The vocabulary of the modern Russian language is heterogeneous. Having gone through a long and complex path of development, he concentrated in himself words that were different in time of occurrence and origin. Some words arose in deep prehistory (I, that; three, five; brother, sister; fire, sky head, etc.), others - in recent years, before our eyes (perestroika - in 1986, single-mandate -- in 1994).

Original Russian words (mountain, say, etc.) coexist with words borrowed from other languages ​​(for example, ship - from Greek, jury - from French, etc.). The diversity and richness of the vocabulary of the modern Russian language is explained by the long and complex history of the people - its carrier, the property of the vocabulary to directly and immediately reflect new phenomena in everyday life, social life, culture, science and technology.

1. Original Russian words . The main lexical array of the Russian language is represented by native Russian words. These are words that originally belonged to the Russian language, arose in it itself or were inherited by it from the common Slavic and even Indo-European base language.

The original Russian vocabulary includes several layers that differ in the time of formation:

• 1.1. Common Indo-European vocabulary is words that arose in the common Indo-European base language and passed into Proto-Slavic, from Proto-Slavic into Old Russian, and from Old Russian into modern Russian (mother, widow; flea, wolf; birch, oak; salt, coal; sky, swamp; order, carry; dilapidated, barefoot).
• 1.2. Common Slavic (Proto-Slavic) vocabulary is words that arose in the Common Slavic (Proto-Slavic) language (before the 6th century AD), are now known to all or many Slavic peoples and passed into Old Russian, and from Old Russian into modern Russian (grandfather, father-in-law, bird cherry, willow; earth, field; breathe, crawl).
• 1.3. East Slavic (Old Russian) vocabulary is words that arose in the Old Russian (East Slavic) language (VI-XIV centuries) and passed into the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. (stepdaughter, fidget; rat, jackdaw; basket, samovar, dense, gray; flounder, boil).
• 1.4. Russian vocabulary proper is vocabulary that arose as part of the Russian language proper - the language of the Russian (Great Russian) people (from the 14th century), and then the language of the Russian nation (from the 17th-18th centuries to the present day) (glasnost, prepayment, invention).
• 2. Loan words

The Russian language has adopted a significant number of words from other languages ​​and, in turn, enriched their vocabulary.

Borrowings in the Russian language are divided into two types:

• 2.1. Borrowings from Slavic (Old Church Slavonic, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak and Bulgarian) languages. Old Slavonicisms. (enemy, sweet; announce, transform; cheeks, verb).
• 2.2. Borrowings from non-Slavic (Greek, Latin, Turkic, Scandinavian, Western European and other) languages ​​(metropolitan, stage, lantern).

A special type of borrowing includes tracing paper. The term tracing paper goes back to the French word calque, meaning “copy on a transparent sheet, imitation.” Tracing paper is a word (or phraseological unit) formed by morphemic translation of a foreign word. For example, the words alphabet, tracing the Greek alphabзtos (alphabet), case (Latin casus), adverb (Latin adverbium).

Vocabulary has been the subject of study for many generations of Russian scholars, therefore the study of the lexical composition of the modern Russian language is still a relevant topic in our time, since the number of lexical units tends to constantly increase,distinguished by the presence of both a number of common and a whole group of unique features in comparison with other Slavic and other Indo-European languages.

The goal of the project: to analyze and identify the most common words in the speech of students of the Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution “Averinskaya Secondary School” in terms of their use of commonly used and restricted vocabulary.

Project objectives:

Determine the place of non-common vocabulary - dialectisms and professionalisms - in students’ speech;

Conduct a sociological study (questionnaire) among middle and high school students in order to determine: the range of the most common slang words, the frequency of use of jargon, the use of professionalisms, neologisms and dialectisms in speech.

Analyze the survey results and place conclusions in diagrams;

Systematize the material;

Draw conclusions on the research topic;

Make a computer presentation.

Hypothesis: in the speech of students, vocabulary that is limited in use predominates; professionalism and dialectisms are practically absent.

Methods and techniques of work: reading and analysis of scientific literature, questionnaires, analysis of questionnaires, collection of frequently used profanity.

This work reveals the features of the lexical composition of the modern Russian language and focuses on the predominance of slang vocabulary in the speech of modern youth.

Language is made up of words, and words are

speech sounds as signs for our thinking

and to express our thoughts and feelings.

F.F. Fortunatov

The origin of the vocabulary of modern Russian language

The Russian lexical system in its modern form did not appear immediately. The process of vocabulary formation is long and complex, closely connected with the history of the development of the Russian people. The vocabulary of the modern Russian language has gone through a long development process: it consists not only of native Russian words, but also words borrowed from other languages. Foreign language sources replenished and enriched the Russian language throughout the entire process of its historical development. Some borrowings were made in ancient times, others - relatively recently.

The Russian vocabulary was expanded in two directions:

1. New words were created from word-forming elements existing in the language (roots, suffixes, prefixes). This is how the original Russian vocabulary expanded and developed:head, throat, heart, palm, kind, young, dog, squirrel, ladle, ruble, throw, very, currant, necessary.

2. New words poured into the Russian language from other languages ​​as a result of economic, political and cultural ties of the Russian people with other peoples: sandwich (German), pate (German), pavilion (French), pasta (Italian), soprano (Italian). The composition of Russian vocabulary from the point of view of its origin can be schematically presented in the table:

Original Russian vocabulary

The original Russian vocabulary is heterogeneous in its origin: it consists of several layers that differ in the time of their formation.
The most ancient among native Russian words are Indo-Europeanisms - words preserved from the era of Indo-European linguistic unity. According to scientists, in the V-IV millennia BC. there was an ancient Indo-European civilization that united tribes living over a vast territory. So, according to the research of some linguists, it extended from the Volga to the Yenisei, others believe that it was a Balkan-Danube, or southern Russian, localization. The Indo-European linguistic community gave rise to European and some Asian languages ​​(for example, Bengali, Sanskrit). Words denoting plants, animals, metals and minerals, tools, forms of economic management, types of kinship, etc. go back to the Indo-European proto-language-base:oak, salmon, goose, wolf, sheep, copper, bronze, honey, mother, son, daughter, night, moon, snow, water, new, sew and etc.

Another layer of native Russian vocabulary consists of words Pan-Slavic , inherited by our language from the common Slavic (proto-Slavic) language, which served as the source for all Slavic languages. This foundation language existed in prehistoric times on the territory between the Dnieper, Bug and Vistula rivers, inhabited by ancient Slavic tribes. By the VI-VII centuries. AD The common Slavic language collapsed, opening the way for the development of Slavic languages, including Old Russian. Common Slavic words are easily distinguished in all Slavic languages, the common origin of which is obvious in our time.

Among the common Slavic words there are words of different parts of speech: concrete nouns:head, throat, beard, heart, palm; field, mountain, forest, birch, maple, ox, cow, pig; sickle, pitchfork, knife, net, neighbor, guest, servant, friend; shepherd, spinner, potter; abstract nouns (there are fewer of them):faith, will, guilt, sin, happiness, glory, rage, thought; Verbs: see, hear, grow, lieand etc.; adjectives:kind, young, old, wise, cunningand etc.; numerals: one two Three and etc.; pronouns: me, you, we, you and etc.; pronominal adverbs: where, how and etc.; auxiliary parts of speech: over, a, and, yes, but etc.

Common Slavic vocabulary has about two thousand words, however, this is the core of the Russian dictionary; it includes the most common, stylistically neutral words used both in oral and written speech.

The third layer of native Russian words consists ofEast Slavic(Old Russian) vocabulary, which developed on the basis of the language of the Eastern Slavs, one of the three groups of ancient Slavic languages ​​(Slavic languages, which had their source in the ancient Common Slavic (Proto-Slavic) language, according to sound, grammatical and lexical features, separated into three groups: southern, western and eastern).

The East Slavic linguistic community developed by the 7th-9th centuries. AD on the territory of Eastern Europe. The Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities go back to the tribal unions that lived here. Therefore, the words remaining in our language from this period are known, as a rule, in Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages, but are absent in the languages ​​of the Western and Southern Slavs. The East Slavic vocabulary includes: names of animals and birds:dog, squirrel, jackdaw, drake, bullfinchand etc.; names of tools: axe, blade and etc.; names of household items:boot, ladle, casket, rubleand etc.; names of people by profession:carpenter, cook, shoemaker, millerand etc.; names of settlements:village, settlementand others, as well as other lexical-semantic groups.

The fourth layer of native Russian words isactual Russian vocabulary, formed after the 14th century, i.e. in the era of independent development of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. The language of this period already has its own words that belong to the Russian vocabulary itself. Actually Russian words are highlighted, as a rule,derivative base : bricklayer, leaflet, locker room, community, intervention.As part of the Russian vocabulary itself, there are words with foreign roots that have gone through the path of Russian word formation and are “overgrown” with Russian suffixes and prefixes:partisanship, non-partisanship, aggressiveness; ruler, glass, teapot; words with a complex base:radio center, locomotive, as well as many complex abbreviated words that replenished the language in the 20th century:Moscow Art Theater, timber industry enterprise, wall newspaperand etc.
The original Russian vocabulary continues to be replenished with words that are created on the basis of the word-formation resources of the language, as a result of a wide variety of processes characteristic of Russian word formation.

