February 21 is International Mother Language Day. The resort is quite young, with a history of less than a quarter of a century. Mother Language Day was celebrated for the first time in 2000, and the date was chosen to commemorate the tragic event: on February 21, 1952, a student demonstration in support of the Bengali language was held in Dhaka, which the then Pakistani authorities accepted. (Bangladesh province did not exist yet, this region was considered the eastern part of Pakistan) not officially recognized. The demonstration was brutally dispersed and many students were killed. However, after this, the protests became more widespread and finally, a few years later, the Bengali language gained official status.
By the way, now it bears his name according to the State Institute of the Russian Language. According to AS Pushkin, Bengali is one place ahead of Russian in terms of the number of speakers: Bengali is ranked 8th in the world, while Russian is ranked 9th.
According to UNESCO, the main purpose of celebrating International Mother Language Day is to preserve linguistic and cultural diversity. Celebrating Mother Language Day, this international organization reminds us of the importance of preserving cultural and linguistic differences, tolerance and respect for other languages and peoples.
But any language-related holiday in our country (be it International Mother Language Day, Russian Language Day or International Literacy Day, celebrated on September 8) often turns out to be an additional reason to complain that we do not have a language today. the way it used to be and I call on it to protect it from endless dangers (British, femininity, vernacular and youth slang, which I wrote about recently) colon).
While we talk endlessly about the terrible problems that threaten the Russian language, has it ever occurred to you that we treat it the way an overprotective, anxious parent treats a young child? Do not get involved in this mud (layers of slang and colloquialisms), you will get dirty and cannot be washed! Don’t hang out with this kid (English), he’ll teach you bad things! And – a subconscious desire – do not change, do not grow (do not change the emphasis from “to open” to “to turn on”, do not make “coffee” a neutral word). Such excessive love and care can seriously complicate a child’s life – in the same way that, while we sincerely want to help the language, we can actually harm it if we “protect” it by ignoring the laws by which the language lives and develops. .
After all, the Russian language is not a small, unintelligent child. He is older, wiser and more experienced than all of us combined. He was there when we were not yet in this world, and He will be there when we are gone. He knows much better than we do what he needs and what he doesn’t need.
The main task of language is to ensure communication between us and those who speak it and to maintain emphasis at all costs. Great DanesHER. and the masculine gender of the word Coffee. It is important to understand if language needs to be emphasized to ensure more successful communication between people. security (completely true, but how did you read it?), it will remain no matter how many tens of thousands of people say it to ensuretosituation. But if that’s exactly the option – to ensuretoread – It will become more preferable in terms of language, no matter how terrible punishments the defenders of the Russian language impose for such an emphasis, this will prevail and become the main punishment.
Everything happened in the history of languages: entire grammatical categories arose and collapsed, the pronunciation, meaning and spelling of tens of thousands of words changed. Only one thing remained constant: the painful reaction of native speakers to any change in this language.
Linguists have also been writing about this for a long time (and will continue to do so, of course). Probably, the outstanding Russian linguist AM Peshkovsky said it best about a hundred years ago. According to him, there is “an incredible conservatism in our attitude towards language that we cannot find in any other area of the soul. Of all ideals, this is the only ideal that is completely surpassed. “True” is always the discourse of the older generations that preceded the literary schools.”
The scientist also wrote about the negative attitude of a non-specialist towards linguistics; This occurs when a person far from philology learns that there are no objective criteria for judging “what” is right and what is “wrong”, but in language. “Everything flows,” so what was “right” yesterday may be “wrong” today, and vice versa.” Perhaps readers of this column have long been tempted to angrily close the tab or carelessly and irresponsibly claim that nothing threatens the language and back the authorities. He wanted to beat the writer who justified all kinds of insults by hiding.
But it wouldn’t be true if I said that nothing about language bothers me. Of course, I also have reason to worry, but this has nothing to do with the spread of stress. soundHEvinegar (which is still not considered the norm) or the neuter gender of the word Coffee (it was recorded much earlier than the male one – for those who have doubts, I highly recommend the recently published book by Svetlana Guryanova “In the Beginning There Was Coffee”).
It concerns me that discussions about language are increasingly conducted from a “ban, stay away, okay” perspective. But calling for banning words for example jetlag, stand-up, exercise, refund or dining area It does not mean helping the Russian language, just on the grounds that these are new borrowings from English, but, on the contrary, hindering it.
After all, by choosing this tool (and there are no analogues of these quotations in the Russian language, otherwise they would not be valid), you will force speakers/writers to agonize over how to express the corresponding concept – and the result complicates communication. And as mentioned above, the language tries to simplify it in every possible way. Fortunately, it is impossible to impose or prohibit anything on a language: only it will decide whether it needs it or not. jet lag And to practice or not. If he decides that it is needed, we will not be able to give up these words, and if he concludes that it is not needed, we will not be able to stop it in any way.
And one last thing. Let’s remember the true meaning of International Mother Language Day: support for linguistic and cultural diversity, respect and tolerance for other languages. February 21 is another reason to remember that there are no languages of “rich” and “poor”, “more beautiful” and “less beautiful”, “appropriate” and “inappropriate”, “simple” and “complex”. Maybe I will say some ordinary things now, but it seems very important to say them.
All languages are beautiful, no matter how pathetic it may sound, every language is the heritage of both its speaker and of all humanity as a whole.
Once again, let’s draw an analogy with the child: for parents, he is, of course, the most beautiful and smartest person in the world – because he is one of them, dear. So our language seems to us to be the most beautiful language in the world – because it is our native language. Objectively speaking, no language in the world is better or worse than any other.
So what does it mean to love your native language? In my deep opinion, this does not mean not crying over its supposedly disappearing beauty, not shouting about the dangers that threaten it at every step, not trying to protect it from contact with other languages, not despising these other languages. – and in no case try to fight language changes.
Loving your native language (like loving a loved one in general) means accepting it as it is, trying to learn something new about it every day, and constantly learning from it. And you can learn a lot from the Russian language; including the determination with which he defends his foundations (sometimes against the wishes of those speaking), calmness, wisdom, and tolerance.
Have a nice holiday!
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.