Naturally, the
law on state languages, subordinate regulatory acts equally,
passed through the Supreme Court of KBR meeting with no resistance.
Dictate of universal populism of those years called forth working
quality of the documents accompanying the law. Central among them
was the program for measures on implementation, and we would like
to express some thoughts on the latter.
Any steps aimed at adjustment of some sectors of substrate culture
- and even more so the culture of small nations - in our time of
total ethno suicide should include both conservative and creative
measures. It is impossible to preserve a language, which glossary,
at least, does not adequately cover the surrounding world. The
program of activities on implementation of the law, we are
interested in, managed with only directives, some of which today,
after a half dozen years (for example, adaptation of keyboards of
typewriters and computers to the phonetics of Kabardian and Balkar
languages) cause laughter. The main content of the program were
changes introduced in the learning process of general education
schools. Was dramatically increased the number of classes of
native language and literature. This, in turn, necessitated
correction of work of the national departments of Kabardino-Balkarian
State University, increase in the number of relevant textbooks,
increase in circulation, additional funding for printing
production... And so on. It is good when in difficult times grows
the number of people receiving a salary, but not the reduction of
unemployment was main purpose of the law.
Yes, today we constantly hear Kabardian and Balkar speech on the
streets of Nalchik - young people knowingly communicate in their
native languages. Pleases the fact that these are not only recent
villagers. But what this speech is, what language is this? De
facto, at present time, in Kabardino-Balkaria live about half a
million people, doing with not more than fifty words in everyday
life.
The Balkar and Kabardian languages, not having full-fledged
spheres of application, have simply degenerated into two scanty
areas of functioning - the so-called «literature» language and, of
course, informal-everyday. The latter consists of two or three
dozen words, which we hear in buses and cafes. The first can boast
significant status achievements, but does not refer to real life,
being in the condition of Latin in Europe of the Middle Ages. The
word does not live in the fictitious space of republican and other
laws. It must have wide and multidirectional associative fields,
and this needs implementation in as many various areas as possible.
Our people have no linguistic and functional division, no
terminology, no jargon, a word remains in the same semantic field,
where it stayed twenty and one hundred years ago. And it retains
exactly that centuries-old fullness, but used today.
That is why the journalistic style is a kind of «happy medium» in
any language - it is full with foreign barbarisms. Moreover -
academic dictionaries, the issue of which was stipulated by the
program, fixed namely this state of informal speech. What kind of
lexical richness of the language of young people can one speak
about, when the Karachay-Balkar dictionary begins with the words «abstraction»
and «aberration»?
Now with full confidence one can speak about the failure and
incapacity of the measures to conserve the national languages
drawn up 15 years ago. Even this miserable goal in a rapidly
evolving information environment has not been achieved. One of the
markers of that failure - the loss of personnel in the field of
artistic expression, the loss is catastrophic, perhaps even fatal.
The mean age of members of the writing organization of our
republic stepped far over fifty years, no rising generation is
foreseen.
Following the obvious ways of mechanical raising of linguistic
influence on pupils, we failed to take into account the imbalance
between the real information wealth and diversity of modern times
and limited glossary systems of our languages, which remained in
use. For a decade and a half, we have been destroying thinking of
many thousands of young people deprived of conceptual and
categorical apparatus formed in the Russian language environment,
without any in its national version because of the absence. The
teachers of universities have fully encountered the problem - a
large portion of entrants come into educational institutions,
being unable to perform simple logic operations at the level of
abstract terminology. The trouble is not only in corruption
affecting the system of education.
What can be done today? The authors of this article see one
cardinal resort - returning to old standards of teaching of
Russian literature and language, and simultaneously translation of
language forming school subjects into native languages (at least -
in rural schools). Such as informatics, biology, anatomy, botany,
geography, chemistry, physics, mathematics, geometry, astronomy
and others of their ilk. This will naturally entail compiling of
relevant terminology glossaries. In some cases, we need only to
find hapax legomena, forgotten and not used words, but still
remaining in people’s memory - what should have been recorded in
the recently published academic journals. We believe that biology,
botany and anatomy today are still present in the national
language environments.
