From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
.^ "Kirgiz Intelligentsia Seeking to Lessen Russian Influence on Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], September 24, 1987, 1-5.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Belorussian Ministry of Education Accused of Sabotaging the Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], November 10, 1986, 1-3.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Letters to Belorussian Weekly Evidence Strong Support for Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], November 9, 1989, 1-5.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
.^ "The Language Policy of the Soviet Communist Party: Comments and Observations," East European Quarterly , 21, June 1987, 231-57.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Three Obstacles, Two Leaders, and One Problem," Far East Economic Review , March 24, 1988, 56-57.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Perfecky, George A. "The Status of the Ukrainian Language in the Ukrainian SSR," East European Quarterly , 21, No.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century onwards. The language is one of the six official languages of the
United Nations.
Russian distinguishes between
consonant phonemes with
palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called
soft and
hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language. Another important aspect is the
reduction of
unstressed vowels, which is somewhat similar to
that of English.
.^ "Soviet Film under Gorbachev," Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies Meeting Report , May 6, 1987.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Classification
Russian is a
Slavic language in the
Indo-European family.
.^ Perfecky, George A. "The Status of the Ukrainian Language in the Ukrainian SSR," East European Quarterly , 21, No.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
In many places in eastern
Ukraine and
Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably, and in certain areas traditional bilingualism resulted in language mixture, e.g.
Surzhyk in eastern Ukraine and
Trasianka in
Belarus. An East Slavic
Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the fifteenth or sixteenth century, is sometimes considered to have played a significant role in the formation of the modern Russian language.
[citation needed].^ The Russian Orthodox Church: 10th to 20th Centuries .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Kirgiz Intelligentsia Seeking to Lessen Russian Influence on Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], September 24, 1987, 1-5.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
However, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline.
.^ In some cases both ceremonies in two countries were held on the same day, stressing the solidarity.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language.
Russian phonology and syntax (especially in northern dialects) have also been influenced to some extent by the numerous Finnic languages of the
Finno-Ugric subfamily:
Merya,
Moksha,
Muromian, the language of the
Meshchera,
Veps, et cetera. These languages, some of them now extinct, used to be spoken in the center and in the north of what is now the European part of Russia.
.^ Russian Far Eastern Policy, 1881- 1904 .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
The Russian dialects spoken north, north-east and north-west of
Moscow have a considerable number of words of Finno-Ugric origin.
[5][6] Over the course of centuries, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been influenced by Western and Central European languages such as
Polish,
Latin,
Dutch,
German,
French, and
English.
[7]According to the
Defense Language Institute in
Monterey, California, Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native
English speakers,
[8] requiring approximately 780 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency.
.^ "Patterns of Soviet Third World Policy," Problems of Communism , 36, September-October 1987, 1-13.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Soviet Technology Policy and United States Export Controls .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Washington: United States Army Intelligence and Threat Analysis Center, 1987.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Geographic distribution
The Russian language is primarily spoken in
Russia,
Belarus,
Ukraine,
Kazakhstan and
Kyrgyzstan, and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the
USSR[9]. During the Soviet period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice.
.^ "Census Data on Nationality Composition and Language Characteristics of the Soviet Population: 1959, 1970, and 1979."- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ (Various issues of the following publications were also used in the preparation of this chapter: Joint Publications Research Service, USSR Report: National Economy and Soviet Union: Economic Affairs , 1983-87.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Key Soviet Official Urges New Rights for Religious Believers," Washington Post , December 23, 1988, A12.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Ethnographic map of the Slavic peoples prepared by Czech ethnographer
Lubor Niederle showing territorial boundaries of Slavic languages in Eastern Europe in the mid 1920s
In
Latvia its official recognition and legality in the classroom have been a topic of considerable debate in a country where more than one-third of the population is Russian-speaking (see
Russians in Latvia). Similarly, in
Estonia, Russophones constitute 25.6% of the country's current population and 58.6% of the native Estonian population is also able to speak Russian.
[11] In all, 67.8% of Estonia's population can speak Russian.
[11] Command of Russian language, however, is rapidly decreasing among younger Estonians (primarily being replaced by the command of English).
.^ English and some Russian.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
^ The subseries contains reports about the trips to the USSR and information related to those trips, by individual travelers who visited the USSR on tourist visas.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
[11]In
Kazakhstan and
Kyrgyzstan, Russian remains a co-official language with
Kazakh and
Kyrgyz, respectively. Large Russian-speaking communities still exist in northern Kazakhstan, and ethnic Russians comprise 25.6% of Kazakhstan's population.
