Since we know that language is impossible outside of society, it becomes obvious that it is society that forces language to change.

More precisely, the changes taking place in society also affect language, forcing it to change.
And if we think in more general categories, we can say that time makes a language change.

Language is an evolving phenomenon

“Language is the history of a people. Language is the path of civilization and culture...
That’s why learning and preserving the Russian language is not an idle activity because there is nothing better to do, but an urgent necessity.”.
(Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin)

N.V. Gogol said about language that it is “alive, like life.” He said this about the Russian language, but what he said can be applied to any language. Except, of course, dead languages. About why they became dead - a little later.
The changes in language are obvious. It is enough to read the works of writers of the 18th century, and we will see how much our language has changed over time.
Russian writing, which was developed in the middle of the 9th century. brothers-educators Cyril and Methodius, began with the Cyrillic alphabet.
And only in the 18th century. she has undergone a great change.

Peter's language reform

“To handle the language somehow means to think somehow: approximately, imprecisely, incorrectly.”
(Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy)

Paul Delaroche "Portrait of Peter I"

Peter I began reforms in the state, the goal of which was not only the creation of a new army, navy, public administration, industry, but also the creation of a new culture. In 1710, Peter I approved a new alphabet with simplified lettering, and the Church Slavonic font remained for printing church literature. “Xi” and “psi” and other letters were abolished. These purely Greek letters were not even in their original place; when the alphabet was created, they were moved to the end, because were not typical for the Russian language.
The division of the alphabet into ecclesiastical and civil indicated that from now on the secular and the spiritual are opposed in society: the Church Slavonic language and the church script serve the old culture, and the Russian language and the civil script serve the new secular culture.
The initiative to introduce a civil script belonged to Peter, and all preparations for the language reform took place under his direct supervision. On the first edition of the ABC on January 29, 1710, in the hand of Peter it is written: “With these letters to print historical and manufacturing books. And those that are underlined [Cyrillic letters crossed out by Peter], those [in] the above books should not be used.”
Denying Greek forms in the language, Peter I was guided by the Latin script, as well as Western culture in general.
At this time, 4.5 thousand new words borrowed from European languages ​​entered the Russian language.

Civil font

“The Slavic-Russian language, according to the testimony of foreign aesthetes themselves, is not inferior to Latin either in courage, Greek or fluency, and surpasses all European languages: Italian, Spanish and French, not to mention German.”
(Gabriil Romanovich Derzhavin)

So, the civil font was introduced in Russia by Peter I in 1708 for printing secular publications.
“...Peter instructed someone to compile a sample of the civil alphabet and send it to Amsterdam to cast a new font there. In 1707, the word writer Anton Demey, who arrived from Holland, brought with him “newly invented Russian letters of the 8th alphabet with punches, matrices and forms...”. The font introduced by Peter the Great differed from the Slavic one in that it completely excluded letters The drainage signs are folded back.

Superscript signs - in the Church Slavonic language special signs, borrowed from Greek, which were placed above the line to indicate different types of stress ́ ̀ ̑ and ​​aspiration ̛, as well as the title ҃ - a sign above an abbreviated written word or letter used in a numerical meaning.

Spelling the word "Lord" using the title

And this is what the Cyrillic numeral “one” looked like

The remaining letters received the style they have today, with the following exceptions: the letter d at first resembled the Latin g, but the capital letter retained its previous form; Latin s was introduced instead; instead - one letter I without any sign at the top; - like Latin m, n; the letters c, f, ъ and ь, as well as r, ь and ы had some differences in outline from the current ones. Three books were printed in this font in Moscow in 1708: “Geometry of Slavic land surveying and modern typographical embossing,” “Applications of how complements are written,” and “Book about methods of creating free flow of rivers.” But, probably, experience convinced that this font is not entirely convenient, and therefore in “The Victorious Fortress for the happy congratulations of the glorious victory over Azov - for a happy entry into Moscow” (op. by engineer Borgsdorff), printed in the same 1708, already concessions reminiscent of the previous alphabet: in the book there are Slavic over ï there are dots everywhere - a style that was preserved in our press almost until the beginning of the current century, at the same time powers (emphasis) were introduced over the words. Further changes followed in 1709. E and I appeared, restored; And it was used in three cases: in a combination of two and (ïi), at the beginning of Russian words and at the end of words. At the same time, z (earth) began to be used in all cases, instead of the canceled s (zelo); d received a modern style; b, c, f, t, p received outlines more suitable to the current ones.” There were other changes as well.

“When transforming the Cyrillic alphabet, attention was paid only to the shape of the letters. The transformation of the church alphabet for civil printing was limited almost exclusively to simplification and rounding of the letterforms, bringing them closer to Latin letters. But the sound features of the language to which they were applied were completely lost sight of. As a result, our spelling has taken on a predominant historical or etymological character.
The cultural significance of the civil alphabet is extremely great: its introduction was the first step towards the creation of a folk Russian written language” (from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron).

M.V. Lomonosov: Reforms of the Russian literary language

“By the attitude of each person to his language, one can accurately judge not only his cultural level, but also his civic value.”
(Konstantin Georgievich Paustovsky)

The most important reforms of the Russian literary language and system of versification in the 18th century. were made by Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov. In 1739, he wrote a “Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry,” in which he formulated the principles of new versification in Russian. He argued that instead of cultivating poetry written according to patterns borrowed from other languages, it is necessary to use the capabilities of the Russian language. Lomonosov believed that it was possible to write poetry with many types of feet: two-syllable (iamb and trochee) and three-syllable (dactyl, anapest and amphibrachium). Lomonosov's innovation sparked a discussion in which Trediakovsky and Sumarokov actively participated. In 1744, three transcriptions of Psalm 143 by these authors were published, and readers were invited to comment on which text they considered the best.
And although V. Belinsky called Lomonosov “Peter the Great of our literature,” the attitude towards Lomonosov’s reforms was not unambiguous. Pushkin did not approve of them either.
But, in addition to his contribution to poetic language, Lomonosov was also the author of scientific Russian grammar. In this book, he described the riches and possibilities of the Russian language: “Charles the fifth, the Roman emperor, used to say that it is decent to speak Spanish with God, French with friends, German with enemies, Italian with the female sex. But if he were skilled in the Russian language, then, of course, he would have added that it is decent for them to speak with all of them, for he would have found in him the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the strength of German, the tenderness of Italian, in addition to the richness and strength in the images brevity of Greek and Latin." You can get acquainted with the doctrine of Lomonosov’s three calms in more detail. About Lomonosov's contribution to Russian literature -.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is considered the creator of the modern literary language, whose works are the pinnacle of Russian literature, although more than 200 years have passed since the creation of his largest works. During this time, many significant changes occurred in the language. If we compare Pushkin’s language and the language of modern writers, we will see many stylistic and other differences. Pushkin himself believed that N.M. played a primary role in the formation of the Russian literary language. Karamzin: he “freed the language from the alien yoke and returned its freedom, turning it to the living sources of the people’s word.”

