Work on mistakes?

Explanation to the article by N. Ivanova-Gladilshchikova “All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren: more and more problems” (TrV No. 176, April 7, 2015).

An unfortunate mistake crept into the article by N. Ivanova-Gladilshchikova “All-Russian Olympiad for schoolchildren: more and more problems” (TrV No. 176, April 7, 2015). Indeed, in Vasmer’s Etymological Dictionary, “bear” is “honey eater,” although some experts note that the position vedmid (Ukrainian) may indicate an origin from “to know honey.”

And, nevertheless, we would like to give examples of tasks from the Russian language Olympiads for schoolchildren with non-absolute answers from the Central Subject Commission, which the student can only guess. Answers that are considered correct by the jury, but not by all experts.

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Here is a task with two “Guessing Games”

Many linguistic studies have been devoted to ways of expressing color in Russian. Complete activities that introduce different means of indicating color.

1) Read these nouns and explain which words are based on color: album, nightingale, glaze, linen, mezzanine, ore .

2) Analyze the adjectives given below and group them depending on whether they can be used to form verbs with the meaning 'become this color'. Based on the examples given, explain what could be the reasons for the absence of such verbs. Cornflower blue, blue, mustard, yellow, lilac, blue.

3) Adjectives denoting color are very often found in set expressions. Read the meanings and restore the phraseological units.

1. About a man of noble, aristocratic origin.
2. Start a fire or make someone angry
3. Treat someone very strictly.
4. Periodicals that print unverified information.

Response model:

1) Color became the basis for the naming of the following words:

Album - from lat. albus, a, um white. Wed. albino.

The nightingale is a bird that got its name from the color of its plumage. Solovy – 'gray, yellowish'.

Expert's comment: Vasmer refers to "nighting" as a color, and Chernykh as "solovy", sleepy as sleepy, the nightingale is a bird that sings at night and has a soothing voice. And only as a remark speaks of color. In Olympiad tasks (answers) - only color.

Linen is originally white (undyed) fabric.

Ore is great. *ruda red, reddish, brown. Compare: blush, red-faced.

2) You can form verbs with the meaning 'become this color' from adjectives: blue, yellow, blue. It is impossible to form verbs with this meaning from the following adjectives: cornflower blue, mustard seeds, lilac: by origin, these are relative adjectives that name a characteristic that cannot be manifested to a greater or lesser extent (cf.: cornflower blue bouquet, mustard seeds, lilac smell), which received a figurative qualitative value. Also, all the examples given in this group contain an explicit or hidden comparison with the color of objects, which helps preserve the characteristics of relative adjectives.

3) The meanings of phraseological units are given:

1. White bone, blue blood.
2. Let the red rooster go.
3. Keep in a black body.
4. Yellow press.

Expert comment:

In the same task, dictionaries do not give the meaning of “let a red rooster” as “Start a fire or make someone angry.”

All dictionaries give: LET THE <RED> ROOSTER. LET THE <RED> ROOSTER IN. Razg. Express Set something on fire, starting a fire. - At dawn it was captured by fire. Whether he himself somehow laid the rooster, or else, they say, Kuzma let the rooster go, is unknown (Korolenko. Killer).

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And here is an example from the tasks of the final stage of the All-Russian Olympiad in Russian Language 2014 (Kislovodsk).

The task can be called either “Guess” or “Use of official position”

The point is this: S.V. Knyazev is a member of the jury of the final stage of the Olympiad. And only in his book (Knyazev S., Pozharitskaya S.K. Modern Russian literary language: Phonetics, spelling, graphics and spelling: Textbook for universities. - 2nd ed., revised and additional. - M.: Academic Project; Gaudeamus, 2011) on page 49 there is a table of consonant sounds, where soft [l'] differs from hard [l] by the place of formation (anteropalatal/dental); [ l] dental, and [l'] anterior palatal (alveolar).

Other textbooks do not make such a distinction, for example, in the textbook “Modern Russian Literary Language” (P.A. Lekant and others) “l” and “l” are given as anterior lingual teeth (both sounds).

