A message on the topic of how the Russian language developed. History of the development of the Russian national language

Russian language is one of the largest languages ​​in the world, official language multinational and, as a consequence, the language of interethnic communication of the peoples of the country. It is the main language of international communication of countries former USSR and the current language of the UN.

The modern Russian language, as we know it now, and as it is studied abroad, has a long history of origin. Its predecessor was the Old Russian language (from the 7th to the 14th centuries), the language Eastern Slavs located on the territory of the Kyiv state. Since all Slavic languages ​​had a common ancestor - the Proto-Slavic language, the emerging Old Russian was similar to the languages ​​of the South Slavic and West Slavic peoples, but, from the point of view of phonetics and vocabulary, it had some differences. Then feudal fragmentation occurred, which led to the formation of a number of dialects. The Mongol-Tatar and Polish-Lithuanian conquests left their mark, causing the collapse (collapse of the Kyiv state) in the 13th-14th centuries. and consequently the collapse of the common Old Russian language. Three independent but closely related East Slavic languages ​​were formed: Russian (Great Russian), Belarusian and Ukrainian.

As for writing, the Slavic states (modern Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, Bulgaria) and later Russia and the development of the church as state institute required special rituals and readings of liturgical books; at first it was carried out in Greek, but then the Old Church Slavonic language appeared. This language was created by Cyril and Methodius to adapt Greek writings; it was not just made up, it was based on the language of the South Slavic peoples. The Greek scholar Cyril and his brother Methodius used it to adapt Slavic speech to expressions and ideas that Christian teaching wanted to convey, since, for example, pagan religion and christian religion had different lexical content and concept of God. This is how the Old Church Slavonic language acquired the name Church Slavonic. Initially it was Glagolitic, but since some sounds were missing for complete adaptation, Cyrillic appeared (a Greek set of letters supplemented in accordance with Glagolitic). The Church Slavonic language was exclusively written.

At this time, spoken Russian was undergoing its own changes; from the 14th to the 17th centuries, dialects continued to develop. Two dialect zones were formed: the Northern Great Russian dialect and the Southern Great Russian dialect with an intermediate Central Great Russian dialect. The leader was the dialect (later it became the basis for literary language).

In the 17th century, during the reign, many transformative measures were carried out, including language reforms. European education became popular, science and technology developed, and translations of foreign books that were accessible and understandable to the general public were needed. All this required new means of expression, which the Church Slavonic language could not provide. His vocabulary and semantics carried more of a church-religious idea than resembled free “living speech.” What was needed was a literary language accessible to wide circles of society. The Church Slavonic language was relegated to the background in the 18th and early 19th centuries. became a kind of church jargon, intended only for worship. Popularity grew foreign languages, secular society tried to introduce them into their native Russian as much as possible. There was a threat of language clogging and then the need arose to create unified national language norms.

The 20th century brought new, major events in Russia, and with them changes in the Russian language. The economy, culture, and technology continued to develop. It began to be enriched with new words, terminology, stylistic devices, etc. Socialism came to power through the revolution. The level of literacy has increased, the literary language has become the main language of communication of the people. Russian literature has acquired world fame, along with this, interest in learning the language itself increased abroad.

A Brief History of the Russian Language

Russian language refers to largest languages world: in terms of the number of speakers it ranks fifth after Chinese, English, Hindi and Spanish. Russian is one of the official and working languages ​​of the UN. The number of Russian speakers is about 180 million people. Belongs to the eastern group of Slavic languages. Among the Slavic languages, Russian is the most widespread. All Slavic languages ​​show great similarities among themselves, but the ones closest to the Russian language are Belarusian and Ukrainian. The three of these languages ​​form the East Slavic subgroup, which is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family.
History of the origin and formation of the Russian language

The history of the origin of the Russian language goes back to ancient times. Around the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. From the group of related dialects of the Indo-European family of languages, the Proto-Slavic language stands out (at a later stage - around the 1st-7th centuries - called Proto-Slavic).