Do reforms follow the language or does the language obey reforms?

“There is nothing sedimentary or crystalline in the Russian language; everything excites, breathes, lives.”
(Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov)

This question can be confidently answered: reforms follow language. A language situation is created when it becomes obvious: something needs to be changed legislatively. More often than not, reforms are late and do not keep up with the language.
For example, until the beginning of the 13th century. the letters b and b denoted sounds: [b] was pronounced approximately like [E], and [b] - like [O]. Then these sounds disappeared, and the letters do not represent sounds, but only play a grammatical role.

Spelling reform of the language in 1918

“As a material for literature, the Slavic-Russian language has an undeniable superiority over all European languages.”
(Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin)

By the beginning of the 20th century. a new language reform is overdue - spelling. It was discussed and prepared for a long time under the chairmanship of A. A. Shakhmatov. Its main task was to simplify spelling.
In accordance with the reform:
the letters Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita), І (“and decimal”) were excluded from the alphabet; instead of them, E, F, I should be used, respectively;
the hard sign (Ъ) at the end of words and parts of complex words was excluded, but was retained as a dividing sign (rise, adjutant);
the rule for writing prefixes in s/s was changed: now all of them (except s- proper) ended in s before any voiceless consonant and in s before voiced consonants and before vowels (break, break apart, part → break, break apart, but part);
in the genitive and accusative cases of adjectives and participles, the ending -ago after sibilants was replaced by -ego (buchshego → best), in all other cases -ago was replaced by -ogo, and -yago by -ego (for example, newgo → new, early → early) , in the nominative and accusative cases of the feminine and neuter plural -yya, -iya - on -yy, -y (new (books, publications) → new);
word forms of the feminine plural they, one, one, one, one, one were replaced by they, one, one, one, one;
word form of the genitive singular ee (neya) - on her (her) (from Wikipedia).
In the last paragraphs, the reform affected not only spelling, but also spelling and grammar. In the documents of the spelling reform of 1917-1918. nothing was said about the fate of the rare letter V (Izhitsa), which was rare and out of practical use even before 1917; in practice, after the reform it completely disappeared from the alphabet.
The reform reduced the number of spelling rules, led to some savings in writing and typography, eliminating Ъ at the end of words, eliminated pairs of completely homophonic graphemes (Ѣ and E; Ѳ and Ф; І, V and И) from the Russian alphabet, bringing the alphabet closer to the real one phonological system of the Russian language.
But time passed, and new problems of inconsistency between graphics and writing problems appeared. And the reform of 1918 did not completely eliminate the existing problems.
From time to time they intervened in the life of the language and changed something in it. For example:
in 1918, along with “ъ” they began to use the apostrophe (“”). In practice, the use of the apostrophe was widespread.

In 1932-1933 The periods at the end of headings were eliminated.

In 1934, the use of a hyphen in the conjunction “that is” was abolished.
In 1935, periods in the writing of abbreviations in capital letters were abolished.
In 1938, the use of the apostrophe was abolished.
In 1942, the mandatory use of the letter “е” was introduced.
In 1956, the use of the letter “ё” (already according to new rules) became optional, to clarify the correct pronunciation (“bucket”).
But still, the biggest changes affect the vocabulary of the language.

Changes in vocabulary

“You marvel at the preciousness of our language: every sound is a gift: everything is grainy, large, like the pearl itself, and, truly, another name is even more precious than the thing itself.”
(Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol)

The reasons for changes in the vocabulary of any language are the same as the reasons for changes in language in general.
The composition of the language is replenished with new words. In every historical period new words come. At first they are neologisms, but gradually they become commonly used, and then they can become outdated - everything flows, everything changes. For example, the word “power plant” was once a neologism, but several decades passed and the word became commonly used.
Neologisms (newly formed and borrowed) can be both common and original.
Here is an example of the author's neologisms: M. V. Lomonosov enriched the Russian literary language with the words “atmosphere”, “substance”, “thermometer”, “equilibrium”, “diameter”, “fire-breathing” (mountains), “specific” (weight), etc. .
And the words “industry”, “touching”, “entertaining” were introduced into the Russian language by N. M. Karamzin. “Bungler, bungler” - neologisms of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, etc.
Other words, on the contrary, become obsolete. And here, too, there are different reasons: when a phenomenon disappears, the word disappears from everyday use. And although it exists in the dictionary, it becomes historicism. For example, the word “kaftan”. It also happens differently: the object or phenomenon itself has not disappeared, but its name is outdated - this is an archaism: dlan (palm), vechor (yesterday), lepota (beauty), etc.
Sometimes a word that has already disappeared from everyday life suddenly floats to the surface and becomes commonly used again, for example, the word “gentlemen.”
And sometimes an old word takes on a new meaning, such as the word “perestroika.”

Borrowing

“I do not consider foreign words good and suitable if only they can be replaced by purely Russian or more Russified ones. We must protect our rich and beautiful language from damage.”
(Nikolai Semenovich Leskov)

At different periods of our history, borrowings came from different languages: in the era of Napoleon, the entire secular Russian society preferred to communicate in French.
There is a lot of talk and debate about currently unjustified borrowings from the English language. However, they said the same about borrowings from French.
Here we read from Pushkin:

She seemed like a sure shot
Du comme il faut... Shishkov, forgive me:
I don't know how to translate.

The point, of course, is not the translation, but the fact that the French language became much more familiar to the aristocrats of that time than their native language.
Supporters of English borrowings believe that our language is enriched by these very borrowings. In a sense, yes, but there are also negative sides to borrowing, especially thoughtless ones. After all, a person often uses a word that is new to him simply because everyone around him says so. And he doesn’t understand what it means, or doesn’t understand it at all. There are a lot of “office” borrowings: manager, marketing, merchandiser, cleaning, etc.
Sometimes these “enrichments” simply disfigure our language; they do not correspond to the internal laws of the Russian language.
Yes, language is a living phenomenon. And all living things change and develop. The language inevitably changes too. But in everything you need to know when to stop. And if in the Russian language there are synonyms for a foreign word, then it is still better to use the native word, and not a foreign one, to discard all the linguistic “garbage”. For example, why do we need this incomprehensible word “cleaning”? After all, translated from English this word means “cleaning”. Only! Why are such words needed in our language? If only for pretentiousness or to show off a foreign word...
Our language is so rich and flexible that everything has its own name.
“No matter what you say, your native language will always remain native. When you want to speak to your heart’s content, not a single French word comes to mind, but if you want to shine, then it’s a different matter.”
(Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy)

Dead language. Why does he become like this?