The answers also say: soft [t'] differs from hard [t] in the way of formation (at the end of its pronunciation a sound similar to [s'] is heard). In academic textbooks, both sounds are plosive, and in Knyazev’s textbook they are also plosive.

So how to guess the correct answer? And why is the classification of a jury member accepted as a rule?

The task itself is: “The story of this translation is a story of disappointment. Alas, that “wonderful Russian language,” which, it seemed to me, was still waiting for me somewhere, blooming like a sure spring behind the tightly locked gates to which I had kept the key for so many years, turned out to be non-existent, and behind the gates there is nothing but charred stumps and the hopeless autumn distance, and the key in the hand is more like a master key,” wrote Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov in the “Postscript to the Russian edition” of the novel “Lolita”, while in exile. As you know, the work was written in 1955 in English, and in 1967 it was translated into Russian by the author himself. Read an excerpt from the novel by V.V. Nabokov and answer the questions.

“Lo-li-ta: the tip of the tongue takes three steps down the palate, only to hit the teeth on the third. Lo. Lee. Ta."

Questions and tasks:

1. Explain what is inaccurate in the description of the pronunciation of the main character’s name in Russian?
2. What quality of sounds in the Russian language is this difference associated with?
3. In addition to hardness/softness, how do the first two consonants in this name differ from each other in modern pronunciation? In addition to hardness/softness in modern pronunciation, how does the corresponding soft consonant differ from the last consonant in this name?

Answer:

1. The inaccuracy of the description lies in the fact that when pronouncing “Lo-li-ta” in Russian there is no consistent movement of the tongue:

a) in modern pronunciation there is a back/forward movement - [ l] dental, [l'] anterior palatal (alveolar) , [t] dental again;

b) in the first half of the 20th century, all these consonants are described as consonants of one place of formation: dental.

2. The difference is associated with the quality of sounds such as the hardness/softness of consonants, on which the place of articulation depends.
3. Soft [l'] differs from hard [l] in the place of formation (anteropalatal/dental); soft [t'] differs from hard [t] in the way of formation (at the end of its pronunciation a sound similar to [s'] is heard).

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Here is an example from the 2015 regional Russian language Olympiad. Also – a complete “guessing game”

Here are 5 phonetic riddles. Determine what sounds we are talking about. Give reasons for your answer.

1) A solid sonorous sound, which is often found in tongue twisters about a tragic incident that occurred near the river;

2) is paired in deafness/voice with a sound that is in the word marmalade, but absent in the word staircase;

3) in the library - one, at the butterfly - as many as two, and in slavery and ruby ​​- not at all;

4) this sound is capable of turning an elevated section of the bottom of a reservoir, which interferes with navigation, into an insect;

5) combinations of sonorants with this vowel at the beginning of a word indicate the Old Slavic origin of the word.

2. Make 4 common nouns from the sounds you found. When composing words, pay attention to the following conditions: a) the number of sounds in one word can be any; b) sounds should not be repeated within one word; c) the noun must be in the initial form.

Response model:

1) [r] The Greek was driving across the river, he sees the Greek - there is a crab in the river, he put the Greek’s hand in the river, the crab grabs the Greek’s hand;

2) [d], because [marm'ilát], [l'es'n'itsa] - the remaining consonant sounds are not suitable because they are sonorant;

3) [b], [b']i[b]lioteka, [b]a[b]ochka, ra[p]stvo, ru[b']in;

4) [o], stranded; Here the sound Ш can transform: mel - bumblebee. And the answers are just spotty.

5) [a], combinations ra-, la-.

From the found sounds [р], [д], [b], [о], [а] you can make common nouns, for example: [dabró] good, [bar] bar, [bra] bra, [bor] bor, [ dar] dar, [or] or, [boá] boa, [roba] roba, etc. It should be noted that nouns like slave, hell, genus are not suitable, since they consist of other sounds: [rap], [at] , [mouth].