Borrowings from Slavic languages

A special place in the Russian vocabulary among Slavic borrowings is occupied byOld Church Slavonic words, or Old Slavonicisms(Church Slavonicisms). These are the words of the oldest Slavic language, well known in Rus' since the spread of Christianity (988). Being the language of liturgical books, the Old Church Slavonic language was at first far from colloquial speech, but over time it experienced a noticeable influence of the East Slavic language and itself, in turn, left its mark on the language of the people. Russian chronicles reflect numerous cases of mixing of these related languages.
The influence of the Old Church Slavonic language was very fruitful; it enriched the Russian language, making it more expressive and flexible. In particular, Old Church Slavonicisms began to be used in Russian vocabulary, denoting abstract concepts for which there were no names yet:gold, night, fisherman, rook; finger, mouth, cheeks, percy(cf. Russians: finger, lips, cheeks, chest); god, sin, sacrifice, fornication.

A significant role in the XVII-XVIII centuries. (in connection with the reforms of Peter I) words from Germanic languages ​​(German, English, Dutch), as well as from Romance languages ​​(for example, French, Italian, Spanish) were played. German includes a number of words from trade, military, everyday vocabulary and words from the field of art, science, etc.: bill, stamp; corporal, camp, headquarters; tie, boots, workbench, chisel, jointer; spinach; easel, bandmaster, landscape, resort. Some nautical terms are Dutch: iceboat, shipyard, pennant, harbour, drift, pilot, sailor, roadstead, flag, fleet, etc.

From English to the 19th century. also included some nautical terms: midshipman, bot, brig, but much more words related to the development of social life, technology, sports, etc. entered the 20th century, for example: boycott, leader, rally; tunnel, trolleybus, basketball, football, sports, hockey, finish line; steak, cake, pudding, etc. English words (often in the American version) became especially widespread in the 90s of the 20th century. in connection with economic, social and political transformations in Russian society. Borrowings from the end of the 20th century. touched on different spheres of life: technical (computer, display, file, byte), sports (bobsleigh, overtime, fighter), financial and commercial (barter, broker, dealer, distributor, leasing), art (remake, talk show, underground, thriller), socio-political (briefing, rating, impeachment, lobby), etc.

French include individual borrowings from the 18th-19th centuries, such as everyday words: bracelet, wardrobe, vest, coat, tights; broth, marmalade, cutlet, toilet, as well as words from military vocabulary, art, etc.: ámaêá, artillery, battalion, garrison, cannonade; actor, poster, play, director, etc.

Among other Western European borrowings, musical terminology of Italian origin stands out: aria, allegro, libretto, tenor, bravo, slapstick, sonata, carnival, cavatina; Some everyday words also included: vermicelli, pasta (came through French), gondola, etc. A small number of words came from Spanish: serenade, castanets, guitar, mantilla, then: caravel, caramel, cigar, tomato, etc.

There are a few borrowings from the Finnish language: walrus, dumplings, blizzard; from Hungarian: bekesha, farmstead.

Borrowed vocabulary of limited use occupies a special place. It consists of words that are heterogeneous in terms of their degree of mastery in the Russian language and in stylistic coloring, which also makes it possible to identify several groups of borrowed vocabulary of limited use.

Book words that are not widely used (immoral, apologist, accentuate, shock). These words, as a rule, have Russian or Old Slavonic synonyms: immoral - immoral, vicious, spoiled, dissolute; apologist - defender, intercessor, supporter; emphasize - highlight; shock - shock, stun, stun, stun. To these examples we can add many “fresh” borrowings: show - performance, performance, spectacle; stagnation - stagnation; corruption - corruption of officials, bribery, bribery; business - entrepreneurship; privatization - denationalization; conversion -- transformation; presentation - presentation of something new (book, film); inauguration is the ceremonial procedure for taking office as the head of state. A significant part of the borrowed book vocabulary consists of terms. Many of them can be conditionally attributed to a specific foreign language source. For example, the terms cosmos, automaton go back to the Greek language, and aggregate, negative to the Latin language. Terms of foreign language origin for the most part do not have Russian synonyms, which makes them indispensable in the scientific style (jargon, dialect, phoneme, morpheme, metric, rhyme). However, there are also many foreign language terms that have Russian or Old Slavonic synonyms: import - import, evolution - development, aggressive - aggressive. Russian synonyms usually have a weakened connotation of scientificity and formality, which is why in book styles foreign language terms are often preferred.

Borrowed words that penetrated into the Russian language under the influence of salon-noble jargon (amourous - amorous, bon vivant - a frivolous person, rendezvous - a date, sentimentality - sensitivity). The words of this group have become significantly archaic; they always have Russian synonyms, which are most often used in speech.

Exoticisms are borrowed words that characterize specific national characteristics of the life of different peoples and are used to describe non-Russian reality. Thus, when depicting the life and way of life of the peoples of the Caucasus, the words aul, saklya, horseman, arba are used; when describing the events in Afghanistan, exoticisms are dushmans, Taliban, the Taliban movement, etc.; Italian flavor is given to speech by the words gondola, tarantella, Spanish - mantilla, castanets, hidalgo. A distinctive feature of exoticisms is that they do not have Russian synonyms, so turning to them when describing the life of other peoples is dictated by necessity. Against the background of other foreign language vocabulary, exoticisms stand out as words that are not fully lexically mastered in the Russian language.

Foreign language inclusions in Russian vocabulary (okay, merci), which often retain non-Russian spelling: happy end (English) - happy ending, pater familias (Latin) - father of the family, dum spiro spero (Latin) - while I breathe, Hope.

Vocabulary of the modern Russian language from the point of view of the sphere of use

Commonly used vocabulary includes words used (understood and used) in different linguistic areas by native speakers, regardless of their place of residence, profession, lifestyle: these are most nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs (blue, fire, grumble, good), numerals , pronouns, most function words.

Vocabulary of limited use includes words whose use is limited to a certain locality (dialectisms), profession (special vocabulary), occupation or interest (slang vocabulary).

Dialectisms are features of dialects and dialects that do not correspond to the norms of the literary language. Dialectism is a dialect inclusion in the Russian literary language. People’s speech can reflect the phonetic, word-formation, and grammatical features of a dialect, but for lexicology the most important dialectisms are those associated with the functioning of words as lexical units - lexical dialectisms, which come in several types.

Special vocabulary is associated with people's professional activities. It includes terms and professionalisms.

Terms are the names of special concepts of science, art, technology, agriculture, etc. Terms are often artificially created using Latin and Greek roots and differ from “ordinary” words of the language in that they are, ideally, unambiguous in this terminology and do not have synonyms, that is, each term must correspond to only one object of a given science. Each word term has a strict definition, recorded in special scientific studies or terminological dictionaries.

It is necessary to distinguish professionalisms from terms - words and expressions that are not scientifically defined, strictly legalized names of certain objects, actions, processes related to the professional, scientific, and production activities of people. These are semi-official and informal (they are sometimes called professional jargon) words used by people of a certain profession to designate special objects, concepts, actions, often having names in literary language.

Professional jargons exist exclusively in the oral speech of people of this profession and are not included in the literary language (for example, among printing workers: cap - “large heading”, marashka - “marriage in the form of a square”; among drivers: steering wheel - “steering wheel”, brick - sign prohibiting passage). If professionalisms are included in dictionaries, they are accompanied by an indication of the scope of use (in the speech of sailors, in the speech of fishermen, etc.).

The vocabulary of limited use also includes jargon - words used by people of certain interests, activities, and habits. Words included in different jargons form interjargon (schmuck, funny, cool, party).

Slang and argotic vocabulary is outside the literary language and is recorded only in special dictionaries.

Having developed on the basis of Russian folk speech in all its diversity, the Russian language has absorbed all the best, all the most expressive of those means that are inherent in folk speech. And the modern Russian language, which is a fully formed communicative system, continues to draw expressive means - words, phrases, syntactic structures - from dialects, vernacular, and professional jargons. As a result of my research, which was conducted among students of the Averinskaya Secondary School, it was revealed that students actively use slang in their speech. The use of non-literary vocabulary is most often observed when schoolchildren communicate with each other and when expressing any feeling (surprise - cool!, delight - wow!, irritation - back off, etc.) But an interesting fact is that sometimes without context , very often these words and expressions are accompanied by facial expressions and gestures. Because without them it can be difficult to understand the meaning of a statement. This is confirmed by the fact that 7th grade students were not able to find all the matches to slang words and expressions (for example, the word “go crazy” without application to some situation turned out to be difficult to explain). Depending on the situation, words can express a variety of, even opposite, emotions: disappointment, irritation, surprise, joy. For example: Well, damn it, come on! (surprise), Don't bother me, damn it (irritation), Great, damn it! (delight), etc. Students believe that the emotions and feelings that overwhelm them cannot be expressed in literary language (one of the reasons for using slang).

Slang was, is and will be in school vocabulary. It can neither be prohibited nor abolished. It changes over time, some words die, others appear, just like in any other language. It is impossible to imagine a modern schoolchild without slang at all. The main advantages here are expressiveness and brevity.