A dead language is a language that does not exist in living use. Often it is known only from written monuments.
Why does a language become dead? For different reasons. For example, one language is replaced by another or supplanted by another as a result of the conquest of a country by colonialists. For example, the most popular foreign language in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco is French, and in Egypt and the Gulf countries (UAE, Kuwait, Oman) it is English. Many native American languages ​​have been supplanted by English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Sometimes dead languages, having ceased to serve as a means of live communication, are preserved in written form and used for the needs of science, culture, and religion. For example, Latin is a dead language, but it is considered the ancestor of modern Romance languages. And currently it is used by science (medicine, etc.) and the Catholic Church.
Old Russian is also a dead language, but modern East Slavic languages ​​developed from it.
Sometimes a dead language suddenly comes to life. This happened, for example, with Hebrew. It was revived and adapted as the spoken and official language of the State of Israel in the 20th century.

Sometimes representatives of small nations themselves refuse to study national languages, giving preference to the official language of the country in which they live. According to some sources, about half of the small national languages ​​in Russia are on the verge of extinction. And in Nepal, the majority of the population learns and uses English, not their native language.

Language is in a constant process of change. In connection with the historical change of phonemes, not only the form of the word changes, but the meaning and concept of the language. This change in language is a continuous development. Language change occurs first in the speech of some people, particularly the younger generation. The desire of the younger generation to adapt to the feeling of a new era is reflected and distributed within the language as a subject of social and cultural formation of the public masses. When the transformation of individual speech penetrates into general use, the change does not stop, but is strengthened by general language skills, although this penetration into the linguistic society is not so easy to achieve. As with any cultural transformation, so in the case of a change in language, a conservative force in the person of the powerful center of society acts and prevents this penetration. It is clear that even during the life of one generation many changes occur in a language, but only some of them are fixed at the level of the entire native speaker nation and remain in the language for a long time.

Change occurs at different rates in different aspects of language.

Subject to the most rapid changes lexical composition of the language. This can be seen both in the example of new words that have appeared in the Russian language over the past 10-15 years (all computer terminology, many new names of professions and types of activities, etc.), and in the example of a large number of borrowings from English in the Korean language, almost all of which date from the period after 1945. As a rule, the emergence of new vocabulary is associated with the following phenomena: 1) borrowing a word from another language (with or without displacement of a previously used word); 2) the emergence of new words to designate objects and phenomena that were previously absent in the culture; 3) intralingual processes in which a word or expression, originally coined and used by a small group of people, spreads to the language of the entire nation, 4) changes in the meaning of a word over time. Note that in recent years this process of updating vocabulary has accelerated in all languages ​​due to the greater ease of exchange of information between people than ever before in history. Naturally, in parallel there is a process of some words falling out of use.

Let's look at all these 4 processes using Korean and other languages ​​as an example:

1) borrowing. Hieroglyphic words have been borrowed from the Chinese language since the 4th century and from the Japanese language since the late 19th century. The share in modern Korean is 70%, in special terminology it is higher. Since the 20th century there has been active borrowing from English.

2) the emergence of new words to designate new objects or phenomena. In Korean, they can be composed both from native Korean roots, and from hieroglyphic and even English ones, while the meaning of the word can be completely unrelated to the original meanings of the roots (원피스, 소개팅, 왕따, 고스톱, 화이트 데이),

3) the penetration of words from the vocabulary of a small group of people into the masses: Korean modern slang 화이팅, 공주병, 호박, 당근, 깡통, 형광등, Russian “teapot”, “brake”, etc.

4) changing the meaning of words: Russian “comrade”, Italian “banca”, Korean originally hieroglyphic 생각 and 사랑, acquiring a new meaning 바가지, 동네북, changing the shade of the meaning of the word 아줌마 ...

The reverse processes also operate: expulsion and colloquial vulgarization of words. A dead language is also a product of this process. In modern language, words with the suffixes “-뱅이”: “가난뱅이 - poor man», «주정뱅이 - alcoholic»; «-치»: «장사치 - huckster», «거라치 – princeling", etc., are disparaging in nature, but previously they had the opposite meaning: a polite address to males

The suffix “-뱅이” is formed from the word “방(房)” in the nominative case. The suffix “-치” was formed in the following order: first the suffix “-디” softened - [디>지], after which “-지” softened again - [지>치] (4.15).

An example of the following words can be given: “디새 – tiles», «고마 – concubine», «구위 – department" These words were replaced by their characters and disappeared, being variants of the dialect.

Thus, at first glance, vocabulary appears to be a rather unreliable guide in determining the related ties of a language, but it also has a certain basic composition that is little subject to change over centuries and even millennia, and can be used in studying the origin of a language and its related ties.

Changes somewhat slower than vocabulary phonetic composition of the language: the appearance and disappearance of individual phonemes, the possibility or impossibility of their combination, various alternations. This process involves centuries, and as a rule, written language records these changes much later than they occur in spoken language. Examples of such changes include:

1) the disappearance of phonemes: in the Russian language in 1917, the use of the letters fita, izhitsa, a hard sign at the end of a word, yat was abolished (well, I didn’t find them in the symbols!!!). That is, previously these letters meant speech sounds, then the sounds gradually fell out of use, and only then the letters were withdrawn from use. A similar process occurred in the Korean language, when, following the sounds v, zh, and some complex diphthongs and triphthongs, letters disappeared from use, the last of which - (●) - fell out of use only in the 20th century.

2) the appearance of phonemes: at the present stage it is more difficult to track than in the language of previous periods, since the appeared phonemes, like the disappeared ones, are not immediately and not always recorded in written language. In modern Russian, we can talk about the appearance of “e closed”, for which there is no separate letter, but this sound is often used mainly in borrowed words, where “e” is written and “e” is read - stress, progress, process, Internet, computer, sex, etc. We also know well that the phoneme “f” also came into the Russian language along with borrowed words. In the Korean language, one can trace the formation of the diphthongoids 에, 애 and 얘 from the full-fledged diphthongs “ai”, “oi”, “yai”, the same can be said about 외 and 위.

3) combinations of phonemes: an example of this phenomenon in the Russian language is the impossibility in Old Russian of finding two consonants nearby, which is quite possible in modern Russian: modern. Building - another building (from zida - “clay”), etc. This also includes, for example, the impossibility of combining sp or st at the beginning of a word in modern Spanish - they must be preceded by a vowel. In the Korean language in the Middle Ages and modern times, one can trace the process of transition from two or even three consonants at the beginning of a word / syllable to one consonant, and in modern Korean - a process officially recorded by the language only in the south of the peninsula: the transformation of ㄹ into ㄴ in hanmun words at the beginning of a word, and dropping ㄹ before soft vowels at the beginning of a word. That is, at the time of the division of Korea into north and south, apparently there was a pronunciation norm “I”, when writing the surname “리”, in the south the spelling of such words was brought into line with the pronunciation, and in the north - vice versa.

