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Russian orthography has been reformed officially and unofficially by changing theRussian alphabet and spelling rules over the course of the history of theRussian language. Several important reforms happened in the 18th–20th centuries.
Old East Slavic adopted theCyrillic script, approximately during the 10th century and at about the same time as the introduction ofEastern Christianity into the territories inhabited by the EasternSlavs. No distinction was drawn between the vernacular language and the liturgical, though the latter was based onSouth Slavic rather thanEastern Slavic norms. As the language evolved, several letters, notably theyuses (Ѫ, Ѭ, Ѧ, Ѩ) were gradually and unsystematically discarded from both secular and church usage over the next centuries.
The emergence of the centralized Russian state in the 15th and 16th centuries, the consequent rise of the state bureaucracy along with the development of the common economic, political and cultural space necessitated the standardization of the language used in administrative and legal affairs. It was due to that reason that the earliest attempts at standardizing Russian, both in terms of the vocabulary and in terms of the orthography, were made initially based on the so-called Moscow chancery language. From then and on the underlying logic of language reforms in Russia reflected primarily the considerations of standardizing and streamlining language norms and rules in order to ensure the language's role as a practical tool of communication and administration.[1]
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The printedRussian alphabet began to assume its modern shape whenPeter I introduced his "civil script" (гражданский шрифт) type reform in 1708.[2] The reform was not specifically orthographic in nature. However, with the replacement ofѦ withЯ and the effective elimination of several letters (Ѯ,Ѱ,Ѡ) and all diacritics and accents (with the exception ofй) from secular usage and the use ofArabic numerals instead ofCyrillic numerals[2] there appeared for the first time a visual distinction between Russian andChurch Slavonic writing. With the strength of the historic tradition diminishing, Russian spelling in the 18th century became rather inconsistent, both in practice and in theory, asMikhail Lomonosov advocated amorphophonemic orthography andVasily Trediakovsky a phonemic one.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, miscellaneous adjustments were madead hoc, as the Russianliterary language came to assume its modern and highly standardized form. These included:
By 1917, the only two words still spelled withѵ in common use wereмѵро (müro,[ˈmʲirə], 'chrism') andсѵнодъ (sünod,[sʲɪˈnot], 'synod'). Theѳ remained more common, though it became quite rare as a "Western" (French-like) pronunciation had been adopted for many words; for example,ѳеатръ (ḟeatr,[fʲɪˈatr], 'theater') becameтеатръ (teatr,[tʲɪˈatr]).
Attempts to reduce spelling inconsistency culminated in the 1885 standard textbook ofYakov Karlovich Grot, which retained its authority through 21 editions until theRussian Revolution of 1917. His fusion of the morphological, phonetic, and historic principles ofRussian orthography remains valid to this day, though both theRussian alphabet and the writing of many individual words have been altered through a complicated but extremely consistentsystem of spelling rules that tell which of two vowels to use under all conditions.[3]
The most recent major reform of Russian spelling was prepared byAleksey Shakhmatov and implemented shortly after theBolshevikrevolution of November 1917.
Shakhmatov headed the Assembly for Considering Simplification of the Orthography whose proposals of 11 May 1917 formed the basis of the new rules soon adopted by the Ministry of Popular Education.[4]
Russianorthography was made simpler and easier by unifying several adjectival and pronominal inflections, conflating the letterѣ withе,ѳ withф, andі andѵ withи. Additionally, the archaic muteyer became obsolete, including theъ (the "hard sign") in final position following consonants (thus eliminating practically the last graphical remnant of the Old Slavonicopen-syllable system). For instance,Рыбинскъ becameРыбинск ("Rybinsk").
Examples:
According to the 19th-century spelling prescriptions, the genitive ending of adjectives and participles was spelled-аго (or-яго after soft consonants):добраго, синяго. In fact, those spellings come from Church Slavonic influence, as Old East Slavic documents mostly used-ого, -его. When those endings were stressed, some 19th-century grammarians prescribed the spelling-аго, while others prescribed-ого:живаго, слѣпаго orживого, слѣпого. However, in adjectival pronouns the ending was spelled-ого or-его:его, нашего, того, какого (except pronouns ending with-ый or-ій in the nominative:котораго, всякаго). The reform replaced the genitive adjectival ending-аго with-его afterж, ц, ч, ш, andщ (лучшаго →лучшего), in other instances-аго was replaced with-ого, and-яго with-его (for example:новаго →нового andранняго →раннего), respectively. Although the letter г in those endings sounds as в in the standard Russian pronunciation, it was not changed by the reform.
