The Slavic language group includes peoples. The history of the origin of the Russian language

Russian is one of the largest languages ​​in the world: in terms of the number of speakers, it ranks fifth after Chinese, English, Hindi and Spanish. It 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 Belarusian and Ukrainian are closest to the Russian language. Together, these languages ​​form the East Slavic subgroup, which is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family.

1. Name the two most characteristic features of the grammatical structure of the Russian language

The first feature that creates the complexity of Russian morphology is the changeability of the word, that is, the grammatical arrangement of words with endings. The endings express the case and number of nouns, the agreement of adjectives, participles and ordinal numbers in phrases, the person and number of present and future tense verbs, the gender and number of past tense verbs.

The second feature of the Russian language is word order. Unlike other languages, the Russian language allows great freedom in word arrangement. The subject can be either before the predicate or after the predicate. Permutations are also allowed for other members of the sentence. Syntactically related words can be separated by other words. Of course, this or that word order is not at all random, but it is not regulated by purely grammatical rules, as in other European languages, where, for example, such word functions as subject and object are distinguished with its help.

1. What do you think is the difficulty of the Russian language for an Englishman?

The main difficulty lies in the change of the word. Russian people, of course, do not notice this, because it is natural and simple for us to say either EARTH, then EARTH, then EARTH - depending on the role of the word in the sentence, on its connection with other words, but for speakers of languages ​​​​of a different system - it is unusual and difficult. The point, however, is not at all that there is something superfluous in the Russian language, but that those meanings that are conveyed in Russian by changing the form of the word are conveyed in other languages ​​in other ways, for example, using prepositions, or word order, or even a change in the intonation of a word.

1. Does the Russian language need foreign words?

The lexical richness of a language is created not only by its own capabilities, but also by borrowing from other languages, since political, economic and cultural ties have always existed and still exist between peoples. The Russian language is no exception. In different historical periods, words from various languages ​​penetrated into the Russian language. There are very ancient borrowings. Speakers may not even be aware of it. For example, “foreign” words are: sugar (Greek), candy (Lat.), August (Lat.), compote (German), jacket (Swedish), lamp (German) and many other familiar words. Starting from the Petrine era, for obvious reasons (“a window to Europe”), borrowings from European languages ​​became more active: German, French, Polish, Italian, and English. At the present time - the end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century - the dictionary of a Russian person is replenished with Americanisms, that is, English words that came from the American version of the English language. The flow of borrowing in different historical periods is more or less active, sometimes it becomes stormy, but over time, its activity is lost. In the late 18th and early 19th century, there were many borrowings from French. Borrowing words from any language, the Russian language adapts them to its system, that is, foreign words are mastered. So, in particular, nouns acquire Russian endings, acquire a sign of gender, some begin to decline.

1. Why do Russian people so often make mistakes when using numerals?

An extremely complex system is represented by Russian numerals. This applies not only to their variability. Number names have different structures and represent different types of declension. Wed one (changes as an adjective), two, three, four (a special type of declension), five (changes as a 3rd declension noun, but not in numbers), forty, ninety and one hundred have only two forms: in all oblique cases the ending is -a: forty, one hundred. However, if one hundred is part of a compound number, it changes differently, cf. five hundred, five hundred, about five hundred.

At the moment, for example, there is a very noticeable tendency to simplify the declension of numerals: many Russians decline complex numerals only by half: cf. with fifty-three instead of the correct one with fifty-three. The system of declension of numerals is clearly being destroyed, and this is happening before our eyes and with our participation.

6. Name one of the changes in sounds and two changes in morphology known from the history of the Russian language (optional)

The sounding speech of a Russian person in that ancient era, of course, was not recorded by anyone (there were no appropriate technical methods), however, science knows the main processes that have taken place in the Russian language over the centuries, including processes that change the sound structure of the language, his phonetic system. It is known, for example, that in the words forest and day until about the 12th century there were not three sounds, but four, and that different vowels sounded in the first syllable of these two words. None of those who speak Russian today can accurately reproduce them, including phonetic experts. but experts know how they roughly sounded. This is because linguistics has developed methods for the study of ancient languages.

The number of types of declension of nouns has significantly decreased: now, as you know, there are 3 of them, but there were much more - in different periods, a different number. For example, a son and a brother leaned differently for some time. Nouns such as sky and word were declined in a special way (features were preserved in the forms of heaven, words), etc.

Among the cases there was a special case - "vocative". This case form was received by the appeal: father - father, old man - elder, etc. In the prayers in the Church Slavonic language it sounded: “Our Father”, who art in heaven…, glory to you, Lord, the king of heaven…. The vocative case has been preserved in Russian fairy tales and other works of folklore: Kitty! Brother! Help me out! (Cat, rooster and fox).

The Old Russian verb was significantly different from the modern one: there was not one past tense, but four. - each with its own forms and meanings: aorist, imperfect, perfect and pluperfect. Three tenses were lost, one was preserved - the perfect, but it changed its form beyond recognition: in the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" we read: "why are you going to sing, you took all the tribute" (why are you going again? - after all, you have already taken all the tribute) - auxiliary verb (thou) fell away, only the participle form with the suffix L remained (here “caught”, i.e. took), which became for us the only form of the past tense of the verb: walked, wrote, etc.

7. In what area of ​​the Russian language system are the changes most noticeable and understandable: in phonetics, in morphology, or in vocabulary. Why?