4) alternation. Without going into the details of the Russian alternations “k-ch”, “m-z”, “o-a” and “e-i” in the roots of the word (those who wish can try to think about what we are talking about), let’s go straight to the well-known you to the Korean language, in which the alternation “ㅂ – 우” is a direct consequence of the presence once in the language of the sound “v”, which fell out of use, turning into “p” before vowels” and “w” before consonants. Also, the alternation of “ㄷ – ㄹ” was the result of a historical process (that is, most hieroglyphic syllables ending in ㄹ at the time of their borrowing ended in ㄷ, this is clearly traced by a comparative analysis of the reading of hieroglyphs in various East Asian countries).

The phonetic features of a language can serve as important material for analyzing its origin. Thus, in the group of Altai languages ​​there are several important features (the impossibility of placing certain phonemes at the beginning of a word, the euphony of vowels, and some others), which allowed linguists to carry out one or another classification within this language family.

Finally, the most stable and subject to the slowest changes is grammar and language structure. Thus, some Chinese grammatical forms came into the Korean language, the most famous of which is the suffix 적, as well as attributives and some other constructions, but they did not have much influence on everyday speech, and especially on the structure of the language.

Korean scientists also have their own interesting view on the REASONS for changes occurring in the language. The reasons for language changes lie, firstly, within the nation responsible for the language; secondly, in changing the shapes of letters and words. The first reason has three types: physiological, psychological, spiritual.

Among physiological factors Particular importance is attached to the condition of the vocal apparatus. Each person’s vocal apparatus has its own characteristics, but there are regional commonalities in the process of mastering methods of articulation.

For example, in Seoul and Southern dialects, when pronouncing the phrase “나의 것” - “ my thing» the obvious features of each are visible: “나으 것”, “나에 것”. This phenomenon during the operation of the vocal apparatus is especially evident in the case of the so-called change in conditionally connecting phonemes, which occurs due to adjacent sounds, for example, in such phenomena as assimilation, dissimilation, palatalization. There are also changes in unconditional spontaneous phonemes that do not arise due to adjacent sounds.

Among psychological factors The most important thing is the instinct to strive for simplification. This instinct, arising from the tendency to seek convenience, is expressed by assimilation, addition and compression.

This tendency to search for simplicity of speech becomes one of the factors in changing the so-called folk etymological form of speech. This can be seen in words such as [낟알→나락]; transition phenomenon “녀름” - (obsolete “여름- summer"): "여름" (obsolete "열매- fetus"), respectively, [녀름>여름:여름>열매] (4.14).

Another important factor is the process of making analogies, for example, [한길- big road→행길(行- direction, line)]. In addition, concern for the beauty of intonation, the desire for a clear transmission of thought, the instinct to imitate certain vocabulary - all this entails changes in language. All of the above psychological factors are closely related to each other.

Peculiarity spiritual factor is that it surpasses the first two to varying degrees. This influence is reflected more in changes in content than in changes in phoneme or form of speech. Changing the content means changing the concepts of the language. For example, the word “사랑” in the language of the medieval period had the meaning [思∙憶] – “ think, remember", but gradually the meaning narrowed to the meaning [愛] - " Love" Accordingly, it turns out that an action arises that expands the content of meaning in a unit of speech. For example, the word of the language of the medieval period “겨레 – relatives”, conveying the meaning “members of the same clan”, began to mean “민족 - nation"(4.15).

In addition, the cultural realities of other countries constantly penetrate into the language, bringing with them new semantic meanings. Changes in the language of the ancient period go back deeply to changes in religion, culture, politics, economics, and society. Even if we look at the Neolithic period, we will see that even then Korean culture had diverse origins and connections with the cultures of neighboring regions and even remote lands of Siberia and Transbaikalia. In the first centuries of the new era, the population of the Korean peninsula was influenced by China. Some Korean communities acted as intermediaries in trade and cultural ties between the Chinese and the population of the Japanese islands. By the 4th century, Confucian ideas had become the state ideology of Koguryo. Confucianism and Buddhism, along with a huge number of new concepts, appeared in Korea precisely with the advent of Chinese writing.

Even if the content and forms of words in a language constantly change or disappear altogether, new word formations still constantly arise. Typically, changes in language can occur involuntarily in any territory, but when new words are created, a planned force operates. In the case of the Korean language, this is confirmed if you look at new words like 매, 가름, 조각, 목. This spiritual influence, participating in the process of formation of a new speech, either expands the territory of the language, accommodating advanced culture, or changes it, and it is so huge that it cannot be expressed.

Very often, due to the specifics of the lexical structure of the Korean language, motivation appears in words. In fact, this motivation for the structure of the vocabulary of languages ​​such as English and French is completely different. For example, if you compare the words 거짓말 (거짓 – falsehood + 말 - word) - lie ( lie), 눈물 (눈 – eyes + 물 - water) - tear ( tears), you can find out their structural features, that is, you can find out: how motivated the structure of the Korean language is compared to English; Did the language constantly develop in line with the analytical structure? But the crux of the question at this time is to what extent the inner power of language operates and whether the cause of these changes can be found in humanity itself.

One of the significant driving forces of phoneme change can be found in connections with accent. Accent is divided into strong or weak mechanical accent-stress, which emphasizes one word, syllable, sound, and into musical-modulation accent-level, which sets the pitch of the sound. However, the phenomenon of the occurrence of mid-length vowels among short vowels may create a connection with the musical-modulation accent of mid-length; due to changes in sound length, the phenomenon of becoming either long vowels or short vowels can create an association with a strong or weak mechanical accent.

From this point of view, it becomes necessary to think at least once about creating a connection with such an emphasis on the following phenomena: the differences between short and long vowels of the modern language; the process of converting mid-length vowels from short vowels and vice versa; the disappearance in the language of modern times of points in the text of the language of the medieval period. Perhaps all of the above changes in language arise in one community with one person and spread through imitation. When language changes spread, the instinct of imitation becomes the most important internal driving force. But in the instinct of imitation, the process occurs spontaneously, without experiencing social restrictions.

Later, there is conscious intervention by people from the upper classes or political control of the state. Control and intervention play a decisive role in the process of emergence of the cultural, spiritual language of the nation and, depending on the circumstances, indicate the achievement of political development of society at a certain stage. In this case, the emerging trend rather determines the development within the language and usually seeks to protect it rather than introduce something new. Such things that we observe today (norms of correct pronunciation or norms of spelling) are interconnected with these processes.