19th-century spelling prescriptions distinguished feminine and neuter plural adjectival endings-ыя,-ія from masculine plural endings-ые,-іе (with no difference in pronunciation). Although Old East Slavic distinction of genders in the plural (masculine-ии, feminine-ыѣ, neuter-аꙗ) had died in speech long ago, 18th-century writers still tried to distinguish genders in the spelling, andMikhail Lomonosov's variant was chosen as the standard. The reform gave the uniform-ые,-ие for all the three genders (новыя (книги, изданія) →новые).
19th-century spelling prescriptions gave the spellingsонѣ, однѣ, однѣхъ, однѣмъ, однѣми for feminine plural forms, butони, одни, однихъ, однимъ, одними for masculine and neuter plural forms. Although these forms were prescribed to be pronounced differently, the difference was not usually observed in everyday speech; pronunciations were used interchangeably, the one withи being more common.[5] The reform gave the uniform spellingони, одни, одних, одним, одними for all genders. However, whenонѣ, однѣ were pronounced according to the spelling in poetic rhymes, modern editions write them asоне, одне.
19th-century spelling prescriptions gave the spelling of the feminine pronounея (нея) in the genitive case, butее (нее) in the accusative case, whereas it was usually pronounced asеё (неё) in both cases. The reform gave uniform spelling for both cases:ее (нее) (orеё (неё), with the optional letter Ё). However, sometimesея (нея) was pronounced according to the spelling in poetic rhymes. In that case, it is not changed in modern editions.[6][7]
Prefixes ending with-з/с underwent a change: now all of them (exceptс-) end with-с before voiceless consonants and with-з before voiced consonants or vowels (разбить, разораться, butрасступиться). Previously, the prefixes showed concurrence between phonetic (as now) and morphological (alwaysз) spellings; at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century the standard rule was:с-,без-,ч(е)рез- were always written in this way; other prefixes ended withс before voiceless consonants exceptс and withз otherwise (разбить, разораться, разступиться, butраспасться). Earlier 19th-century works also sometimes usedз beforeц, ч, ш, щ.
In December 1917, thePeople's Commissariat of Education, headed byA. V. Lunacharsky, issued a decree stating, "All state and government institutions and schools without exception should carry out the transition to the new orthography without delay. From 1 January 1918, all government and state publications, both periodical and non-periodical were [sic?] to be printed in the new style."[4][8] The decree was nearly identical to the proposals put forth by the May Assembly, and with other minor modifications formed the substance of the decree issued by theSoviet of People's Commissars in October 1918.[4][8]
In this way, private publications could formally be printed using the old (or more generally, any convenient) orthography. The decree forbade the retraining of people previously trained under the old norm. A given spelling was considered incorrect only if it violated both the old and the new norms.
However, in practice, the Soviet government rapidly set up amonopoly on print production and kept a very close eye on the fulfillment of the edict. A common practice was the forced removal of not just the lettersІ,Ѳ, andѢ from printing offices, but alsoЪ. Because of this, the usage of theapostrophe as a dividing sign became widespread in place ofъ (e.g.,под’ём,ад’ютант instead ofподъём,адъютант), and came to be perceived as a part of the reform (even if, from the point of view of the letter of the decree of theCouncil of People's Commissars, such uses were mistakes). Nonetheless, some academic printings (connected with the publication of old works, documents or printings whose typesettings predated the revolution) came out in the old orthography (excepttitle pages and, often,prefaces) up until 1929.[9]
Russian – and later Soviet –railroads operatedlocomotives with designations of "І", "Ѵ" and "Ѳ". (Although the letter Ѵ was not mentioned in the spelling reform,[10][11] contrary to the statement in theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia,[12] it had already become very rare prior to the revolution.) Despite the altered orthography, the series names remained unchanged up until these locomotives were discontinued in the 1950s.
SomeRussian émigré publications continued to appear in the former orthography until the 1970s.[13]
The reform reduced the number of orthographic rules having no support in pronunciation—for example, the difference of the genders in the plural and the need to learn a long list of words which were written with yats (the composition of said list was controversial among linguists, and different spelling guides contradicted one another).