Different aspects of the language change with varying degrees of activity: vocabulary changes most actively and most noticeably for speakers. Everyone knows the concepts of archaisms / neologisms. The meanings of words and their compatibility change. The phonetic structure and grammatical structure of the language, including Russian, is much more stable, but changes are taking place here too. They are not immediately noticeable, not like changes in the use of words. But specialists, historians of the Russian language, have established very important, profound changes that have taken place in the Russian language over the past 10 centuries. The changes that have taken place over the past two centuries, since the time of Pushkin, are also known - they are not so profound. For example, a certain type of noun. husband. p changed the form of the plural. numbers: in the time of Zhukovsky, Pushkin they said: houses, teachers, bread with an emphasis on the first syllable. The replacement of the ending Ы with an accented A at first occurred only in individual words, then more and more words began to be pronounced this way: teachers, professors, haystacks, workshops, locksmiths. Characteristically, this process is still ongoing and involves more and more words, i.e. you and I, who speak Russian now, are witnesses and participants in this process.

8. What is the essential difference between changes in language and changes in writing?

As you can see, there is a fundamental, fundamental difference between changes in writing (graphics) and changes in language: no king, no ruler can change the language by his will. It is impossible to order speakers not to pronounce any sounds, not to use any cases. Changes in the language occur under the influence of various factors and reflect the internal properties of the language. They occur against the will of the speakers (although, of course, they are created by the speaking community itself). We are not talking about changes in the style of letters, in the number of letters, in spelling rules. The history of language and the history of writing are different stories. Science (the history of the Russian language) has established how the Russian language has changed over the centuries: what changes have occurred in the sound system, in morphology, in syntax and in vocabulary. Development trends are also studied, new phenomena and processes are noted. New trends are born in live speech - oral and written.

9. Is it possible for a language to exist without writing? Argument your answer

In principle, a language can exist without writing (although its possibilities in this case are limited). At the dawn of mankind, there was at first only oral speech. Until now, there are peoples in the world that do not have a written language, but, of course, they have a language. Other proofs of the possibility of language without writing can be cited. For example: without writing, small children speak the language (before studying at school). So, the language existed and exists, first of all, in oral form. But with the development of civilization, it also acquired another form - written. The written form of speech developed on the basis of the oral one and existed, first of all, as its graphic display. In itself, it is a remarkable achievement of the human mind to establish a correspondence between a speech element and a graphic icon.

10. In what other way, besides writing, is it possible in our time to save speech and transmit it over a distance? (There is no direct answer in the textbook)

Speech in our time can be recorded - stored on various audio and video media - discs, cassettes, etc. And later on such media you can transfer it.

11. Is it possible in principle to reform writing? Argument your answer

Yes, it can be changed and even reformed. The letter is not part of the language, but only corresponds to it, serves as its reflection. It is invented by society for practical purposes. With the help of a system of graphic icons, people capture speech, save it and can transmit it over a distance. The letter can be changed at the will of the people, reformed if there is a practical need for this. The history of mankind knows many facts of changing types of writing, that is, ways of graphic transmission of speech. There are fundamental changes, for example, the transition from the hieroglyphic system to the alphabetic or within the alphabetic system - the replacement of Cyrillic with Latin or vice versa. Smaller changes in writing are also known - changes in the style of letters. Even more frequent changes are the elimination of some individual letters from the practice of writing, and the like. An example of writing changes: for the Chukchi language, writing was created only in 1931 on the basis of the Latin alphabet, but already in 1936 the letter was translated into Russian graphics.

12. With what historical event is the emergence of writing in Russia connected? When did it happen?

The emergence of writing in Russia is associated with the official adoption of Christianity in 988.

13. Why is the Slavic alphabet called "Cyrillic"?

Russian alteration of the Greek alfabetos, composed of the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet - alpha and beta - in the Slavic version of az and beeches. It is generally accepted that the names of the Slavic letters were invented by the creator Slavic alphabet Cyril in the ninth century. He wanted the very name of the letter to be not a meaningless complex of sounds, but to have meaning. He called the first letter azъ - in ancient Bulgarian “I”, the second - just “letter” (this is what this word looked like in ancient times - bouky), the third - veda (from the ancient Slavic verb vedi - “to know”). If we translate the name of the first three letters of this alphabet into modern Russian, we get "I learned the letter." Slavic alphabet (Cyrillic) was developed by a team of missionary scientists led by the brothers Cyril and Methodius, when the adoption of Christianity by the Slavic peoples required the creation of church texts in their native language. The alphabet quickly spread in the Slavic countries, and in the 10th century it penetrated from Bulgaria to Russia.

14. Name the most famous monuments of Russian writing

Monuments of ancient Russian literature about ancient Russian writing and books: The Tale of Bygone Years, Book of Powers, Daniil Zatochnik, Metropolitan Hilarion, Kirill of Turov, Life of Euphrosyne of Suzdal, etc.

15. What is the significance of "birch bark letters" for the history of Russian writing?

Birch bark documents are both material (archaeological) and written sources; their location is just as important a parameter for history as their content. Letters “give names” to the silent finds of archaeologists: instead of the faceless “estate of a noble Novgorodian” or “traces of a wooden canopy”, we can talk about the “estate of the priest-artist Olisey Petrovich, nicknamed Grechin” and about “traces of a canopy over the premises of the local court of the prince and posadnik” . The same name in letters found on neighboring estates, mentions of princes and other statesmen, mentions of significant sums of money, geographical names - all this says a lot about the history of buildings, their owners, their social status, their connections with other cities and regions.

