When it comes to the processes of linguistic globalization and the influence of these processes on the development of the modern Russian language, the first and, perhaps, the last thing that comes to mind is a huge number of words borrowed from English in the last 20–25 years. Indeed, it is easy to assume that the reader will immediately recall dozens, if not hundreds of borrowed words that are especially widespread in areas such as business ( freelancer, franchise ), computers ( printer, upgrade ), youth subcultures ( body art, telescing ) and sex ( sex, gay ). A huge number of scientific works and newspaper articles are devoted to this topic, so there, apparently, there is nothing to add here. But there are other aspects of linguistic globalization that may be more interesting. They should be considered by points.

Anglicisms are discord

In addition to real Englishism, there is a curious group of words that can be called false English. Such words are found in many European languages; They look both Anglicisms and are usually perceived by native speakers, but in reality they have no correspondences in English. Among the false English in Russian, you can mention the business lady, Digger, Lawkoster, Pranker, Rufer, Feiscontrol, Showumen, Showman ; In some cases, there is a similar word in English ( roofer, showman ), but only with a different meaning. Interestingly, the word Feiscontrol entered the English language, at least in the community of Moscow "expans".

Globalization is not only the influence of English

Not all new words that have entered the Russian language in recent years have a direct or indirect connection with English. Here are some examples borrowed from different European languages: a barricet/booth (ital. Borsetta ), a migrant worker (German. Gastarbeiter ), lustration (Czech. Lustrace ), cat-d'Ivoire (fr. Côte-d'Ivoire ), mundial (Port. Or port. Mundial ), confusion (Italian. Puttana ), barcode (German. Strichkode ). The other category includes internationalisms that are found in many European languages, but for some reason they bypassed the English side: among them an ATM (cf. atm, Cash Machine ) and ultras (there is only holigans in English).

The Russian was also enriched with a significant number of words that came from different oriental languages. Some of these words can be considered internationalism, for example , Wahhabit, Jihad; aikido; Fengshui, Datszybao. Others have more limited distribution, for example, Urazabayram (cf. Eng. Eid ), Paransha (cf. English Burqa ).

It is worth noting here that the Russian is involved in the processes of linguistic globalization not only as a refrigerated language, but also as a language of the Dodonor. In the post-Soviet period of Russian words that entered other European languages, there are not so many, but we can mention the oligarch (in the meaning of “a super-rich Russian with a huge yacht, a football club and real estate in London”) and, perhaps, a security forces .

Globalization is not only borrowed words

The expansion of the vocabulary of the modern Russian language occurs not only by borrowing; Over the past 25 years, a considerable number of crocks have appeared, that is, cases when a foreign word is translated into Russian or (which happens more often) the phrase. Many tracing paper relate to areas such as business and economics: for example, value added tax (cf. Fr. Taxe à valeur ajoutée ), shock therapy (cf. Eng. Shock Therapy ); Politics: for example, a ban on the profession (cf. German. Berufsverbot ), first reading (cf. English FRST Reading ); Sex: for example, sexual harassment (cf. Eng. Sexual Harassment ), sexual minorities (cf. English sexual minorities ); Mass Media: for example, soap opera (cf. Eng. Soap Opera ), target audience (cf. English Target Audience ). There are other examples: Russian roulette (cf. English russian roulette ), hot line (cf. English Hot Line ), group stage [sports competition] (cf. Group Stage ), computer literacy (cf. Eng. Computer Literacy ). Curious cases of calculating more complex phraseological units or even whole sentences are curious, for example, the notorious stay with us (cf. Eng. Stay with us ).

The last category of lexical innovations associated with globalization consists of cases when an existing word expands its circle of meanings according to a foreign (usually English) model. For example, a call is sometimes used in the sense of “problem” or “difficulty”, by analogy with English Challenge ; control and derivatives ( control, control ) acquired additional values ​​related to the concepts of management, disposal (for example, a control package of shares; The portfolio is found in the expression of the investor portfolio (cf. English an investor's portfolio ).

Globalization is not only vocabulary

Vocabulary, of course, is the most open part of the language system, but this does not mean that the processes associated with language globalization do not apply to other spheres of the language. The foreign influence on the grammar of the language is not a new phenomenon: Greek played a significant role in the formation of the syntax of the Church Slavonic language, French had a strong influence on the grammar of the Russian language in the second half of the 18th century. As for modern Russian, there is an innovation that changes the grammatical structure of the language to some extent.

A characteristic feature of the grammatical system of Germanic languages ​​is the ability to combine two nouns without a grammatical element that binds them; In English, such forms are usually written separately or through a hyphen, for example, Bacon Sandwich, Tea-Break , while in German it is more often component, for example, GastarBeiter, Hauptbahnhof. This method of word formation, apparently, has certain advantages regarding linguistic flexibility and savings, therefore, the forms built according to this model began to appear in a number of Romanesque and Slavic languages, including in Russian.

Russian examples of this phenomenon, which are almost always written through a hyphen, are interesting in that they are not homogeneous: they can be divided into three categories. The first includes direct borrowings of whole expressions, for example, a website (cf. Eng. Website ), coffee break (cf. Eng. Coffee Break ), flash drive (cf. English Flash Drive ). Almost always the source of such forms is English. The second consists of forms formed in the Russian language, most often (but not always) according to a foreign model; Many examples represent the names of different types: president-hotel, Gorbachev-Fund, gentleman show , but there are others: conference hall, pop star .

