A.S. Shishkov and the problems of the culture of Russian speech

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Alexander Semenovich Shishkov (1754-1841) - one of the outstanding statesmen of Russia, vice admiral and writer, minister of public education and head of the censorship department. His most famous work was "Discourse on the Old and New Syllable of the Russian Language", published in 1803. In this work, as the head of the so-called "archaists", he defended the glorious literary traditions of the Russian language of the 18th century. from the encroachments of "innovators".

Many of the most important ideas in defense of the native language from unnecessary borrowing and innovations were perceived by some contemporaries only as advocating a return to outdated forms and nothing more. And in modern textbooks A. S. Shishkov finds himself as the author of not very successful attempts to find Russian analogies for borrowed words such as "galoshes" - "wet feet", "anatomy" - "cadaveric", "geometry" - "surveying", etc. And we completely forget that the very French, to whose authority Shishkov appealed in the beginning. XIX century., Began to defend the purity of their language from the end. XVII century (for example, Ch. Perrault), and this led to the fact that in ser. XX century they passed the Law on the Purity of the French Language.

Defending their positions in a kind of struggle to preserve the purity and culture of speech, to follow the true traditions of the native language, A. S. Shishkov turned to the works of one of the most famous French authors, to a representative of the Enlightenment movement, a student of Voltaire, a man who managed to see the "fruits" of the enlighteners' activities and dare to show the perniciousness of educational ideas by the example of their negative impact on the culture of French speech. Such an authority was Jean-Francois Laharpe, who was popular at that time in Russia (according to his textbooks they studied at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum).

In 1808 A. S. Shishkov published his "Translation of two articles from Laharpe". In the notice, he wrote: “Before I begin to translate two articles from Laharpe, of which the first discusses the advantages of ancient languages over new ones, and in the second about the decorations used in eloquence, I consider it necessary to notify the benevolent reader of the reasons that prompted me to this translation. I find this very useful, the first because the comparison that Laharpe makes between his own, French, and foreign, Greek and Latin languages, will show us to which of them our Slovenian language comes closer with its properties. The second is that from everywhere we can see more clearly how many are mistaken those of us who, without delving into the power and wealth of their language, want a wise and important antiquity to turn it into an empty talkative youth, and think that they decorate and enrich it when retreating from its true sources, foreign language news is introduced into it."

“In the second article of these translations from Laharpe we will see clearly both the truth of this and how much our new language resembles their new language, for which Laharpe, as a lover of true eloquence, with such justice reproaches his newest writers, and the reasons, from whom this evil happened, he brings out. " “A person skilled in literature will smile when he reads a mess; but a young man who seeks to enrich and enlighten his mind by reading essays, through frequent repetition of a strange and incomprehensible collection of words, will become accustomed to this uncharacteristic syllable, to these false and confused concepts, so that in the end his head will be nothing but a absurd book. These reasons and love for the common good, with which knowledge of the native language is closely linked, forced me to arm myself against those writers who spread the opposite of this. My voice is weak; the evil I fought has taken its root far away; I do not hope for my merits; but those young people who read me and my opponents may not believe them that I am alone. The same reason prompts me to translate these two articles from Laharpe, in order to show how those whose names have justly become immortal are speculating about tongues and eloquence. Cicero, Quintilian, Condillac, Fenelone, Voltaire, Laharpe, Lomonosov speak more eloquently than me, but the same as me. My rules are the essence of their rules."

So, for A. S. Shishkov, Lagarpe was a loyal defender in the struggle for the purity of the Russian language from numerous foreign borrowings and innovations. The list of names (Condillac, Voltaire and Laharpe) is not accidental. In Europe, including France, at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th century. an active struggle unfolded between the so-called "old" and "new", purists and anti-purists (France), supporters and opponents of the Dante language (Italy), etc.

Language problems at that time were extremely acute and were solved in different ways. Therefore, Shishkov chooses as his defenders the participants in these "battles" - participants extremely authoritative for the Russian reader. The book "Translation of two articles from Laharpe", if it were an ordinary translation, would not be of particular interest. But her thoughts, her ideas, as far as possible, were transferred to Russian soil.

Informing readers about the peculiarities of his book, in which the author's thought merges, mixes with the thoughts of the translator, Shishkov writes: “The main advantage in translations comes when their syllable is such that they seem to be works in the language into which they are translated; but our own works are beginning to look like translations."