There are, however, differences of a material, functional, and typological nature, due to the long-term independent development of Slavic tribes and nationalities in different ethnic, geographical, historical and cultural conditions, their contacts with kindred and unrelated ethnic groups.

Slavic languages ​​are usually divided into 3 groups according to the degree of their proximity to each other: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian) and West Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that retained a certain genetic independence , Upper and Lower Lusatian). There are also small local groups of Slavs with their own literary languages. Thus, the Croats in Austria (Burgenland) have their own literary language based on the Chakavian dialect. Not all Slavic languages ​​have come down to us. At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. the Polish language disappeared. The distribution of Slavic languages ​​within each group has its own characteristics (see East Slavic languages, West Slavic languages, South Slavic languages). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in the Slavic languages ​​are different. The Czech literary language has a more complex stylistic structure than Slovak, but the latter better preserves the features of dialects. Sometimes the dialects of one Slavic language differ from each other more than independent Slavic languages. For example, the morphology of the Shtokavian and Chakavian dialects of the Serbo-Croatian language differs much more deeply than the morphology of the Russian and Belarusian languages. The proportion of identical elements is often different. For example, the category of diminutive in Czech is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in Russian.

Of the Indo-European languages, C. I are the closest to the Baltic languages. This proximity served as the basis for the theory of " Balto-Slavic proto-language", according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first separated from the Indo-European proto-language, later splitting into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness by the long contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established in which territory the separation of the Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European took place. It can be assumed that it took place to the south of those territories that, according to various theories, belong to the territory of the Slavic ancestral homelands. There are many such theories, but all of them do not localize the ancestral home where the Indo-European proto-language could be. On the basis of one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavonic), the Proto-Slavic language was later formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. The history of the Proto-Slavic language was longer than the history of individual Slavic languages. For a long time it developed as a single dialect with the same structure. Later, dialect variants appear. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language, its dialects into independent S. Ya. was long and difficult. It was most active in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD. e., during the formation of the early Slavic feudal states in the territory of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of various geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were mastered, the Slavs entered into relationships with peoples and tribes standing at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of the Slavic languages.

The Proto-Slavic language was preceded by the period of the Proto-Slavic language, elements of which can be restored with the help of ancient Indo-European languages. The Proto-Slavic language in its main part is restored using the data of S. Ya. different periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into 3 periods: the most ancient - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic language contact, the period of Balto-Slavic community and the period of dialect fragmentation and the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic languages.

The individuality and originality of the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape even in the early period. It was then that a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism became much simpler, the stage of reduction became widespread in ablaut, the root ceased to obey the ancient restrictions. According to the fate of the middle palate k ’and g’, the Proto-Slavic language is included in the satəm group (sürdce, pisati, prositi, cf. lat. cor - cordis, pictus, precor; zürno, znati, zima, cf. lat. granum, cognosco, hiems). However, this feature was implemented inconsistently: cf. Praslav *kamy, *kosa, *gǫsь, *gordъ, *bergъ, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent - to the name. Most of the suffixes were already formed on the Proto-Slavic soil. Proto-Slavic vocabulary is distinguished by great originality; already in the early period of its development, the Proto-Slavic language experienced a number of significant transformations in the field of lexical composition. While retaining in most cases the old Indo-European lexical fund, at the same time he lost many old Indo-European lexemes (for example, some terms from the field of social relations, nature, etc.). Many words have been lost due to various kinds of prohibitions. Forbidden, for example, was the name of the oak - Indo-European. perku̯os, whence lat. quercus. The old Indo-European root has come down to us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. In the Slavic languages, the taboo dǫbъ was established, from where Rus. "oak", Polish. dąb, Bulgarian db, etc. The Indo-European name for the bear has been lost. It is preserved only in the new scientific term "Arctic" (cf. Greek ἄρκτος). The Indo-European word in the Proto-Slavic language was replaced by the taboo word formation medvědъ ‘honey eater’. During the period of the Balto-Slavic community, the Slavs borrowed many words from the Balts. During this period, vowel sonants were lost in the Proto-Slavic language, in their place diphthong combinations arose in position before consonants and the sequences of “vowel sonant before vowels” (sьmürti, but umirati), intonations (acute and circumflex) became relevant features. The most important processes of the Proto-Slavic period were the loss of closed syllables and softening of consonants before iot. In connection with the first process, all ancient diphthongic combinations turned into monophthongs, syllabic smooth, nasal vowels arose, a syllable division moved, which, in turn, caused a simplification of consonant groups, the phenomenon of intersyllabic dissimilation. These ancient processes left their mark on all modern Slavic languages, which is reflected in many alternations: cf. Russian "reap - reap"; “to take - I will take”, “name - names”, Czech. žíti - žnu, vzíti - vezmu; Serbohorv. zhȅti - zhmȇm, uzeti - ȕzmȇm, ȉme - names. The softening of consonants before iot is reflected in the form of alternations s - š, z - ž, etc. All these processes had a strong impact on the grammatical structure, on the system of inflections. In connection with the softening of the consonants before the iot, the process of the so-called first palatalization of the posterior palate was experienced: k > č, g > ž, x > š. On this basis, even in the Proto-Slavic language, the alternations k: č, g: ž, x: š were formed, which had a great influence on nominal and verbal word formation. Later, the so-called second and third palatalization of the posterior palate began to operate, as a result of which the alternations k: c, g: ʒ (z), x: s (š) arose. The name changed by cases and numbers. In addition to the singular and plural, there was a dual number, which was later lost in almost all Slavic languages. There were nominal stems that performed the functions of definitions. In the late Proto-Slavic period, pronominal adjectives arose. The verb had infinitive and present tense stems. From the first, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles in -l, participles of the active voice of the past tense in -vъ and participles of the passive voice in -n were formed. From the foundations of the present tense, the present tense, the imperative mood, the participle of the active voice of the present tense were formed. Later, in some Slavic languages, the imperfect began to form from this stem.

