Why all these “-nn”, commas and other conventions, if my text is understandable without them? Why follow the rules of the Russian language? Philologist’s opinion.
If you write with errors, does it mean that you do not speak your native language? In a sense, yes. If a language consists of a written / literary and oral / colloquial form (which is not necessary: the language can be unwritten, after all), then full command of the language means mastery of all its forms.
Well, it turns out that Arina Rodionovna, who did not know not only spelling rules, but letters in general, did not speak her native language? In a sense, yes. How then did she teach Alexander Sergeevich this native language? It was just that her way of life was such that she had enough talented command of the spoken language, and Pushkin just needed to master this part of the language. In general, both were lucky.
But since then, much has changed, it is already difficult to manage with one layer of language in the modern world. And then the Internet also appeared, thanks to which we suddenly found out how many Russian writers are able to isolate participial phrases, and how many are not very good. It’s not that there were much more correctly isolated turns before, it’s just that now (as Doctor of Philology Maxim Anisimovich Krongauz does not get tired of reminding about this), such turns have more readers — recipients of text messages, emails, blog subscribers. In general, there seems to be a lot of illiteracy around.
- Gasan Huseynov: «We don’t feel the Russian language is ours»
Indeed, on the one hand, young people often say that we no longer need spelling rules, at least in personal or business correspondence: if my text without capital letters, punctuation marks and two “n” in participles is understandable, then why waste time on these conventions? Okay, so it will do! (It seems that it was these magic words that Two of the casket, identical in face, liked to say — quite characteristic representatives of the Russian national character.) And it’s great that a person who for some reason has not mastered a fragment of the school curriculum does not feel flawed against the background those who have mastered this. Our hero is free from conventions, it is easier for him to live.
On the other hand, any culture is a system of conventions that makes our life more interesting and at the same time helps us not to suffer from the willful or unwitting encroachments of a neighbor (yes, my freedom ends where the freedom of another begins). I’ll work hard now (I’ll correctly punctuate), but then the Other will be more comfortable (it’s easier to immediately understand what I wanted to say). And he, in turn, will work for my comfort and also put his commas.
And then suddenly it turns out that such diligent people are not so few. People are increasingly participating in the “Total Dictation” *, more and more often they order proofreading of texts, they are happy to buy popular science books about language, they go to public lectures by linguists and watch recordings of such lectures on the Internet, they want to know how the middle dash differs from the long one, and even self-organize into spelling response flying squads, correcting mistakes on advertising posters. So, literacy is still important to someone. And maybe it is more important than before, since we are ready to independently understand its intricacies, and not just apply the rules learned at school?
However, sometimes we try too hard and put extra signs, we assume a difficult spelling case where there is none, we write all the words of a verbose name with capital letters (“but it’s so in the English source text!”) And we will certainly write the first letters with capital letters “ CEO» along with his «Deputy», as well as the pronoun «you» in the advertising text. And then suddenly they get offended. Where does such hypercorrectness come from? As the linguist and linguist columnist Ksenia Turkova suggests, this is how we show insecurity in ourselves and in the surrounding reality and try to lay straws, overdo it instead of underdo it, protect ourselves for the future, otherwise “you never know”. Here is the second side of our national character.
And here a particularly interesting plot twist arises: if I, the author of an advertising booklet who knows the spelling rules, write “you, dear client” (both “you” and “client” with a lower case), then a competent client will not notice anything, and an illiterate one will accuse me of illiteracy me! And what should I do now, who should I focus on?
Yes, whoever you want. That’s what freedom is for.