Runglish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Runglish (Ruglish, Russlish), is a neologism increasingly used to denote at least three different interferences of Russian and English languages: pidgin, spoken manner, and informal latinizations of the Cyrillic alphabet.
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[edit] Pidgin
As a term for describing the Russian-English pidgin language, it was popularized in 2000, when the language aboard the International Space Station was described as "Runglish". Although less widespread than other pidgins and creoles, such as Tok Pisin, Runglish is spoken in a number of English-Russian communities, most notably the Russian-speaking Jewish community of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, New York.
Arthur C. Clarke's novel 2010: Odyssey Two had a micro-plot involving a similarly named phenomenon, Russlish. See "Russlish in 2010".
[edit] Spoken manner
"Runglish" is also used informally to describe the variety of English spoken by native Russian speakers. Distinctive features of Runglish may be noticed in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.
[edit] Pronunciation
See also: Non-native pronunciations of English: Russian.
- Runglish speakers make no distinction between closed/open and long/short vowels: /i/ (heat) and /ɪ/ (hit), /ɔ/ (port) and /ɒ/ (pot), /ɑ/ (heart) and /ʌ/ (hut), etc.
- Runglish /æ/ (bad) sounds like /ɛ/ (bed).
- Final voiced consonants are pronounced as voiceless ones, that is dog sounds as dock, hard as heart, etc.
- Absence of /ð/ and /θ/ sounds in Russian phonology is a reason of Runglish speakers pronouncing thing as sing or then as zen.
[edit] Vocabulary
There are quite a few "false friends" in the English language for a native Russian speaker i.e. words which appear very similar to their Russian counterparts, but have completely different meanings.
Also, the following changes are common:
- underground → metro,
- year (in university) → course,
- handsome → beautiful,
- unfair → dishonest,
- to do sport → to go in for sports (the latter expression was suggested in school textbooks of the former Soviet Union)
[edit] Grammar
1. The Russian language has no articles ("a, an, the") (see zero article). The question: Do you know the man who is standing there? can take the Runglish form of:
- Do you know man standing there?
- Do you know a man standing there?
- Do you know the man standing there?
It is perhaps also worth noting that Russian uses its verb for "to be" differently (it is mostly omitted in the present tense), explaining why in these examples the "who is" part of the sentence has disappeared.
2. Collective nouns take a singular verb in Russian, which can lead to Runglish results like:
- Our people is suffering.
(instead of Our people are suffering)
Notice that even for native English speakers collective nouns may present problems or produce inconsistent results in usage e.g.
- There are a number of people in the hall.
vs.
- The number of people in the hall is small.
3. The Russian word for "money" ("деньги") is plural which may result in sentences like:
- The money are good.
(instead of The money is good)
4. Perfect tenses are rarely used in Russian, but rather the "perfective form of the verb" (e.g., "открыть" vs. "открывать") which differ from that of "perfect tense" in English. The "perfective form" is used to convey the meaning of a totally completed action with a specific result.
- I lost my key, did you see it?
(instead of I've lost my key, have you seen it?)
5. Differences and distinctions in the use of English modal verbs are frequently poorly perceived (modality is expressed differently in Russian).
- I must go now.
- I have to go now.
- I gotta go now.
- I will go now.
- I would go now.
- I shall go now.
- I should go now.
- I ought to go now.
- I am going to go now.
6. Runglish speakers often use Yes, I don't or No, I do in response to negative questions. Consider the following conversation:
- - "You don't like it, do you?" asked Bob.
- - "No, I don't like it," agreed Mary.
- "Yes, I don't like it" is a correct construction in Russian, obviously from the notion that 'yes' here denotes agreement, though such constructions are usually frowned upon by English speakers. Therefore, it is not that uncommon to see or hear conversation such as these:
- - You don't like it, do you?
- - Yes, I don't. (correct: No, I don't.)
- According to Russian grammar rules, upon being asked the question in hand, one faces two possible answers depending on whether one would agree or disagree:
- - Yes, I don't. (agreement)
- - No, I like it. (akin to "Why? I like it" denoting disagreement)
7. Double, triple and multiple negation is a norm in Russian. While in English it means irony, a speaker may intend neutral sense in the following sentence:
- I haven't seen nobody.
Though "I haven't seen anybody" (Я никого не видел) in Russian is correct (or at least would be correctly understood), it's used not often or more particulary (Я не видел никого подозрительного - I haven't seen anybody suspicious), while "I have seen nobody" would be completely incorrect.
8. Some relationships expressed in English with verbs or modal verbs, such as "to agree", "must do something", in Russian are expressed with adjectives. Thus a Russian speaker through habit can say:
- I'm (not) agree. (instead of I (don't) agree)
- I'm must (to) do something, I was must (to) do...
9. Runglish is also accompanied by a combination of English verbs and Russian verb conjugational endings. The verbs consist of English actions yet they end in Russian conjugations and take place throughout a conversation mainly spoken in Russian.
→:давай я поведу or let me drive is the correct form of pronunciation in Russian as it is translated into English
→:давай я по-drive-у also let me drive however this time used as a the base of a Runglish tranformation, in this case, the English verb drive is used and embedded within a Russian verb conjugation.
[edit] Transliteration
Since the term "Runglish" entered circulation, it has been increasingly used to denote what was earlier known as Volapuk encoding: the rendering of Russian-language texts using the Latin alphabet.
[edit] Russlish in 2010
A small subplot in Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of 2010 concerned the crew of a Russo-American spaceship, who attempted to break down boredom with a Stamp Out Russlish!! campaign. As the story went, both crews were fully fluent in each other's languages, to the point that they found themselves crossing over languages in mid-conversation, or even simply speaking the other language even when there was no-one who had it as their native tongue present.
Use of "Russlish" in space has been realized to some extent on the International Space Station. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov said in October of 2000: "We say jokingly that we communicate in 'Runglish,' a mixture of Russian and English languages, so that when we are short of words in one language we can use the other, because all the crew members speak both languages well."
[edit] External links
| Pseudo-dialects: |
Engrish | Globish | Greeklish | Franglais | Internet slang | Leet | Valspeak |
| Mixed languages: | Chinglish | Denglisch | Finglish |Hinglish | Inglés de escalerilla | Konglish | Llanito | Namlish | Poglish | Runglish | Spanglish | Swenglish | Tinglish | Yeshivish | Yinglish | Portinglês |