You cannot treat slang as something that only pollutes the Russian language. This is an integral part of our speech. In the questionnaires I offered to the students, I asked them to indicate the words that the children use most often. Analysis of the research work and my observations made it possible to identify the following semantic groups of slang in students’ speech:

	Group name	Examples
	Body parts	Rake, (hands), pack, tower (head), countersinks, cataract (eyes), mitten (mouth), locators (ears);
	Words denoting people by profession	teacher (teacher), driver (driver), historian (history teacher), cop (policeman);
	Appliances	box, telly (TV), mobile, sotik (mobile phone), comp (computer), video recorder (video recorder), DVD (DVD);
	Transport	motik, motak (motorcycle), bike (bicycle), wheelbarrow (car), nine, ten, fifteen (car models)
	Words denoting people by kinship	ancestors, relatives, relatives, laces (parents), godfather, folder (dad), maman (mother), sister (sister), bratva (friends), brother, bratok (brother), men (boyfriend)
	Studies	homework (homework), deuce (grade “2”), nickel (grade “5”), counter
	Food	havka, havat, havchik, zhrachka (food), shop, shop (shop), canteen (dining room)
	Money	grandmas, loot, bucks, thing, lave, wooden
	Words of evaluation	cool, cool, lafa, good, awesome, thrill (good, excellent), cool (interesting), cool (excellent), a hundred pounds, specifically (accurate), by nature, real (true), vosche (admiration), shameful, dumb, lame (bad, ugly), lucky (lucky), garbage (very simple)
	Verbs	fuck off, get off, get off, get off (go away, leave me alone), talk (talk), make fun of (joke), load (bother), break off (failure), go crazy, be stunned (surprised), stir up, prick (deceive), tear off (get ), have fun (relax), goof off, trudge (very well), fade away, wind up (run away), stare, stare (look), smile (smile), load (bother, pester), sew, hammer (kill), disappear, run away (go away), run over (threaten);
	Words that designate people by their quality of character	rat, ram, pig, dog, elk, sucker, loshara, brake, six, woodpecker, goat, schmuck, big guy, cow

In the speech of relatives and school teachers involved in different types of activities, there are names of different subjects, including foreign ones. Such words pass from the parents' vocabulary into the children's vocabulary. As a result of the survey, some professional words and expressions that students know and use in speech were identified. For example, battery, radiator, gearbox, crop rotation, agricultural technology, medicines, pediatrician, ophthalmologist, ENT.

In my work, I tried to identify those words that are most often used by adults and students at my school in order to identify the composition of vocabulary at the present stage of its development. Students actively use non-literary vocabulary in their speech. The study proves the presence of slang, dialectal, professional, slang words and expressions in the vocabulary of schoolchildren. A sample survey of 6th and 7th grade students revealed their attitude to the use of jargon. A total of 14 people were interviewed.

When asked why students use jargon, the data presented in the table (Appendix II) was obtained.

The reason for using so many different words as expressive means is that they are considered fashionable. The answers to the questionnaires show that with age, students understand that their speech is incorrect and try to correct it. At the same time, students do not think about how they speak. To find out what percentage of schoolchildren’s speech is lexical innovation, what new words they use and whether they understand their meaning in the same way, I conducted a survey of classmates. In the 1st part of the questionnaire, they were asked to choose from 2 synonyms (literary and slang), the one they use more often; in the 2nd part - bring the synonyms they use to literary words.

Age of respondents: 14-17 years. Number of respondents: 22 people.

Analysis of the questionnaires confirmed the assumption that in schoolchildren’s communication slang prevails over literary speech, both among boys (63% of slang words, 37% of literary words) and girls (52% and 48%, respectively) (Appendix III). Results of answers to the question “Do you try to avoid jargon?” presented in the table (Appendix I).

In the process of research, I found out that slang has existed for a long time (since the time of our mothers and grandmothers), but the degree of use of this phenomenon in the language has increased in our time. Consequently, the hypothesis that I put forward is correct: in the speech of students, vocabulary that is limited in use predominates, and professionalism and dialectisms are practically absent. In the first place are slang and jargon, while dialectisms and professionalisms are very rare. This means that our task is to learn how to appropriately use this vocabulary in accordance with the communication situation and to learn the literary norms of the language: norms of pronunciation, word formation, etc.

Bibliography

1. N. P. Borisenko. “A sad sign of the times, or what is foul language” (Newspaper “Russian Language” No. 4, 2000)
2. E. G. Borisova. On some features of modern youth jargon // Russian Language at School Magazine. – M.: 1987. - No. 3. – P. 26 – 29.
3. A. A. Bragina. Neologisms in the Russian language. – M.: Education, 1973. – 222 p.
4. M. A. Denisova. “Literary norm and practice of colloquial speech” (RYASh No. 1, 1996)
5. O. P. Ermakova. “Sources of replenishment of jargon” (“Russian language” No. 40, 1999)
6. N. S. Valgina, D. E. Rosenthal, M. I. Fomina. Modern Russian language. – M.: Higher School, 1987. – 528 p.
7. O. B. Sirotinina. Basic criteria for good speech//Good speech. - Saratov, 2001. - 234 p.

Appendix I

Survey questions for students:

1. What is youth slang?

1. Do you know the words of youth slang? (Not really)

1. Do you use these words in your speech? (often, rarely, never)

1. Highlight the ones you use most often.

1. For what purpose do you use them?

a) You think it’s fashionable and modern.

b) Needed in speech to connect words.

c) They help overcome the lack of words in my speech.

d) Make speech clearer for friends.

e) Help to assert oneself.

f) Add liveliness and humor to your speech.

6. Could you do without slang words and expressions?

The vocabulary of the modern Russian language has been formed over the centuries. The basis of the vocabulary is made up of native Russian words. A word is considered primordial if it arose in the Russian language according to existing models or passed into it from an older predecessor language - Old Russian, Proto-Slavic or Indo-European.

The original vocabulary includes all words that came into the modern Russian language from their ancestral languages. Therefore, the original Russian vocabulary falls into 4 layers, belonging to different eras:

1. Indo-European layer. This layer includes words that have correspondences in the roots of words in many other Indo-European languages. These are, for example, words such as mother, son, brother, wolf, water, nose, three, four, take, be, etc. These words are native not only to Russian, but also to many other Indo-European languages.

2. Proto-Slavic (common Slavic) layer. Words of this layer have correspondences in many Slavic languages ​​and are native to them, for example: heart, spring, rain, grass, grandson, aunt, lead, kind.

3. Only about two thousand words belong to the Indo-European and Proto-Slavic layers, but they make up 25% of the words in our everyday communication. This is easy to understand: the first words, naturally, arose that reflected urgent human needs.

4. Old Russian layer. It includes words that arose during the period of the unity of Kievan Rus and are common to the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages: forty, ninety, spoon, nomad, brown, together, squirrel, milk mushroom.

5. The Russian layer itself unites words that arose after the 14th century, that is, after the collapse of Kievan Rus. These are almost all words with the suffixes -chik / -schik, -telstv, -lk(a), -nost and many others, complex and complexly abbreviated words: grandmother, pilot, steamship, Moscow State University. It also includes words that changed their meaning during this period, for example, red in the meaning of a certain color (in the Proto-Slavic and Old Russian languages, the word red had the meaning “good”, which was preserved in the phrases red maiden and Red Square).

In various eras, borrowings from other languages ​​penetrated into the Russian vocabulary. For borrowing, a condition is necessary - the presence of linguistic contacts of peoples due to trade, wars, cultural interaction, etc.

Borrowings are used to name new realities and to rename old ones.

Borrowings from Slavic languages ​​(in particular, from the Old Church Slavonic language) and from non-Slavic languages ​​are highlighted.

During the period of transformations of Peter I, words related to navigation, shipbuilding, and military affairs were especially actively borrowed from the Dutch (lock, harbor, boatswain), German (soldier, storm, bayonet) languages.

In the 18th-19th centuries, a large number of words were borrowed from French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, which are associated primarily with the secular nature of the culture of that time: ballet, partner, veil (from French), aria, baritone, impresario (from Italian), guitar, cigar, serenade (from Spanish), monogram (from Polish).

The Russian language contains borrowings from the Scandinavian languages ​​(hook, pud, herring), from the Finnish language (blizzard, flounder, walrus, tundra), single borrowings from Chinese (tea), Japanese (karate, Iwashi), Hungarian (goulash).

In the 20th century, the main source of borrowings was the English language, and the borrowing process intensified in the second half of the 20th century. In the 50s The words jeans, shorts, hobby, camping, motel are borrowed. In the early 90s. political, economic and cultural conditions arose that predetermined the predisposition to borrow: awareness of the country as part of the civilized world, the desire to overcome alienation from other countries, an open orientation towards the West in various areas.

In connection with the change in the political system, new realities and concepts arise, which causes the transfer of names from a foreign linguistic environment to Russian soil: parliament, prime minister, mayor, prefect, press secretary, press attache, press release.

The literary language includes new terminology:

· computer: computer, display, file, hard drive, printer;

· sports: windsurfing, freestyle, bobsleigh, kickboxing;

· financial, commercial: barter, voucher, dealer, distributor, investor, marketing;

· political and social: image, consensus, summit, electorate;

· cultural: sponsor, underground, remake, thriller, showman.

In different historical periods, including through the mediation of other languages, Greekisms (philosophy, geometry, politics, democracy) and Latinisms (republic, dictatorship, student) penetrated into the Russian language. Most of the borrowings from Greek and Latin are included in the international language fund of scientific vocabulary.

When borrowed, a word is mastered by the Russian language: it begins to be written in Russian letters, acquires the pronunciation and grammatical design characteristic of the Russian language. The degree of mastery of borrowed words can be different. Most borrowed words have been completely mastered by the Russian language, and nothing reminds of their non-Russian origin.

The origin of the vocabulary of modern Russian language

The vocabulary of the modern Russian language has gone through a long development process. Our vocabulary consists not only of native Russian words, but also of words borrowed from other languages. Foreign language sources replenished and enriched the Russian language throughout the entire process of its historical development. Some borrowings were made in ancient times, others – relatively recently.

