Fundamentals in the Structure and History of Russian: A Usage-Based Approach

Chapter 7. Explanation through Historical Phonology

CHAPTER 7 EXPLANATION THROUGH HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY   7.1. Why Study the History of Russian Up  to  now  we  have  been  describing  modern  Russian,  and  in  particu-­‐‑ lar,   many   of   the   alternations   in   sound   and   endings   that   can   make   learning   Russian   complex.   We   have   postponed   asking   “why”   ques-­‐‑ tions  in  favor  of  asking  “what”  and  “how”  is  Russian  put  together.  In   this   chapter   we   will   address   the   why   questions.   Why   does   Russian   have  alternations?  Why  does  it  have  fleeting  vowels?  Why  is  е  some-­‐‑ times  е ˊ  and  sometimes  ё?  Why  doesn’t  the  writing  match  what  is  spo-­‐‑ ken  all  the  time?  Why  do  different  morphemes  have  the  same  mean-­‐‑ ing,  such  as  {град-­‐‑}  ‘city’  and  {город-­‐‑}  ‘city’?  It  is  only  by  understand-­‐‑ ing  the  changes  that  occurred  in  the  language  in  centuries  and  millen-­‐‑ nia  past  that  we  can  understand  why  the  variations  we  have  studied   exist   today.   Our   rules   are   valuable   for   describing   the   language,   but   now  we  must  examine  why  these  rules  developed.  This  is  not  simply   an  exercise  in  curiosity:  once  the  reasons  behind  the  rules  are  under-­‐‑ stood,  it  is  often  easier  to  remember  them  and  to  know  where  to  expect   them.   Languages  change  over  time.  Words  are  borrowed  into  a  language   and   other   words   “die   out”   for   lack   of   use.   Words   can   acquire   new   meanings.  Even  pronunciation  changes,  sometimes  radically,  over  the   centuries.  For  example,  even  native  English  speakers  can’t  understand   Old  English  without  extensive  study  of  its  forms  and  vocabulary.  It  is   sometimes   difficult   for   speakers   of   American   English   to   understand   speakers   of   British   English   although   both   languages   derive   from   a   common  ancestor.  Evidence  of  language  change  can  come  from  writ-­‐‑ ten  records,  from  comparing  related  languages,  and  from  information   obtained   by   comparing   a   language   against   itself,   including   dialectal   data.  Eastern  Slavic  people,  the  ancestors  of  the  Russians,  have  been         154 7. EXPLANATION THROUGH HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY           7.1. WHY STUDY THE HISTORY OF RUSSIAN? 155 writing  for  nearly  a  thousand  years.  What  hints  regarding  the  makeup   of  modern  Russian  can  we  get  by  looking  at  earlier  written  records?     7.2. The Alphabet of Bygone Years If  you  look  at  a  book  or  newspaper  printed  in  Russia  before  1917  you   will   immediately   notice   that   there   are   certain   differences   in   the   way   Russian  used  to  be  written.  Consider,  for  example,  “На´ши  пре´дки,”   on   the   opposite   page.   This   page   is   from   a   history   book   for   children   published   about   1912   in   St.   Petersburg.   A   speaker   from   the   early   twentieth  century  reading  this  text  would  sound  much  like  a  modern   Russian  speaker.  In  other  words,  the  text  is  not  a  phonetic  representa-­‐‑ tion  of  how  the  words  were  spoken.   We  know  this  from  descriptions  of  Russian  published  at  that  time   and  from  the  speech  of  Russians  who  were  alive  at  the  beginning  of   the  20th  century.  It  is  not  surprising  that  spelling  and  speech  do  not   always  match.  Writing  often  tends  to  be  representative  of  how  a  lan-­‐‑ guage   was   spoken   at   an   earlier   time.   While   language   continues   to   change,   the   way   it   is   written   becomes   fixed   in   print   and   the   written   forms   change   very   slowly.   Thus   the   English   night   and   know   are   not   pronounced  the  way  they  are  spelled.  The  spelling  of  these  words  rep-­‐‑ resents  a  much  older  pronunciation  which  has  been  lost.  In  Russia,  it   took  a  major  social  revolution  to  change  its  standardized  spelling.   Following  the  1917  revolution  orthographic  changes  were  made  so   that   written   Russian   matched   its   pronunciation   more   closely.   In   particular,   several   letters   were   either   dropped   from   the   language   or   replaced.     Practice A.   Be   ready   to   “translate”   into   modern   Russian   the   text   “На´ши   пре´дки.”   B.   The  writing  in  “На´ши  пре´дки,”  although  easily  recognizable  and   readable,  is  somewhat  different  from  what  we  are  used  to  today.   The  differences  can  be  classified  into  two  types:  (1)  letters  that  are   no   longer   used   in   Russian,   and   (2)   letters   that   are   still   used   but   used   differently.   Read   through   “На´ши   пре´дки”   and   determine   which  letters  belong  to  each  group.   C.   What  modern  Russian  letters  correspond  to  ѣ  (ѣ)  and  i?   156 7. EXPLANATION THROUGH HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY   D.   Do   you   see   anything   surprising   about   the   use   of   the   letter   ъ   in   “На´ши  пре´дки”?     E.   Where  does  the  letter  i  turn  up  in  “На´ши  пре´дки”?     7.2.1. Â vs. ѣ In  modern  Russian,  there  are  really  two  kinds  of  e.  One  represents  the   sound  [o]  (orthographic  ё)  when  under  stress.  The  other  represents  [э]   when  under  stress.  This  difference  can  be  seen  in:  нес  (нёс),  снег.   In  modern  Russian  we  find  [э]  alternating  with  [o]  in  related  mor-­‐‑ phemes:  пче´льник  {пчэ´л’-­‐‑*ник  +Ø}  пчёлы  {пчо´л  +ы},  both  with  a  root   meaning...