[12]Those who speak Russian as a mother or secondary language in
Lithuania represent approximately 60% of the population of Lithuania. Also, more than half of the population of the
Baltic states speak Russian either as foreign language or as mother tongue.
[11][13][14] As the
Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the
Russian Empire from 1809 to 1918, and a number of Russian speakers have remained in Finland, there are 33,400 Russian speakers in Finland, amounting to 0.6% of the population. Five thousand (0.1%) of them are late 19th century and 20th century immigrants or their descendants, and the rest are recent immigrants, who have arrived in the 1990s and later.
[citation needed].^ "The USSR, the Warsaw Pact, and NATO." Pages 15-36 in Ingmar Oldberg (ed.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Soviet Allies: The Warsaw Pact and the Issue of Reliability .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Russian Officialdom: The Bureaucratization of Russian Society from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
However, younger generations are usually not fluent in it, because Russian is no longer mandatory in the school system. According to the Eurobarometer 2005 survey,
[1] though, fluency in Russian remains fairly high (20–40%) in some countries, in particular those where the people speak a
Slavic language and thereby have an edge in learning Russian (namely, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria). It is currently the most widely-taught foreign language in
Mongolia, and has been compulsory in Year 7 onward as a second foreign language since 2006.
[15][16]
.^ This Series contains materials on Soviet Jews that emigrated from the Soviet Union on an Israeli visa but decided against going to Israel afterwards.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
^ Miller, Marshall L. "Between Moscow and Mecca: Ethnic Minorities in the Soviet Union," Armed Forces Journal International , 124, March 1987, 26-27.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ The organization also helped Soviet Jewish immigrants to the Boston area adjust to their new life in the US. .- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
The Israeli
press and
websites regularly publish material in Russian.
[citation needed] Russian is also spoken as a second language by a small number of people in Afghanistan (Awde and Sarwan, 2003).
.^ "Recent Soviet Education Reforms (Summary of Talk Presented October 19, 1986)," Meeting Report, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies , 1.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
If they return to Afghanistan, this may create a small population of second-language Russian speakers there, as well.
.^ Garden City, New York: Anchor Press, 1983.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Prybyla, Jan S. "The Dawn of Real Communism: Problems of Comecon," Conflict Quarterly [New Brunswick, Canada], 29, No.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in
ethnic enclaves (especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the early sixties). Only about a quarter of them are ethnic Russians, however.
.^ The Jews in the Soviet Union since 1917 .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "The Other Super Powers: The Soviet Union and Latin America, 1917-1987," Report on the Americas , 21, No.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Mandel, William M. Soviet But Not Russian: The `Other' Peoples of the Soviet Union .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
.^ This Series contains materials on Soviet Jews that emigrated from the Soviet Union on an Israeli visa but decided against going to Israel afterwards.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
^ "Colleges in Soviet Union Overhauled to Spur Gorbachev Changes," New York Times , March 22, 1987, 18.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ After the break-up of the Soviet Union, its name was changed to Action for Post-Soviet Jewry.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
.^ The subseries contains publications on the cases of individual Soviet Refuseniks received from the organizations operating outside of the United States.- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
[citation needed]
Significant Russian-speaking groups also exist in
Western Europe. These have been fed by several waves of immigrants since the beginning of the twentieth century, each with its own flavor of language.
Germany, the
United Kingdom,
Spain,
Portugal,
France,
Italy,
Belgium,
Greece,
Brazil,
Norway, and
Austria have significant Russian-speaking communities totaling 3 million people.
[citation needed] Australian cities
Melbourne and
Sydney also have Russian speaking populations, with the most Russians living in southeast Melbourne, particularly the suburbs of Carnegie and Caulfield. Two thirds of them are actually Russian-speaking descendants of
Germans,
Greeks,
Jews,
Azerbaijanis,
Armenians or
Ukrainians, who either repatriated after the
USSR collapsed, or are just looking for temporary employment.
