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| Russian | |
|---|---|
| русский язык[1] (russkiy yazik) | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈruskʲɪj jɪˈzɨk] |
| Native to | Russian Federation |
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Native speakers
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150 million (2010)[2] 260 million (L1 plus L2 speakers) (2012)[3] |
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Indo-European
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Early form
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| Cyrillic (Russian alphabet) Russian Braille |
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| Official status | |
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Official language in
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Recognised minority
language in |
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| Regulated by | Russian Language Institute[30] at the Russian Academy of Sciences |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ru |
| ISO 639-2 | rus |
| ISO 639-3 | rus |
| Glottolog | russ1263[31] |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-ea < 53-AAA-e |
States where Russian is an official language (dark blue) or a de facto working language (teal)
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listen)) is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine and Latvia, and to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics of the Soviet Union and former participants of the Eastern Bloc.[32][33] Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages. Written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond.It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages. It is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers and the seventh by total number of speakers.[34] The language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English.
Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language. Another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Stress, which is unpredictable, is not normally indicated orthographically[35] though an optional acute accent (знак ударения, znak udareniya) may be used to mark stress, such as to distinguish between homographic words, for example замо́к (zamok, meaning a lock) and за́мок (zamok, meaning a castle), or to indicate the proper pronunciation of uncommon words or names.
Contents
Classification
Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family. It is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus'.[citation needed] From the point of view of the spoken language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn,[citation needed] the other three languages in the East Slavic group. In many places in eastern and southern Ukraine and throughout Belarus, these languages are spoken interchangeably, and in certain areas traditional bilingualism resulted in language mixtures such as Surzhyk in eastern Ukraine and Trasianka in Belarus. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is sometimes considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. Also Russian has notable lexical similarities with Bulgarian due to a common Church Slavonic influence on both languages, as well as because of later interaction in the 19th and 20th centuries, although Bulgarian grammar differs markedly from Russian.[36] In the 19th century, the language was often called "Great Russian" to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called "White Russian" and Ukrainian, then called "Little Russian".The vocabulary (mainly abstract and literary words), principles of word formations, and, to some extent, inflections and literary style of Russian have been also influenced by Church Slavonic, a developed and partly russified form of the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic language used by the Russian Orthodox Church. However, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with many different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language.
Over the course of centuries, the vocabulary and literary style of Russian have also been influenced by Western and Central European languages such as Greek, Latin, Polish, Dutch, German, French, Italian and English,[37] and to a lesser extent the languages to the south and the east: Uralic, Turkic,[38][39] Persian,[40][41] Arabic, as well as Hebrew.[42]
According to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, Russian is classified as a level III language in terms of learning difficulty for native English speakers, requiring approximately 1,100 hours of immersion instruction to achieve intermediate fluency.[43] It is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a "hard target" language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy.
Standard Russian
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Main article: Moscow dialect
The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language (современный русский литературный язык). It arose in the beginning of the 18th century with the modernization reforms of the Russian state under the rule of Peter the Great, and developed from the Moscow (Middle or Central Russian) dialect substratum under the influence of some of the previous century's Russian chancellery language.Mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755; in 1783 the Russian Academy's first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. During the end of the 18th and 19th centuries, a period known as the "Golden Age", the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of the Russian language was stabilized and standardized, and it became the nationwide literary language; meanwhile, Russia's world-famous literature flourished.
Until the 20th century, the language's spoken form was the language of only the upper noble classes and urban population, as Russian peasants from the countryside continued to speak in their own dialects. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the compulsory education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features (such as fricative [ɣ] in Southern Russian dialects) are still observed in colloquial speech.