The replenishment of Russian vocabulary proceeded in two directions.

1. New words were created from word-forming elements existing in the language (roots, suffixes, prefixes). This is how the original Russian vocabulary expanded and developed.
2. New words poured into the Russian language from other languages ​​as a result of economic, political and cultural ties of the Russian people with other peoples.

The composition of Russian vocabulary from the point of view of its origin can be schematically presented in the table.

Vocabulary of modern Russian language

Original Russian vocabulary

The original Russian vocabulary is heterogeneous in its origin: it consists of several layers that differ in the time of their formation.

The most ancient among native Russian words are Indo-Europeanisms - words preserved from the era of Indo-European linguistic unity. According to scientists, in the V-IV millennia BC. e. There was an ancient Indo-European civilization that united tribes living over a fairly vast territory. Thus, according to the research of some linguists, it extended from the Volga to the Yenisei, others believe that it was a Balkan-Danube, or South Russian, localization1 The Indo-European linguistic community gave rise to European and some Asian languages ​​(for example, Bengal, Sanskrit).

Words denoting plants, animals, metals and minerals, tools, forms of farming, types of kinship, etc. go back to the Indo-European proto-language: oak, salmon, goose, wolf, sheep, copper, bronze, honey, mother, son, daughter, night, moon, snow, water, new, sew, etc.

Another layer of native Russian vocabulary consists of common Slavic words, inherited by our language from common Slavic (proto-Slavic), which served as a source for all Slavic languages. This foundation language existed in prehistoric times on the territory between the Dnieper, Bug and Vistula rivers, inhabited by ancient Slavic tribes. By the VI–VII centuries. n. e. The common Slavic language collapsed, opening the way for the development of Slavic languages, including Old Russian. Common Slavic words are easily distinguished in all Slavic languages, the common origin of which is obvious in our time.

Among common Slavic words there are a lot of nouns. These are primarily concrete nouns: head, throat, beard, heart, palm; field, mountain, forest, birch, maple, ox, cow, pig; sickle, pitchfork, knife, net, neighbor, guest, servant, friend; shepherd, spinner, potter. There are also abstract nouns, but there are fewer of them: faith, will, guilt, sin, happiness, glory, rage, thought.

Other parts of speech in the common Slavic vocabulary include the following verbs: see, hear, grow, lie; adjectives: kind, young, old, wise, cunning; numerals: one, two, three; pronouns: I, you, we, you; pronominal adverbs: where, as and some auxiliary parts of speech: above, a, and, yes, but, etc.

The common Slavic vocabulary has about two thousand words, however, this relatively small vocabulary constitutes the core of the Russian dictionary; it includes the most common, stylistically neutral words used both in oral and written speech.

The Slavic languages, which had their source in the ancient Proto-Slavic language, were separated into three groups according to their sound, grammatical and lexical features: southern, western and eastern.

The third layer of native Russian words consists of East Slavic (Old Russian) vocabulary, which developed on the basis of the language of the Eastern Slavs, one of the three groups of ancient Slavic languages. The East Slavic linguistic community developed by the 7th–9th centuries. n. e. on the territory of Eastern Europe. The Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities go back to the tribal unions that lived here. Therefore, the words remaining in our language from this period are known, as a rule, in both the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, but are absent in the languages ​​of the Western and Southern Slavs.

The East Slavic vocabulary includes: 1) names of animals and birds: dog, squirrel, jackdaw, drake, bullfinch; 2) names of tools: ax, blade; 3) names of household items: boot, ladle, casket, ruble; 4) names of people by profession: carpenter, cook, shoemaker, miller; 5) names of settlements: village, settlement and other lexical-semantic groups.

The fourth layer of native Russian words is the proper Russian vocabulary, which was formed after the 14th century, i.e., in the era of independent development of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages. These languages ​​already have their own equivalents for words that belong to the Russian vocabulary proper. Wed. lexical units:

Actually, Russian words are distinguished, as a rule, by a derivative basis: mason, leaflet, locker room, community, intervention, etc.

It should be emphasized that the Russian vocabulary itself may contain words with foreign roots that have gone through the path of Russian word formation and are overgrown with Russian suffixes and prefixes: party, non-party, aggressiveness; ruler, glass, teapot; words with a complex base: radio center, locomotive, as well as many complex abbreviated words that replenished our language in the 20th century: Moscow Art Theater, timber industry enterprise, wall newspaper, etc.

The original Russian vocabulary continues to be replenished with words that are created on the basis of the word-formation resources of the language, as a result of a wide variety of processes characteristic of Russian word formation.

See also the new theory of the ancestral homeland of the Indo-Europeans Gamkrelidze T.V., Ivanov V.V. Indo-European language and Indo-Europeans. Reconstruction and historical-typological analysis of proto-language and proto-culture. Tbilisi, 1984.

Borrowings from Slavic languages

A special place in the Russian vocabulary among Slavic borrowings is occupied by Old Church Slavonic words, or Old Church Slavonicisms (Church Slavonicisms). These are the words of the oldest Slavic language, well known in Rus' since the spread of Christianity (988).

Being the language of liturgical books, the Old Church Slavonic language was at first far from colloquial speech, but over time it experiences a noticeable influence of the East Slavic language and itself, in turn, leaves its mark on the language of the people. Russian chronicles reflect numerous cases of mixing of these related languages.

The influence of the Old Church Slavonic language was very fruitful; it enriched our language, made it more expressive and flexible. In particular, Old Church Slavonicisms began to be used in Russian vocabulary, denoting abstract concepts for which there were no names yet.

As part of the Old Slavonicisms that have replenished the Russian vocabulary, several groups can be distinguished: 1) words dating back to the common Slavic language, having East Slavic variants of a different sound or affixal design: zlato, night, fisherman, boat; 2) Old Church Slavonicisms that do not have consonant Russian words: finger, mouth, cheeks, persie (cf. Russian: finger, lips, cheeks, chest); 3) semantic Old Church Slavonicisms, that is, common Slavic words that received a new meaning in the Old Church Slavonic language associated with Christianity: god, sin, sacrifice, fornication.

Old Slavonic borrowings have characteristic phonetic, word-formation and semantic features.

The phonetic features of Old Church Slavonicisms include:

• disagreement, i.e. combinations -ra-, -la-, -re-, -le- between consonants in place of the full-vowel Russians -oro-, -olo-, -ere-, -ele, -elo- as part of one morpheme: brada - beard, youth - youth, succession - succession, helmet - helmet, milk - milk,
• combinations ra-, la- at the beginning of the word in place of the Russian ro-, lo-rab, rook; Wed East Slavic rob, boat,
• a combination of zhd in place of Russian zh, going back to a single pan-Slavic consonance: clothes, hope, between; Wed East Slavic: clothes, hope, between;
• consonant sch in place of Russian h, also going back to the same common Slavic consonance: night, daughter; Wed East Slavic: night, daughter,
• the vowel e at the beginning of the word in place of the Russian o elen, one, cf. East Slavic: deer, one;
• vowel e under stress before a hard consonant in place of Russian o (е): cross, sky; Wed godfather, palate.

Other Old Church Slavonicisms retain Old Church Slavonic prefixes, suffixes, and complex stems characteristic of Old Church Slavonic word formation:

• prefixes voz-, from-, niz-, through-, pre-, pre-: sing, exile, send down, extraordinary, transgress, predict;
• suffixes -stvi(e), -eni(e), -ani(e), -zn, -tv(a), -ch(i), -ush-, -yush-, -ash-, -yash-: advent, prayer, torment, execution, prayer, helmsman, leader, knower, screaming, striking;
• complex foundations with elements typical of Old Slavonicisms: God-fearing, good morals, malice, superstition, gluttony.

A classification of Old Church Slavonicisms is also possible, based on their semantic and stylistic differences from Russian words.

1. Most Old Slavonicisms are distinguished by their bookish coloring, solemn, upbeat sound, youth, breg, hand, sing, sacred, imperishable, omnipresent, etc.
2. Sharply different from such Old Slavonicisms are those that do not stand out stylistically from the rest of the vocabulary (many of them supplanted the corresponding East Slavic variants, duplicating their meaning): helmet, sweet, work, moisture; Wed obsolete Old Russian: shelom, solodkiy, vologa.
3. A special group consists of Old Church Slavonicisms, used along with Russian variants that have received a different meaning in the language: ashes - gunpowder, betray - convey, head (of government) - head, citizen - city dweller, etc.

Old Church Slavonicisms of the second and third groups are not perceived by speakers of modern Russian as alien - they have become so Russified that they practically do not differ from native Russian words. In contrast to such genetic, Old Church Slavonicisms, the words of the first group retain a connection with the Old Church Slavonic, book language; many of them in the last century were an integral part of the poetic vocabulary: persi, lanita, mouth, sweet, voice, hair, golden, young and under. Now they are perceived as poeticism, and G.O. Vinokur called them stylistic Slavicisms1

From other closely related Slavic languages, individual words came into the Russian language, which practically do not stand out among the original Russian vocabulary. The names of household items were borrowed from the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, for example, Ukrainianisms: borscht, dumplings, dumplings, hopak. Many words came to us from the Polish language: shtetl, monogram, harness, zrazy, gentry. Czech and other Slavic words were borrowed through the Polish language: prapor, arrogant, angle, etc.

