(Moscow Times)
December 14-20, 2007

The Russian language has nothing to fear from the
flood of slang and foreign words it is currently struggling with

By Victor Sonkin

Commentators often proclaim that the Russian
language is in a sorry state and launch various
campaigns and initiatives intended to slow down
its demise. At the recent Non/Fiction book fair,
Maxim Krongauz, a professor of linguistics at the
Russian State University for the Humanities, and
a columnist at Vedomosti presented a book with
the telling title, "Russian Language on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."

Krongauz warns readers in a footnote that he
wrote the book from the point of view of a
concerned member of the public, not in his
capacity as an academic. The position of an
enlightened linguist, he says, would be that the
Russian language has nothing to fear from the
flood of slang and foreign words it is currently
struggling with -- in the long run, it will
"digest" everything and regain its balance.
Having said that, Krongauz sets aside his
moderate attitude and joins the indignant chorus of complainers.

The general consensus seems to be that there are
several things wrong with Russian at the moment.
One of these is the stampede of new, mostly
foreign words needed to describe concepts that
didn't exist in Soviet times. Unfortunately this
process sometimes goes too far and regular
Russian words are replaced by foreign terms.

Prestigious companies in fashionable business
centers consider it uncouth to have janitors --
so they hire staff who are given the job title of klining menedzher.

Another phenomenon is the creeping of Internet
slang into newspapers and everyday speech. One
such word, preved, a corruption of the usua
privet, or hi, is now used even by people who
have little to do with the Internet subculture.

Krongauz provides insightful comments on the
differences between Russian and Western patterns
of communication and the recent changes in
Russia. Although I remember grim Soviet stores, I
had forgotten that saying "Hello" to a
salesperson used to be absolutely out of the question.

Krongauz describes the experience of his friend
who returned to the Soviet Union after living in
the West and tried to use her new "polite"
habits. The best she could hope for in reply was
a brusque: "Girl, don't hold up the line!"
Conversational etiquette has certainly changed in
Russia -- and it's not hard to see that it has changed for the better.

Many other changes to the language are also for
the better; many others will be short-lived. Some
changes, such as the gradual dissolution of
Russian case system, repugnant as it is for us,
are part of a general linguistic trend that we cannot really fight.

It's a relief that Krongauz, despite his
well-founded concerns, is after all an
enlightened linguist who acknowledges that our
language is not in any real danger.