Already in Kievan Rus (9th - early 12th centuries), the Old Russian language became a means of communication for some Baltic, Finno-Ugric, Turkic, and partly Iranian tribes and nationalities. In the 14th-16th centuries. the southwestern variety of the literary language of the Eastern Slavs was the language of statehood and Orthodox Church in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Principality of Moldova.

Feudal fragmentation, which contributed to dialect fragmentation, the Mongol-Tatar yoke (13-15 centuries), Polish-Lithuanian conquests led to the 13-14 centuries. to the collapse of the ancient Russian people. The unity of the Old Russian language gradually disintegrated. Three centers of new ethno-linguistic associations were formed that fought for their Slavic identity: northeastern (Great Russians), southern (Ukrainians) and western (Belarusians). In the 14th-15th centuries. On the basis of these associations, closely related but independent East Slavic languages ​​are formed: Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian.
History of the development of the Russian language - the era of Moscow Rus'

The Russian language of the era of Muscovite Rus' (14th-17th centuries) had complex history. Dialect features continued to develop. Two main dialect zones took shape - Northern Great Russian approximately in the north from the line Pskov - Tver - Moscow, south of N. Novgorod, and Southern Great Russian in the south from the indicated line to the Belarusian and Ukrainian regions - dialects that overlapped with other dialect divisions. Intermediate Central Russian dialects arose, among which the Moscow dialect began to play a leading role. Initially it was mixed, then it developed into a coherent system. The following became characteristic of him: akanye; pronounced reduction of vowels of unstressed syllables; plosive consonant "g"; ending "-ovo", "-evo" in genitive case singular masculine and neuter gender in pronominal declension; hard ending “-t” in 3rd person verbs of the present and future tense; forms of the pronouns “me”, “you”, “myself” and a number of other phenomena. The Moscow dialect is gradually becoming exemplary and forms the basis of the Russian national literary language. At this time, in living speech, a final restructuring of the categories of time occurs (the ancient past tenses - aorist, imperfect, perfect and plusquaperfect are completely replaced by a unified form with “-l”), the loss of the dual number, the former declension of nouns according to six stems is replaced by modern types of declension and etc. The written language remains colorful.

In the 17th century National ties emerge and the foundations of the Russian nation are laid. In 1708, the division of the civil and Church Slavonic alphabet took place. In the 18th and early 19th centuries. Secular writing became widespread, church literature gradually moved into the background and, finally, became the lot of religious rituals, and its language turned into a kind of church jargon. Scientific, technical, military, nautical, administrative and other terminology developed rapidly, which caused a large influx of words and expressions from Western European languages ​​into the Russian language. There was a particularly great impact from the 2nd half of the 18th century. The French language began to influence Russian vocabulary and phraseology.

The collision of heterogeneous linguistic elements and the need for a common literary language raised the problem of creating unified national language norms. The formation of these norms took place in a sharp struggle between different trends. Democratic-minded sections of society sought to bring the literary language closer to in folk speech, the reactionary clergy tried to preserve the purity of the archaic “Slovenian” language, incomprehensible to the general population. At the same time, an excessive passion for foreign words began among the upper strata of society, which threatened to clog the Russian language.

In the modern Russian language there is an active (intensive) growth of special terminology, which is caused, first of all, by the needs of the scientific and technological revolution. If at the beginning of the 18th century. terminology was borrowed by Russian from German language, in the 19th century. - from French, then in the middle of the 20th century. it is borrowed mainly from in English(in its American version). Special vocabulary has become the most important source replenishment vocabulary Russian general literary language, however, the penetration foreign words should be reasonably limited.
About the development of the Russian language

Since the middle of the 20th century. The study of the Russian language is increasingly expanding throughout the world. Information for the mid-70s: Russian language is taught in 87 countries: in 1648 universities; the number of students exceeds 18 million people. Created in 1967 International Association teachers of Russian language and literature (MAPRYAL); in 1974 - Institute of Russian Language named after. A. S. Pushkin.