1 See Vinokur G.O. On Slavicisms in the modern Russian literary language // Selected works on the Russian language, M., 1959. P. 443.

Borrowings from non-Slavic languages

The borrowing of foreign words by the Russian language in different eras reflects the history of our people. Economic, political, cultural contacts with other countries, military clashes left their mark on the development of the language.

The very first borrowings from non-Slavic languages ​​penetrated into the Russian language back in the 8th–12th centuries. From the Scandinavian languages ​​(Swedish, Norwegian) words related to marine fishing came to us: skerries, anchor, hook, hook, proper names: Rurik, Oleg, Olga, Igor, Askold. In official business speech of Ancient Rus', the now obsolete words vira, tiun, yabeda, brand were used. From the Finno-Ugric languages ​​we borrowed the names of fish: whitefish, navaga, salmon, herring, shark, smelt, herring, as well as some words associated with the life of northern peoples: sleigh, tundra, blizzard, sled, dumplings, etc.

Ancient borrowings also include individual words from Germanic languages: armor, sword, shell, cauldron, hill, beech, prince, pine forest, pig, camel and others. Scientists argue about the origin of some words, so the number of borrowings from ancient Germanic languages ​​seems ambiguous to different researchers (from 20 to 200 words).

The close proximity of Turkic peoples (Polovtsy, Pechenegs, Khazars), military clashes with them, and then the Mongol-Tatar invasion left Turkic words in the Russian language. They relate mainly to the nomadic life of these peoples, clothing, utensils: quiver, lasso, pack, hut, beshmet, sash, heel, pouch, calico, chest, flail, shackles, bondage, treasury, guard, etc.

The most significant influence on the language of Ancient Rus' was the influence of the Greek language. Kievan Rus conducted a lively trade with Byzantium, and the penetration of Greek elements into Russian vocabulary began even before the adoption of Christianity in Rus' (VI century) and intensified under the influence of Christian culture in connection with the baptism of the Eastern Slavs (IX century), the spread of liturgical books translated from Greek into Old Church Slavonic.

Many names of household items, vegetables, fruits are Greek in origin: cherry, cucumber, doll, ribbon, tub, beetroot, lantern, bench, bathhouse; words related to science, education: grammar, mathematics, history, philosophy, notebook, alphabet, dialect; borrowings from the field of religion: angel, altar, pulpit, anathema, archimandrite, antichrist, archbishop, demon, oil, gospel, icon, incense, cell, schema, lamp, monk, monastery, sexton, archpriest, memorial service, etc.

Later borrowings from the Greek language relate exclusively to the field of science and art. Many Greekisms came to us through other European languages ​​and are widely used in scientific terminology, which has received universal recognition: logic, psychology, department, idyll, idea, climate, criticism, metal, museum, magnet, syntax, lexicon, comedy, tragedy, chronograph, planet, stage, stage, theater and so on.

The Latin language also played a significant role in enriching Russian vocabulary (including terminology), associated primarily with the sphere of scientific, technical and socio-political life. The words go back to the Latin source: author, administrator, audience, student, exam, external student, minister, justice, operation, censorship, dictatorship, republic, deputy, delegate, rector, excursion, expedition, revolution, constitution, etc. These Latinisms came to our language, as well as to other European languages, not only through direct contact of the Latin language with some other language (which, of course, was not excluded, especially through various educational institutions), but also through other languages. The Latin language in many European countries was the language of literature, science, official papers and religion (Catholicism). Scientific works up to the 18th century. often written in Latin; Medicine still uses Latin. All this contributed to the creation of an international fund of scientific terminology, which was mastered by many European languages, including Russian.

Nowadays, scientific terms are often created from Greek and Latin roots, denoting concepts unknown in antiquity: astronaut [gr. kos-mos – Universe + gr. nautes – (sea)-swimmer]; futurology (lat. futurum – future + gr. logos – word, teaching); scuba gear (Latin aqua – water + English lung – lung). This is explained by the exceptional productivity of Latin and Greek roots included in various scientific terms, as well as their international character, which facilitates the understanding of such roots in different languages.

The later lexical influence of European languages ​​on Russian began to be felt in the 16th–17th centuries. and especially intensified in the Petrine era, in the 18th century. The transformation of all aspects of Russian life under Peter I, his administrative and military reforms, the successes of education, the development of science - all this contributed to the enrichment of Russian vocabulary with foreign words. These were numerous names of then new household items, military and naval terms, words from the field of science and art.

The following words were borrowed from the German language: sandwich, tie, decanter, hat, office, package, price list, interest, accountant, bill, share, agent, camp, headquarters, commander, cadet, corporal, gun carriage, cartridge belt, workbench, jointer, nickel, quartz, saltpeter, tungsten, potatoes, onions.

Maritime terms came from the Dutch language: shipyard, harbor, pennant, berth, drift, pilot, sailor, roadstead, yard, rudder, fleet, flag, fairway, skipper, navigator, boat, ballast.

Marine terms were also borrowed from English: bot, brig, barge, schooner, yacht, midshipman. The influence of the English language turned out to be relatively stable: words from it penetrated into the Russian language throughout the 19th century. and later. Thus, words from the sphere of public relations, technical and sports terms, names of everyday objects go back to this source: leader, department, meeting, boycott, parliament, station, elevator, dock, budget, square, cottage, trolleybus, rail, mac, beefsteak , pudding, rum, whiskey, grog, cake, plaid, sweater, jacket, French, finish, sports, athlete, football, basketball, volleyball, boxing, croquet, poker, hockey, jockey, bridge, spinning, etc.

The French language left a significant mark on the Russian vocabulary. The first Gallicisms penetrated into it in the Peter the Great era, and then, at the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries, due to the Gallomania of secular society, borrowings from the French language became especially popular. Among them are words for everyday use: suit, bonnet, corset, bodice, jacket, vest, coat, manteau, blouse, tailcoat, bracelet, veil, frill, floor, furniture, chest of drawers, office, buffet, salon, toilet, dressing table, chandelier , lampshade, curtain, service, footman, broth, cutlet, cream, stew, dessert, marmalade, ice cream, etc.; military terms: vanguard, captain, sergeant, artillery, march, arena, cavalry, redoubt, attack, breach, battalion, salute, garrison, courier, general, lieutenant, dugout, recruit, sapper, cornet corps, landing, fleet, squadron.

Many words from the field of art also go back to the French language: mezzanine, stalls, play, actor, prompter, director, intermission, foyer, plot, role, ramp, repertoire, farce, ballet, genre, role, stage. All these words became part of our language, therefore, not only names were borrowed, but also concepts necessary to enrich Russian culture. Some French borrowings, reflecting the narrow circle of interests of the refined noble society, did not take root on Russian soil and fell out of use: rendezvous, plaisir, polites, etc.

Some Italian words also came to us through the French language: baroque, carbonari, dome, mezzanine, mosaic, cavalier, trousers, gasoline, arch, barricade, watercolor, credit, corridor, bastion, carnival, arsenal, bandit, balcony, charlatan, basta , balustrade, etc.

From the Italian language, musical terms came to all European languages, including Russian: adagio, arioso, aria, viola, bass, cello, bandura, cappella, tenor, cavatina, canzone, mandolin, libretto, forte, piano, moderato, etc. The words also go back to the Italian source: harpsichord, ballerina, harlequin, opera, impresario, bravo.

There are a few borrowings from the Spanish language, which often penetrated into the Russian language through French: alcove, guitar, castanets, mantilla, serenade, caramel, vanilla, tobacco, tomato, cigar, lemon, jasmine, banana.

The number of foreign language borrowings should include not only individual words, but also some word-forming elements: Greek prefixes a-, anti-, archi-, pan-: immoral, anti-perestroika, arch-incongruous, pan-German; Latin prefixes: de-, counter-, trans-, ultra-, inter-. degradation, counter-play, trans-European, ultra-left, intervocal; Latin suffixes: -ism, -ist, -or, -tor and others. tailism, harmonist, combinator. Such prefixes and suffixes have become established not only in the Russian language, they have become widespread internationally.

It should be noted that Russian words are also borrowed by other languages. Moreover, at different periods of our history, not only such Russian words as samovar, borscht, cabbage soup, cranberry, etc., penetrated into other languages, but such as satellite, soviets, perestroika, glasnost. The successes of the Soviet Union in space exploration contributed to the fact that the terms in this area that were born in our language were adopted by other languages. astronaut, lunar rover.

Mastering borrowed words in Russian

Foreign words, entering our language, are gradually assimilated by it: they adapt to the sound system of the Russian language, obey the rules of Russian word formation and inflection, thus, to one degree or another, losing the features of their non-Russian origin.

First of all, foreign language features of the sound design of a word are usually eliminated, for example, nasal sounds in borrowings from French or combinations of sounds characteristic of the English language, etc. Then non-Russian word endings and gender forms are changed. For example, in the words postman, prompter, sidewalk, sounds characteristic of the French language no longer sound (nasal vowels, traced [r]); in the words meeting, pudding there is no English velar n, pronounced with the back of the tongue (in transcription [*ng], in addition, the first of them has lost the diphthong; the initial consonants in the words jazz, gin are pronounced with characteristic Russian articulation, although their combination for us unusual. The Latin word seminarium turned into seminaries, and then into seminar; the Greek analogos - into analog, and analogikos - into similar. The noun seukla, which has a plural meaning in Greek, began to be perceived as a singular noun in Russian, and not neuter, but feminine: beet.The German marschierep receives the Russian suffix -ova and is transformed into marching.