The book is supplied with lengthy commentaries, which contain direct references to Laharpe. For example: “Mr. Lagarpe! You say this about our teachers: what would you say about the students? Should I whisper in your ear? our new literature is a slavish and bad imitation of that of your literature, which you here so dignify. These words were spoken about the following phrase of Laharpe: “Only our good writers are able to analyze the power and quality of words. When we reach our new literature, we will be surprised, perhaps, at the extreme shameful ignorance with which we can reproach in this case many writers who have acquired fame or still retain it”.

The translator paid special attention to Laharpe's reasoning about the bad influence that magazines and other periodicals have on the language. Moreover, Laharpe emphasized the imperceptibility of such a phenomenon: all this happens gradually. Magazines contain daily news, and therefore most people read them. “But less skillful people get used to this poor syllable … for nothing is as sticky as damage to the syllable and language: we, without even thinking, are always disposed to imitate what we read and hear every day.” This idea finds the following response in Shishkov: "Isn't that what we see in our sheets and books, composed without knowing the language … printed without correction, filled with unintelligible oddities …"

Laharpe's articles allowed Shishkov to reflect on the influence of French literature and, in particular, the French language on Russian culture. “The French language and the reading of their books began to enchant our minds and distract us from practicing in our own language. Foreign words and an unusual composition of speeches began to creep in, spread and take power. " reason, produced a new language for them, far different from the language of the Fenelons and Racines, then our literature, in the image of their new and German, distorted by French names, literature, began to become different from the Russian language."

The second article from Laharpe, according to Shishkov, reveals the corruption of the modern language and shows the reasons for this evil. Numerous writers have filled everything with their compositions, in which they urge "to drop all the old words, to introduce new names from foreign languages", "to destroy the property of the old syllable." These speculations "… are ridiculous and strange in the light of reason, but very harmful and infectious in the darkness of increasing delusions."

The few works of A. S. Shishkov, are mainly devoted to the problems of the culture of the Russian language, because he believed that language is not only the greatest wealth, it is the basis of folk life, and where the indigenous language is strong and strong, there the whole life develops harmoniously and steadily. And it is a matter of his honor to protect the native Russian language.

The head of the censorship department argued that the point and the trouble was not the existence of different languages, but their thoughtless mixing. And the result of this confusion is cynicism and unbelief, loss of connection with the past and uncertainty in the future. It was these positions that were defended and defended by the outstanding figure of the Russian state, A. S. Shishkov, and not by the "wet feet" and "surveying", as they tried and are sometimes trying to convince us all.

Speech delivered by the President of the Russian Academy at the solemn annual meeting:

“Our language is a tree that gave birth to branches of dialects of other

Let it multiply, let the zeal for the Russian word increase both in the doers and in the listeners!

I regard our language as so ancient that its sources are lost in the darkness of time; so in his sounds a faithful imitator of nature that, it seems, she herself composed it; so abundant in the fragmentation of thoughts into many of the most subtle differences, and at the same time so important and simple that each person who speaks to them can explain himself with special words that are worthy of his title; so loud and gentle together that every trumpet and flute, one for excitement, the other for tenderness of hearts, can find in it sounds decent for itself.

And finally, so correct that the observant mind often sees in it a continuous chain of concepts, one from another born, so that along this chain it can ascend from the last to its original, very distant link.

The advantage of this correctness, the continuous flow of thoughts, visible in words, is so great that if attentive and hardworking minds had discovered and explained the first sources of such a wide-spread sea, the knowledge of all languages in general would be illuminated with a hitherto impenetrable light. The light that illuminates in each word the primordial thought that produced it; light, dispelling the darkness of a false conclusion, as if words, these expressions of our thoughts, received their meaning from the arbitrary to the empty sounds of their attachment of concepts.

Whoever takes the trouble to enter the immeasurable depth of our language, and takes each of his words to the beginning from which it flows, the further he goes, the more clear and undeniable evidence of this will be found. Not a single language, especially from the newest and European ones, can be equal to ours in this advantage. Foreign word interpreters, in order to find the initial thought in the words they use, should resort to our language: in it is the key to explaining and resolving many doubts, which they will look for in vain in their languages. We ourselves, in many of the words we use, revered as foreign, would see that they are only at the end of the foreign language, and by the root of our own.

A deep, albeit very difficult study of our language in all its space would be of great benefit not only to us, but also to all strangers who are bothering to achieve clarity in their dialects, often covered with darkness impenetrable for them. If the initial concepts were found in our language, this darkness would disappear and dissipate in them too. For the human word should not be considered an arbitrary invention of each people, but a common source from the beginning of the race, reaching through hearing and memory from the earliest ancestors to the last descendants.