[citation needed]
Recent estimates of the total number of speakers of Russian
| Source |
Native speakers |
Native rank |
Total speakers |
Total rank |
G. Weber, "Top Languages",
Language Monthly,
3: 12–18, 1997, ISSN 1369-9733 |
160,000,000 |
8 |
285,000,000 |
5 |
| World Almanac (1999) |
145,000,000 |
8 (2005) |
275,000,000 |
5 |
| SIL (2000 WCD) |
145,000,000 |
8 |
255,000,000 |
5–6 (tied with Arabic) |
| CIA World Factbook (2005) |
160,000,000 |
8 |
|
Official status
Russian is the official language of Russia, although it shares the official status at regional level with other languages in the numerous ethnic autonomies within Russia, such as
Bashkortostan,
Tatarstan, and
Yakutia. It is also an official language of
Belarus,
Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, an unofficial but widely spoken language in
Ukraine and the de facto official language of the
unrecognized country of
Transnistria and
partially recognized countries of
South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. Russian is one of the
six official languages of the
United Nations.
.^ Former Soviet republics Ladispoli, Italy Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1953-1985 .- Guide to the Records of Action for Soviet Jewry, undated, 1943, 1964-1994 *I-487 1 February 2010 4:04 UTC findingaids.cjh.org [Source type: Reference]
^ "Kirgiz Intelligentsia Seeking to Lessen Russian Influence on Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], September 24, 1987, 1-5.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Belorussian Ministry of Education Accused of Sabotaging the Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], November 10, 1986, 1-3.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
[17].^ "Recent Soviet Education Reforms (Summary of Talk Presented October 19, 1986)," Meeting Report, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies , 1.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "From Perestroika to Ethnic Nationalism," International Perspectives [Ottowa], 18, March-April 1989, 21-23.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
The percentage of ethnic Russians is 80% in Russia, 10% in Belarus, 36% in Kazakhstan, 27% in Ukraine, 9% in Kyrgyzstan, 6% in Moldova, 2% in Azerbaijan, 1.5% in Georgia and less than 1% in both Armenia and Tajikistan.
[citation needed]
.^ "Recent Soviet Education Reforms (Summary of Talk Presented October 19, 1986)," Meeting Report, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies , 1.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ "Classical Central Asian Language to be Taught in Uzbek Schools?"- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
[20][21] The language has a co-official status alongside
Romanian in the autonomies of
Gagauzia and
Transnistria in Moldova. In the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine, Russian is an officially recognized language alongside with
Crimean Tatar, though in practice Russian is the most widely spoken language in Ukraine by a small margin.
[22][23] However, despite its widespread usage, pro-Russian Crimean activists complain about the (mandatory) use of
Ukrainian in schools, movie theaters, courts, on drug prescriptions and its use in the media and for government paperwork.
[24][25]
Dialects
Other
12. Northern Russian dialect with Belorussian influences 13. Sloboda and Steppe dialects of Ukrainian language 14. Steppe dialect of Ukrainian with Russian influences
Despite leveling after 1900, especially in matters of vocabulary, a number of dialects exist in Russia. Some linguists divide the dialects of the Russian language into two primary regional groupings, "Northern" and "Southern", with
Moscow lying on the zone of transition between the two. Others divide the language into three groupings, Northern, Central and Southern, with Moscow lying in the Central region.
Dialectology within Russia recognizes dozens of smaller-scale variants. The dialects often show distinct and non-standard features of pronunciation and intonation, vocabulary and grammar. Some of these are relics of ancient usage now completely discarded by the standard language.
The
northern Russian dialects and those spoken along the
Volga River typically pronounce unstressed
/o/ clearly (the phenomenon called
okanye/оканье). East of Moscow, particularly in
Ryazan Region, unstressed
/e/ and
/a/ following
palatalized consonants and preceding a stressed syllable are not reduced to
[ɪ] (like in the Moscow dialect), being instead pronounced
/a/ in such positions (e.g. несл
и is pronounced
[nʲasˈlʲi], not
[nʲɪsˈlʲi]) – this is called
yakanye/ яканье;
[26] many southern dialects have a palatalized final
/tʲ/ in 3rd person forms of verbs (this is unpalatalized in the standard dialect) and a fricative
[ɣ] where the standard dialect has
[ɡ].
[27] However, in certain areas south of Moscow, e.g. in and around
Tula,
/ɡ/ is pronounced as in the Moscow and northern dialects unless it precedes a voiceless plosive or a pause. In this position
/ɡ/ is lenited and devoiced to the fricative
[x], e.g. друг
[drux] (in Moscow's dialect, only Бог
[box], лёгкий
[lʲɵxʲkʲɪj], мягкий
[ˈmʲæxʲkʲɪj] and some derivatives follow this rule). Some of these features (e.g. a
debuccalized or
lenited /ɡ/ and palatalized final
/tʲ/ in 3rd person forms of verbs) are also present in modern
Ukrainian, indicating either a linguistic continuum and/or strong influence one way or the other.