Accumulating word-forming affixes, borrowed words enter the grammatical system of the Russian language and are subject to the corresponding norms of inflection: they form paradigms of declensions and conjugations.

Mastering borrowed words usually leads to their semantic changes. Most foreign words in Russian lose their etymological connections with the related roots of the source language. Thus, we do not perceive the German words resort, sandwich, hairdresser as words of a complex base (resort from kurie-rep - “to treat” + Ort - “place”; hairdresser - literally “wig-maker”; sandwich - “butter” and “bread” )

As a result of de-etymologization, the meanings of foreign words become unmotivated.

However, not all borrowings are assimilated into the Russian language to the same extent: there are those that have become so Russified that they do not reveal their foreign origin (cherry, notebook, party, hut, soup, cutlet), while others retain certain features of the original language, thanks to which they stand out in Russian vocabulary as alien words.

Among the borrowings there are also words not mastered by the Russian language, which stand out sharply against the background of Russian vocabulary. A special place among such borrowings is occupied by exoticisms - words that characterize the specific features of the life of different peoples and are used to describe non-Russian reality. Thus, when depicting the life of the peoples of the Caucasus, the words aul, saklya, dzhigit, arba, etc. are used. Exoticisms do not have Russian synonyms, so turning to them when describing national specifics is dictated by necessity.

Another group includes barbarisms, i.e. foreign words transferred to Russian soil, the use of which is individual in nature. Unlike other lexical borrowings, barbarisms are not recorded in dictionaries of foreign words, much less in dictionaries of the Russian language. Barbarisms are not mastered by the language, although over time they can become entrenched in it. Thus, almost all borrowings, before entering the permanent vocabulary, were barbarisms for some time. For example, V. Mayakovsky used the word camp as barbarism (I am lying - a tent in a camp), and later the borrowing camping became a property of the Russian language.

Along with barbarisms are foreign inclusions in Russian vocabulary: okay, merci, happy end, pater familias. Many of them retain non-Russian spellings; they are popular not only in ours, but also in other languages. In addition, the use of some of them has a long tradition, for example alma mater.

Phonetic and morphological features of borrowed words

Among the phonetic signs of borrowed words, the following can be distinguished.

1. Unlike native Russian words, which never began with the sound [a] (which would be contrary to the phonetic laws of the Russian language), borrowed words have an initial a: profile, abbot, paragraph, aria, attack, lampshade, arba, angel, anathema.
2. The initial e distinguishes mainly Greek and Latinisms (Russian words never begin with this, unioted, sound): epoch, era, ethics, exam, execution, effect, floor.
3. The letter f indicates a non-Russian source of the word, since the Eastern Slavs did not have the sound [f] and the corresponding graphic sign was used only to designate it in borrowed words: forum, fact, lantern, sofa, film, scam, form, aphorism, ether, profile and under.
4. The combination of two or more vowels in a word was unacceptable according to the laws of Russian phonetics, so borrowed words are easily distinguished by this feature (the so-called gap): poet, halo, out, theater, veil, cocoa, radio, punctuation.
5. The consonances ge, ke, he, which underwent phonetic changes in the original words, turned out to be possible in the borrowed words: cedar, hero, scheme, agent, ascetic.
6. The sequence of vowels and consonants, which is not typical for the Russian language, highlights borrowings in which the unusual consonances parachute, mashed potatoes, communique, jeep, jury are conveyed using the Russian phonetic system.
7. A special phonetic feature of words of Turkic origin is vowel harmony (synharmonism) - the natural use in one word of vowels of only one row: back [a], [u] or front [e], [i]: ataman, caravan, pencil, shoe, lasso , chest, sundress, drum, heel, sash, ulus, mosque, beads.

Among the morphological features of borrowed words, the most characteristic is their immutability and lack of inflections. Thus, some foreign language nouns do not change by case, do not have correlative singular and plural forms: taxi, coffee, coat, beige, mini, maxi.

Word-formation features of borrowings include foreign language prefixes: interval, deduction, individualism, regression, archimandrite, counter-admiral, antichrist and suffixes: dean's office, student, technical school, editor, literature, proletariat, populism, socialist, polemicize, etc.

Tracing

One of the methods of borrowing is tracing, i.e. constructing lexical units based on the model of the corresponding words of a foreign language by accurately translating their significant parts or borrowing individual meanings of words. Accordingly, lexical and semantic tracing papers are distinguished

Lexical tracings arise as a result of the literal translation into Russian of a foreign word in parts: prefix, root, suffix with an exact repetition of the method of its formation and meaning. For example, the Russian word look is formed according to the German model aussehen as a result of tracing the prefix you = German aus-; verb stem – look = German sehen. The words hydrogen and oxygen are calques of the Greek hudor – “water” + genos – “genus” and oxys – “sour” + genos – “genus”; similarly, the German Halbinsel served as a model for the peninsula; The English sky-scraper in Russian has the tracing-paper skyscraper (cf. Ukrainian khmaroches). Through tracing, the following borrowings came to us: biography (Gr. bios + grapho), superman (German ьber + Mensch); welfare (French bien+ktre), spelling (gr. orthos+grapho) and many others. Such tracing papers are also called word-formative, or more precisely lexical-word-formative.

Semantic tracings are original words that, in addition to their inherent meanings in the Russian lexical system, receive new meanings under the influence of another language. For example, the Russian word kartinka, meaning “work of painting”, “spectacle”, under the influence of the English language, began to be used in the meaning of “movie film”. This is a tracing paper of the English polysemantic word picture, which in the source language has the following meanings: “picture,” “drawing,” “portrait,” “film,” “film shot.”

Many semantic cripples from the French language were introduced into use by N. M. Karamzin: touch, touching, taste, refined, image, etc. Appeal to them at the beginning of the 19th century. was a distinctive feature of the “new style” developed by the Karamzin school and approved by Pushkin and his like-minded people.

Lexical and word-formation tracing was used to replenish the Russian lexicon from Greek, Latin, German, and French sources.

Another type of borrowing is lexical semi-calques - words that combine literally translated foreign and Russian word-forming elements. For example, the word humanity has the Latin root human-us, but the Russian suffix -ost (cf. humanism) is added to it, or in the compound word television the Greek (tele) and Russian (vision-e) stems are combined.

Attitude to borrowed words

In relation to borrowed words, two extremes often collide: on the one hand, the oversaturation of speech with foreign words and expressions, on the other, their denial, the desire to use only the original word. At the same time, in polemics they often forget that many borrowings have become completely Russified and have no equivalents, being the only names for the corresponding realities (remember Pushkin’s: But trousers, tailcoat, vest - all these words are not in Russian...). The lack of a scientific approach to the problem of mastering foreign language vocabulary is also manifested in the fact that its use is sometimes considered in isolation from the functional and stylistic consolidation of linguistic means: it is not taken into account that in some cases turning to foreign language book words is stylistically not justified, while in others it is mandatory, since these words form an integral part of the vocabulary assigned to a certain style serving a particular sphere of communication.

In different periods of the development of the Russian literary language, the assessment of the penetration of foreign language elements into it was ambiguous. In addition, with the intensification of the process of lexical borrowing, the resistance to it usually intensifies. Thus, Peter I demanded that his contemporaries write “as intelligibly as possible,” without abusing non-Russian words. M.V. Lomonosov in his “theory of three calms”, highlighting words of various groups in the Russian vocabulary, did not leave room for borrowings from non-Slavic languages. And when creating Russian scientific terminology, Lomonosov consistently sought to find equivalents in the language to replace foreign language terms, sometimes artificially transferring such formations into the language of science. Both A.P. Sumarokov and N.I. Novikov spoke out against the contamination of the Russian language with French words that were fashionable at that time.

However, in the 19th century. the emphasis has shifted. Representatives of the Karamzin school, young poets led by Pushkin were forced to fight for the use of lexical borrowings on Russian soil, since they reflected the advanced ideas of the French Enlightenment. It is no coincidence that the tsarist censorship erased such borrowed words as revolution and progress from the language.

In the first years of Soviet power, the most pressing cultural and educational task was to familiarize the broad masses with knowledge and eliminate illiteracy. Under these conditions, major writers and public figures put forward a demand for simplicity of the literary language.

Nowadays, the question of the appropriateness of using borrowings is associated with the assignment of lexical means to certain functional styles of speech. The use of foreign words that have a limited sphere of distribution can be justified by the readership and the stylistic affiliation of the work. Foreign terminological vocabulary is an indispensable means of concise and accurate transmission of information in texts intended for specialized specialists, but it can also turn out to be an insurmountable barrier to understanding a popular science text by an untrained reader.

One should also take into account the emerging trend in our age of scientific and technological progress towards the creation of international terminology, common names for concepts, phenomena of modern science and production, which also contributes to the consolidation of borrowed words that have acquired an international character.

Self-test questions

1. What explains the addition of foreign words to the Russian vocabulary?
2. What are the ways of penetration of lexical borrowings into the Russian language?
3. What lexical layers are distinguished in the Russian language depending on the origin of words?
4. What place do Old Church Slavonic words occupy in Russian vocabulary?
5. How do the Russian language master foreign words?
6. By what phonetic and morphological features can one identify borrowed words from the Russian vocabulary?
7. What are tracing papers?
8. What types of cripples in Russian do you know?
9. What are the criteria for using foreign words in speech?

