LINGUISTIC NORM, STANDARD AND USAGE

Authors
G.T. Khukhuni, E.A. Komarova
Affiliation
Moscow Region State University
Issue 39
Pages
105-129

In the age of information technology and globalization, the speed of language development is accelerating, which cannot but affect language usage and norms. This tendency causes an ambiguous reaction in Russian-speaking society, which often makes native speakers worry that language may be degrading. This article analyses the role of linguistic norms, standard and usage, how they are linked and influence each other in modern Russian language. The authors examine the reasons for conservative and prescriptive attitude towards linguistic norm among native speakers of Russian language, comparing it with the situation in English and German speaking communities. The authors come to the conclusion that one of the main reasons for the establishment of prescriptive attitude in Russian language is historical circumstances, which imply having to increase literacy rate among population in a very short period of time in the middle of 20th century. In order to explore the attitude of society towards linguistic norm and variability, a survey was held in the form of a restricted questionnaire, in which 50 subjects took part. In accordance with the results obtained, conclusions were drawn about the correlation between age and attitudes towards the language norm: young respondents preferred the descriptive approach to language norm and spoke positively about the high level of language variability, while older respondents were more conservative in their views, preferring the prescriptive approach and smaller degree of linguistic variability. In general, there is a negative attitude towards violations of the language norm regardless of the age of the respondents.

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Khukhuni, G.T. & Komarova, E.A. (2020). Linguistic norm, standard and usageIssues of Applied Linguistics, 39, 105-129. 

This artiсle is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.