In Russian, active and passive vocabulary is distinguished. The first group consists of words that each of us uses almost daily, the second group includes words rarely used in speech. These include archaisms, historicisms, neologisms. Their study takes place in the section "Vocabulary and Lexicology".
Active and passive vocabulary
The vocabulary of the Russian language has millions of words. Linguists divide all the words of the Russian language into two large groups - active vocabulary and passive.
Passive vocabulary includes words that are familiar to a person or recognizable to them, but are rarely used. There are archaisms, historicisms, neologisms.
Active vocabulary includes words that we use quite often. These include conjunctions and pronouns, words with which we designate the world around us. This is the name of furniture, clothes, products, words for family ties, professions, the names of emotions and many others.
The active and passive vocabulary of each person is individual and depends on age, place of residence, professional activity. Throughout our lives, its volume changes in one direction or another, depending on a number of factors.
Passive vocabulary
Passive vocabulary includes obsolete and new words.
Among obsolete words, there are two main groups: archaisms and historicisms. We will talk about them first of all, consider the definition, the function that archaisms and historicisms perform, examples of the most common words.
New words make up a much smaller part of the passive stock of the language and are called neologisms. Next, we will analyze their concept and reasons for their occurrence in speech.
Archaisms
To begin with, let's analyze outdated words - archaisms and historicisms. Archaisms are obsolete words that are now out of use. These are the old names of modern objects or names. Often, archaisms are replaced by other words that name the same concepts and objects as the obsolete word. Each of them has a modern analogue, in other words, a synonymous word.
Depending on the method of education, archaisms are:
- Lexical words that have been replaced by words that have other roots. These words are difficult to understand without knowing their translation or original meaning. This includes words such as mouth - lips, finger - finger, interpreter - translator.
- Lexical and derivational. In this situation, archaism andits modern version have the same root, but differ in word-formation morphemes. For example, an acquaintance is an acquaintance, a fisherman is a fisherman.
- Lexico-phonetic - differ from the modern version in phonetic design. For example, piit is a poet, historia is a story, number is a number.
- Lexico-semantic. This includes archaisms that still function in the language, while having a different meaning. For example, the word shame used to mean a spectacle, but today it means shame or dishonor.
At the end of the article, we will consider the role of archaisms in the Russian language, especially literature. Archaisms are recorded in explanatory dictionaries marked "outdated".
Historisms
Historicisms are words that are used to refer to words and objects that existed earlier, but have already disappeared from our lives. Historicisms, examples of which we meet most often in literature, are the policeman, stationmaster, pud, and so on. These concepts function today in historical works and chronicles, old books and newspapers.
Historicisms include words that denoted the social way of life, the name of institutions, persons and positions, military ranks, items and means of weapons, ancient units of measurement, currency, household items. For example: tavern, caftan, mace, altyn, serf, mayor, gunner.
It is important to note that historicisms do not have synonyms. This is very important to remember, as it is one of the hallmarks of historicism.
Words-historicisms are also included in explanatory dictionaries marked "outdated", less often "ist". Various dictionaries of historicisms are also published, where you can see not only the meaning of the word, but also get acquainted with the image of the object that denotes the concept.
Historicisms and archaisms: difference in concepts
Quite often, pupils and students, and just people who are not related to philology, the question arises: how do archaisms differ from historicisms? The main difference is that archaism is an outdated designation of an object or concept that is still present in our lives. Historicism, on the other hand, denotes concepts and objects that have long been out of use.
As already noted, another distinguishing feature - archaisms have synonyms, historicisms - no. Based on these two distinctive features, one can easily calculate which category a particular obsolete word belongs to.
Neologisms
Neologisms are words that appear as a result of the emergence of new phenomena or concepts. For some time, the word is considered a neologism, later it becomes commonly used and is included in the active vocabulary of the language.
Neologisms can both arise due to the development of technology, and come out from the pen of the authors. So, F. M. Dostoevsky became the author of the word “to be in the dark”, and N. M. Karamzin introduced the word “industry” into the vocabulary. Based on this, author's and general language neologisms are distinguished.
In different periods, words such as car, rocket, laptop, mail and many others were neologisms. When the use of neologisms reaches itspeak and their meaning becomes clear to everyone, these words automatically become common.
If historicisms and archaisms are recorded in dictionaries with special marks, then neologisms get into dictionaries only after they are included in the active stock of the language system. True, in recent years, special dictionaries of neologisms have begun to be published.
Causes of occurrence
We have examined archaisms, historicisms, neologisms. Now a few words about the reasons for their occurrence.
The reasons for the transition of words from active to passive vocabulary have not yet been studied in detail. And if everything is more or less clear with historicisms, since after the disappearance of the concept, the word denoting it goes into a passive reserve, then with archaisms everything is much more complicated.
The most common causes of archaisms are: various social changes, cultural factors, various linguistic reasons - the influence of other languages, stylistic connections, language reforms.
The main reasons for the appearance of neologisms include:
- various changes in the social life of society;
- technical progress, that is, the emergence of new objects, concepts and phenomena.
Today, most neologisms are associated with the development of computer science and computer technology.
Stylistic meaning
A few words about the stylistic role of words included in the passive vocabulary of the Russian language. The most commonly used word group data in fiction.
Thus, the use of archaisms helps the writer to more accurately recreate the era described, to characterize the character with the help of his speech. Surely you have noticed that in the speech of some characters, one vocabulary prevails, for example, more modern, in the speech of others - another, outdated or dialectic. Thus, the writer draws a psychological and social portrait of the character.
They are also used in poetic speech to give a more solemn, sublime color to the work. In satire, archaisms serve to create a comic or satirical effect, to add irony.
Study in school
Partly archaisms, historicisms, neologisms are studied at school, in the lessons of the Russian language and literature. Usually, acquaintance with this class of words occurs in the fifth and tenth grades when studying the Lexicology section. Students are taught to distinguish words, find them in texts of various types. In addition, studying the works of the classics, we come across unfamiliar words that have long been out of use, get acquainted with their meaning, origin.
Studying at University
A more detailed acquaintance with the active and passive vocabulary of the Russian language begins at universities when studying the "Lexicology" section. Often this happens in the second year, at the Faculty of Philology. Students are taught how archaisms differ from historicisms, how and where exactly you can find the meaning of these words, how to classify them depending on their origin, to determine the function in certain texts.
Students can make their own dictionaries, learn to find passive vocabulary in texts and replace it, analyze the origin of neologisms, the reasons for the disappearance of words from the active use of native speakers of the literary Russian language.
Conclusions
The passive vocabulary of the Russian language includes the following groups of lexemes: archaisms - obsolete names of words and concepts, historicisms - names of objects and phenomena that have gone out of our everyday life, neologisms - words that are used to denote new concepts.
Disused words are used in fiction when writing historical texts to recreate the atmosphere of the time described in the work.
