“Slang - Blockage or Evolution? Vacuuming or vacuuming? " 10 questions to a philologist and answers to them

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

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Lifehacker has a “Answers” section, within which we launched a thematic day: we will invite a special guest who will answer your questions.

Last week you asked questions about literacy and the Russian language. We chose the most interesting ones, and our first invited guest, philologist Svetlana Guryanova, answered them.

Is slang a blockage or an evolution?

Words that appear in the language naturally cannot be called a blockage: if they arise, then they are needed for something. The main function of slang (jargon) is to emphasize the separation of any social group, to distinguish “ours” from “others”. Slang can be youth, professional, thieves, and so on.

Slang is also difficult to call the evolution of the language, because most jargon does not go beyond the environment in which they are used.

But sometimes certain slang words become common - and then it is quite possible to say that they enrich the literary language. For example, the adjective "burning" Historical and etymological dictionary. LIVESTOCK appeared first in the slang of fish traders who were selling fish that was still alive and therefore quivering.

And from the youth slang came the word "bye" in the meaning of goodbye, which very much annoyed the representatives of the older generation back in the 60s of the XX century. "Bye" was an abbreviation for a longer phrase like "Goodbye bye", and it was perceived in much the same way as if we said goodbye, "Now!" or more!". And now everyone, young and old, says "goodbye".

How to learn to write correctly?

Writing well is a skill that can be fully developed. But in the same way that you cannot play a musical instrument, simply by learning the notes, you cannot learn to write without mistakes if you limit yourself to cramming the rules.

You need to learn how to use them, and this requires a long and regular training. It can be provided by exercises in books and on websites with the possibility of self-testing. There are such tasks, for example, on the resource "Gramota.ru".

From books I can recommend an excellent textbook by L. V. Velikova “Russian language. Navigator for high school students and applicants”in two parts, where the second part is the keys to the exercises. And if you have good visual memory, reading high-quality texts, preferably fiction, will help you.

I remember that there was always a “come”. How did “come” appear?

If you remember that it was always "to come", then you are at least 70 years old. The "come" option was set by Gramota.ru. To come or come by the spelling rules in 1956, and you had to be of a conscious age to catch the old spelling.

It seems more likely that you just often read books published before 1956, and in them you could meet and "come" and "come" and "go". The choice of the option “come” is a spelling convention, but it has good reasons: in particular, it is an analogy with the same root prefixed verbs “enter”, “find”, “go”, “get off”, “come”, “leave”, “come up”and so on.

Please note that the verb "to go", with which I would also like to draw an analogy, does not have a prefix.

What is the correct way to put commas when using the conjunction "because"?

The conjunction "because" always attaches a subordinate (dependent) clause as part of a complex, and a comma should separate this subordinate clause. The only question is where to put the comma: before the whole union "because" or in the middle of it, before "what".

But it is solved simply: the comma depends on Punctuation marks in a complex sentence on intonation. Where you pause while pronouncing such a sentence, put a comma there. Compare the two sentences and notice the pause in the comma:

• “He did not marry one very rich and beautiful bride, whom he liked very much, solely because her great-grandfather was not a nobleman” (S. Aksakov. Family Chronicle).
• “He had heard that women often love ugly, simple people, but did not believe this, because he judged by himself, since he himself could only love beautiful, mysterious and special women” (L. Tolstoy. Anna Karenina).

There will be no comma only if there is no subordinate clause in the sentence as such and only the union itself remains from it. For example, it might look like this:

- Why did this happen?

- Just because. Do not think about it.

Why is the emphasis on the first syllable in the word "rusty" no longer considered correct?

In fact, so far this is not entirely true: many authoritative dictionaries of the Orthoepic Dictionary of the Russian language still mark the stress “rust” and “rust” as equal.

And back in 1959, the dictionary "Russian literary pronunciation and stress" edited by R. I. Avanesov and S. I. Ozhegov noted the stress "rust" as wrong - now some dictionaries (but not all) are beginning to abandon the option "rust "As outdated.

The stress could move under the influence of similar verbs to "-et" with the meaning "to become somehow": "to blush", "to blacken", "to harden", "to thin", "to grow heavy" and so on. Most of these verbs are stressed at the end of the word.

A similar process of stress transfer is now taking place with the word "baldness", but the variant with the final stressed "e" is not yet recognized as normative.

Vacuuming or vacuuming?

The verb "to vacuum" forms the form "vacuum cleaner". The alternation of the consonants "s" and "w" here is exactly the same as in the pairs "wear - carry", "mow - kosh", "paint - paint" and so on.

This form is recorded in many authoritative dictionaries, for example, in the "Dictionary of the Difficulties of the Russian Language for Mass Media Workers" by MA Shtudiner and in the spelling academic resource "Academos".

There are also dictionaries where it is noted that the first person singular form of the verb "vacuum" is absent, but these are, as a rule, old editions.

Why are ambulances still called carriages?

It so happens that fixed expressions (and "ambulance" is just such an expression) retain outdated words or references to old realities.

Initially, the "ambulance" arrived in carriages, and this expression was fixed in the language. There is nothing strange or unusual about this. You are hardly confused by the phrase "spaceship", although this is not a real ship? Or "an emergency room", although no one calls the rooms "chambers" for a long time?

What to be guided by when choosing a case in the phrase "I want water / water, juice / juice" and the like?

The accusative form is used, as a rule, when it comes to the full coverage of the subject by an action or one specific subject: “I want water” (this water), “drink juice” (all the juice), “buy bread” (one specific loaf), "Bring apples" (all apples).

The genitive case is used when indicating either a partial coverage of an object by an action, or an indefinite object: “I want water” (some kind), “drink some juice” (a little, not all), “buy bread” (no matter what, and a loaf can to be several), "bring apples" (a little).

You can read more about these constructions. Various prepositional-case forms with one control word in the "Spelling and Style Reference" by D. E. Rosenthal (§ 203. Various prepositional-case forms with one control word).

Why in colloquial speech is used "payment by card" and not "payment by card"?

One of the meanings of the preposition "by" is an indication of the Small Academic Dictionary. The preposition "Po" for the object through which or with the help of which the action is performed: "send by mail", "speak on the phone", "see on TV", "transmit on the radio", "navigate by the compass."

It is likely that this use of the preposition "by" was extended to the expression "pay by card".

And you are right that "payment by card" is a colloquial expression, quite acceptable in a casual informal conversation. But in the exemplary literary speech, only the "payment by card" option is still recognized as correct.

Do you measure or do you measure?

In exemplary literary speech - "measure". This is a form of the Dictionary of Difficulties of the Russian language of the neutral verb "measure". Its other forms sound like this: "measure", "measure", "measure", "measure", "measure". The verb “to measure” is colloquial, and it has the following forms: “measure”, “measure”, “measure”, “measure”, “measure”, “measure”. They can be used in casual conversation.