Exercises

24. Analyze the composition of vocabulary in the text from the point of view of its origin. Highlight foreign words, noting the degree of their assimilation into the Russian language. Indicate Old Church Slavonicisms. For information, please consult etymological dictionaries and dictionaries of foreign words.

The southern facade of the Saltykovs' house faces the Field of Mars. Before the revolution, the current growing park was a huge square where parades of the Guards Corps troops took place. Behind it could be seen the gloomy Engineering Castle with its gilded spire. The building is now covered by old trees. In Pushkin's times they were only ten and three years old.

The façade of the embassy mansion had not yet been damaged by the later addition of the fourth floor.

Eight windows of the ambassador’s former apartment overlook the Champ de Mars, one of which is blocked; The outer windows on the right and left are triple. In the middle of the floor, a glass door leads to a balcony designed in the strict proportions of the Alexander Empire style. Its massive cast iron grate is very beautiful. The balcony was probably erected in 1819 at the same time as the entire third floor on the Champs de Mars side. ...Arriving in Leningrad, I asked permission to inspect the southern part of the third floor of the Institute of Culture.

Now this is basically where his library is located. Book treasures (currently more than three hundred thousand volumes) are already crowded in the enfilade of Countess Dolly's former rooms...

The five apartments overlooking the Champ de Mars are bright and invariably warm rooms. And in the most severe frosts it is never fresh here. The countess's favorite camellias and her other flowers probably did well in these rooms even in the cloudy St. Petersburg winters. It was also cozy there for Daria Fedorovna, who, as we know, in some respects herself resembled a hothouse flower.

In real terms, the countess, having lived for many years in Italy, at least in the first years after her arrival in St. Petersburg, had difficulty enduring the domestic frosts. The very arrival of the northern winter also depressed her.

Having settled in the Saltykovs’ house, she writes on October 1 of the same 1829: “Today the first snow fell - the winter, which will last for seven months, made my heart clench: the influence of the north on a person’s mood must be very strong, because among such a happy existence like mine, I always have to fight my sadness and melancholy. I reproach myself for this, but I can’t do anything about it - beautiful Italy is to blame for this, joyful, sparkling, warm, which turned my first youth into a picture full of flowers, comfort and harmony. She threw, as it were, a blanket over the rest of my life, which will pass outside of her! Few people would understand me in this regard, but only a person brought up and developed in the south truly feels what life is and knows all its charm.”

There are no words, the young ambassador, like few others, knew how to feel and love life. I just felt it – let’s repeat it again – one-sidedly. This happened before, in Italy, and in the red living room of the Saltykovsky house, where, probably, she filled out the pages of her diary... But it is difficult to walk around her former private rooms without excitement. Probably, no less than the state apartments of the embassy, ​​they were what has long been called the “salon of Countess Fikelmont,” where, according to P.A. Vyazemsky, “both diplomats and Pushkin were at home.”

(N. Raevsky.)

25. In sentences from the works of A. S. Pushkin, highlight Old Slavonicisms. Indicate their stylistic functions, name, where possible, Russian correspondences.

1. Leaning on an alien plow, submitting to the whips, here skinny slavery drags along the reins of an inexorable owner. Here everyone is dragged by a painful yoke to the grave, not daring to nourish hopes and inclinations in the soul, here young maidens bloom for the whim of an insensitive villain. 2. Be afraid, O army of foreigners! The sons of Russia moved; both old and young rebelled; They fly at the daring, their hearts are kindled with vengeance. 3. I love mad youth... 4. ...There, under the canopy of the scenes, my youthful days rushed. 5. Listen to my sad voice... 6. I didn’t want to kiss the lips of young Armidas with such torment, or fiery roses on the cheeks, or breasts full of languor... 7. It’s time to leave the boring shore... 8. ...Fields ! I am devoted to you with my soul. 9. But thank God! You are alive and unharmed... 10. Hello, young, unfamiliar tribe! 11. And I have always considered you a faithful, brave knight... 12. I opened the granaries for them, I scattered gold for them, I found work for them... 13. Neither power nor life amuses me... 14. Then - is not it? - in the desert, far from vain rumors, you didn’t like me... 15. I listened and listened - involuntary and sweet tears flowed.

UDC 811.161.1

BBK 81.2Rus-92.3

Valgina N.S.

Rosenthal D.E.

Fomina M.I.

Modern Russian language: Textbook / Edited by N.S. Valgina. - 6th ed., revised. and additional

Moscow: Logos, 2002. 528 p. 5000 copies

Reviewers: Doctor of Philology, Professor N.D. Burvikova,

Doctor of Philology, Professor V.A. Pronin

Contains all sections of the modern Russian language course: vocabulary and phraseology, phonetics, phonology and orthoepy. graphics and spelling, word formation, morphology, syntax and punctuation. In preparing this publication, achievements in the field of the Russian language over the past 15 years have been taken into account. Unlike the fifth edition (Moscow: Vysshaya Shkola, 1987), the textbook includes materials covering active processes in the modern Russian language, and the list of word formation methods has been expanded. trends in the use of forms of grammatical number, gender and case are noted, changes in syntax are taken into account.

For students of higher educational institutions studying in philological and other humanitarian areas and specialties.

ISBN ISBN 5-94010-008-2

© Valgina N.S., Rosenthal D.E., Fomina M.I., 1987

© Valgina N.S. Rework and addition, 2001

© “Logos”, 2002

Valgina N.S.

Rosenthal D.E.

Fomina M.I.

Modern Russian language

From the publisher

This textbook is intended primarily for students of philological specialties of higher educational institutions. But it is also designed for use in the educational process in a wide range of humanities - of course, primarily those where mastery of the expressive means of literary speech is a prerequisite for successful professional activity. It seems that in any case, the textbook will be useful to future lawyers, teachers, art historians, and journalists.

The peculiarity of the publication - the conciseness and compactness of the presentation of the material - takes into account the diversity of needs of the possible audience. Therefore, the duration of the lecture course, practical and independent studies using this textbook may vary depending on the direction, specialty of training of humanists, as well as the form of study: full-time, evening or correspondence.

The textbook contains all sections of the modern Russian language course; vocabulary and phraseology, phonetics, phonology and spelling, graphics and spelling, word formation, morphology, syntax and punctuation.

In preparing this publication, achievements in the field of the Russian language over the past fifteen years were taken into account. The wording of certain theoretical provisions has been changed, new concepts have been introduced, terminology has been clarified, illustrative materials and bibliography have been partially updated, active processes in the modern Russian language are highlighted, especially in the field of vocabulary and syntax.

The content of sections and paragraphs has been supplemented with new information, in particular: the position on the slightly changed status of the literary language has been substantiated; the list of word formation methods has been expanded; trends in the use of grammatical number forms are noted; Data is provided on sentences of real and unreal modality, coordination of the forms of subject and predicate, genitive sentences, as well as on the ambiguity of resolving the issue of homogeneity and heterogeneity of predicates, etc.

Thus, the title of the textbook - “Modern Russian Language” - reflects the essential features of the educational material presented in it. Moreover, the textbook to some extent reveals those trends that, as can be foreseen today, will determine the development of the Russian language in the 21st century.

This sixth edition was prepared by N.S. Valgina based on the stable textbook of the same name, which went through five editions.

Introduction

The modern Russian language is the national language of the great Russian people, a form of Russian national culture.

The Russian language belongs to the group of Slavic languages, which are divided into three subgroups: eastern - the languages ​​Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian; southern - languages ​​Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Macedonian; Western - languages ​​Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian, Lusatian. Going back to the same source - the common Slavic language, all Slavic languages ​​are close to each other, as evidenced by the similarity of a number of words, as well as the phenomena of the phonetic system and grammatical structure. For example: Russian tribe, Bulgarian tribe, Serbian tribe, Polish plemiê, Czech pl e mě, Russian clay, Bulgarian clay, Czech hlina, Polish glina; Russian summer, Bulgarian lato, Czech l e to, Polish lato; Russian red, Serbian kr A san, Czech kr a sn y; Russian milk, Bulgarian milk, Serbian milk, Polish mieko, Czech ml e ko, etc.

Russian National language represents a historically established linguistic community and unites the entire set of linguistic means of the Russian people, including all Russian dialects and dialects, as well as social jargons.

The highest form of the national Russian language is Russian literary language.

At different historical stages of the development of the national language - from the national language to the national - in connection with the change and expansion of the social functions of the literary language, the content of the concept of “literary language” changed.

Modern Russian literary language is a standardized language that serves the cultural needs of the Russian people; it is the language of state acts, science, the press, radio, theater, and fiction.

“The division of language into literary and folk,” wrote A.M. Bitter, means only that we have, so to speak, a “raw” language and processed by masters.”

The normalization of a literary language lies in the fact that the composition of the dictionary in it is regulated, the meaning and use of words, pronunciation, spelling and the formation of grammatical forms of words follow a generally accepted pattern. The concept of a norm, however, does not exclude in some cases variants that reflect changes that constantly occur in language as a means of human communication. For example, the following stress options are considered literary: far - far, high - high, otherwise - otherwise; gram, forms: waving - waving, meowing - meowing, rinsing - rinsing.

Modern literary language, not without the influence of the media, is noticeably changing its status: the norm is becoming less rigid, allowing for variation. It focuses not on inviolability and universality, but rather on communicative expediency. Therefore, the norm today is often not so much a ban on something as an opportunity to choose. The border between normativity and non-normativity is sometimes blurred, and some colloquial and colloquial linguistic facts become variants of the norm. Becoming a public domain, the literary language easily absorbs previously forbidden means of linguistic expression. It is enough to give an example of the active use of the word “lawlessness,” which previously belonged to criminal jargon.

