The state language of all subjects of the Russian Federation is Russian. The definition of statehood contributes to mutual understanding and spiritual growth of representatives of nationalities living on the territory of the Russian Federation. To protect and systematically develop the main means of communication, a clearly defined concept of the relevant regulatory act is needed.

Federal Law "On the State Language" N 53-FZ was adopted by the State Duma on May 20 and approved by the Federal Council on May 25, 2005. The normative act in question came into force on June 1, 2005. The current law regulates the provision of the use of the Russian language throughout the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as the legal rights of citizens related to the protection and development of the state dialect.

The current text of Federal Law 53-FZ consists of seven articles:

  • Article 1. Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 2. Legislation of the Russian Federation on the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 3. Spheres of use of the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 4. Protection and support of the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 5. Ensuring the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to use the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 6. Responsibility for violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the state language of the Russian Federation;
  • Article 7. Entry into force of this Federal Law.

According to paragraph 1 of article 1 the law in question Russian is established as the state language on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The regulation for determining modern literary and linguistic norms is established Government of the Russian Federation (article 1, paragraph 3). In the use of Russian literary and language norms, as state ones, swearing and obscene words are not allowed ( article 1, paragraph 6).

According to paragraph 7 of the article under consideration, the derogation of the right to communicate in the native dialect of citizens of the Russian Federation belonging to ethnic minorities is not permissible. Knowledge of the Russian language on the territory of Russia is mandatory, according to the law, communication between citizens can take place in any language. Any prohibition of communication in foreign dialects is considered unlawful.

Legislation on the norms of Russian speech is based on the provisions of the following regulations (Article 2):

  • the Constitution of the Russian Federation;
  • Federal Law "On the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation" N 1807-1, adopted on October 25, 1991;
  • The considered law N 53-FZ;
  • Other normative acts regulating language issues.

According to regulations article 3 Federal Law 53-FZ, and the use of Russian literary speech is mandatory:

  • In the activities of all state authorities;
  • In the names of state bodies;
  • During the election campaign, the process of holding elections and referendums,
    in judicial proceedings on the territory of the Russian Federation, including the Magistrate's Court;
  • With the official publication of documentation of international treaties of the Russian Federation;
  • When carrying out inscriptions on signs regulating traffic;
  • When drawing up state documents of the Russian Federation;
  • In advertising and materials provided by the media;
  • In literary works, provided they are performed in public.

As part of the protection of the linguistic diversity of Russian speech, state bodies take the following actions (Article 4):

  • Ensuring the use of Russian speech throughout the Russian Federation;
  • Develop a concept to improve the level of education in the field of Russian philology;
  • Contribute to the study of the Russian language by foreigners - both within the Russian Federation and abroad;
  • Contribute to the production of dictionaries and grammar books;
  • They control the purity and absence of obscene language in Russian speech and compliance with this law.

Citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to education, receive any information and communicate in the state (Russian) language. Foreigners and citizens of the Russian Federation who speak a different dialect have the right to use the services of an interpreter.

Like other federal laws of the Russian Federation, FZ-53 regularly undergoes the necessary changes. The last amendments to the current law were introduced on May 5, 2014.

Download 53 Federal Law on the state language of the Russian Federation

For a detailed study of the current Federal Law
“On the state language” N 53-FZ and the latest amendments made to it, you should familiarize yourself with the current provisions. You can download the current text of FZ-53 at

Recent changes in the Federal Law on the state language of the Russian Federation

The latest version of the considered Federal Law 53-FZ was made on May 5, 2014. The basis for the amendment was Federal Law N 101-FZ. AT article 3 of the current normative act, clarifications appeared regarding the choice of language dubbing or titles for public screening of films. The article in question has been updated point 9.2, stating that the use of Russian speech is mandatory for public reading of literary works, conducting concerts and staging performances.

Previously, significant amendments were made July 2, 2013. The basis for the amendments was the Federal Law “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation and Recognizing Legislative Acts (Certain Provisions of Legislative Acts) of the Russian Federation as invalid in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law “On Education in the Russian Federation” N 185-FZ.

Changes have been made articles 3 and 4 actual law. AT
according with the provisions of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation" sample "N, adopted on December 20, 2012, in point 8 of part 1 of article 3 it is indicated that the Russian language is necessarily used in the preparation and printing of documentation confirming the level of education or qualifications of a citizen.