At the Onezhsky cultural center, as part of a joint project of the website “Theories and Practices” and the Moscow Department of Culture “City Lecture Hall”, a lecture was held by the editor-in-chief of the portal “Gramota.ru”, candidate of philological sciences Vladimir Pakhomov. He told how spelling has changed in the history of the Russian language, why the use of the words “call” with an emphasis on the first syllable and “coffee” in the neuter gender is not an indicator of illiteracy, and why it makes no sense to ban foreign words. Lenta.ru publishes the main points of his speech.

How we hear and what we write

In the minds of most people, two different concepts are very often confused: language and spelling (spelling). Therefore, the Russian language is often perceived simply as a set of rules, once invented by someone and randomly systematized in textbooks and reference books. Many people sincerely believe that if a person has learned the rules, this means that he knows his native language.

In fact, spelling rules are not the language itself, but its shell. They can be compared to the wrapper in which a chocolate candy is wrapped (in this case it is similar to a tongue). And at school they mainly study the rules of spelling, and not the language. Writing competently does not mean having perfect command of the Russian language. Doctor of Philological Sciences Igor Miloslavsky rightly notes that “the level of proficiency in one’s native literary language is determined by a person’s ability to accurately and completely understand everything he reads or hears, as well as his ability to express absolutely clearly his own thoughts and feelings, depending on the conditions and recipient of communication.” . Let me emphasize: language and spelling are completely different things.

There is nothing specially invented by anyone in the spelling rules. Our spelling is harmonious and logical. 96 percent of spellings of Russian words are based on one single principle - the main principle of Russian spelling. This is a morphological principle, the essence of which is that each morpheme (prefix, root, suffix, ending) is written the same way despite the fact that it can be pronounced differently in different words. For example, we say du[p] and du[b]y, but we write this root the same way: oak.

How sailors changed the Russian alphabet

In the history of the Russian language there have been only two reforms of graphics and spelling. The first was carried out by Peter I in 1708-1710. To a greater extent, it concerned graphics: the writing of uppercase (large) and lowercase (small) letters was legalized, unnecessary letters were removed from the Russian alphabet and the writing of the rest was simplified. The second occurred in 1917-1918. This was already a reform of both graphics and spelling. During it, the letters Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita), I (“And decimal”), and the hard sign (Ъ) at the end of words were removed. In addition, some spelling rules have been changed. For example, in the genitive and accusative cases of adjectives and participles, the endings -ago, -яго were replaced by -ого, -и (for example, starago - old), in the nominative and accusative cases of the feminine and neuter plural -ыя, -ія - to - s, -ies (old - old).

By the way, the initiators of this reform were not the Bolsheviks at all. Changes in Russian spelling have been brewing for a long time; preparations began at the end of the 19th century. The spelling commission at the Imperial Academy of Sciences began working in 1904, and the first draft was presented in 1912. Some of the scientists' proposals were very radical: for example, at the end of words it was proposed to remove not only the hard sign (Ъ), but also the soft sign (b). If this proposal had been accepted (later linguists abandoned it), then we would now write not “night”, but “noch”.

In May 1917, the reform project was approved by the Provisional Government. It was assumed that the transition to the new spelling would take place gradually, and for some time both the old and the new spelling would be considered correct. But the Bolsheviks who seized power approached this issue in their characteristic manner. New rules were introduced immediately, and in the printing houses detachments of revolutionary sailors confiscated the “canceled” letters. This led to an incident: the hard sign (Ъ) was also selected, despite the fact that its spelling as a separating sign within words was preserved. Therefore, typesetters had to use an apostrophe (’), which is how spellings like s’ezd arose.

The adoption in 1956 of the officially still in force Russian spelling rules was not a spelling reform: the text did not contain many changes. For example, now it was necessary to write the words “shell”, “barber”, “scurvy”, “mat” with the letter “i” instead of “s”, “apparently”, “still” with a hyphen instead of the previously accepted continuous spelling , the spellings “devil”, “go”, “come” were approved - instead of “devil”, “itti”, “come”.

Hare and parachute

The next serious spelling reform in the Russian language was scheduled for 1964. Many linguists were aware of the incompleteness and some inconsistency of the 1956 rules, which were replete with a huge number of exceptions. The idea was not to simplify Russian spelling, but to make it even more coherent, more systematic and more logical, making it easier to learn at school. This was important both for teachers, who in the 1960s often complained about the low literacy of schoolchildren and the lack of hours to study the Russian language, and for the state. Why, for example, was it suggested to write “hare”? Look, we write “fighter” - “fighter”, “fighter”. In the controversial word, the vowel also disappears: “hare”, “hare”, so why not write “hare” by analogy with “fighter”? In other words, it was not a question of simplifying for the sake of simplifying, but of eliminating unjustified exceptions. Unfortunately, after Khrushchev’s removal, the country’s new leaders, who were “allergic” to the ideas of their predecessor, curtailed the already prepared reform.

The need to streamline the rules of Russian spelling was again discussed in the late 1990s. The country has changed, times have changed, and many of the rules of 1956 began to look not only outdated, but also downright ridiculous. For example, in the Soviet years, in accordance with ideological guidelines, the USSR army was required to be called exclusively the Armed Forces. At the same time, when writing the names of the armies of socialist countries, only the first word was written with a capital letter - Armed Forces, and the armies of capitalist states and NATO countries could only be called armed forces.

In addition, many new words have appeared, their first parts: media, Internet, web, business. Therefore, the Spelling Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences began work on a new edition of the spelling rules, with examples relevant to modern written speech. Linguists discussed changes in the spelling of individual words (many people remember the discussion about the words “parachute”, “brochure”, “jury”, which were proposed to be written with “u”; linguists later abandoned this idea). Alas, the work of linguists was not fully covered in the media; journalists talked about supposedly impending “language reform,” etc. As a result, society reacted extremely negatively to the work of the Spelling Commission, so the draft of a new edition of the Russian spelling rules prepared by it was not approved and the 1956 code remains generally binding to this day.

However, the work of the Spelling Commission was not in vain; its result was the complete academic reference book “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation”, published in 2006, as well as the academic “Russian Spelling Dictionary” edited by Doctor of Philology Vladimir Lopatin - the most complete spelling dictionary of the modern Russian language . There are few changes compared to the 1956 rules. For example, the verbal adjective “counted”, which was previously an exception and was written with two letters “n”, is now brought under the general rule and is written with one “n”, while the participle is written with two (counted minutes and money counted by the accountant, cf.: fried potatoes and fried potatoes).

RINGING or RINGING?

We talked about how often spelling changes. How often does the Russian language change? Constantly, because the Russian language is a living language, and only dead languages ​​do not change. Changes in language are a normal process that should not be feared and considered degradation or destruction of the language.