The city of
Veliky Novgorod has historically displayed a feature called
chokanye/
tsokanye (чоканье/цоканье), where
/tɕ/ and
/ts/ were confused. So,
цапля ("heron") has been recorded as 'чапля'. Also, the second palatalization of
velars did not occur there, so the so-called
ě² (from the Proto-Slavonic diphthong *ai) did not cause
/k, ɡ, x/ to shift to
/ts, dz, s/; therefore where Standard Russian has
цепь ("chain"), the form
кепь
[kʲepʲ] is attested in earlier texts.
Among the first to study Russian dialects was
Lomonosov in the eighteenth century. In the nineteenth,
Vladimir Dal compiled the first dictionary that included dialectal vocabulary. Detailed mapping of Russian dialects began at the turn of the twentieth century. In modern times, the monumental
Dialectological Atlas of the Russian Language (
Диалектологический атлас русского языка [dʲɪɐˌlʲɛktəlɐˈɡʲitɕɪskʲɪj ˈatləs ˈruskəvə jɪzɨˈka]), was published in three folio volumes 1986–1989, after four decades of preparatory work.
Derived languages
- Balachka a dialect, spoken primarily by Cossacks, in the regions of Don, Kuban and Terek.
- Fenya, a criminal argot of ancient origin, with Russian grammar, but with distinct vocabulary.
- Surzhyk is a language with Russian and Ukrainian features, spoken in some areas of Ukraine
- Trasianka is a language with Russian and Belarusian features used by a large portion of the rural population in Belarus.
- Quelia, a pseudo pidgin of German and Russian.
- Runglish, Russian-English pidgin. This word is also used by English speakers to describe the way in which Russians attempt to speak English using Russian morphology and/or syntax.
- Russenorsk is an extinct pidgin language with mostly Russian vocabulary and mostly Norwegian grammar, used for communication between Russians and Norwegian traders in the Pomor trade in Finnmark and the Kola Peninsula.
Alphabet
Russian is written using a modified version of the
Cyrillic (кириллица) alphabet. The Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. The following table gives their upper case forms, along with IPA values for each letter's typical sound:
А
/a/ |
Б
/b/ |
В
/v/ |
Г
/ɡ/ |
Д
/d/ |
Е
/je/ |
Ё
/jo/ |
Ж
/ʐ/ |
З
/z/ |
И
/i/ |
Й
/j/ |
К
/k/ |
Л
/l/ |
М
/m/ |
Н
/n/ |
О
/o/ |
П
/p/ |
Р
/r/ |
С
/s/ |
Т
/t/ |
У
/u/ |
Ф
/f/ |
Х
/h/ |
Ц
/ts/ |
Ч
/tɕ/ |
Ш
/ʂ/ |
Щ
/ɕɕ/ |
Ъ
/-/ |
Ы
[ɨ] |
Ь
/-/ |
Э
/e/ |
Ю
/ju/ |
Я
/ja/ |
Older letters of the Russian alphabet include <
ѣ>, which merged to <е> (
/je/) or
/ʲe/); <і> and <
ѵ>, which both merged to <и> (
/i/); <
ѳ>, which merged to <ф> (
/f/); <
ѫ>, which merged to <у> (
/u/); <
ѭ>, which merged to <ю> (
/ju/ or
/ʲu/); and <
ѧ>/<
ѩ>, which later were graphically reshaped into <я> and merged phonetically to
/ja/ or
/ʲa/. While these older letters have been abandoned at one time or another, they may be used in this and related articles. The
yers <ъ> and <ь> originally indicated the pronunciation of
ultra-short or
reduced /ŭ/,
/ĭ/.
The Russian alphabet has many systems of
character encoding.
KOI8-R was designed by the government and was intended to serve as the standard encoding. This encoding is still used in UNIX-like operating systems. Nevertheless, the spread of
MS-DOS and
Microsoft Windows created chaos and ended by establishing different encodings as de-facto standards. For communication purposes, a number of conversion applications were developed. \ "
iconv" is an example that is supported by most versions of
Linux,
Macintosh and some other
operating systems. Most implementations (especially old ones) of the character encoding for the Russian language are aimed at simultaneous use of English and Russian characters only and do not include support for any other language. Certain hopes for a unification of the character encoding for the Russian alphabet are related to the
Unicode standard, specifically designed for peaceful coexistence of various languages, including even
dead languages. Unicode also supports the letters of the
Early Cyrillic alphabet, which have many similarities with the
Greek alphabet.
