3. A Brief History
of the Russian
Language
Eurasia
The
Proto-
Indo-
European
s Indo-
European
language
s
The East
Slavic
language
s
Slavonic
language
s
6. Kievan period and feudal
breakup
• During the pre-Kievan period, the main sources of borrowings were Germanic
languages, particularly Gothic andOld Norse. In the Kievan period,
however, loanwords and calques entered the vernacular primarily from Old
Church Slavonic and from Byzantine Greek:
краткий [ˈkra.tkʲɪj] ОCS = ESl короткий 'brief'
короткий [kɐˈro.tkʲɪj] ESl = CS краткий 'short'
библиотек
а
[bɪblʲɪˈo.tie.ka
]
Gr bibliothḗkē via
OCS
'library' (archaic
form)
7. centuries)
глаз [ɡlas]
R; relegates (to poeticuse
only) ComSlоко [ˈo.kə] =
Lat oculus = E eye
'eye'
куртка [ˈku.rtkə] P kurtka, from Lat curtus 'a shortjacket'
бархат [ˈba.rxət] G Barhat 'velvet'
8. Empire (18th–19th centuries)
мачта [ˈma.t͡ɕtə] D mast 'mast'
интерес [ɪn.tʲɪˈrʲes] G Interesse/Fr intérêt 'interest'
библиотек
а [bʲɪ.blʲɪ.ɐˈtʲe.kə] Gr bibliothḗkē via Fr.
bibliothèque
'library'
(modern form)
9. Soviet period and beyond
(20th century)
большев
ик [bəlʲ.ʂɨˈvʲik] R
'Bolshevik' (lit. 'adherent of
the maximum programme',
after the events of the 1903
Party congress,
also taken as 'person of the
majority'.)
Комсомо
л
[kəm.sɐˈmol
]
Abbreviated
agglutination:
Коммунистический
Союз
Молодёжи
[kə.mə.nʲɪˈsʲtʲi.t͡ɕɪ.skʲɪj sɐˈjuz
mə.lɐˈdʲɵ.ʐɨ]
'Communist Youth League'
рабфак [rɐpˈfak]
Abbreviated
agglutination:
рабочий факультет
[rɐˈbo.t͡ɕɪj fə.kulʲˈtʲet]
lit. 'faculty for workers'
(special preparatory courses of
colleges and universities for
workers)
10. RUSSI
AN
Pronunciation [ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk]
Native to
Russia, other post-Soviet
states, Germany, Israel, theUnited
States, Canada, and other parts
of Western Europe
Nativespeakers
150 million (2010)
260 million (2012)
Language
family
Indo-European
Balto-Slavic
Slavic
East Slavic
Russian
Early forms Old East Slavic
Russian
Writing
system
Cyrillic (Russian alphabet)
Russian Braille
15. Example: Song of Igor - Слово о пълку Игоревѣ. c. 1200,
from the Catherine manuscript, c. 1790.
Would it not be meet, o brothers, for us to begin with the old words the
difficult telling of the host of Igor, Igor Sviatoslavich? And to begin in the way
of the true tales of this time, and not in the way of Boyan's inventions. For the
wise Boyan, if he wished to devote to someone [his] song, would wander like a
squirrel over a tree, like a grey wolf over land, like a bluish eagle beneath the
clouds.
Не лѣпо ли ны бяшетъ братіе, начати старыми словесы трудныхъ
повѣстій о полку Игоревѣ, Игоря Святъ славича? Начатижеся тъ
пѣсни по былинамъ сего времени, а не по замышленію Бояню.
Боянъ бо вѣщій, аще кому хотяше пѣснѣ творити, то
растекашется мысію по древу, сѣрымъ волкомъ по земли,
шизымъ орломъ подъ облакы.
16. Did you know that…?
• The standard well-known form of Russian is generally called
the modern Russian literary language established by Peter the Great.
• Mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755
and in 1783 the Russian Academy's, during a period known as the
"Golden Age”.
• Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.
• Education in Russian is still a popular choice for both Russian as a
second language (RSL) and native speakers in Russia as well as many
of the former Soviet republics.
• Russian as an international language: On March 2013 it was announced
that Russian is now the second-most used language on the Internet
after English. Russian is the sixth-most used language on the top 1,000
sites, behind English, Chinese, French, German and Japanese.