) or living language (“how am I speaking”?). Sometimes, however, hyper-correction worked: “I say this, but I usually write differently from the way I speak, so I’ll write the way they don’t say.” Thus, the sample, as a means of maintaining stability under the influence of several factors at once, began to gradually lose its effectiveness.
3. The existence of writing not only in Church Slavonic, but also in Old Russian (legal, business, diplomatic writing).
4. The limited scope of use of the Church Slavonic language (it was perceived as the language of faith, religion, Holy Scripture, therefore, native speakers had the feeling that it was wrong to use it for something less lofty, more mundane).
All these factors, under the influence of the catastrophic weakening of the centralized state power, weakening educational activities led to the fact that the literary language entered a phase of protracted crisis, which ended with the formation of Muscovite Rus'.