Even in the depths of the Proto-Slavic language, dialect formations began to form. The most compact was the group of Proto-Slavic dialects, on the basis of which the East Slavic languages ​​later arose. There were 3 subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechit, Lusatian and Czech-Slovak. The most differentiated dialectally was the South Slavic group.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period in the history of the Slavs, when tribal social relations dominated. Significant changes occurred during the period of early feudalism. This was reflected in the further differentiation of the Slavic languages. By the 12th-13th centuries. there was a loss of super-short (reduced) vowels ъ and ь, characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they turned into full vowels. As a result, there have been significant changes in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages. Many common processes have gone through the Slavic languages ​​in the field of grammar and lexical composition.

For the first time, Slavic languages ​​received literary processing in the 60s. 9th c. The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic for the needs of Great Moravia. At its core, the new literary language was based on the South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it adopted many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called the Old Church Slavonic language), the richest original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From the 9th c. Slavic texts have not been preserved. The most ancient date back to the 10th century: the Dobrudzhan inscription 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuil 993, etc. From the 11th century. many Slavic monuments have already been preserved. Slavic literary languages ​​of the era of feudalism, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Some important functions were performed by foreign languages ​​(in Russia - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin). The unification of literary languages, the development of written and pronunciation norms, the expansion of the sphere of use of the native language - all this characterizes the long period of formation of the national Slavic languages. The Russian literary language has gone through a centuries-old and complex evolution. He absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Slavonic language, was influenced by many European languages. It developed without interruption for a long time. The process of formation and history of a number of other literary Slavic languages ​​went differently. In the Czech Republic in the 18th century. literary language, which reached in the 14-16 centuries. great perfection, almost disappeared. The German language dominated in the cities. During the period of the national revival, the Czech "wake-ups" artificially revived the language of the 16th century, which at that time was already far from the vernacular. The entire history of the Czech literary language in the 19th-20th centuries. reflects the interaction of the old bookish language and spoken language. The development of the Slovak literary language proceeded differently. Not burdened by old book traditions, it is close to the folk language. Serbia until the 19th century. the Church Slavonic language of the Russian version dominated. In the 18th century began the process of rapprochement of this language with the people. As a result of the reform carried out by V. Karadzic in the middle of the 19th century, a new literary language was created. This new language began to serve not only the Serbs, but also the Croats, in connection with which it began to be called Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian. The Macedonian literary language was finally formed in the middle of the 20th century. Slavic literary languages ​​have developed and are developing in close communication with each other. For the study of Slavic languages, see Slavic studies.

• Meillet A., Common Slavonic language, trans. from French, M., 1951;
• Bernstein S. B., Essay on comparative grammar of Slavic languages. Introduction. Phonetics, M., 1961;
• his own, Essay on Comparative Grammar of Slavonic Languages. Alternations. Name bases, M., 1974;
• Kuznetsov PS, Essays on the morphology of the Proto-Slavic language. M., 1961;
• Nachtigal R., Slavic languages, trans. from Slovenian, M., 1963;
• Entry to the historical-historical development of the words of the Yan language. For red. O. S. Melnichuk, Kiev, 1966;
• National revival and formation of Slavic literary languages, M., 1978;
• Boskovic R., Fundamentals of Comparative Grammar of Slavic Languages. Phonetics and word formation, M., 1984;
• Birnbaum H., Proto-Slavic language. Achievements and problems of its reconstruction, trans. from English, M., 1987;
• Vaillant A., Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, t. 1-5, Lyon-P., 1950-77.

Replenishment of the vocabulary with new words by creating them from the word-formation elements available in the language and by borrowing words from the languages ​​of other peoples is a natural phenomenon for all languages.

Russian language refers to Slavic group languages. Related to it are the living East Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200b- Ukrainian and Belorussian; West Slavic - Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Slovak, Lusatian; South Slavic - Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian; dead West Slavic - Polabian and Pomeranian; South Slavic - Old Church Slavonic.

Long before our era, tribes of Slavs settled on the lands between the Dnieper and the Vistula, who developed their own common Slavic language. By the 5th - 6th centuries. among the Slavs, who by that time had significantly expanded their territory, three groups separated themselves: southern, western and eastern. This isolation of the Slavic tribes was accompanied by the division of the common Slavic language into independent languages. East Slavic (Old Russian) language is the language of a separate eastern group of Slavic tribes.

Settlement of Slavic tribes in the tenth century.

From the 7th century by the ninth century developed, and from the 9th century. until the second third of the 12th century. there was an East Slavic (Old Russian) state - Kievan Rus. The population of Kievan Rus communicated through close dialects of the East Slavic (Old Russian) language. In the XII - XIII centuries. Kievan Rus broke up into separate principalities. The East Slavic (Old Russian) language gave rise to three languages ​​- Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. They separated already by the 14th century. On the northeastern outskirts of Kievan Rus in the XIV century. the state of Moscow Rus began to be created, the population of which spoke the emerging Russian language. In the era of the Muscovite state and in subsequent eras, the Russian language is the language of only one of the three East Slavic peoples.

