Language reform of Karamzin. The essence, pluses and minuses of the language reform of Karamzin

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin was a significant personality in the field of education, especially history and linguistics. He was the head of the sentimentalist trend in literature and created new trends in the Russian language. His work became known as the language reform of Karamzin.

The essence of language reform

What did Nikolai Mikhailovich want to achieve with his reform? At that time, the Russian language was similar to Church Slavonic, and some features of the syntax made it "heavyweight." The writer's goal was to remove most of the Latin and Slavic words to add words from the French language, which was considered the language of enlightened and educated people.

Principles of language reform Karamzin

The main task of the writer was to write in a noble society as they speak. To create a "new syllable", Karamzin made a start from the language features of Lomonosov. His ode often used difficult, obsolete words that put some writers in a difficult position. One of the principles of Nikolai Mikhailovich's work was the desire to bring the language of writers closer to the colloquial.

To do this, it was necessary to remove all Old Slavism from the language. But it was also impossible to give up completely from them - it would mean depriving the Russian language of its roots, wealth and special charm. Therefore, the following types of Old Slavism were abandoned:

• Having a poetic connotation;
• Used for artistic purposes;
• Used to recreate a particular historical era.

Another principle of the "new" syllable was the simplification of proposals, that is, the replacement of heavy, long, "Lomonosov" designs with more simplified proposals. It was decided to replace all unions of Old Slavonic origin. Karamzin aspired to use as many Russian unions as possible, mostly of a compositional nature. He was changed and the order of words on the line, which seemed more natural to him.

And the third principle of language reform Karamzin became neologisms. Nikolai Mikhailovich tried not only to introduce a foreign word into Russian speech, but also to adapt it to the peculiarities of Russian grammar. Sometimes, the neologisms remained untranslated, because he believed that they sounded fuller. But later, the writer revised his views on borrowing and began to use more words of Russian origin.

Reaction to the Shishkov reform

Of course, such important changes could not but cause an ambiguous reaction of society. There were also those who did not approve the language reform of Karamzin. So, among his opponents was Shishkov - a prominent statesman of the time. He was not a philologist, so his arguments were mostly patriotic.

He considered Karamazin a freethinker, an amateur of everything foreign. Shishkin believed that borrowed words only spoil the Russian language, distort its essence. Only the use of Slavic words promotes patriotic education. Therefore, he suggested replacing the already established foreign expressions with Slavic ones. So, for example, the word "actor" is replaced by "lycee".

The principles of the language reform Karamzin and Shishkov have a different basis under themselves: Nikolai Mikhailovich understood that changing the language system is necessary from a philological point of view, and Shishkov was guided by patriotism.

Pros and cons of the language reform Karamzin

The introduced innovations, as we have said, have caused an ambiguous evaluation in the society. On the one hand, all the changes that have taken place are a natural result of historical events experienced by Russia. The Age of Enlightenment has come, so it was necessary to simplify the language system, get rid of obsolete words. This is a natural development of the language, since it can not develop unless new words, words and expressions appear.

But on the other hand, the French language has become too much. His active introduction contributed to the fact that the differences between the communication of the common people and the higher classes became simply enormous. And this reform can be called to some extent antisocial and not conducive to the formation of patriotism. But this was an absolutely natural phenomenon in the era of Enlightened absolutism.

Therefore, despite contradictory assessments, it should be noted that Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamazin had a great influence on the development of the literary language and general culture in Russia.