The Russian language is a kind of mirror in which the spirit inherent in the whole people is reflected. Its sound, expressive means, artistic possibilities are an integral part of culture and at the same time its essence is extremely concentrated. The qualities of the Russian language were very colorfully described by Mikhail Lomonosov: it is characterized by the tenderness of Italian and the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French and the strength of German, the richness and expressive brevity of Greek and Latin. All these properties did not arise suddenly. The history of the Russian language is rooted in the depths of time.
Parent language
Today there are several theories of the development of the Pre-Slavic language. All researchers agree that he stood out from the pra-Indo-European. Some scholars note that for a long time the Prabaltoslav language existed, which then fell apart into the Pre-Slavic and Prabaltic. A large number of similarities are in favor of this. However, other researchers write about the parallel development of the two languages and the later period of their convergence.
Be that as it may, the separation of the distant "ancestor" of Russian from the pre-Indo-European dates back to the III millennium BC. Written sources of that time do not exist. However, thorough research and the data collected allow scientists to reconstruct the development of the language in such distant times.
As a result of the displacement and resettlement of tribes, their relative isolation, the Pre-Slavic language in the VI-VII centuries. n e. split into three branches: southern, western and eastern.
Old Russian
The eastern branch was called "Old Russian language." He existed until about the XIII-XIV century. Ancient Slavs spoke Old Russian.
In fact, it was the sum of several dialects interpenetrating and constantly interacting with each other. Their proximity was largely facilitated by the formation of the Old Russian state. To the XI-XII centuries. As part of the language, several dialects stood out:
- southwest - in Kiev, Galicia and Volhynia;
- Western - in Smolensk and Polotsk;
- southeastern - Ryazan, Kursk, Chernihiv;
- northwest - Novgorod, Pskov;
- northeastern - Rostov and Suzdal.
The dialects were distinguished by a whole set of characteristics, some of which were preserved in these areas today. In addition, there were discrepancies in the written language used for legal documents. According to scientists, it was based on the ancient Kievan dialect.
Cyril and Methodius
The written period in the history of the Old Russian language begins in the 11th century. They connect him with the names of Cyril and Methodius. In the IX century, they created the Church Slavonic alphabet. The letters of the Russian language, familiar to us from childhood, “grew up” precisely from it. Cyril and Methodius translated the Church Slavonic Scripture. This version of the language today is the main one for Orthodox services. For a long time it was used as written, literary and never - as a spoken word.
Church Slavonic is based on the South Bulgarian Slavic dialect. He was native to Cyril and Methodius and influenced the vocabulary and spelling of the Old Russian language.
Three branches
Old Russian was more or less uniform until the 11th century. Then the state began to turn into a union of relatively independent principalities. As a result of this separation, the dialects of different popular groups began to separate and eventually turned into completely independent languages. Their final formation dates from the XIII-XIV centuries. Russian is one of the three branches. The other two are Ukrainian and Belarusian. Together, they belong to the group of East Slavic languages.
Old Russian language history period
The modern literary Russian language is the result of combining the features of two dialects: north-western (Pskov and Novgorod) and central-eastern (Rostov, Suzdal, Ryazan and Moscow). Its development was preceded by the appearance of some new features in the XIV-XVII centuries. Let us dwell on them a little more.
At this time, the language of the Moscow principality borrowed several syntactic and lexical features from Polish. However, to a greater extent he was exposed to Church Slavonic. His influence was reflected in the vocabulary, syntax, spelling and morphology of the Russian language. At the same time, the formation of own, non-borrowed new features was also observed:
- loss when declensing alternations to / c, g / s, x / s;
- vocabulary change;
- disappearance of IV declension and so on.
The period from XIV to XVII in the history of the language is called Old Russian.
Modern literary Russian
The familiar language was actually formed in the 17th – 19th centuries. A significant role in this process was played by the activities of Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov. He created the rules of versification in Russian, was the author of scientific grammar.
However, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is rightfully considered the direct creator of the modern Russian literary language. Of course, if you look at any book in recent years and compare it, for example, with the text of "The Captain's Daughter", you will find a lot of differences. Nevertheless, it was the great poet and writer who managed to combine the features of the literary language of previous eras with colloquial features, and this became the basis for further development.
Borrowing
Of great importance in the history of any language is the influence of adverbs spoken by the population of neighboring or simply friendly states. For many centuries, Russian was replenished with words foreign in origin. Today they are called borrowings. They are easy to hear in almost any conversation:
- English: football, sports, hockey;
- German: hairdresser, sandwich, gateway;
- French: veil, muffler, jacket, floor lamp;
- Spanish: cocoa, bullfighting, castanets;
- Latin: vacuum, delegate, republic.
Along with borrowings, native Russian words are also distinguished . They arose in all periods of history, some of them passed from the ancient form of language. Original Russian words can be divided into several groups:
- General Slavic (formed before the 5th — 6th centuries): mother, night, day, birch, drink, eat, brother;
- Eastern Slavic (formed before the XIV-XV centuries. Common for Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian): uncle, walk, forty, family;
- Russian proper (from the XIV century): nouns denoting persons with suffixes -chik and -chik (machine gunner), abstract nouns with suffix -ost (resentment), compound words (university, BAM, UN) formed from adjectives.
Language role
Today, several countries use Russian as the official language. These are Russia, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is the national language of our people and the basis of international communication in central Eurasia, Eastern Europe, the countries of the former USSR, as well as one of the working languages used by the UN.
The power of the Russian language is fully reflected in classical literature. Imagery, a wealth of vocabulary, especially sounding, word formation and syntax made it worthy to play an important role in the interaction of different peoples of the whole world. All this is revealed to schoolchildren when they study the subject “Russian Language”. Grammar and punctuation wilds become more interesting when a long history, the great power and strength of the people and language are hidden behind them.