As the human race from its beginning flows like a river, so does the language with it. The peoples multiplied, scattered, and in many respects changed by their faces, clothing, manners, customs; and languages too. But people did not cease to be one and the same human race, just as the language, which did not stop flowing with people, did not cease, with all its changes, to be the image of the same language.

Let us take only one word “father” in all the scattered dialects around the globe. We will see that, for all its difference, it is not special, invented by each people, but the same thing repeated by everyone.

This conclusion requires great and long-term exercises, the search for many words, but to be afraid of the works leading to the discovery of light in the signs expressing our thoughts is an unfounded fear that loves more darkness than enlightenment.

The science of language, or better to say, the science of words that make up language, includes all branches of human thought, from the beginning of their generation to endless, always, however, by the mind led by the spread. Such a science should be the foremost, worthy of man; for without it he cannot know the reasons why he ascended from concept to concept; he cannot know the source from which his thoughts flow.

If during the upbringing of a young man it is required that he know what the dress that he wears is made of; a hat that he puts on his head; cheese that is eaten; how then should he not know where the word he speaks comes from?

One cannot help but be surprised that the science of eloquence, the graceful amusement and amusement of the human mind, at all times was brought into the rules and flourished. Meanwhile, its foundation, the science of language, has always remained in darkness and obscurity. No one, or very few, dared to enter its mysterious nativity scenes, and that, one might say, did not penetrate further than the first at the gates of its limits.

The reasons for this are obvious and difficult to overcome.

The newest languages, which took the place of the ancients, having lost the primitive words and using only their branches, can no longer be faithful guides to their beginnings.

All ancient languages, except Slavic, have become dead, or little known, and although the newest learned men try to acquire knowledge in them, their number is small, and information in a foreign language cannot be so extensive.

From the depths of antiquity, streaming ducts often, interrupting, lose their trace, and to find it require great efforts of the mind and consideration.

The hope to accomplish this work with due diligence cannot flatter a person because his age is short and the expected fruits can only ripen as a long-term exercise of many learned people.

The science of language, although it is closely associated with the science of eloquence or literature in general, is very different with it. The first delves into the origin of words, seeks to connect one concept with another, in order to establish grammatical rules on precise and clear principles and compile a word-derivative dictionary, the only one showing the language in all its order and structure. The second is content with only the words approved by the habit, trying to compose them in a way that is pleasing to the mind and ear, without any concern for their original meaning and origin.

The first seeks light for itself in the dialects of all ages and peoples; the second does not extend its research beyond the present.

Poetry teaches the mind to shine, to thunder, to look for inventions, ornaments. On the contrary, the mind, exercising in the study of language, seeks in it clarity, correct signs, evidence for the discovery of its innermost principles, which are always lost in the darkness of changes, but without finding which it ceases to be the fruit of creatures gifted with reason, flowing from ancient times to their river of thoughts.

The language, with its purity and correctness, will receive strength and tenderness. The judgment on the merit of the writings will be the judgment of the mind and knowledge, and not the grain of ignorance or the poison of backbiting. Our language is excellent, rich, loud, strong, thoughtful. We only need to know the value of him, to delve into the composition and power of words, and then we will make sure that not his other languages, but he can enlighten them. This ancient, original language always remains the educator, the mentor of the poor one, to whom he communicated his roots in order to cultivate a new garden from them.

With our language, delving deeper into it, we can, without borrowing roots from others, plant and breed the most magnificent helicopters.

The monarch's generosity poured out on the Russian Academy give hope that over time, the successes of hardworking minds, guided by the lordship of reason, will discover the rich sources of our language, remove the bark covering it in many places from the diamond, and show it in full shine to the light.

(Alexander Semyonovich Shishkov)"

Works of Alexander Semyonovich:

Discussion about the eloquence of the Holy Scripture A. S. Shishkov. 1811.pdf Shishkov A. S. Discussion about love for the Fatherland 1812.pdf Shishkov A. S. Discourse on the old and new syllable of the Russian language in 1813.pdf Shishkov A. S. - SLAVYANORUSSKIY KORNESLOV. 2002pdf "Discourse on the old and new syllables" Shishkov A. S. doc Slavic Russian Korneslov. Shishkov A. S. 1804 doc