Transliteration
Because of many technical restrictions in computing and also because of the unavailability of Cyrillic keyboards abroad, Russian is often transliterated using the Latin alphabet. For example, the standard transliteration of the word "мороз" (
English:
frost) is "moroz" and for the word "мышь" (
English:
mouse) it is "mysh'". Transliteration is commonly used by those who live outside Russia, although it is now being used less and less often by Russians because of the extension of Unicode character encoding, which now incorporates different alphabets ranging from Latin to Hindi.
Orthography
Russian spelling is reasonably phonemic in practice. It is in fact a balance among phonemics, morphology, etymology, and grammar; and, like that of most living languages, has its share of inconsistencies and controversial points. A number of rigid
spelling rules introduced between the 1880s and 1910s have been responsible for the former whilst trying to eliminate the latter.
The current spelling follows the major reform of 1918, and the final codification of 1956. An update proposed in the late 1990s has met a hostile reception, and has not been formally adopted. The punctuation, originally based on
Byzantine Greek, was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries reformulated on the French and German models.
.^ "Soviet Film under Gorbachev," Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies Meeting Report , May 6, 1987.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
For example, it is used to distinguish between otherwise identical words, especially when context doesn't make it obvious: замо́к/за́мок (lock/castle), сто́ящий/стоя́щий (worthwhile/standing), чудно́/чу́дно (this is odd/this is marvelous), молоде́ц/мо́лодец (attaboy/fine young man), узна́ю/узнаю́ (I shall learn it/I am recognizing it), отреза́ть/отре́зать (to cut/to have cut); to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words, especially personal and family names (афе́ра, гу́ру, Гарси́а, Оле́ша, Фе́рми), and to express the stressed word in the sentence (Ты́ съел печенье?/Ты съе́л печенье?/Ты съел пече́нье? – Was it you who ate the cookie?/Did you eat the cookie?/Was the cookie your meal?). Acute accents are mandatory in lexical dictionaries and books intended to be used either by children or foreign readers.
Sounds
The phonological system of Russian is inherited from
Common Slavonic, but underwent considerable modification in the early historical period, before being largely settled around the year 1400.
The language possesses five vowels, which are written with different letters depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is
palatalized. The consonants typically come in plain vs. palatalized pairs, which are traditionally called
hard and
soft. (The
hard consonants are often
velarized, especially before back vowels, although in some dialects the velarization is limited to hard
/l/). The standard language, based on the Moscow dialect, possesses heavy stress and moderate variation in pitch. Stressed vowels are somewhat lengthened, while unstressed vowels tend to be reduced to near-close vowels or an unclear
schwa. (See also:
vowel reduction in Russian.)
The Russian
syllable structure can be quite complex with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to 4 consecutive sounds. Using a formula with V standing for the nucleus (vowel) and C for each consonant the structure can be described as follows:
(C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C)
Clusters of four consonants are not very common, however, especially within a morpheme.
Consonants
Russian is notable for its distinction based on
palatalization of most of the consonants. While
/k/, /ɡ/, /x/ do have palatalized
allophones [kʲ, ɡʲ, xʲ], only
/kʲ/ might be considered a phoneme, though it is marginal and generally not considered distinctive (the only native
minimal pair which argues for
/kʲ/ to be a separate phoneme is "это ткёт"/"этот кот"). Palatalization means that the center of the tongue is raised during and after the articulation of the consonant. In the case of
/tʲ/ and /dʲ/, the tongue is raised enough to produce slight frication (affricate sounds). These sounds:
/t, d, ts, s, z, n and rʲ/ are
dental, that is pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the teeth rather than against the
alveolar ridge.
Grammar
Russian grammar encompasses
- a highly synthetic morphology
- a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:[citation needed]
The spoken language has been influenced by the literary one, but continues to preserve characteristic forms. The dialects show various non-standard grammatical features,[citation needed] some of which are archaisms or descendants of old forms since discarded by the literary language.
Vocabulary
This page from an "ABC" book printed in Moscow in 1694 shows the letter
П.