Originally Russian words are divided into three groups: common Slavic, East Slavic (Old Russian) and proper Russian. For example, common Slavic words: beard, eyebrow, hip, head, lip, throat and etc.; East Slavic (Old Russian) words: gaff, enough, rope, blackberry and others. From the XIV century. actually Russian words began to appear in the Russian language ( alcove, get lost, militia and etc.). They were created on the basis of common Slavic, East Slavic (Old Russian) and borrowed words. For example, in the XVI century. the word was borrowed from the Polish language pharmacy. On the basis of this word, the adjective arose in Russian pharmacy(according to the rules of Russian word production). Actually Russian words make up a significant layer of the vocabulary of the modern Russian language.

Everyone who was born and raised in Russia knows the song about the dashing Don Cossack Stepan Timofeevich Razin, the leader of the popular uprising in the early 70s. 17th century

From behind the island to the rod,

To the expanse of the river wave

Painted ones come up

Stenki Razin Chelny.

The words in this song are ancient. Let's look into their history, and at the same time into the languages ​​of neighboring peoples.

Word island in use since the 11th century; it has an attachment about- connected with the Indo-European root streu-, meaning "flow, leak, pour" (by the way, the same root is in the word jet). Wed: in Latvian strava and in Lithuanian srava, srove- current, flow; in german Strom- current, flow (strömen - flow, run, flow). Is there a connection between the island and the current? Of course have. After all, an island is a piece of land surrounded by water on all sides. Word island appeared not only in Russian, it has relatives in other Slavic languages: island(Ukrainian), vostrau(Belarusian), island(Bulgarian) island(Serbo-Croatian), island(Czech and Slovak), ostrow(Old Polish).

Word rod(a place in the river with the highest flow rate and depth) has been used since the 14th - 15th centuries; compare: shear(Ukrainian), stridzhan(Belarusian).

Words arose in antiquity river and river(Indo-European basis meant "flow, stream"); compare: rika and rich(Ukrainian), cancer and cancer(Belarusian), river and river(Bulgarian), river and speeches(Serbo-Croatian), river and recen(Slovenian), Reka and ricni(Czech), rieka and riecny(Slovak), rzeka and rzeczny(Polish).

From the 11th century the word used in ancient Russian shuttle; its basis is also Indo-European, meaning "to rise, to rise above something"; hence the English hill(hill, hill) and German Holm(elevation, hill, river island). But really dude (pl. canoes) - that is, a boat, a boat - was perceived from a distance as something towering above the smooth surface of the water. Of course, the diminutive is also remembered shuttle - firstly, like a small boat, and secondly, like a part of a loom (elongated in shape, like a boat). Wed: choven and official(Ukrainian), choven and chounik(Belarusian), chlun(Bulgarian) Coln and Colnicek(Slovenian), clun and clunek(Czech), cln and clnok(Slovak), czolno(Polish).

Sailing ships (boats) on the river; shuttle of an automatic loom; space shuttle Clipper (Russia)

How do scientists determine which words are common Slavic, which are East Slavic (Old Russian), and which are actually Russian? To do this, they compare in all Slavic languages ​​the meaning and pronunciation of words denoting the same objects, phenomena, signs, actions. Common Slavic will be those words that will appear in all or most Slavic languages, and each of the three groups of Slavic languages ​​\u200b\u200bmust be represented (eastern, southern, western). If it turns out that words exist, for example, only in Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian and Slovene, then these words should be considered South Slavic; if only in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, then these are East Slavic (Old Russian) words. If there are words in only one of the languages, then these are already their own formations of one or another Slavic language, for example, Russian.

The first scientific etymological dictionary of the Russian language appeared at the end of the 19th century. And in the last century, the Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by A. G. Preobrazhensky and the Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by Max Fasmer, as well as several short etymological dictionaries, were published.

In one of his books, L. V. Uspensky made an interesting comparison of Russian and Bulgarian words.

“When our soldier entered into a conversation with a Bulgarian, they, smiling sweetly at each other, all the time tried to moderate the pace of the conversation.

“My dear man,” the Russian persuaded, “don’t speak so fast, speak more slowly!”

- Pray those, friend, do not say such a borzo, say funny!

Subgroups

A number of researchers, in addition to the languages ​​mentioned above, distinguish now extinct languages ​​that in the past occupied an intermediate position between South Slavic and West Slavic (Pannonian Slavic), as well as between South Slavic and East Slavic languages ​​(Dakoslavic).

Origin

The Slavic languages ​​within the Indo-European family are closest to the Baltic languages. The similarity between the two groups served as the basis for the theory of " Balto-Slavic proto-language", according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first separated from the Indo-European proto-language, later splitting into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, many scientists explain their special closeness by the long contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs and deny the existence of the Balto-Slavic language.

It has not been established in which territory the separation of the Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European / Balto-Slavic took place. From one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavic), the Proto-Slavic language was formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. The history of the Proto-Slavic language was longer than the history of individual Slavic languages. For a long time it developed as a single dialect with an identical structure. Dialect variants arose later.

The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language into independent languages ​​took place most actively in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD, during the formation of the early Slavic states on the territory of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of various geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were mastered, the Slavs entered into relationships with the inhabitants of these territories, who stood at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of the Slavic languages.

Separation time

Gray and Atkinson

Atkinson and Gray performed a statistical analysis of cognates of 103 living and dead Indo-European languages ​​(out of about 150 known), using a lexico-statistical database (created from Swadesh lists by Isidore Dayen) and additional information.

