Russian language
Russian (русский язык (russkij yazyk)) is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages.
| Russian (русский язык [russkij yazyk]) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Russia and many adjacent countries |
| Region: | Eastern Europe and Asia |
| Total speakers: | 220 Million |
| Ranking: | 7th |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European Slavic East Slavic Russian |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, United Nations |
| Regulated by: | - |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1: | ru |
| ISO 639-2: | rus |
| SIL: | RUS |
| Table of contents |
|
2 Classification 3 Geographic Distribution 4 Sounds 5 Related articles 6 External links |
Early historical records of the territory European Russia point to predominance of tribes of the Finno-Ugric language group. Slavic speakers appear to have established sparse settlements of forts in the borderland areas near Belarus and Ukraine between the 6th and the 9th centuries. The incorporation of much of European Russia into the empire of Rus' ushered in the use of Old Church Slavonic in worship and literature, beginning as early as 989. Documentation of the language of this period is scanty, making the question of the relationship between the literary and spoken language difficult at best. Nevertheless, the assimilation of the surrounding Finno-Ugric majority through conquest and conversion by small outposts of Slavic settlement led to massive contributions of the Old Church Slavonic language to the embryonic Russian dialect.
Major divergences with the Old Ruthenian language of Kievan Rus' to the south
were evident by the 1100s, and these were magnified by the political separations of the break-up of the state of Rus', leading to the
incorporation of the closest Slavic neighbors of the Russians into the Lithuanian and Polish states after periods of local independence.
The Russian portions then fell under Mongolian hegemony,
leading to new influences on the developing language. Divergences from
Old Slavonic increased over the 11th to the 17th centuries to the point of complete separation. Upon Russia's opening to the West, new borrowings
from Europeans languages of English, German, French,
Polish and Ukrainian occurred.
In summary, the Russian language developed from early native
Slavic settlement influenced by Finno-Ugric surroundings. An
early overlay and infusion of Old Church Slavonic was very
decisive in local language formation. Later political developments
brought Mongolian then European influences. The Russian scholar
Mikhail Lomonosov provided some of the early standardization of Russian
language. Reforms were also introduced at the time of
Peter the Great, and the orthography was simplified in the
20th century around the time of the Russian Revolution.
Russian is primarily spoken in Russia and other nations of the former Soviet Union, and was also widely taught in schools in countries - satellites of the Soviet Union and Communist states. In Soviet times, Russian was often strongly promoted to the detriment of other local languages. While many of the countries of the former Soviet Union are now promoting their local languages rather than Russian, Russian remains widely spoken in these areas and is often used for intercommunication between these countries.
History
Classification
Geographic Distribution
Official Status
Russian is the official language of Russia, and an official language of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is one of the five official languages of the United Nations.Dialects
There is a number of dialects spoken in Russia. Some linguists divide the Russian language into two dialects, "Northern" and "Southern," with Moscow lying on the zone of transition betwen the two. Others divide the language into three dialects, Northern, Central and Southern, with Moscow lying in the region of the Central dialect.
Russian imperial political policy formerly asserted that the Ukrainian and the Belarussian were not separate languages in their own right, but were to be considered part of the Russian language. Linguists, however, distinguish these three as separate languages of the East Slavic group.Derived Languages
Russenorsk is a pidgin language combining Russian and Norwegian. Russian sign language allows deaf people to communicate.
| Capital | Small | Name | Old name ¹ | Sound | Typical SAMPA Value; |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А | а | A | Az | ah | /a/ |
| Б | б | Be | Buki | b | /b/ |
| В | в | Ve | Vedi | v | /v/ |
| Г | г | Ge | Glagol | g | /g/ |
| Д | д | De | Dobro | d | /d/ |
| Е | е | Ye | Yest | yeh | /jE/ |
| Ё | ё | Yo | – | yoh | /jO/ |
| Ж | ж | Zhe | Zhivete | zh | /Z/ |
| З | з | Ze | Zemlya | z | /z/ |
| И | и | Ee | Ee | ee | /i/ |
| Й | й | Ee kratkoye | Ee kratkoye | y | /j/ |
| К | к | Ka | Kako | k | /k/ |
| Л | л | El | Liudi | l | /l/ |
| М | м | Em | Myslete | m | /m/ |
| Н | н | En | Nash | n | /n/ |
| О | о | O | On | o | /o/ |
| П | п | Pe | Pokoy | p | /p/ |
| Р | р | Er | Rtsy | r | /r/ |
| С | с | Es | Slovo | s | /s/ |
| Т | т | Te | Tverdo | t | /t/ |
| У | у | U | Uk | oo | /u/ |
| Ф | ф | Ef | Fert | f | /f/ |
| Х | х | Ha | Kher | kh | /x/ |
| Ц | ц | Tse | Tsy | ts | /ts/ |
| Ч | ч | Che | Cherv | ch | /tS/ |
| Ш | ш | Sha | Sha | sh | /S/ |
| Щ | щ | Shcha | Shcha | shch | /Sj/ |
| Ъ | ъ | Tvyordyy znak | Yer | N/A | See Notes Below |
| Ы | ы | Ui | Yeri | ui | (IPA i with stroke) |
| Ь | ь | Myagkiy znak | Yer' | N/A | See Notes Below |
| Э | э | E | E Oborotnoye | eh | /E/ |
| Ю | ю | Yu | Yu | yoo | /ju/ |
| Я | я | Ya | Ya (or Yus Malyy) | yah | /ja/ |
| І | і | – | Izhe | ee | /i/ |
| Ѳ | ѳ | – | Feeta | f | /f/ |
| Ѣ | ѣ | – | Yat | yeh | /jE/ |
| Ѵ | ѵ | – | Izhitsa | ee | /i/ |
Notes on the Alphabet and Pronunciation of Russian
- In old times the letters of the alphabet had mnemonic names.
- While Russian has a mostly phonetic orthography, there are exceptions. Below are a few of the most common.
- In a small number of extremely common instances, "г" is pronounced as /v/: in masculine and neuter singular genitive pronouns (such as "его" his, him), and masculine and neuter singular genitive adjective endings ("~ого" and "~его").
- Voiced consonants with voiceless counterparts lose their voicing at the end of a word, e.g. "строганов" (stroganoff) is pronounced /stroganof/.
- Voiceless consonants with voiced counterparts become voiced before voiced consonants, e.g. "футбол" (soccer/football) is pronounced /fudbol/.
- Similarly, voiced consonants with voiceless counterparts become voiceless before voiceless consonants, e.g. "водка" (vodka) is pronounced /votka/.
- Vowel is only fully pronounced when it is under accent. In the non-accented (weak) position, vowel is "reduced" to the neutral sound. Spelling, on the other hand, doesn't depend on whether position is accented or not.
- In a small number of extremely common instances, "г" is pronounced as /v/: in masculine and neuter singular genitive pronouns (such as "его" his, him), and masculine and neuter singular genitive adjective endings ("~ого" and "~его").
- The hard sign (Ъ/ъ)indicates that the preceding consonant is not palatized.
- The soft sign (Ь/ь)indicates that the preceding consonant is palatized.
- The vowels Е/е, Ё/ё, И/и, Ю/ю, Я/я make the consonants before them palatal consonant. This means that one pronounces the consonant with the middle of the tongue raised, pressing against the hard palate.
- Feeta is similar to Greek theta.
- Izhitsa is similar to Latin Y.