In examples belonging to the third category, the first structure of the design has the ability to freely combine with an indefinite number of nouns of both Russian and foreign origin. In such combinations, the first element actually performs the function of the adjective, and in this regard the question arises whether the new grammatical form arises in the post -Soviet Russian language, namely the Bessuffix and the non -explosive adjective, which is faced with the determined noun (unlike long -existing beige, assorted , etc.). In this new category near a dozen words:

Business: business idea, business education;
web: web designer, web-vascularity;
gay: gay movement, gay magazine;
Internet: Internet library, Internet bride;
Media: media group, media union;
Online: online Devil, online survey;
PR: PR agency, PR project;
Sex: Sex Minor, Sex-Tovars;
Show: show business, show program.

In three cases, the first element consists of English contraction, which can be written in Latin letters:

SMS: SMS Jargon, SMS message;
VIP: VIP-hall, VIP fishing;
LGBT: LGBT activists, LGBT community.

In some cases, next to the above form, there is a “normal” adjective: online ~ online, sex ~ sexual, web ~ network .

Some changes have occurred in the traditional Russian-Soviet system of contacting a person and nomination of people, although it is not always clear what role globalizing trends play. In any case, probably, the formulation of your honor , through which they turn to the judge in the Russian court, is the translation of the American Your Honour . But the case with the “disappearing” patronymic regarding political and other figures of great social significance (“direct line with Vladimir Putin”) is less unambiguous. On the one hand, the wording “Name + Surname” is the norm in almost all other European languages, so the presence of foreign influence on the modern Russian Uzus is quite likely. On the other hand, in Soviet times it was customary not to use a middle name when they talked about people belonging to some categories (for example, artists, athletes, journalists), and therefore it is possible that the post -Soviet mixture of cultural and social categories led to the fact that this practice began to extend to politicians.

The undoubted consequence of the processes associated with linguistic globalization is the expanded use of the Latin alphabet in Russian texts. High technologies contribute to this phenomenon, namely, that on modern computers it is very easy to switch from one alphabet to another. But just because of this circumstance, it is difficult to determine the rules for the use of the Latin alphabet, since the choice often depends on the preferences of the writer. Some words and abbreviations have double forms, for example PRIVASI/Privacy, reception/reception, faceontrol/Face Control, VIP/VIP , but the Latin alphabet is usually preferred for foreign trademarks and unfamiliar names that may be more understandable in the original than in transliteration.

Globalization is not only language contacts​

In different European languages, the same phenomena are observed that arise independently of each other, without any tangible influence of one language on another. They reflect not so much language convergence as a kind of convergence in human thinking. For example, both in Russian and in French there is a reduction denoting a homeless person - a homeless person (without a specific place of residence) and SDF (Sans domicile fixe) . The expressions that underlie these contractions translate each other, but, apparently, they appeared in each language independently; Perhaps they reflect the globalization of the bureaucratic mind.

In a more general way, it is interesting to notice the spread of abbreviations in European languages, consisting partially or completely of the initial parts of words. Such reductions were especially characteristic of the Russian language of the Soviet period; They can be illustrated by the following examples: Gosplan, Rostselmash, Minovus. They continue to form in the post -Soviet Russian language: for example, Gazprom and Levberdon, but now they are more an exception than the rule.

In Italian, abbreviations of this type are quite common, mainly in the names of different organizations and structures: for example, Polizia Ferroviaria, i.e. railway police ), Carisbo (Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna - Bank ), Unipol (Unica Polizza - Insurance Holding ). In English - much less often; They are random and in some cases humorous in nature: for example, Sitcom (Situal Comedy), Britpop (British Pop Music), Oxfam (Oxford Committee for Famine Relief). Although some indirect influence of the “Soviet” language on the formation of these abbreviations cannot be excluded, the direct connection seems unlikely; Rather, they appear in all three (and in other) languages ​​independently of each other and reflect the general desire to avoid in the written and oral speech of long and complex combinations of words.

The main paradox of linguistic globalization

One could expect that one of the consequences of linguistic globalization will be some rapprochement of languages. But this is not entirely true: in many respects, Russian in its post -Soviet hypostasis is more difficult to understand or translate than the language of the Soviet era. Perhaps this situation is explained by the following factors. On the one hand, there is really an education in some areas, for example, in business, high technologies and rock music, international jargons consisting of words that most often have English origin. But on the other hand, these jargons are the property of a narrow layer of adherents (in addition, the Anglicisms that make up them are not always understandable to most English -speaking), there are spheres of linguistic activity, for example, a policy where foreign influence has a limited role.

The second factor is due to the fact that language contacts contribute not only to rapprochement, but also to differentiation. Borrowed words that have become full -fledged elements of the Russian language are subjected to the same processes as the rest of the vocabulary. For example, the meaning of new words does not depend on the meaning of the corresponding words in the donor language: the meaning of the words cottage and bistro differs significantly from the meanings of the English Cottage and the French Bistro (T). Moreover, borrowed vocabulary is included in the Russian system of word formation: from the word PR forms the words of the PR man, and others; From the word Frend forms to fraud; From the word Kerling (sport) is formed by Kerlingist (cf. English Woman Curler). There is what can be called a linguistic creative, reflected in the above false English, as well as in different forms of language game.

The last paragraph must reassure those who do not like language globalization. Under the influence of the globalizing processes described here, the Russian language certainly changes, enriches, maybe complicated, but with all these changes it will remain the same Russian language as before.