Over the centuries of its existence, the Russian language, like any other living and developing system, has been repeatedly enriched by borrowings from other languages. The earliest borrowings include “Balticisms” - borrowings from the Baltic languages. However, in this case, we are perhaps not talking about borrowings, but about vocabulary preserved from the time when the Slavic-Baltic community existed. “Balticisms” include words such as “ladle”, “tow”, “stack”, “amber”, “village”, etc. During the period of Christianization, “Grecisms” entered our language - “sugar”, “bench”. “lantern”, “notebook”, etc. Through contacts with European peoples, “Latinisms” - “doctor”, “medicine”, “rose” and “Arabisms” - “admiral”, “coffee”, “varnish”, “mattress”, etc. entered the Russian language . Large group words entered our language from the Turkic languages. These are words such as “hearth”, “tent”, “hero”, “cart”, etc. And finally, since the time of Peter I, the Russian language has absorbed words from European languages. Initially, this is a large layer of words from German, English and Dutch related to science, technology, maritime and military affairs: “ammunition”, “globe”, “assembly”, “optics”, “pilot”, “sailor”, “deserter” " Later, French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items and the field of art settled in the Russian language - “stained glass”, “veil”, “couch”, “boudoir”, “ballet”, “actor”, “poster”, “pasta” ", "serenade", etc. And finally, these days we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time mainly from the English language.

Russian is one of the group of East Slavic languages, along with Ukrainian and Belarusian. It is the most widespread Slavic language and one of the most widespread languages ​​in the world in terms of the number of people who speak it and consider it their mother tongue.

In turn, Slavic languages ​​belong to the Balto-Slavic branch of the family of Indo-European languages. Thus, to answer the question: where did the Russian language come from, you need to take an excursion into ancient times.

Origin of Indo-European languages

About 6 thousand years ago there lived a people who are considered native speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language. Where exactly he lived is today the subject of fierce debate among historians and linguists. The steppes are called the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and the territory on the border between Europe and Asia, and the Armenian Highlands. In the early 80s of the last century, linguists Gamkrelidze and Ivanov formulated the idea of ​​two ancestral homelands: first there was the Armenian Highlands, and then the Indo-Europeans moved to the Black Sea steppes. Archaeologically, speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language are correlated with representatives of the “Yamnaya culture”, who lived in eastern Ukraine and the territory of modern Russia in the 3rd millennium BC.

Isolation of the Balto-Slavic branch

Subsequently, the Proto-Indo-Europeans settled throughout Asia and Europe, mixed with local peoples and gave them their own language. In Europe, languages ​​of the Indo-European family are spoken by almost all peoples except the Basques; in Asia, various languages ​​of this family are spoken in India and Iran. Tajikistan, Pamir, etc. About 2 thousand years ago, the Proto-Balto-Slavic language emerged from the common Proto-Indo-European language. The Pre-Balto-Slavs existed as a single people speaking the same language, according to a number of linguists (including Ler-Splavinsky) for approximately 500-600 years, and the archaeological culture of Corded Ware corresponds to this period in the history of our peoples. Then the linguistic branch divided again: into the Baltic group, which henceforth took on an independent life, and the Proto-Slavic group, which became the common root from which all modern Slavic languages ​​originated.

Old Russian language

Pan-Slavic unity was maintained until the 6th-7th centuries AD. When speakers of East Slavic dialects emerged from the general Slavic massif, the Old Russian language began to form, which became the ancestor of modern Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian languages. The Old Russian language is known to us thanks to numerous monuments written in Church Slavonic, which can be considered as a written, literary form of the Old Russian language. In addition, written monuments have also been preserved - birch bark letters, graffiti on the walls of churches - written in everyday, colloquial Old Russian.

Old Russian period

The Old Russian (or Great Russian) period covers the time from the 14th to the 17th centuries. At this time, the Russian language finally stands out from the group of East Slavic languages, phonetic and grammatical systems close to modern ones are formed in it, other changes occur, including the formation of dialects. The leading dialect among them is the “akaya” dialect of the upper and middle Oka, and, first of all, the Moscow dialect.