.^ "Kirgiz Intelligentsia Seeking to Lessen Russian Influence on Native Language," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Liberty Research Bulletin [Munich], September 24, 1987, 1-5.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
The total number of words in Russian is difficult to ascertain because of the ability to agglutinate and create manifold compounds, diminutives, etc. (see
Word Formation under
Russian grammar). The number of listed words or entries in some of the major dictionaries published during the last two centuries, and the total vocabulary of
Alexander Pushkin (who is credited with greatly augmenting and codifying literary Russian), are as follows:
| Work |
Year |
Words |
Notes |
| Academic dictionary, I Ed. |
1789–1794 |
43,257 |
Russian and Church Slavonic with some Old Russian vocabulary |
| Academic dictionary, II Ed |
1806–1822 |
51,388 |
Russian and Church Slavonic with some Old Russian vocabulary |
| Pushkin opus |
1810–1837 |
21,197 |
- |
| Academic dictionary, III Ed. |
1847 |
114,749 |
Russian and Church Slavonic with Old Russian vocabulary |
| Dahl's dictionary |
1880–1882 |
195,844 |
44,000 entries lexically grouped; attempt to catalogue the full vernacular language, includes some properly Ukrainian and Belarusian words |
| Ushakov's dictionary |
1934–1940 |
85,289 |
Current language with some archaisms |
| Academic dictionary |
1950–1965 |
120,480 |
full dictionary of the "Modern language" |
| Ozhegov's dictionary |
1950s–1960s |
61,458 |
More or less than-current language |
| Lopatin's dictionary |
2000 |
163,293 |
Orthographic, current language |
As a historical aside,
Dahl was, in the second half of the nineteenth century, still insisting that the proper spelling of the adjective русский, which was at that time applied uniformly to all the Orthodox Eastern Slavic subjects of the Empire, as well as to its one official language, be spelled <руский> with one <с>, in accordance with ancient tradition and what he termed the "spirit of the language". He was contradicted by the philologist
Grot, who distinctly heard the <с> lengthened or doubled.
Proverbs and sayings
The Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица
[pɐˈslovʲɪtsə]) and sayings (поговоркa
[pəɡɐˈvorkə]).
.^ The Time of Troubles: A Historical Study of the Internal Crisis and Social Struggle in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Muscovy .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Russian Officialdom: The Bureaucratization of Russian Society from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
History and examples
The history of Russian language may be divided into the following periods.
Judging by the historical records, by approximately 1000 AD the predominant ethnic group over much of modern European
Russia,
Ukraine and
Belarus was the Eastern branch of the
Slavs, speaking a closely related group of dialects.
.^ "Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States and Their Incorporation into the USSR: Political and Legal Aspects," East European Quarterly , 19, September 1985, 289- 304.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
It was soon followed by the adoption of
Christianity in 988 and the introduction of the South Slavic
Old Church Slavonic as the liturgical and official language. Borrowings and
calques from Byzantine Greek began to enter the
Old East Slavic and spoken dialects at this time, which in their turn modified the Old Church Slavonic as well.
Dialectal differentiation accelerated after the breakup of Kievan Rus' in approximately 1100. On the territories of modern Belarus and Ukraine emerged
Ruthenian and in modern Russia
medieval Russian. They definitely became distinct since the 13th century, i.e following the division of that land between the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland and Hungary in the west and independent Novgorod and Pskov feudal republics plus numerous small duchies (which came to be vassals of the Tatars) in the east.
The official language in Moscow and Novgorod, and later, in the growing Muscovy, was
Church Slavonic which evolved from Old Church Slavonic and remained
the literary language for centuries, until the
Petrine age, when its usage shrank drastically to biblical and liturgical texts.
.^ A Course in Russian History, 3: The Seventeenth Century .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Russian Officialdom: The Bureaucratization of Russian Society from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century .- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
The political reforms of
Peter the Great (Пётр Вели́кий,
Pyótr Velíkiy) were accompanied by a reform of the alphabet, and achieved their goal of secularization and Westernization. Blocks of specialized vocabulary were adopted from the languages of Western Europe. By 1800, a significant portion of the gentry spoke
French, less often
German, on an everyday basis. Many Russian novels of the 19th century, e.g.
Lev Tolstoy's (Лев Толсто́й)
War and Peace, contain entire paragraphs and even pages in French with no translation given, with an assumption that educated readers would not need one.
