Language is that with which we express our thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, interact with other people, get useful information, and develop. The history of the development of languages is important to know. It is mainly studied by such sciences as linguistics, linguistics and others. In the article we will tell in detail about the role and functions of languages in the modern world, and also consider the process of the formation of the Russian language and stages of development.
The role of language in the world
The history of language development is rich and diverse. It is filled with borrowings from other languages, stable expressions, interesting tales, unusual metaphors, jargon. The native language is the heritage of every nation, because it conceals history, the past, all victories and defeats, the development of the people themselves. With it, we communicate, share experience, knowledge, culture with each other. Not a single nation is capable of living without speech, since it is communication that contributes to its development. In order for the language to become world-wide, the following conditions must be met:
- First, all international organizations must recognize it.
- Secondly, it should be a popular language used by world communities. For example, UN (United Nations)
- Thirdly, it is important that the language is as widespread as possible in the world.
Thanks to languages, communication, humanity is improving, creating new technologies. Our civilization is moving forward.
There are a huge number of languages in the world. The official language that everyone should know is English. However, Russian is not far behind, since almost 300 million people speak it. It is common in many countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan and others.
Language features
In the modern world, language serves as a means of communication between peoples and nations. The main functions that it performs are as follows:
- information exchange;
- knowledge acquisition through the experience of other generations;
- communication (transmission of thoughts, messages);
- transfer of emotions through the tongue;
- with the help of speech, you can control behavior, influence society;
- through language, a person learns his environment, people.
You need to develop your language, literature, culture. The transformation and dissemination of native speech is an important problem in our time, as political relations with other countries expand, the country's economy grows, and the population increases. For example, Russian is already the third most common language. More efforts are needed to develop Russian language lessons and improve the quality of knowledge acquired by schoolchildren and students.
The sequence of development and formation of the language will be considered on the example of Russian. A language came from the Proto-Slavic (pan-Slavic), which stood out from the group of Indo-European languages.
Early stage
In general, language development is a slow and consistent process. At this stage, several changes appeared in the Proto-Slavic language that brought the formation and formation of Russian speech closer.
- The role of attenuating vowels such as [a] and [o] has decreased. Now the sound [a] was pronounced longer, and the sound [o] became short.
- A new vowel stood out [b], which read as [o], and [s].
- There was a complete change in the vowels in longitude and brevity: [a], [i], [s] - now long, and short became - [o], [e], [b], [b].
At this stage, you can observe the emergence of new letters "s", "b" (vowels at that time), which will subsequently enter the main alphabet of the Russian language. Vowels become less labialized.
Main stage
The development of the Russian language at the middle stage is felt much stronger. New changes appear that lead to a radical change in phonetic settings.
- Mitigation of consonants. There was a complete palatalization of consonants such as [g], [k], [x], which were now read in front of the front vowels, like [g], [h] and [w] (that is, simplification). For example, a friend is a friend.
- Over time, a new softening of the consonants [g], [k], [x] appeared. Now they were read as [h], [c] and [c]. For example, Voroz - Voroz.
- Also became palatalized [c] and [h] before j (i - and). It was read as [sh] and [g]. For example, carry - the leader.
- Closed syllables now became open. Diphthongs were simplified to monophthongs, and before vowels they turned into a vowel and consonant. For example, the diphthong [ou] (ou) turned into [u] (y), and before the vowel into [ov] (s).
At the second stage, the reading of different letters in the Proto-Slavic language changed greatly, and diphthongs also disappeared.
Late stage
At the last and final stage of development of the languages of the ancient Slavs, their full-fledged separation of their pan-Slavic (Proto-Slavic) language occurred. The late stage lasted from the 5th to the 7th century. He was marked by a transition to a new position. During this period, the first dialects appeared, which eventually formed into separate Slavic languages. Now languages were divided into three groups:
- East Slavic.
- South Slavic.
- West Slavic.
Most scholars and linguists attribute Russian to the group of East Slavic languages, since it originated in the east (territorial division of languages).
Church Slavonic language
Of course, the development of the Russian literary language depends on several factors:
- The appearance of writing.
- The baptism of Russia in 988 by Vladimir the First, which was the impetus for the creation of a new Church Slavonic language.
With the advent of Christianity, people needed a new transformation of their language. Its new form appeared - the Church Slavonic language, which became the beginning of the development of the entire familiar Russian language. Church Slavonic is the language of Orthodox worship, taking its roots from Bulgarian. Most scholars are of the opinion that it was this language that became the basis for the development of the Russian literary language. Christianity contributed to the dissemination of religious, liturgical, and partly instructive literature. Thus, two literary languages appear: Old Russian, a popular living language (epics, tales, legends) and Old Slavonic (church). Gradually, the influence of these two languages on each other led to the creation of a single Russian literary language.
Literary language of the XV-XVII centuries
Of course, the influence of the Tatar-Mongol yoke had a significant role in the transformation of the Slavic language, in which new borrowings appeared. Over time, after the liberation of Russia from the Tatar-Mongols, the literary language again revives in its new form. Moscow becomes its center. The characteristic features of the literary language are the following:
- the length of the letter "a" (akanye);
- pronouns: me, you, yourself;
- simple short sentences;
- there was no longer a dual;
- a new verb form of past tenses appeared, which ended in "l" (sang, ate, danced);
- a new declension of nouns appeared (as now);
- explosive letters began to be heard in the speech, especially the letter "g";
- the endings -evo / -ovo appeared in the pronouns (tvoevo);
- weakening vowels.
The advent of typography contributed to the development and spread of the Russian literary language. Now the literature has received more attention.
Transformation of the literary language of the XVIII century
At this stage of the development of the Russian language and speech, significant changes have occurred. Firstly, during the reign of Peter I (1682-1725), the Russian literary language separated from the church language and began to exist independently. Secondly, in 1708 a reform of the Russian alphabet was carried out on the model of European books. Since the 18th century, the literary language has been subjected to the process of Europeanization. New borrowed words from Romano-Germanic languages appeared in it, a fashion for French was observed. Writers often changed Russian to French in their works. This technique was considered a sign of education. An example is the world-famous work of the Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, "War and Peace."
Significant contribution to the language
A significant contribution to the development of the Russian language was made by the famous scientist Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov, who combined all types of Russian speech together, namely the folk language, the command language, and also various styles of poetry. He also divided the literature into three types:
- Simple syllable.
- Middle syllable.
- High syllable.
A huge contribution to the development of the Russian language was also made by such scholars and writers as G. R. Derzhavin, A. N. Radishchev, N. M. Karamzin, D. I. Fonvizin and others. They all diversified the language with new, unusual metaphors and vivid epithets, discovered new meanings of words, introduced new means of expression into literature: personification, parcellation, and so on. Such great poets as A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N. V. Gogol, A. P. Chekhov and others created the immortal works of Russian literature, which are considered classics not only here, but even abroad. . They made the language richer for catchy aphorisms, various literary tricks, brought new genres to literature (A.P. Chekhov wrote in the style of a realistic novel), interesting turns came from different spheres of vocabulary (for example, professional), jargon. Each great writer and poet brought the influences of his era into the literary language, thereby making Russian speech richer and more diverse. Already in the XX century began an active study of the Russian language abroad. New words from English, Spanish, French, German languages appeared in the speech.
The development of speech and language is very important for every nation. Do not forget about the development of the great Russian language in the modern world, because on it we communicate with dear people every day. Russian speech is the strength and power of the Russian nation.