Modern Russian language

The Russian language we speak today began to take shape in the 17th century. It is based on the Moscow dialect. The literary works of Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, and Sumarokov played a decisive role in the formation of the modern Russian language. Lomonosov wrote the first grammar, establishing the norms of the literary Russian language. All the richness of the Russian language, formed from the synthesis of Russian colloquial, Church Slavonic elements, borrowings from other languages, is reflected in the works of Pushkin, who is considered the creator of the modern Russian literary language.

Borrowings from other languages

Over the centuries of its existence, the Russian language, like any other living and developing system, has been repeatedly enriched by borrowings from other languages. The earliest borrowings include “Balticisms” - borrowings from the Baltic languages. However, in this case, we are perhaps not talking about borrowings, but about vocabulary preserved from the time when the Slavic-Baltic community existed. “Balticisms” include words such as “ladle”, “tow”, “stack”, “amber”, “village”, etc. During the period of Christianization, “Grecisms” entered our language - “sugar”, “bench”. “lantern”, “notebook”, etc. Through contacts with European peoples, “Latinisms” - “doctor”, “medicine”, “rose” and “Arabisms” - “admiral”, “coffee”, “varnish”, “mattress”, etc. entered the Russian language . A large group of words entered our language from Turkic languages. These are words such as “hearth”, “tent”, “hero”, “cart”, etc. And finally, since the time of Peter I, the Russian language has absorbed words from European languages. Initially, this is a large layer of words from German, English and Dutch related to science, technology, maritime and military affairs: “ammunition”, “globe”, “assembly”, “optics”, “pilot”, “sailor”, “deserter” " Later, French, Italian and Spanish words related to household items and the field of art settled in the Russian language - “stained glass”, “veil”, “couch”, “boudoir”, “ballet”, “actor”, “poster”, “pasta” ", "serenade", etc. And finally, these days we are experiencing a new influx of borrowings, this time mainly from the English language.

The national language is the means of oral and written communication of a nation. Along with the commonality of territory, historical, economic and political life, as well as mental makeup, language is a leading indicator of the historical community of people, which is usually called the term nation(lat.natio – tribe, people).

Russian national language by kinship, belongs to to the Slavic group of the Indo-European family of languages. Indo-European languages ​​are one of the largest language families, including Anatolian, Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Italic, Romance, Germanic, Celtic, Baltic, Slavic groups, as well as Armenian, Phrygian, Venetian and some other languages.

Slavic languages ​​come from single pre-Slavic a language that emerged from the base Indo-European language long before our era. During the existence of the Proto-Slavic language, the main features characteristic of all Slavic languages ​​developed. Around the 6th-7th centuries AD, the pre-Slavic unity disintegrated. The Eastern Slavs began to use a relatively common East Slavic tongue. (Old Russian, or the language of Kievan Rus). Around the same time, they formed West Slavic(Czech, Slovak, Polish, Kashubian, Serbian Sorbian and “dead” Polabian) and South Slavic languages (Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Slovenian, Ruthenian and “dead” Old Church Slavonic).

In the 9th – 11th centuries, based on the translations of liturgical books made by Cyril and Methodius, the first written language Slavs – Old Church Slavonic Its literary continuation will be the language used to this day in worship – Church Slavonic .

As feudal fragmentation intensified and the Tatar-Mongol yoke was overthrown, Great Russian, Little Russian and Belarusian nationalities were formed. Thus, the East Slavic group of languages ​​falls into three related languages: Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian. By the 14th – 15th centuries, the language of the Great Russian people took shape with Rostov-Suzdal and Vladimir dialects at its core.

Russian national language begins to take shape in the 17th century in connection with the development capitalist relations and the development of the Russian people into nation. Phonetic system, grammatical structure and basic vocabulary of Russian national language inherited from the language Great Russian people, formed in the process interaction between northern Great Russian and southern Great Russian dialects. Moscow, located on the border of the south and north of the European part of Russia, has become the center of this interaction. Exactly Moscow business vernacular had a significant impact on the development of the national language.