The reform resulted in some economy in writing andtypesetting, due to the exclusion ofЪ at the end of words—by the reckoning ofLev Uspensky, text in the new orthography was shorter by one-thirtieth.[14]
The reform removed pairs of completelyhomophonousgraphemes from the Russian alphabet (i.e.,Ѣ andЕ;Ѳ andФ; and the trio ofИ,І andѴ), bringing the alphabet closer tothe Russian language's actual phonological system.[3]
According to critics, the choice ofИи as the only letter to represent that sound and the removal ofІі defeated the purpose of 'simplifying' the language, asИи occupies more space and, furthermore, is sometimes indistinguishable fromШш.[9]
The reform also created manyhomographs andhomonyms, which used to be spelled differently. Examples:есть/ѣсть (is/to eat) andмиръ/міръ (peace/world) becameесть andмир in both instances.
Replacement ofонѣ,однѣ,ея byони,одни,её was especially controversial, as these feminine pronouns were deeply rooted in the language and extensively used by writers and poets.[citation needed]
The following is the same opening paragraph fromThe Bronze Horseman byAlexander Pushkin in its original version (left) and post-reform version (right):
На берегу пустынныхъ волнъ
Стоялъ онъ, думъ великихъ полнъ,
И вдаль глядѣлъ. Предъ нимъ широко
Рѣка неслася; бѣдный челнъ
По ней стремился одиноко.
По мшистымъ, топкимъ берегамъ
Чернѣли избы здѣсь и тамъ,
Пріютъ убогаго чухонца;
И лѣсъ, невѣдомый лучамъ
Въ туманѣ спрятаннаго солнца,
Кругомъ шумѣлъ.
[...]
Прошло сто лѣтъ, и юный градъ,
Полнощныхъ странъ краса и диво,
Изъ тьмы лѣсовъ, изъ топи блатъ
Вознесся пышно, горделиво;
Гдѣ прежде финскій рыболовъ,
Печальный пасынокъ природы,
Одинъ у низкихъ береговъ
Бросалъ въ невѣдомыя воды
Свой ветхой неводъ, нынѣ тамъ
По оживленнымъ берегамъ
Громады стройныя тѣснятся
Дворцовъ и башенъ; корабли
Толпой со всѣхъ концовъ земли
Къ богатымъ пристанямъ стремятся;
Въ гранитъ одѣлася Нева;
Мосты повисли надъ водами;
Темно-зелеными садами
Ея покрылись острова,
И передъ младшею столицей
Померкла старая Москва,
Какъ передъ новою царицей
Порфироносная вдова.
Люблю тебя, Петра творенье,
Люблю твой строгій, стройный видъ,
Невы державное теченье,
Береговой ея гранитъ,
Твоихъ оградъ узоръ чугунный,
Твоихъ задумчивыхъ ночей
Прозрачный сумракъ, блескъ безлунный,
Когда я въ комнатѣ моей
Пишу, читаю безъ лампады,
И ясны спящія громады
Пустынныхъ улицъ, и свѣтла
Адмиралтейская игла[...]
Красуйся, градъ Петровъ, и стой
Неколебимо какъ Россія,
Да умирится же съ тобой
И побѣжденная стихія;
Вражду и плѣнъ старинный свой
Пусть волны финскія забудутъ
И тщетной злобою не будутъ
Тревожить вѣчный сонъ Петра!
На берегу пустынных волн
Стоял он, дум великих полн,
И вдаль глядел. Пред ним широко
Река неслася; бедный чёлн
По ней стремился одиноко.
По мшистым, топким берегам
Чернели избы здесь и там,
Приют убогого чухонца;
И лес, неведомый лучам
В тумане спрятанного солнца,
Кругом шумел.
[...]
Прошло сто лет, и юный град,
Полнощных стран краса и диво,
Из тьмы лесов, из топи блат
Вознесся[15] пышно, горделиво;
Где прежде финский рыболов,
Печальный пасынок природы,
Один у низких берегов
Бросал в неведомые воды
Свой ветхой невод, ныне там
По оживленным[15] берегам
Громады стройные теснятся
Дворцов и башен; корабли
Толпой со всех концов земли
К богатым пристаням стремятся;
В гранит оделася Нева;
Мосты повисли над водами;
Темно-зелёными садами
Её покрылись острова,
И перед младшею столицей
Померкла старая Москва,
Как перед новою царицей
Порфироносная вдова.