And the Slavic linguistic unity, according to the results of their research, broke up 1300 years ago, that is, around the 8th century AD. The Balto-Slavic linguistic unity broke up 3400 years ago, that is, around the 15th century BC.

The methods and results of Gray and Atkinson have been heavily criticized from various quarters.

Chang, Cathcart, Hall and Garrett

Kasyan, Dybo

In September 2015, A. S. Kasyan and A. V. Dybo, as part of an interdisciplinary study on Slavic ethnogenesis, published a lexico-statistical classification of Slavic languages, built on high-quality 110-word Swadesh lists, collected according to the Global Lexicostatistical Database project standard » and processed by modern phylogenetic algorithms.

The resulting dated tree is in agreement with the traditional Slavic point of view on the structure of the Slavic group. The tree suggests the first division of the Proto-Slavic language into three branches: eastern, western and southern. The moment of collapse is dated to ca. 100 AD e., this is consistent with the opinion of archaeologists that at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. the Slavic population occupied a rather vast territory and was no longer monolithic. Further, in the V-VI centuries. n. e., three Slavic branches are almost synchronously divided into more fractional taxa, which corresponds to the rapid spread of the Slavs in Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD. e. (Slavicization of Europe).

The Slovene language was excluded from the analysis, since Ljubljana Koine and Literary Slovene show a mixture of South Slavic and West Slavic lexical features (presumably this may indicate the original West Slavic attribution of the Slovene language, which has been influenced by neighboring Serbo-Croatian dialects for a long time), and qualitative Swadeshevic lists for Slovene dialects were not collected at that time. Due to the lack or unreliability of lexical data, the study did not cover the so-called. Old Novgorod dialect, Polab language and some other Slavic idioms.

The history of development

In the early period of the development of the Slavic proto-language, a new system of vowel sonants developed, consonantism became much simpler, the stage of reduction became widespread in ablaut, and the root ceased to obey the ancient restrictions. The Proto-Slavic language is included in the satem group (sürdce, pisati, prositi, cf. lat. cor, - cordis, pictus, precor; zürno, znati, zima, cf. lat. granum, cognosco, hiems). However, this feature was not fully realized: cf. Praslav *kamy, *kosa. *gǫsь, *gordъ, *bergъ, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent - to the name.

Dialects began to form in the Proto-Slavic language. There were three groups of dialects: Eastern, Western and Southern. From them, the corresponding languages ​​were then formed. The group of East Slavic dialects was the most compact. There were 3 subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechitic, Lusatian Serb and Czech-Slovak. The South Slavic group was dialectally the most differentiated.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period in the history of the Slavs, when the tribal social system dominated. Significant changes took place during the period of early feudalism. In the XII-XIII centuries, there was a further differentiation of the Slavic languages, there was a loss of the ultra-short (reduced) vowels ъ and ь characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they turned into full vowels. As a result, there have been significant changes in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages, in their lexical composition.

Phonetics

In the field of phonetics, there are some significant differences between the Slavic languages.

In most Slavic languages, the opposition of vowels in longitude / brevity is lost, at the same time in Czech and Slovak languages ​​(excluding North Moravian and East Slovak dialects), in the literary norms of the Shtokavian group (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin), and also partly in Slovene these differences persist. In the Lechitic languages, Polish and Kashubian, nasal vowels are preserved, which are lost in other Slavic languages ​​(nasal vowels were also characteristic of the phonetic system of the extinct Polabian language). For a long time, nasals were retained in the Bulgarian-Macedonian and Slovenian language areas (in the peripheral dialects of the respective languages, relics of nasalization are reflected in a number of words to this day).

Slavic languages ​​are characterized by the presence of palatalization of consonants - the approach of the flat middle part of the tongue to the palate when pronouncing a sound. Almost all consonants in Slavic languages ​​can be hard (non-palatalized) or soft (palatalized). Due to a number of depalatalization processes, the opposition of consonants in terms of hardness / softness in the languages ​​of the Czech-Slovak group is significantly limited (in Czech, the opposition t - t', d - d', n - n', in Slovak - t - t', d - d', n - n', l - l', while in the West Slovak dialect due to assimilation t', d' and their subsequent hardening, as well as hardening l', as a rule, only one pair is presented n - n', in a number of Western Slovak dialects (Povazhsky, Trnavsky, Zagorsky) paired soft consonants are completely absent). The opposition of consonants in terms of hardness / softness did not develop in the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian and Western Bulgarian-Macedonian language areas - from the old paired soft consonants, only n' (< *nj), l' (< *lj) have not undergone hardening (primarily in the Serbo-Croatian area).

Stress in Slavic languages ​​is realized in different ways. In most Slavic languages ​​(except Serbo-Croatian and Slovene), the polytonic Proto-Slavic stress has been replaced by a dynamic one. The free, mobile nature of the Proto-Slavic stress was preserved in the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian languages, as well as in the Torlak dialect and the northern dialect of the Kashubian language (the extinct Polabian language also had a mobile stress). In the Central Russian dialects (and, accordingly, in the Russian literary language), in the South Russian dialect, in the North Kashubian dialects, as well as in the Belarusian and Bulgarian languages, this type of stress caused the reduction of unstressed vowels. In a number of languages, primarily in West Slavic, a fixed stress has formed, assigned to a certain syllable of a word or bar group. The penultimate syllable is stressed in the Polish literary language and most of its dialects, in the Czech North Moravian and East Slovak dialects, in the southwestern dialects of the southern Kashubian dialect, and also in the Lemko dialect. The first syllable is stressed in the Czech and Slovak literary languages ​​and most of their dialects, in the Lusatian languages, in the South Kashubian dialect, and also in some Goral dialects of the Lesser Polish dialect. In Macedonian, the stress is also fixed - it falls no further than the third syllable from the end of the word (accent group). In the Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian languages, the stress is polytonic, multi-local, the tonic characteristics and the distribution of stress in word forms are different in dialects. In the Central Kashubian dialect, the stress is different, but is assigned to a certain morpheme.