It seems appropriate to urgently develop a system to encourage any
attempts of linguistic engineering - from raising schedule of fees
to authors, using their native language without barbarisms, up to
creating a special fund to pay when revealing hapax legomena or
forming new terminology, on the assumption of its seamlessness. It
is necessary to organize field work of linguists, so that in
future dictionaries will be made not using samples from newspapers,
but in live communication with native speakers. Particular
attention should be paid to the optimization of work of national
departments of KBSU, because reforms, conducted within the walls
of this institution, though positive, are not sufficient: it is
desirable that general theoretical subjects should be delivered in
native languages.
And, finally, the state should save the sound record library of
the Kabardino-Balkarian Institute for Humanitarian Studies.
Several years ago magnetic records were moved to an ordinary room,
not meeting the standards for storage by either humidity or
temperature, or protection from electromagnetic effects. The first
thunderstorm in the immediate vicinity of the building of KBIHS
will destroy fifteen hundred items, but if this doesn’t happen,
audio tapes will become dust from old age. The peoples of our
republic have been forming their epos, folklore and language not
only for those who today get academic degrees and good salary.
Conversion of KBIHS sound record library to digital format at
prices of 2004 cost one and a half million rubles - less than some
officials lost in billiards for one month, and much less than is
spent for monthly maintenance of the team «Spartak-Nalchik».
Nevertheless, the tapes are turning into dust up till now.
Apparently, we are satisfied with the future in which peoples of
the republic perform folkloric dancing before replete tourists and,
with brutally twinkling eyes and teeth, say exotic toasts, and «abstractions»
and «aberrations» in national dictionaries will be quite enough
for us, as well as the posture of soloists of «Kabardinka» and «Balkaria»
at festive concert, devoted to arrival of high guests, not yet
tourists (the authors, to their shame, see no difference). By the
way, the ancestors of those living today in KBR would just make a
laughing-stock of one for appearance with such a posture in public,
not asking about national identity. We hope that the leadership of
the republic will do everything necessary to extend the
opportunities of the languages of indigenous peoples.
From the editorial staff: The authors of the published
material have raised a very serious problem. Like some showy
advertising banner covers abandoned construction site, so today's
grandiloquent slogans on overall national revival cover the truth,
which name is degradation. Behind superficial abundance of
national speech sounding throughout the South of Russia, the
authors see a dangerous process of cultural degeneration.
«The word does not live in the fictitious space of republican and
other laws. It must have wide and multidirectional associative
fields», - delicately write the authors, bearing in mind the fact
that the usage of words in national languages, especially among
young people does not exceed «fifty» simplest everyday expressions.
And it cannot go outside these limits, since the development of
these languages stopped in the century before last. That’s why
deliberate introduction of national languages in all possible «cracks»
has nothing to do with the cultural and intellectual needs of
today.
A person impregnated from childhood with the language of native
gorges and auls to the detriment of first-order language -
interethnic and state, sooner or later may be outside the usual
habitat. And he/she will look invalid among healthy.
Z. and T. Tolgurovs offer a program of measures to remedy the
situation, which would look perfect fiction, if not the key words
of the material. Here they are: Returning to old standards of
teaching of Russian literature and language.
The editorial staff with great respect treats the authors of the
article - people who speak the Russian language professionally,
oral and written, being taught on Russian books, who shared their
excellent knowledge of Russian language and literature with
several generations of students, including those from the most
remote auls. In everyday life, about some simple issue they can
talk to Balkars in Balkar, but profoundly and, above all, during
all their lifetime have been studying the most complex, multi-aspect
and inclusive Russian language. This allows them to occupy a
prominent position in the Russian literature and science.
Multinational editorial staff of «NC» with great satisfaction
welcomed the appeal of Z. and T. Tolgurovs to put everything in
the proper way. In brief, the essence of this appeal is this: if
we well teach, learn and know RUSSIAN, we will be intelligent and
cultural. If we become clever and cultural, we will better teach,
learn and know the national language. Only in this order - there's
no other way!
The editorial staff looks forward to continue discussion on this
issue. |