Люблю тебя, Петра творенье,
Люблю твой строгий, стройный вид,
Невы державное теченье,
Береговой её гранит,
Твоих оград узор чугунный,
Твоих задумчивых ночей
Прозрачный сумрак, блеск безлунный,
Когда я в комнате моей
Пишу, читаю без лампады,
И ясны спящие громады
Пустынных улиц, и светла
Адмиралтейская игла[...]
Красуйся, град Петров, и стой
Неколебимо как Россия,
Да умирится же с тобой
И побежденная[15] стихия;
Вражду и плен старинный свой
Пусть волны финские забудут
И тщетной злобою не будут
Тревожить вечный сон Петра!
While there have not been any significant changes since the 1918 decree, debates and fluctuations have to some degree continued.
In December 1942, the use of letterЁ was made mandatory by Decree No. 1825 of the People's Commissariat of Education.[16] Since then, Ё has been taught in schools as the seventh letter of the Russian alphabet (before 1942, it was usually considered a modification of Е and not a separate letter). However, the consistent use of Ё did not consolidate its grip in general publication; the usual typographic practice reverted to selective use of Ё (to show pronunciation of rare words and to distinguish words that are otherwise homographs). By 1952, regulations on checking schoolchildren's works,[17] theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia, and the reference book for typographers by K. I. Bylinsky had declared the letter Ё to be optional. Doubts on placing Ё in old literature (see the example above) were cited as one of reasons for the optional status of Ё.[18]
A codification of therules of Russian orthography and punctuation[19] and theSpelling Dictionary of the Russian Language[20] were published in 1956 but only a few minor orthographic changes were introduced at that time.[21] Those editions resolved a number of variant spellings that existed in dictionaries and in use by typographers and the best writers at that time.[22] The 1956 codification additionally included a clarification of new rules for punctuation developed during the 1930s, and which had not been mentioned in the 1918 decree.[4]
A notable instance of renewed debate followed A. I. Efimov's 1962 publication of an article inIzvestia.[23][24] The article proposed an extensive reform to move closer to a phonetic representation of the language.[25] Following the renewed discussion in papers and journals, a new Orthographic Commission began work in 1962, under theRussian Language Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The Commission published its report,Предложения по усовершенствованию русской орфографии (Proposal for the Improvement of Russian Orthography), in 1964.[26] The publication resulted in widespread debate in newspapers, journals, and on radio and television, as well as over 10,000 letters, all of which were passed to the institute.[4]
Responses to the article pointed to the need to simplify Russian spelling due to the use of Russian as the language of international communication in the Soviet Union and an increased study of Russian in the Eastern Bloc as well as in the West. That instruction for non-native speakers of Russian was one of the central concerns of further reform is indicated in the resistance to Efimov's proposal to drop the terminal "ь" (soft sign) from feminine nouns, as it helps learners identify gender category. Additionally, Efimov claimed that a disproportionate amount of primary school class time was devoted to orthography, rather than phonetics and morphology. Efimov asserted that the existing orthography was essentially unchanged since Grot's codification, and that only by bringing orthography closer to phonetic realization, and eliminating exceptions and variants, could appropriate attention be paid to stylistics and the "development of speech culture". The state's focus on proper instruction in Russian, as the national language of ethnic Russians, as the state language, and as the language of international communication continues to the present day.[27][24][28] Eventually, the 1964 project remained a dead proposal.
TheIETF language tags have been registered:[29]
ru-petr1708 for text from the Peter reforms of 1708 until the 1917–18 reforms.ru-luna1918 for text following the 1917–18 reforms.... the Russian spelling reforms of 1917–1918 were based on proposals drawn up by an imperial commission thirteen years earlier, slightly watered down. However, because they were implemented at time of great social upheaval, these reforms divided Russian literati into two camps. Adherence to the old orthography became a mark of adherence to pre-revolutionary values, and some émigré presses continued to employ the pre-Soviet conventions until the 1970s.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Вознесся comes from Church Slavonic and was in Pushkin's times presumably (but not surely) pronounced with е, see:П. Я. Черных (1949)."Из наблюдений над языком стихотворения Пушкина «Памятник»".Русский язык в школе (3):33–37.