The place of stress in words changes. Let's take the most famous example with the verb “to call”; anyway, not a single conversation about language can do without it. Some native speakers demonstratively depict painful suffering when they hear the stress zvonit (despite the fact that they themselves make similar spelling errors without noticing it at all, for example they say drills instead of the normative drills), and journalists in relation to the stress zvonit use their favorite cliche “litmus test of illiteracy.” Meanwhile, linguists are aware of the presence in the language of such a phenomenon as the shift of stress on verbs ending in -it in personal forms from the ending to the root (this process began at the end of the 18th century). Some verbs have already gone this way. For example, they once said: loads, cooks, rolls, smokes, pays. Now we say: loads, cooks, rolls, smokes, pays.

Photo: Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti

Knowledge of this trend gave the authors of the “Big Orthoepic Dictionary of the Russian Language”, published in 2012, grounds to record the option vklyuchit (previously prohibited) as acceptable (with a strict literary norm, vklyuchit). There is no doubt that this option, which has already passed the path from prohibited to permissible, will continue to move towards the only possible and sooner or later will supplant the old emphasis turns on, just as the new option pays once replaced the old emphasis pays.

The same process occurs with the verb “to call.” He would also follow this path, but we - native speakers - do not let him. The educated part of society has a very negative attitude towards the variant zvonit, and that is why it is not yet included in dictionaries as acceptable (although back in the 1970s, linguists wrote that the ban on the accent zvonit is clearly artificial). Now, in 2015, the norm is only calling. But knowledge of the orthoepic law, which is mentioned above, gives grounds to assert that this will not always be the case and the stress ringing, most likely, sooner or later will become the only correct one. Not because “linguists will follow the lead of illiterate people,” but because these are the laws of language.

In the process of language evolution, the lexical meanings of some words often change. Korney Chukovsky in his book “Alive as Life” gives an interesting example. The famous Russian lawyer A.F. In the last years of his life (he died under Soviet rule in 1927), Kony was very indignant when those around him used the word “obligatory” in the new meaning of “certainly”, although before the revolution it meant only “kindly”, “helpfully”.

Why are languages ​​simplified?

Language changes at the grammatical level. It is known that in the Old Russian language there were six types of declension of nouns, and in modern Russian there are three left. There were three numbers (singular, dual and plural), only two remained (singular and plural).

And here it is worth mentioning another interesting pattern. We know that evolution is a path from simple to complex. But in language it's the other way around. The evolution of language is a path from complex forms to simpler ones. The grammar of modern Russian is simpler than that of ancient Russian; Modern English is simpler than Old English; modern Greek is easier than ancient Greek. Why is this happening?

I have already said that in the ancient Russian language there were three numbers: singular, dual (when we were talking about only two objects) and plural, that is, in the minds of our ancestors there could be one, two or many objects. Now in Russian there is only singular or plural, that is, there can be one object or several. This is a higher level of abstraction. On the one hand, there are fewer grammatical forms and some simplification has occurred. On the other hand, the category of number with the advent of the distinction “one - many” became more harmonious, logical and clear. Therefore, these processes not only are not a sign of language degradation, but, on the contrary, indicate its improvement and development.

From masculine to neuter

Many people have the wrong idea about the work of linguists. Some believe that they invent the rules of the Russian language and force society to live by them. For example, everyone says “kill a spider with a slipper,” but the linguist claims that you can’t say that because the word “slipper” is feminine (the correct word would be “kill a spider with a slipper”). Some believe that linguists simplify the norm for the sake of poorly educated people and include illiterate variants in dictionaries like coffee in the neuter gender.

In fact, linguists do not invent language norms, they record them. Observe the language and record findings in dictionaries and encyclopedias. Scientists should do this regardless of whether they like a particular option or not. But at the same time, they look to see whether the option meets the laws of language. Depending on this, the option is marked as prohibited or allowed.

Why is the word “coffee” often used in the neuter gender? Is it just because of illiteracy? Not at all. The fact is that the masculine gender of the word “coffee” is resisted by the language system itself. This word is borrowed, inanimate, common noun, indeclinable and ending in a vowel. The overwhelming majority of such words in Russian belong to the neuter gender. “Coffee” was included in the exceptions because there were once in the language the forms “coffee”, “coffee” - masculine, they declined like “tea”: drink tea, drink coffee. And so the masculine gender of the word “coffee” is a monument to long-dead forms, while the laws of a living language drag it into the neuter gender.

And these laws are very strong. Even words that resist them still give in over time. For example, when the metro opened in Moscow in 1935, the media wrote: the metro is very convenient for passengers. The newspaper “Soviet Metro” was published, and Utesov sang: “But the metro sparkled with oak railings, it immediately bewitched all the riders.” The word “metro” was masculine (because “metropolitan” is masculine), but gradually “went” into the neuter gender. Consequently, the fact that “coffee” becomes a neuter word does not occur because people are illiterate, but because these are the laws of language development.

Who cares about foreign words?

Also, any conversation about the Russian language is not complete without discussing borrowing words. We often hear that the Russian language is becoming clogged with foreign words and that we urgently need to get rid of borrowings, that if we don’t take action and stop the flow of borrowings, we will all soon speak a mixture of English and Nizhny Novgorod. And these myths are passed on from generation to generation.

Photo: Mary Evans Picture Library/Global Look

It is very easy to prove that the Russian language is unthinkable without borrowed words. It is enough to give examples of words that seem to us to be originally Russian, but in fact are not. So, even in the Old Russian language the words “shark”, “whip”, “herring”, “sneak” came from the Scandinavian languages, from the Turkic - “money”, “pencil”, “robe”, from the Greek - “letter”, “ bed", "sail", "notebook". Even the word “bread” is very likely a borrowing: scholars suggest that its source is the Gothic language.

In different eras, borrowings from one language usually prevailed in the Russian language. When, during the time of Peter I, Russia was building a fleet in order to “open a window to Europe,” many words related to maritime affairs came to us, most of them from the Dutch language (shipyard, harbor, compass, cruiser, sailor), after all, The Dutch at that time were considered the best shipwrights and many of them worked in Russian shipyards. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Russian language was enriched with the names of dishes, clothing, jewelry, and furnishings that came from the French language: soup, broth, champignon, cutlet, marmalade, vest, coat, wardrobe, bracelet, brooch. In recent decades, words in the Russian language come mainly from the English language and they are associated with modern technical devices and information technologies (computer, laptop, smartphone, online, website).

What has been said does not mean that the Russian language is so poor or greedy: it only receives and gives nothing. Not at all. Russian also shares its words with other languages, but exports often go not to the West, but to the East. If we compare the Russian language and the Kazakh language, for example, we will see that the Kazakh language has a lot of borrowings from Russian. In addition, the Russian language is an intermediary for many words coming from West to East and from East to West. The same role was played in the 17th-19th centuries by the Polish language, through which a lot of words came into Russian (thanks to the Poles, we say “Paris” and not “Paris”, “revolution” and not “revolution”).

