Russian is the lingua franca. Languages of interethnic communication: lingua franca, Koine, pidgins. English language learning

16.01.2024

LINGUA FRANCA, a sociolinguistic term used to designate one of several existing types of so-called contact languages used for interethnic communication. The peculiarity of this term is that it has a clearly expressed positive evaluative component, which contrasts it with the term “pidgin”, which is also not devoid of evaluativeness: by calling a certain means of interethnic communication the term “lingua franca”, the speaker clearly positively evaluates the very fact of such communication and transfers this positive attitude to the used means, while the term “pidgin” for a long time tended to be used pejoratively, and it took special efforts of sociolinguists, in particular R. Hall, to change this attitude.

In terms of content, lingua franca and pidgin come closer in their function of ensuring interethnic communication and in the limited social sphere in which this communication occurs. There are two factors behind the difference in their evaluation components. Firstly, pidgin is limited not only functionally, but also structurally and is characterized by an extremely poor vocabulary and radically simplified grammar, both of which are often of a mixed nature; the resulting communication system offends the aesthetic feelings of the speakers of those languages that the pidgin looks like a “caricature” of. A lingua franca can also be structured in this way, but it can also be a completely full-fledged language. Every pidgin is functionally a lingua franca, but a lingua franca structurally is not necessarily a pidgin. In particular, the Russian language acted in the USSR and continues to act in the post-Soviet space as a lingua franca, which people for whom it was not native spoke to varying degrees; a similar role is played by the Hausa or Bamana in modern Africa. Sometimes the role of lingua franca is a full-fledged language that is not native to any of the ethnic groups using it; This is roughly the case with Swahili, and in many ways with English, especially in some countries of the British Commonwealth.

Secondly, there is some tendency in the distribution of the terms “pidgin” and “lingua franca” in relation to those types of limited communication that are served by contact languages. Most often, the contact language of interethnic trade, a venerable activity in many cultures, is called a lingua franca by scholars, while, for example, the contact limited language used by mixed-tribal plantation workers was called a pidgin. It is significant that modern World Wide Web enthusiasts are willing to talk about English as the lingua franca of the Internet, but are not at all inclined to call it a pidgin.

When expanding the functional sphere of the lingua franca, it is customary to talk about the formation of Koine.

Historical name lingua franca(from Italian lingua franca "Frankish language"), or Sabir(from the Latin sapere "to understand") arose to designate just such a mixed language. Lingua Franca in the narrow sense is a language that was once spoken in the Mediterranean region and which the Austrian linguist H. Schuchardt (1842–1927) defined as “a language that arose in the Middle Ages as a result of communication between speakers of Romance languages and Arabic (and later also in Turkish) and consisting mainly of Romance lexical material." His vocabulary was mainly Italian, especially Venetian, and to a lesser extent Spanish and Provençal; there were a small number of Arabic words, in particular usif"black slave" bezef"a lot of", rubie"spring", rai"shepherd", mabul"crazy". Lingua Franca was not a full-fledged language, i.e. a language that is native to someone and is used for any purpose and in any life situations; it was an auxiliary language, "a creature of necessity," and was used almost exclusively for the conduct of trade between two or more people of different nationalities. The name "lingua franca" is an Italian translation of Arabic Lisan al-ifrang; the Arabic name arose due to the fact that since the Crusades the Arabs had the habit of calling all Western Europeans “Franks”; They also called the Romance languages Frankish.

When the French conquered Algeria in 1830, the lingua franca was still used there so widely that a dictionary of the lingua franca language was published especially for the French expeditionary force. The lingua franca continued to exist in Algeria until approximately the end of the 19th century. Now this language has disappeared, but has left noticeable traces in the language of the Arabs and especially the Jews of Tripoli, Tunisia and Algeria.

London is the capital of Great Britain and the site of the most prestigious schools where English is taught.

Lingua Franca(lingua franca) is the language of global communication, an international means of communication that is regularly used and understood by representatives of almost all nations. Even a child will tell you that “the language that everyone knows” is English. It doesn’t matter at all what corner of the planet you go to - sunny Egypt or cool Scandinavia, exotic South Korea and romantic Venice. There will be people everywhere who will understand you if you speak English. If not the first person he comes across, then the one who walks next to him.

Realities

According to statistics, currently half of business transactions are concluded in English - agreements, contracts, and other forms of agreements are signed in English. Two thirds of the scientific world presents the results of their research in English. 3/4 of the world's mail is written in this language. 80% of information stored electronically is also in English.

Today it is the language of international aviation, computer systems, diplomacy, science and tourism. “Never in history has there been a language spoken by so many people in different parts of the world,” says Professor David Crystal, author of English as a Global Language. But how did it happen that English rose above the languages of the world? Why exactly did it become what linguists call Lingua Franca?

Reasons for dominance

Scholars argue that there are no clear linguistic reasons why English has gained global dominance. Its grammar cannot be called easy, its pronunciation is peculiar, and in addition, there are no clear rules for reading words, as in other European languages. Every language learner knows that for every English word you have to go to the dictionary to clarify the transcription. Otherwise, there is negligible chance that the word will be pronounced correctly. On the other hand, English grammar is easier than German and French - at least there are no conjugations and declensions, and the category of gender is practically not traced.

Scientists call the English language a “vacuum cleaner” - it has absorbed the vocabulary of a wide variety of languages. Standard English includes vocabulary from 150 other languages of the world. This is precisely why pronunciation does not correlate with spelling - the influence of other languages is too strong.

On the other hand, as the language spread among non-native speakers, it changed, adapting to regional needs. Local vocabulary, slang and pronunciation reflect differences between British and American languages. English was transformed into spoken forms in the same way that Latin “disintegrated” into French, Spanish and other languages 1,500 years ago.