Writing

Slavic languages ​​received their first literary processing in the 60s. ninth century. The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic for the needs of Great Moravia. At its core, the new literary language had a South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it adopted many local linguistic features. It was later developed further in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called Old Church Slavonic) the richest original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, in Russia, in Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From IX century. Slavic texts have not been preserved. The most ancient date back to the 10th century: the Dobrudzhan inscription of 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuil of 993, the Varosh inscription of 996 and others. Starting from c. more Slavic monuments have been preserved.

Similarities and differences of Slavic languages

Due to historical reasons, the Slavic languages ​​managed to maintain significant similarities with respect to each other. At the same time, almost each of them has a number of unique features.

Literary languages

In the era of feudalism, Slavic literary languages, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Sometimes the functions of the literary were performed by foreign languages ​​(in Russia - the Old Slavonic language, in the Czech Republic and Poland - the Latin language).

The Russian literary language has gone through a centuries-old and complex evolution. He absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Slavonic language, was influenced by many European languages.

Czech Republic in the 18th century literary language, which reached in the XIV-XVI centuries. great perfection, almost disappeared. The German language dominated in the cities. During the period of national revival in the Czech Republic, the language of the 16th century was artificially revived, which at that time was already far from the national language. History of the Czech literary language of the 19th - centuries. reflects the interaction of the old book language and colloquial. The Slovak literary language had a different history, it developed on the basis of the vernacular. in Serbia until the 19th century. Church Slavonic dominated. In the XVIII century. began the process of rapprochement of this language with the people. As a result of the reform carried out

The structure of the word, the use of grammatical categories, the structure of the sentence, the system of regular sound correspondences, morphonological alternations. This proximity is explained both by the unity of the origin of the Slavic languages, and by their long and intensive contacts at the level of literary languages ​​and dialects. There are, however, differences of a material, functional, and typological nature, due to the long-term independent development of Slavic tribes and nationalities in different ethnic, geographical, historical and cultural conditions, their contacts with kindred and unrelated ethnic groups.

According to the degree of their proximity to each other, Slavic languages ​​​​are usually divided into 3 groups: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian languages) and West Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that has retained a certain genetic independence, Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian languages). There are also small local groups of Slavs with their own literary languages. Thus, the Croats in Austria (Burgenland) have their own literary language based on the Chakavian dialect. Not all Slavic languages ​​have come down to us. At the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII centuries. the Polish language disappeared. The distribution of Slavic languages ​​within each group has its own characteristics (see East Slavic languages, West Slavic languages, South Slavic languages). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in the Slavic languages ​​are different. The Czech literary language has a more complex stylistic structure than Slovak, but the latter better preserves the features of dialects. Sometimes the dialects of one Slavic language differ from each other more than independent Slavic languages. For example, the morphology of the Shtokavian and Chakavian dialects of the Serbo-Croatian language differ much more deeply than the morphology of the Russian and Belarusian languages. The proportion of identical elements is often different. For example, the category of diminutive in Czech is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in Russian.

Of the Indo-European languages, the Slavic languages ​​are closest to the Baltic languages. This proximity served as the basis for the theory of the "Balto-Slavic proto-language", according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first emerged from the Indo-European proto-language, later splitting into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness by the long contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established in which territory the separation of the language continuum from the Indo-European took place. It can be assumed that it took place to the south of those territories that, according to various theories, belong to the territory of the Slavic ancestral home. There are many such theories, but all of them do not localize the ancestral home where the Indo-European proto-language could be. On the basis of one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavonic), the Proto-Slavic language was later formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. The history of the Proto-Slavic language was longer than the history of individual Slavic languages. For a long time it developed as a single dialect with an identical structure. Later, dialect variants appear. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language, its dialects into independent Slavic languages ​​was long and complicated. It took place most actively in the second half of the first millennium of our era, during the formation of the early Slavic feudal states in the territory of Southeastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of various geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were mastered, the Slavs entered into relationships with peoples and tribes standing at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of the Slavic languages.

The Proto-Slavic language was preceded by the period of the Proto-Slavic language, elements of which can be restored with the help of ancient Indo-European languages. The main part of the Proto-Slavic language is restored with the help of data from the Slavic languages ​​of various periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into three periods: the most ancient - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic language contact, the period of Balto-Slavic community and the period of dialectical fragmentation and the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic languages.