Literary language has two forms: oral And written, which are characterized by features both from the lexical composition and from the grammatical structure, because they are designed for different types of perception - auditory and visual.

Written literary language differs from oral language primarily in the greater complexity of syntax and the presence of a large amount of abstract vocabulary, as well as terminological vocabulary, in particular international. Written literary language has stylistic varieties: scientific, official business, journalistic, and artistic styles.

Literary language, as a standardized, processed national language, is opposed to local dialects And jargons. Russian dialects are united into two main groups: the Northern Russian dialect and the Southern Russian dialect. Each group has its own distinctive features in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical forms. In addition, there are Central Russian dialects, which reflect the features of both dialects.

The modern Russian literary language is the language of interethnic communication of the peoples of the Russian Federation. The Russian literary language introduces all the peoples of Russia to the culture of the great Russian people.

Since 1945, the UN Charter has recognized the Russian language as one of the official languages ​​of the world.

There are numerous statements by great Russian writers and public figures, as well as many progressive foreign writers, about the strength, wealth and artistic expressiveness of the Russian language. Derzhavin and Karamzin, Pushkin and Gogol, Belinsky and Chernyshevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy spoke enthusiastically about the Russian language.

The modern Russian language course consists of the following sections: vocabulary and phraseology, phonetics and phonology, spelling, graphics and spelling, word formation, grammar (morphology and syntax), punctuation.

Vocabulary And phraseology study the vocabulary and phraseological composition of the Russian language and the patterns of its development.

Phonetics describes the sound composition of the modern Russian literary language and the main sound processes occurring in the language; the subject of phonology is phonemes - the shortest sound units that serve to distinguish the sound shells of words and their forms.

Orthoepy studies the norms of modern Russian literary pronunciation.

Graphic arts introduces the composition of the Russian alphabet, the relationship between letters and sounds, and spelling- with the basic principle of Russian writing - morphological, as well as phonetic and traditional spellings. Spelling is a set of rules that determine the spelling of words.

Word formation studies the morphological composition of a word and the main types of formation of new words: morphological, morphological-syntactic, lexical-semantic, lexical-syntactic.

Morphology is the study of grammatical categories and grammatical forms of words. She studies the lexical and grammatical categories of words, the interaction of lexical and grammatical meanings of a word, and ways of expressing grammatical meanings in the Russian language.

Syntax- This is the study of sentences and phrases. Syntax studies the basic syntactic units - phrases and sentences, types of syntactic connections, types of sentences and their structure.

Punctuation is built on the basis of syntax - a set of rules for placing punctuation marks.

VOCABULARY AND PHRASEOLOGY

Russian vocabulary

The concept of vocabulary and lexical system

Vocabulary is the entire set of words of a language, its vocabulary. The branch of linguistics that studies vocabulary is called lexicology(gr. lexikos - vocabulary + logos - teaching). There is a distinction between historical lexicology, which studies the formation of vocabulary in its development, and descriptive lexicology, which deals with issues of word meaning, semantics (gr. semantikos - denoting), volume, structure of vocabulary, etc., i.e. considering various types of relationships between words in a single lexical-semantic system. Words in it can be related by similarity or opposition of meanings (cf., for example, synonyms and antonyms), commonality of functions performed (cf., for example, groups of words in colloquial and book), similarity of origin or proximity of stylistic properties, as well as belonging to the same part of speech and etc. This kind of relationship between words in different groups, united by common features, is called paradigmatic(gr. par a deigma - example, sample) and are fundamental in determining the properties of the system.

A type of systemic connections is the degree of lexical compatibility of words with each other, otherwise the relationship syntagmatic(Greek syntagma - something connected), which often influence the development of new paradigms. For example, for a long time the word state in meaning was associated only with the word state as “the political organization of society headed by the government or its bodies.” Being a relative adjective in meaning, it was combined with a certain range of words like: system, border, institution, employee and under. Then its syntagmatic relations expanded: it began to be used in combination with words thinking, mind, person, action, deed etc., acquiring the qualitative-evaluative meaning “able to think and act broadly and wisely.” This, in turn, created the conditions for the emergence of new paradigmatic connections, which also influenced the development of new grammatical meanings and forms: since the word in certain cases performs the functions of qualitative adjectives, the formation of abstract nouns became possible from it - statehood, qualitative adverbs - state, antonyms - non-state, anti-state etc.

Consequently, both types of systemic relations are closely related to each other and form an overall complex lexical-semantic system, which is part of the general language system.

Semasiological characteristics of the modern lexical system

Lexical meaning of the word. Its main types

A word differs in its sound design, morphological structure and the meaning and meaning contained in it.

Lexical meaning of the word- this is its content, i.e. historically fixed in the minds of speakers the correlation between a sound complex and an object or phenomenon of reality, “formulated according to the grammatical laws of a given language and being an element of the general semantic system of the dictionary.”

The meaning of words does not reflect the entire set of known signs, objects and phenomena, but only those of them that help to distinguish one object from another. So, if we say: this is a bird, then in this case we are only interested in the fact that before us is a species of flying vertebrate animals, the body of which is covered with feathers, and the forelimbs are transformed into wings. These features help distinguish a bird from other animals, such as mammals.

In the process of joint labor activity, in their social practice, people learn objects, qualities, phenomena; and certain features of these objects, qualities or phenomena of reality serve as the basis for the meaning of the word. Therefore, to correctly understand the meaning of words, a wide acquaintance with the public sphere in which the word existed or exists is necessary. Consequently, extra-linguistic factors play an important role in the development of the meaning of a word.

Depending on which feature is used as the basis for the classification, four main types of lexical meanings of words can be distinguished in the modern Russian language.

By connection, correlation with the subject of reality, i.e. According to the method of naming or nomination (Latin nominatio - naming, denomination), direct or basic meanings and figurative or indirect meanings are distinguished.

Direct meaning is one that is directly related to an object or phenomenon, quality, action, etc. For example, the first two meanings of the word hand will be straight: “one of the two upper limbs of a person from the shoulder to the end of the fingers...” and “... as an instrument of activity, labor.”

Portable is a meaning that arises not as a result of direct correlation with an object, but through the transfer of direct meaning to another object due to various associations. For example, the following meanings of the word hand will be figurative:

1) (singular only) manner of writing, handwriting; 2) (plural only) labor force;

3) (plural only) about a person, a person (...with a definition) as the possessor, possessor of something; 4) symbol of power; 5) (only singular, colloquial) about an influential person who can protect and provide support; 6) (only singular) about someone’s consent to marriage, about readiness to marry.

Connections between words that have a direct meaning are less dependent on context and are determined by subject-logical relations, which are quite broad and relatively free. The figurative meaning depends much more on the context; it has a living or partially extinct imagery.

According to the degree of semantic motivation, meanings are divided into unmotivated(or non-derivative, idiomatic) and motivated(or derivatives of the former). For example, the meaning of the word hand- unmotivated, and the meanings of words manual, sleeve etc. - are already motivated by semantic and word-formation connections with the word hand.

According to the degree of lexical compatibility, meanings are divided into relatively free(these include all direct meanings of words) and unfree. Among the latter, there are two main types:

1) phraseologically related meaning is called one that occurs in words in certain lexically indivisible combinations. They are characterized by a narrowly limited, stably reproduced range of words, the connections of which are determined not by subject-logical relations, but by the internal laws of the lexical-semantic system. The boundaries of the use of words with this meaning are narrow. Yes, the word bosom the figurative meaning “sincere, sincere” is realized, as a rule, only in combination with the word friend (friendship);

2) syntactically determined meaning is called one that appears in a word when it fulfills an unusual role in a sentence. Context plays a significant role in the development of these meanings. For example, when using the word oak as a person characterizing: Eh, you oak, you still don’t understand anything- its meaning “dull, insensitive” (colloquial) is realized.

A type of syntactically determined meaning includes the so-called structurally limited, which arises only under the conditions of using a word in a certain syntactic structure. For example, the relatively recently emerged meaning of “district, region, place of action” for the word geography due to its use in construction with a noun in the genitive case: geography of sports victories.

According to the nature of the nominative functions performed, the meanings are actually nominative and expressive-synonymous.

Nominative are those that directly, directly name an object, phenomenon, quality, action, etc. In their semantics, as a rule, there are no additional features (in particular, evaluative ones). Although over time such signs may appear. (In this case, various kinds of figurative meanings develop, but this group is distinguished according to a different classification criterion. See type 1.)

For example, words have a nominative meaning writer, assistant, make noise and many more etc.

Expressive-synonymous is the meaning of a word in the semantics of which the emotional-expressive feature predominates. Words with such meanings exist independently, are reflected in the dictionary and are perceived as evaluative synonyms for words that have their own nominative meaning. Wed: writer - scribbler, scribbler; assistant - accomplice; make noise - make noise. Consequently, they not only name the object, the action, but also give a special assessment. For example, chatter(simple) not just “to make noise,” but “to behave noisily, fussily, dissolutely, dishonestly.”

In addition to the indicated main types of lexical meanings, many words in the Russian language have shades of meaning, which, although closely related to the main one, still have differences. For example, along with the first direct meaning of the word hand Dictionaries also give its connotation, i.e. separated by a semicolon indicates “part of the same limb from the metacarpus to the end of the fingers.” (Compare in the dictionary the shades of meaning of the word book and many other words.)