The modern literary language is usually considered to date from the time of
Aleksandr Pushkin (Алекса́ндр Пу́шкин) in the first third of the nineteenth century. Pushkin revolutionized Russian literature by rejecting archaic grammar and vocabulary (so called "высо́кий штиль" — "high style") in favor of grammar and vocabulary found in the spoken language of the time. Even modern readers of younger age may only experience slight difficulties understanding some words in Pushkin’s texts, since relatively few words used by Pushkin have become archaic or changed meaning. In fact, many expressions used by Russian writers of the early 19th century, in particular Pushkin,
Mikhail Lermontov (Михаи́л Ле́рмонтов),
Nikolai Gogol (Никола́й Го́голь),
Alexandr Griboyedov (Алекса́ндр Грибое́дов), became proverbs or sayings which can be frequently found even in the modern Russian colloquial speech.
| Problems listening to this file? See media help. |
Зи́мний ве́чер IPA: [ˈzʲimnʲɪj ˈvʲetɕɪr]
Бу́ря мгло́ю не́бо кро́ет, [ˈburʲɪ ˈmgloju ˈnʲɛbə ˈkroɪt]
Ви́хри сне́жные крутя́; [ˈvʲixrʲɪ ˈsʲnʲɛʐnɨɪ kruˈtʲa]
То, как зверь, она́ заво́ет, [to kak zvʲerʲ ɐˈna zɐˈvoɪt]
То запла́чет, как дитя́, [to zɐˈplatɕɪt, kak dʲɪˈtʲa]
То по кро́вле обветша́лой [to po ˈkrovlʲɪ ɐbvʲɪˈtʂaləj]
Вдруг соло́мой зашуми́т, [vdruk sɐˈloməj zəʂuˈmʲit]
То, как пу́тник запозда́лый, [to kak ˈputnʲɪk zəpɐˈzdalɨj]
К нам в око́шко застучи́т. [knam vɐˈkoʂkə zəstuˈtɕit]
The political upheavals of the early twentieth century and the wholesale changes of political ideology gave written Russian its modern appearance after the spelling reform of 1918. Political circumstances and Soviet accomplishments in military, scientific and technological matters (especially cosmonautics), gave Russian a worldwide prestige, especially during the middle third of the twentieth century.
See also
Language description
Related languages
Other
References
- ^ "How do you say that in Russian?". Expert. 2006. http://eng.expert.ru/printissues/countries/2006/09/russkiy_yazyk_v_blizhayshem_zarubezhe/. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
- ^ "The World's Most Widely Spoken Languages". http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
- ^ Russian Language Institute
- ^ Timberlake (2004:17)
- ^ "Academic credit". Вопросы языкознания. – М., № 5. – С. 18–28. 1982. http://www.philology.ru/linguistics2/filin-82.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-29.
- ^ "Academic credit". Прибалтийско-финский компонент в русском слове. http://www.ksu.ru/f10/publications/konf/articles_1_1.php?id=5&num=17000000. Retrieved 2006-04-29.
- ^ "Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911". http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Russian_Language.
- ^ "Academic credit". Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. http://www.dliflc.edu/academics/academic_affairs/dli_catalog/acadcred.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-20.
- ^ http://www.gallup.com/poll/109228/russian-language-enjoying-boost-postsoviet-states.aspx
- ^ "ЗАКОН СССР ОТ 24.04.1990 О ЯЗЫКАХ НАРОДОВ СССР" (The 1990 USSR Law about the Languages of the USSR) (Russian)
- ^ a b c d "Population census of Estonia 2000. POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE, COMMAND OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND CITIZENSHIP". Statistics Estonia. http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=PC227&ti=POPULATION+BY+MOTHER+TONGUE%2C+COMMAND+OF+FOREIGN+LANGUAGES+AND+CITIZENSHIP&path=../I_Databas/Population_census/08Ethnic_nationality._Mother_tongue._Command_of_foreign_languages/&lang=1. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
- ^ "Kazakhstan's News Bulletin, April 20, 2007". Kazakhstan News Bulletin. April 20, 2007. http://prosites-kazakhembus.homestead.com/042007.html. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
- ^ "Population by other languages, which they know, by county and municipality". Statistics Lithuania. http://stat.gov.lt/en/pages/view/?id=1738. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
- ^ "POPULATION BY MOTHER TONGUE AND MORE WIDESPREAD LANGUAGE SKILLS in 2000". Statistics Latvia. http://data.csb.gov.lv/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=tsk06a&ti=POPULATION+BY+MOTHER+TONGUE+AND+MORE+WIDESPREAD+LANGUAGE+SKILLS&path=../DATABASEEN/tautassk/Results%20of%20Population%20Census%202000%20in%20brief/&lang=1. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
- ^ "For Mongolians, E Is for English, F Is for Future". New York Times. February 15, 2005. http://nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/asia/15mongolia.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
- ^ "Русский язык в Монголии стал обязательным" (in Russian). Новый Регион. September 21, 2006. http://pda.nr2.ru/83966.html. Retrieved May 16, 2009.