According to Philip Durkin, chief etymologist of the Oxford English Dictionary, “English has become a lingua franca, a language of global communication, regularly used by many nations whose first language is not English. We can only guess what conclusions further study of the English language will lead scientists to. But it’s unlikely to be as significant as what has happened to English over the last 600 years.”

English language learning

In conditions of dominance of the English language, its study acquires special significance. Knowledge of it is necessary for almost every person - some for a successful career, others in order not to feel “deaf and dumb” when relaxing in

Communications in a certain field of activity.

Origin of the term

Historically, the term lingua franca first came to be used to refer to a mixed language that was once spoken in the Mediterranean region. This title is an Italian translation of the Arabic lisan al-ifrang, the Arabic name arose due to the fact that since the time of the Crusades, the Arabs called all Western Europeans Franks; They also called the Romance languages Frankish.

Story

One of the first supra-regional languages was Koine, which was used as a common dialect in the armies of Alexander the Great. Koine has also now become a common name for a lingua franca language that is used not only in interethnic trade and everyday communication, but also in other areas, just as Koine became the language of theological literature.

Examples

Often, pidgins act as a lingua franca, but a full-fledged language that is not native to any of the ethnic groups using it can be used as a lingua franca (an example is English, used as a lingua franca in many countries of the British Commonwealth).

In addition, English is now the lingua franca of European business, science, shipping and aviation. It also replaced French as the language of diplomacy after World War II, as a result of Euro-Atlantic integrations and the increasing role of the United States in the region and the world.

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Literature

In Russian

Weinreich W. Language contacts: State and problems of research / Uriel Weinreich / Uriel Weinreich; Per. from English and comments by Yu. A. Zhluktenko; will enter. Art. V. N. Yartseva. - Kyiv: Vishcha School, 1979. - 264 p.

In foreign languages

Heine B. Status and Use of African Lingua Francas. - 1970. ISBN 3-8039-0033-6
Kahane H.R. The Lingua Franca in the Levant. - 1958.
Hall R. A. Jr. Pidgin and Creole Languages. - Cornell University Press, 1966. ISBN 0-8014-0173-9
Melatti J.C.Índios do Brasil. - São Paulo: Hucitec Press, 1983.

Notes

Excerpt characterizing the Lingua Franca

“I burned this to prove my love to her.” I just lit the ruler on fire and pressed it down.
Sitting in his former classroom, on the sofa with cushions on his arms, and looking into those desperately animated eyes of Natasha, Rostov again entered that family, children's world, which had no meaning for anyone except for him, but which gave him some of the best pleasures in life; and burning his hand with a ruler to show love did not seem useless to him: he understood and was not surprised by it.
- So what? only? - he asked.
- Well, so friendly, so friendly! Is this nonsense - with a ruler; but we are forever friends. She will love anyone, forever; but I don’t understand this, I’ll forget now.
- Well, what then?
- Yes, that’s how she loves me and you. - Natasha suddenly blushed, - well, you remember, before leaving... So she says that you forget all this... She said: I will always love him, and let him be free. It’s true that this is excellent, noble! - Yes Yes? very noble? Yes? - Natasha asked so seriously and excitedly that it was clear that what she was saying now, she had previously said with tears.
Rostov thought about it.
“I don’t take back my word on anything,” he said. - And then, Sonya is such a charm that what fool would refuse his happiness?
“No, no,” Natasha screamed. “We’ve already talked about this with her.” We knew you would say this. But this is impossible, because, you know, if you say that - you consider yourself bound by the word, then it turns out that she seemed to say it on purpose. It turns out that you are still forcibly marrying her, and it turns out completely different.
Rostov saw that all this was well thought out by them. Sonya amazed him with her beauty yesterday too. Today, having caught a glimpse of her, she seemed even better to him. She was a lovely 16-year-old girl, obviously loving him passionately (he did not doubt this for a minute). Why shouldn’t he love her now, and not even marry her, Rostov thought, but now there are so many other joys and activities! “Yes, they came up with this perfectly,” he thought, “we must remain free.”
“Well, great,” he said, “we’ll talk later.” Oh, how glad I am for you! - he added.
- Well, why didn’t you cheat on Boris? - asked the brother.
- This is nonsense! – Natasha shouted laughing. “I don’t think about him or anyone else and I don’t want to know.”
- That's how it is! So what are you doing?
- I? – Natasha asked again, and a happy smile lit up her face. -Have you seen Duport?
- No.
– Have you seen the famous Duport the dancer? Well, you won't understand. That's what I am. “Natasha took her skirt, rounding her arms, as they dance, ran a few steps, turned over, did an entreche, kicked her leg against the leg and, standing on the very tips of her socks, walked a few steps.
- Am I standing? after all, she said; but couldn’t help herself on her tiptoes. - So that’s what I am! I will never marry anyone, but will become a dancer. But do not tell anyone.
Rostov laughed so loudly and cheerfully that Denisov from his room became envious, and Natasha could not resist laughing with him. - No, it’s good, isn’t it? – she kept saying.
- Okay, don’t you want to marry Boris anymore?
Natasha flushed. - I don’t want to marry anyone. I'll tell him the same thing when I see him.
- That's how it is! - said Rostov.
“Well, yes, it’s all nothing,” Natasha continued to chatter. - Why is Denisov good? – she asked.
- Good.
- Well, goodbye, get dressed. Is he scary, Denisov?
- Why is it scary? – asked Nicholas. - No. Vaska is nice.

LINGUA FRANCA

A combination of elements of various languages: Italian, Spanish, French, Turkish, Arabic and Modern Greek, partially preserved in the Mediterranean to the present day.

Simplified international language.

One of the languages of a multinational country, functioning as a means of interethnic communication.

Large modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. 2012