Geographic distribution
Competence of Russian in the countries of the former USSR, 2004
Competence of Russian in the European Union, 2008
Main article: Geographical distribution of Russian speakers
In 2010, there were 259.8 million speakers of Russian in the world: in Russia – 137.5, in the CIS
and Baltic countries – 93.7, in Eastern Europe and the Balkans – 12.9,
Western Europe – 7.3, Asia – 2.7, Middle East and North Africa – 1.3,
Sub-Saharan Africa – 0.1, Latin America – 0.2, USA, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand – 4.1. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in
the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu,
Spanish and Arabic.[44]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 is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics.[45] Samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, "During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi."[46]
Europe
In Belarus, Russian is co-official alongside Belarusian per the Constitution of Belarus.[47] 77% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 67% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]In Estonia, Russian is officially considered a foreign language.[47] Russian is spoken by 29.6% of the population according to a 2011 estimate from the World Factbook.[49]
Despite large Russian-speaking minorities in Latvia (26.9% ethnic Russians, 2011)[50] Russian is officially considered a foreign language.[47] 55% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 26% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]
In Lithuania Russian is not official, but it still retains the function of a lingua franca.[47] In contrast to the other two Baltic states, Lithuania has a relatively small Russian-speaking minority (5.0% as of 2008).[51]
In Moldova, Russian is considered to be the language of inter-ethnic communication under a Soviet-era law.[47] 50% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 19% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]
According to the 2010 census in Russia, Russian language skills were indicated by 138 million people (99.4% of the population), while according to the 2002 census – 142.6 million people (99.2% of the population).[52]
In Ukraine, Russian is seen as a language of inter-ethnic communication, and a minority language, under the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine.[47] According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 14,400,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 29 million active speakers.[53] 65% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 38% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]
In the 20th century, Russian was a mandatory language taught in the schools of the members of the old Warsaw Pact and in other countries that used to be satellites of the USSR. According to the Eurobarometer 2005 survey,[54] fluency in Russian remains fairly high (20–40%) in some countries, in particular those where the people speak a Slavic language and thereby have an edge in learning Russian (namely, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Bulgaria).
Significant Russian-speaking groups also exist in Western Europe. These have been fed by several waves of immigrants since the beginning of the 20th century, each with its own flavor of language. The United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Norway, and Austria have significant Russian-speaking communities.
Asia
In Armenia Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.[47] 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]In Azerbaijan Russian has no official status, but is a lingua franca of the country.[47] 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48]
In Georgia Russian has no official status, but it is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.[47] Russian is the language of 9% of the population according to the World Factbook.[55] Ethnologue cites Russian as the country's de facto working language.[56]
In Kazakhstan Russian is not a state language, but according to article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration.[47] The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of the population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian, as well as understand the spoken language.[57]
In Kyrgyzstan Russian is an official language per article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan.[47] The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, or 8.99% of the population.[58] Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, or 49.6% of the population in the age group.[58]
In Tajikistan Russian is the language of inter-ethnic communication under the Constitution of Tajikistan and is permitted in official documentation.[47] 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work.[48] The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business.[49]
In Turkmenistan Russian lost its status as the official lingua franca in 1996.[47] Russian is spoken by 12% of the population according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook.[49]
In Uzbekistan Russian has some official roles, being permitted in official documentation and is the lingua franca of the country and the language of the élite.[47][59] Russian is spoken by 14.2% of the population according to an undated estimate from the World Factbook.[49]
In 2005, Russian was the most widely taught foreign language in Mongolia,[60] and was compulsory in Year 7 onward as a second foreign language in 2006.[61]
Russian is also spoken in Israel. The number of native Russian-speaking Israelis numbers around 1.5 million Israelis.[62] The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian.[citation needed] See also Russian language in Israel.
Russian is also spoken as a second language by a small number of people in Afghanistan.[63]
North America
See also: Russian language in the United States
The language was first introduced in North America when Russian explorers voyaged into Alaska
and claimed it for Russia during the 1700s. Although most Russian
colonists left after the United States bought the land in 1867, a
handful stayed and preserved the Russian language in this region to this
day, although only a few elderly speakers of this unique dialect are
left.[64] Sizable Russian-speaking communities also exist in North America, especially in large urban centers of the U.S. and Canada, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Nashville, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane, Toronto, Baltimore, Miami, Chicago, Denver and Cleveland. In a number of locations they issue their own newspapers, and live in ethnic enclaves
(especially the generation of immigrants who started arriving in the
early 1960s). Only about 25% of them are ethnic Russians, however.
Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the overwhelming majority of Russophones in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn in New York City were Russian-speaking Jews. Afterward, the influx from the countries of the former Soviet Union
changed the statistics somewhat, with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians
immigrating along with some more Russian Jews and Central Asians.
According to the United States Census, in 2007 Russian was the primary language spoken in the homes of over 850,000 individuals living in the United States.[65]
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