- ^ Russian Language Enjoying a Boost in Post-Soviet States Gallup Retrieved on 08-03-2009
- ^ "Об исполнении Российской Федерацией Рамочной конвенции о защите национальных меньшинств. Альтернативный доклад НПО." (in Russian) (Doc). MINELRES. p. 80. http://www.minelres.lv/reports/russia/FCNM%20-%20Russian%20NGO%20report%20-%20rus_28mar06.doc. Retrieved 2009-05-16.
- ^ 2006/2007 figures (Russian) Как соблюдается в Украине языковая Хартия?
- ^ "Russia to raise language concerns". BBC. September 4, 2003. http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3497348.stm. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ "В Риге прошла массовая манифестация против перевода русских школ на латышский язык" (in Russian). NEWSru.com. March 10, 2004. http://txt.newsru.com/world/04sep2003/russian_school.html. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ Мнения и взгляды населения Украины в мае 2009 FOM-Ukraine Retrieved on 08-03-2009
- ^ The language situation in Ukraine Retrieved on 08-03-2009
- ^ After Georgia, Crimea? Some fear Russia's goals, Kyiv Post (September 29, 2008)
- ^ Ukraine-Russia tensions rise in Crimea, Los Angeles Times (September 28, 2008)
- ^ "The Language of the Russian Village" (in Russian). http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map13.html. Retrieved 2006-07-04.
- ^ "The Language of the Russian Village" (in Russian). http://www.gramota.ru/book/village/map14.html. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
The following serve as references for both this article and the related articles listed below that describe the Russian language:
In English
- Comrie, Bernard, Gerald Stone, Maria Polinsky (1996). .^ Russian Officialdom: The Bureaucratization of Russian Society from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century .
- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
). .^ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
.
- Timberlake, Alan (2004), A Reference Grammar of Russian, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 0521772923
- Carleton, T.R. (1991).^ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.
- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Introduction to the Phonological History of the Slavic Languages. Columbus, Ohio: Slavica Press.
- Cubberley, P. (2002). Russian: A Linguistic Introduction (1st ed.). .
- Halle, Morris (1959).^ Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.
- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1983.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
^ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.- Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / CountryStudies / Area Handbook Series/ Soviet Union / Bibliography 25 January 2010 17:19 UTC lcweb2.loc.gov [Source type: Academic]
Sound Pattern of Russian. MIT Press.
- Ladefoged, Peter and Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Blackwell Publishers.
- Matthews, W.K. (1960). Russian Historical Grammar. London: University of London, Athlone Press.
- Stender-Petersen, A. (1954). Anthology of old Russian literature. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Wade, Terrence (2000). A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0631207570.
In Russian
- Востриков О.В., Финно-угорский субстрат в русском языке: Учебное пособие по спецкурсу.- Свердловск, 1990. – 99c. – В надзаг.: Уральский гос. ун-т им. А. М. Горького.
- Жуковская Л.П., отв. ред. Древнерусский литературный язык и его отношение к старославянскому. М., «Наука», 1987.
- Иванов В.В. Историческая грамматика русского языка. М., «Просвещение», 1990.
- Михельсон Т.Н. Рассказы русских летописей XV–XVII веков. М., 1978.?
- Новиков Л.А. Современный русский язык: для высшей школы.- Москва: Лань, 2003.
- Филин Ф. П., О словарном составе языка Великорусского народа; Вопросы языкознания. – М., 1982, № 5. – С. 18–28
- Цыганенко Г.П. Этимологический словарь русского языка, Киев, 1970.
- Шанский Н.М., Иванов В.В., Шанская Т.В. Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка. М. 1961.
- Шицгал А., Русский гражданский шрифт, М., «Исскуство», 1958, 2-e изд. 1983.
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