If we ban foreign words, we will simply stop the development of the language. And then there is a threat that we will start speaking in another language (for example, in English), because the Russian language in this case will not allow us to express our thoughts fully and in detail. In other words, a ban on the use of foreign words leads not to the preservation, but to the destruction of the language.

Today, the Russian language is rarely considered as a developing phenomenon. Everyone is used to it, they use words automatically, sometimes without even thinking. And this is understandable, because we are native speakers of Russian. However, based on this, one should at least sometimes be interested in its history and specifics. Over the centuries it has undergone changes, old words were eradicated, new ones were added, and the alphabet also became different. The Russian language as a developing phenomenon represents a completely unique cultural heritage.

Connection to history

Many centuries separate the current Russian language from the one in which our distant ancestors communicated. A lot has changed during this time. Some words became completely forgotten, they were replaced by new ones. The grammar has also changed, and old expressions have acquired a completely different interpretation. I wonder if a modern Russian person met one of our distant ancestors, would they be able to talk and understand each other? It is definitely true that fast-paced life has changed along with the language. Much of it turned out to be very stable. And the speech of the ancestors could be understood. Philological scientists conducted an interesting and painstaking experiment - they compared Ozhegov’s dictionary with the “Dictionary of the Russian Language of the XI-XVII centuries”. During the work, it turned out that about a third of mid- and high-frequency words are identical to each other.

What influenced the changes

Language as a developing phenomenon has always existed, from the very moment people began to speak. The changes taking place in it are an inevitable companion to the history of a language, absolutely any one. But since it is one of the richest and most diverse, it is more interesting to observe how the Russian language develops. It must be said that mainly the conditions for the functioning of the language were changed due to political cataclysms. The influence of the media grew. This also influenced the development of the Russian language, making it more liberal. Accordingly, people’s attitudes towards him changed. Unfortunately, in our time, few people adhere to literary norms; they are becoming more and more widespread. As a result, the peripheral elements of genres have become the center of everything. This refers to vernacular, slang and jargon.

Dialectism

It is worth noting that language is a developing phenomenon in all regions of our vast country. And new norms of lexicology appear both in national speech and in individual regions of Russia. This refers to dialectisms. There is even a so-called “Moscow-Petersburg dictionary”. Despite the fact that these cities are quite close to each other, their dialects are different. A special dialect can be observed in the Arkhangelsk and Vyatka regions. There are a huge number of words that actually mean completely ordinary concepts. But as a result, if these expressions are used, then a resident of Moscow or St. Petersburg will understand such an interlocutor no better than if he spoke the folk Belarusian language.

Slang and jargon

Language as a developing phenomenon could not avoid the introduction of slang expressions into it. This is especially true for our time. How is language developing today? Not in the best way. It is regularly updated with expressions that are most often used by young people. Philologists believe that these words are very primitive and do not have a deep meaning. They also claim that the age of such phrases is very short, and they will not live long, since they do not carry any semantic load and are not interesting for intelligent and educated people. Such words will not be able to displace literary expressions. However, in reality, the exact opposite can be observed. But in general, this is a question concerning the level of culture and education.

Phonetics and alphabet

Historical changes cannot affect any one aspect of the language - they completely affect everything, from phonetics to the specifics of sentence construction. The modern alphabet is derived from the Cyrillic alphabet. The names of the letters, their styles - all this was different from what we have now. Of course, in ancient times the alphabet was used. Its first reform was carried out by Peter the Great, who excluded some letters, while others became more rounded and simplified. Phonetics also changed, that is, sounds began to be pronounced differently. Few people know what was voiced in those days! His pronunciation was close to “O”. By the way, the same can be said about a hard sign. Only it was pronounced like “E”. But then these sounds disappeared.

Vocabulary composition

The Russian language as a developing phenomenon has undergone changes not only in terms of phonetics and pronunciation. Gradually, new words were introduced into it, most often borrowed. For example, in recent years the following sayings have become firmly established in our everyday life: file, floppy disk, show, movie and many others. The fact is that not only language changes, changes also occur in life. New phenomena are formed that need to be given names. Accordingly, words appear. By the way, old expressions that have long sunk into oblivion have recently been revived. Everyone has already forgotten about such an address as “gentlemen”, calling their interlocutors “friends”, “colleagues”, etc. But recently this word has re-entered Russian colloquial speech.

Many expressions leave their environment (that is, from professional languages ​​of a certain profile) and are introduced into everyday life. Everyone knows that computer scientists, doctors, engineers, journalists, cooks, builders and many other specialists in one or another field of activity communicate in “their” languages. And some of their expressions sometimes begin to be used everywhere. It should also be noted that the Russian language is also enriched due to word formation. An example is the noun “computer”. With the help of prefixes and suffixes, several words are formed at once: computerization, geek, computer, etc.

New era of the Russian language

Be that as it may, everything that is done is for the better. In this case, this expression is also suitable. Due to the freedom of forms of expression, a tendency towards so-called word creation began to appear. Although it cannot be said that it always turned out successful. Of course, the formality that was inherent in public communication has weakened. But, on the other hand, the lexical system of the Russian language has become very active, open and “alive”. Communicating in simple language makes it easier for people to understand each other. All phenomena have made some contribution to lexicology. Language, as a developing phenomenon, continues to exist to this day. But today it is a bright and original cultural heritage of our people.

Increased interest

I would like to note that the Russian language is a developing phenomenon that interests many people today. Scientists all over the world are studying it and understanding the specifics that are characteristic of it. Society is developing, science is also moving forward by leaps and bounds, Russia is exchanging scientific developments with other countries, and cultural and economic exchanges are taking place. All this and much more creates a need for citizens of other countries to master the Russian language. In 87 countries, special attention is paid to its study. About 1,640 universities teach it to their students, and several tens of millions of foreigners are eager to master the Russian language. This is good news. And if our Russian language as a developing phenomenon and cultural heritage arouses such interest among foreigners, then we, its native speakers, must speak it at a decent level.

In the modern world, borrowing words from different languages ​​is becoming more common, and the Russian language is no exception. What is this connected with? Is foreign borrowing good or bad? Why did the idea of ​​creating a universal language Esperanto fail? These and other questions were answered by Iya Nechaeva, senior researcher at the Institute of Russian Language. V.V. Vinogradov and scientific secretary of the Orthographic Commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

— Please tell us what are the differences between philology and linguistics? They are often confused, and sometimes these terms are even used interchangeably.

— Philology is a set of humanities related to the study of language, written texts and verbal creativity. Derived from the Greek philologia, literally “love of words.” The term "linguistics" (synonym - "linguistics") comes from the Latin word lingua - "language" and denotes the science of natural human language. Philology includes linguistics, literary criticism, textual criticism, source studies, paleography (a scientific discipline that studies the monuments of ancient writing), etc.

So the concept of philology is broader than the concept of linguistics.