The 18th century became an important stage in the development of the Russian national language. During these times, our compatriots spoke and wrote using a large number of Old Church Slavonic and Church Slavonic elements. What was required was the democratization of the language, the introduction of living elements into its structure, colloquial speech merchants, service people, clergy and literate peasants. Main role V theoretical foundation of Russian language played by M.V. Lomonosov. The scientist creates a “Russian grammar”, which has theoretical and practical significance: ordering of literary language and development rules for using its elements. “All sciences,” he explains, “have a need for grammar. Oratorio is stupid, poetry is tongue-tied, philosophy is unfounded, history is incomprehensible, jurisprudence without grammar is dubious.” Lomonosov pointed out two features of the Russian language that made it one of the most important world languages:

- "the vastness of the places where he dominates"

- “your own space and contentment.”

In the Petrine era, due to the appearance in Russia of many new objects and phenomena The vocabulary of the Russian language is updated and enriched. The flow of new words was so enormous that even a decree of Peter I was needed to normalize the use of borrowings.

The Karamzin period in the development of the Russian national language is characterized by the struggle for the establishment of a single language norm in it. At the same time, N.M. himself Karamzin and his supporters believe that, when defining norms, it is necessary to focus on Western, European languages ​​(French), free the Russian language from the influence of Church Slavonic speech, create new words, expand the semantics of those already used to denote those emerging in the life of society, mainly secular, new objects, phenomena, processes. Karamzin’s opponent was the Slavophile A.S. Shishkov, who believed that the Old Church Slavonic language should become the basis of the Russian national language. The dispute about language between Slavophiles and Westerners was brilliantly resolved in the works of the great Russian writers of the early nineteenth century. A.S. Griboyedov and I.A. Krylov showed the inexhaustible possibilities of lively spoken language, the originality and richness of Russian folklore.

Creator the same national Russian language became A.S. Pushkin. In poetry and prose, the main thing, in his opinion, is “a sense of proportionality and conformity”: any element is appropriate if it accurately conveys thought and feeling.

In the first decades of the 19th century, the formation of the Russian national language was completed. However, the process of processing the national language in order to create uniform spelling, lexical, spelling and grammatical norms continues, numerous dictionaries are published, the largest of which is the four-volume “ Dictionary living Great Russian language" V.I. Dalia.

After the October Revolution of 1917, important changes took place in the Russian language. Firstly, a huge layer of secular and religious vocabulary, which was very relevant before the revolution, “dies out.” The new government destroys objects, phenomena, processes and at the same time the words denoting them disappear: monarch, heir to the throne, gendarme, police officer, privat-docent, footman and so on. Millions of believing Russians cannot use openly Christian terminology: seminary, deacon, Eucharist, Ascension, Our Lady, Savior, Dormition, etc. These words live among the people secretly, latently, awaiting the hour of their revival. On the other side. a huge number of new words appear, reflecting changes in politics, economics, culture : Soviets, Kolchak member, Red Army soldier, security officer. A large number of complex abbreviated words appear: party contributions, collective farm, Revolutionary Military Council, Council of People's Commissars, commander, Prodrazverstka, tax in kind, cultural enlightenment, educational program. One of the striking distinctive features of the Russian language of the Soviet period – interference of the opposite, The essence of this phenomenon lies in the formation of two opposing lexical systems, positively and negatively characterizing the same phenomena that exist on opposite sides of the barricades, in the world of capitalism and in the world of socialism : scouts and spies, liberating soldiers and occupiers, partisans and bandits.

Nowadays, the Russian national language continues to develop in the post-Soviet space. Among modern characteristic features the most important languages ​​are:

1) replenishment of the vocabulary with new elements; first of all, this is borrowed vocabulary denoting objects and phenomena of the political, economic and cultural life of the country: electorate, extreme sports, business center, conversion, clone, chip, iridology, HIV infection, audio cassette, cheeseburger, jacuzzi;

2) the return to use of words that seemed to have lost such an opportunity forever; first of all this religious vocabulary: lord, communion. Annunciation, Liturgy, All-Night Vigil, Epiphany, Metropolitan;

3) the disappearance, along with objects and phenomena, of words characterizing Soviet reality: Komsomol, party organizer, state farm, DOSAAF, pioneer;

4) destruction of the system formed as a result of the action interference of the opposite.