The individuality and originality of the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape even in the early period. It was then that a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism became much simpler, the stage of reduction became widespread in ablaut, and the root ceased to obey the ancient restrictions. According to the fate of the middle palate and the Proto-Slavic language is included in the group satəm ("sьrdьce", "pisati", "prositi", cf. Latin "cor" - "cordis", "pictus", "precor"; "zьrno", "znati", "zima", cf. Latin "granum", "cognosco", "hiems"). However, this feature was implemented inconsistently: cf. Proto-Slavic “*kamy”, “*kosa”, “*gąsь”, “gordъ”, “bergъ”, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent - to the name. Most of the suffixes were already formed on the Proto-Slavic soil. Proto-Slavic vocabulary is distinguished by great originality; already in the early period of its development, the Proto-Slavic language experienced a number of significant transformations in the field of lexical composition. While retaining in most cases the old Indo-European lexical fund, at the same time he lost many old Indo-European lexemes (for example, some terms from the field of social relations, nature, etc.). Many words have been lost in connection with various kinds of prohibitions. For example, the name of the oak was forbidden - the Indo-European "*perkuos", whence the Latin "quercus". The old Indo-European root has come down to us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. The taboo “*dąbъ” was established in the Slavic languages, from where the Russian “oak”, the Polish “dąb”, the Bulgarian “dab”, etc. The Indo-European name of the bear has been lost. It is preserved only in the new scientific term "Arctic" (cf. Greek "αρκτος"). The Indo-European word in the Proto-Slavic language was replaced by the taboo phrase "*medvědь" - "honey eater". During the period of the Balto-Slavic community, the Slavs borrowed many words from the Balts. During this period, vowel sonants were lost in the Proto-Slavic language, in their place diphthong combinations arose in position before consonants and the sequences “vowel sonant before vowels” (“sьmürti”, but “umirati”), intonation (acute and circumflex) became relevant features. The most important processes of the Proto-Slavic period were the loss of closed syllables and softening of consonants before iot. In connection with the first process, all ancient diphthongic combinations into monophthongs, syllabic smooth, nasal vowels arose, a syllable division shifted, which, in turn, caused a simplification of consonant groups, the phenomenon of intersyllabic dissimilation. These ancient processes left their mark on all modern Slavic languages, which is reflected in many alternations: cf. Russian “reap - reap”, “take - take”, “name - yen”, Czech “žíti - žnu”, “vzíti - vezmu”, Serbo-Croatian “zheti - we press”, “uzeti - uzmem”, “ime - names” . Softening of consonants before iot is reflected in the form of alternations s/š, z/ž and others. All these processes had a strong impact on the grammatical structure, on the system of inflections. In connection with the softening of consonants before the iot, the process of the so-called first palatalization of the posterior palate was experienced: [k] > [č], [g] > [ž], [x] > [š]. On this basis, even in the Proto-Slavic language, the alternations k / č, g / ž, x / š were formed, which had a great influence on nominal and verbal word formation. later, the so-called second and third palatalizations of the posterior palate began to operate, as a result of which alternations of k / c, g / z, x / s arose. The name changed by cases and numbers. In addition to the singular and plural, there was a dual number, which was later lost in almost all Slavic languages. There were nominal stems that performed the functions of definitions. In the late Proto-Slavic period, pronominal adjectives arose. The verb had the stems of the infinitive and the present tense. From the first, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles in "-l", participles of the real past tense in "-vъ" and participles of the passive voice in "-n" were formed. From the foundations of the present tense, the present tense, the imperative mood, the participle of the active voice of the present tense were formed. Later, in some Slavic languages, the imperfect began to form from this stem.

Even in the depths of the Proto-Slavic language, dialectical formations began to form. The most compact was that group of Proto-Slavic dialects, on the basis of which the East Slavic languages ​​later arose. There were three subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechit, Lusatian Serb and Czech-Slovak. The most differentiated dialectically was the South Slavic group.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period in the history of the Slavs, when tribal social relations dominated. Significant changes occurred during the period of early feudalism. This was reflected in the further differentiation of the Slavic languages. By the XII-XIII centuries. there was a loss of super-short (reduced) vowels [b] and [b] characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they turned into full vowels. As a result, there have been significant changes in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages. Many common processes have gone through the Slavic languages ​​in the field of grammar and lexical composition.

For the first time, Slavic languages ​​received literary processing in the 60s. 9th century The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic for the needs of Great Moravia. The new literary language was based on the South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it adopted many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called the Old Church Slavonic language), the richest original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From IX century. Slavic texts have not been preserved. The most ancient date back to the 10th century: the Dobrujan inscription 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuil 993, etc. From the 11th century. many Slavic monuments have already been preserved. Slavic literary languages ​​of the era of feudalism, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Some important functions were performed by foreign languages ​​(in Russia - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin). The unification of literary languages, the development of written and pronunciation norms, the expansion of the sphere of use of the native language - all this characterizes the long period of formation of the national Slavic languages. The Russian literary language has gone through a centuries-old and complex evolution. He absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Slavonic language, was influenced by many European languages. It developed without interruption for a long time. The process of formation and history of a number of other literary Slavic languages ​​went differently. Czech Republic in the 18th century literary language, which reached in the XIV-XVI centuries. great perfection, almost disappeared. The German language dominated in the cities. During the period of national revival, the Czech “wake-ups” artificially revived the language of the 16th century, which at that time was already far from the vernacular. The whole history of the Czech literary language of the XIX-XX centuries. reflects the interaction of the old book language and colloquial. The development of the Slovak literary language proceeded differently. Not burdened by old book traditions, it is close to the folk language. in Serbia until the 19th century. the Church Slavonic language of the Russian version dominated. In the XVIII century. began the process of rapprochement of this language with the people. As a result of the reform carried out by V. Karadzic in the middle of the 19th century, a new literary language was created. This new language began to serve not only the Serbs, but also the Croats, in connection with which it began to be called Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian. The Macedonian literary language was finally formed in the middle of the 20th century. Slavic literary languages ​​have developed and are developing in close contact with each other. The study of Slavic languages ​​is carried out by Slavic studies.