— Borrowing words from other languages, in your opinion, is this a positive or negative phenomenon? Or is this a natural process, let’s say, the evolution of language?

— Lexical borrowing is a normal phenomenon. Academician Yakov Karlovich Grot, an outstanding Russian linguist of the late 19th century, who made a huge contribution to the streamlining of Russian spelling, said that “unconditional hostility to borrowed words has no reasonable basis,” and the adoption of foreign words into the language is “a natural and inevitable process.” There are, of course, abuses of foreign language vocabulary, but this should be regarded as a fact of speech of specific people or a fact of speech practice over a limited period of time (there are, so to speak, “fashionable” words and expressions). In any case, these are temporary things. The tongue itself is gradually cleared of everything that it does not need.

— Do you think it’s worth using borrowed words if there are their Russian analogues?

— The fact is that borrowings take root in speech, as a rule, just when either there are no exact Russian analogues, or the exact analogues are not a word, but a more extended construction, a phrase. Usually, the original and borrowed words, which seem to us to be synonyms, have some semantic or stylistic nuances that distinguish them from each other. After all, it cannot be said that, for example, a killer is absolutely the same as a murderer or even a hired killer.

The one who killed the old pawnbroker is not a killer.

A killer is not someone who, for a good bribe, will pour poison into someone’s glass or act in a similar manner. This is a professional with certain skills, owning modern weapons, who does his dirty work to order. Woman, lady, madam, lady - these are all different concepts. Filmmakers often use the word “picture” instead of “film,” but this is more of a professional usage; we don’t usually say that.

— During what period of Russian history was foreign borrowing the most intense?

— There are several periods of intensive borrowing of vocabulary in the history of the Russian language. This, for example, is the era of Peter the Great, when Russia “cut a window to Europe” and Peter began to build the Russian fleet (borrowings from Dutch, German and other languages), or the era of Enlightenment (mainly from French), or the 1990s and early 2000s. x (borrowings mainly from English and its American version, but not only).

It is difficult to say in what period borrowing was most intense. “Awareness of one’s country as part of the civilized world” is one of the conditions for the acceptance of new foreign words, says Doctor of Philology, Professor Leonid Petrovich Krysin. In any case, such “bursts” of interlingual activity are usually caused by social or political reasons and are associated with the need for social renewal. Language perfectly reflects our life.

— In general, is the Russian language highly susceptible to foreign borrowing? If so, why?

- Quite receptive. Despite the fact that Russia was a closed country for quite long periods of its development, foreign words and concepts still penetrated the language. But this process was more active, of course, during periods of greater openness of Russian society, with more intensive communication between native speakers of the Russian language and representatives of other cultures, which is currently facilitated by the rapid development of information technology.

We, without noticing it ourselves, measure the results of our work by comparison with developed Western countries (when we say “like in Europe” - this is a synonym for a positive assessment of any object or phenomenon). And along with foreign subject-conceptual realities, new words penetrate into our lives. In general, there is nothing wrong with this. Adherents of the purity of the Russian language and fighters against foreign words themselves do not notice that they use borrowings every day.

Foreign words are not only speaker (as well as deputy speaker), mayor, prefect, computer, bluetooth, interview, trend, penthouse, show, hit, fast food, etc., but also elevator, car, bus, tram, director, actor, floor, literature, mathematics, office, hall, album, date, center, text, theme and many others.

Many of them are examples of foreign words that cannot be replaced by anything.

— What words that we, as a rule, consider to be native Russian, are actually borrowed?

— I have already partially answered this question. I remember that at one time many people retold someone’s anecdotal statement: “Why do they come up with such complex names as cell phone, isn’t it better to use the simple Russian word “mobile”?” But the fact is that although the word “mobile phone” is formed using the Russian suffix -nik, it goes back to the French word mobile (“mobile”, “mobile”), and the latter, in turn, to the Latin mobilis with the same meaning, that is, it is borrowed in origin. Many everyday things and concepts have foreign names: tea, bath, fashion, hairpin, interest, nature, package, character... It’s hard to believe, but from childhood we all know the word “notebook” also goes back to a foreign language source, namely: to the Greek root tetra, denoting the numeral “four,” since a notebook was originally a piece of paper folded four times.

- Let's remember the legend of the Tower of Babel - the diversity of languages ​​led to misunderstandings and conflicts between people. Do you think languages ​​are linked to conflicts today?

— This legend is associated with the idea of ​​​​ancient people that initially after the Flood, all people spoke the same language, only after God created new languages, people scattered throughout the entire earth. I think that very often conflicts arise among people who have spoken the same language all their lives, and the common language does not help them understand each other.

Conflicts are more likely associated with mental or religious differences, with contradictions in the system of values ​​and, of course, interests, and not with language.

— What problems can lead to misunderstandings between people caused by the fact that they speak different languages?

- Well, even a comma, as you know, can have a fateful meaning (execution cannot be pardoned). Of course, you need to achieve a correct understanding of a foreign language text. But, as we know, the expression “speak different languages” also has a figurative meaning and means “to understand things in your own way, different from your interlocutor, not to find common ground.” The problem of the language barrier is solved with the help of adequate translation, but with mental differences it is more difficult.

As for borrowed words, their incomprehensibility for interlocutors can lead to oddities in communication. I remember the humorous poem by V. Mayakovsky “On fiascoes, apogees and other unknown things”:

Akulovka received a bundle of newspapers.
They are reading.
They stick their eyes into the letters.
Read:
- “Poincaré is a fiasco.”
We thought about it.
What kind of “fiasco” is this?

— Is it realistic that some kind of unified “world language” like Esperanto will appear in the future? What is the reason why Esperanto never managed to become a universal international language?

- I don’t think this is real. The failure of Esperanto is due to the fact that it is an artificial language. The national languages ​​we speak are of natural origin. Nobody invented them; they arose and developed under the influence of objective circumstances. Attempts to forcefully impose something on a language rarely lead to success. Even of the new words invented, only a few are fixed in the language (but this, of course, does not apply to special terminology). The national language reflects the national culture; abandoning it means abandoning one’s national identity.

In addition, a “world language,” for that matter, is not enough to create—you also need to master it.

But countries and the ethnic groups inhabiting them are very different in their level of development, in the level of education of the population, etc. So it's not realistic.

— Now the language of international communication is English, Chinese and Spanish are becoming more widespread. Do you think the linguistic balance of power will change in 25-30 years?

— I think that Chinese may become relatively more widespread (due to the strengthening role of this country in the political arena and the need for interethnic communication), but English is unlikely to lose its importance. Spanish still ranks second in the world - this language, besides Spain, is spoken by most South American and Central American countries.

25-30 years is a very short period of time for history; any radical changes in this regard can hardly be expected.

Although, in general, forecasts are a thankless task.

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