Article 4, paragraph 4 The regulation in question states that as part of the protection and promotion of the foundations of Russian traditions in a foreign community, state educational institutions train relevant personnel. Teachers of Russian as a foreign language carry out their activities both within the Russian Federation and abroad, in the relevant educational institutions.

Amendment from 185-FZ in article 4, paragraph 4 word "institutions" changed to "organizations".

On June 1, 2005, the federal law of the Russian Federation No. 53-FZ "On the state language of the Russian Federation" was adopted. The year 2007 was announced in Russia as the "Year of the Russian Language" and was marked by a number of events, both in Russia itself and beyond its near and far borders. The most recent example: with the support of the Russian Center for Science and Culture in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, on October 17-19, the International Congress "Russian Language and Literature in the 21st Century: Theoretical Problems and Applied Aspects" was held. A year before, in the summer of 2006, as if anticipating the "Year of the Russian Language", the International Scientific and Methodological Conference "Russian Language as a Means of Preserving Intercultural and Educational Ties" was held in St. Petersburg (materials were published as a separate edition this year). And in 2005, the encyclopedic dictionary-reference book “State and titular languages ​​of Russia” was published. This is one of the first descriptions of this kind, in which the central idea is consistently carried out: language is the fundamental basis of culture, and the language of each, even a small ethnic group, is valuable and interesting. The publication is accompanied by the publication of normative acts reflecting the process of language reform of the last decade.

According to the state language in Russia, Russian is the main means of interethnic communication between the peoples of Russia, contributes to their rapprochement, mutual enrichment, provides a connection with the international community, with world culture. Performing a consolidating role in Russian society, the Russian language is one of the important foundations of Russian statehood and helps to strengthen the vertical of power. Therefore, the state support of the Russian language meets our strategic national interests. Of course, the Russian Academy of Sciences cannot and must not remain aloof from projects, including legislative ones, related to

the fate of the Russian language in our society and in the world. It must be borne in mind that the perception of the Russian language in other countries and cultures largely depends on our own attitude towards it, on its state, its functioning in society.

Unfortunately, these indisputable truths are sometimes ignored in our country, and sometimes they are sacrificed to nationalist ambitions and separatist sentiments. Let's see, for example, what is happening in the former "union" republics, and now independent states. So, in Latvia, from year to year, the parliament of this independent republic, which recently became a member of the European Union, refuses to recognize the state status of the Russian language. The Seimas has just again rejected amendments to the law “On the State Language”, according to which it was proposed to grant official status to the languages ​​of national minorities (including Russian) in those places where their speakers live compactly. The parliamentary majority supports the opinion of the ruling coalition, according to which in Latvia “there is no other state or official language other than Latvian”. Thus, the Russian language in Latvia is quite "unnaturally" declared foreign, although it is native to 40 percent of the population of the republic. At the recent summit of the CIS countries in Dushanbe, the representative of Ukraine, which is in a protracted state and political crisis, including due to the irreconcilable clash of interests of the Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking population, was not ready to subscribe to the fact that the Russian language as a factor in interethnic communication in the CIS plays an important role in solving the problem of humanitarian cooperation.

In these tense conditions, to give the status of the state Russian language in Russia itself was, of course, a key task. Let us dwell in more detail on the content of the concept of "state language".

Definitions of the term "state language" in legal, ethnological and linguistic literature are different. So,

The "Concise Ethnological Dictionary" gives the following definition: "The state language is the language, the use of which is legally prescribed in official areas of communication." “Official language” is considered by this dictionary as “a political and legal synonym for the state language”.

UNESCO experts propose to distinguish between the concepts of "state language" (patlopa1 linshage) and "official language" (orglstala linge,e), while giving the following definitions: "State language is a language that performs an integration function within the framework of a given state in , social and cultural spheres and acting as a symbol of this state”, “The official language is the language of public administration, legislation, legal proceedings. We adhere to the point of view that the concept of "state language" is broader than the concept of "official language", since the state language functions not only in the spheres of official communication, but also in the sphere of culture.

The repertoire of social functions of a language that has received the status of a state or official language is determined in accordance with the degree of its normalization and codification, the presence or absence of writing and literary norms, literary, folklore and linguistic and cultural traditions. The state of many languages ​​in Russia currently does not allow them to fully perform the functions of state languages, the status of which they received in the republican legislation, since most of them lack functional styles used in various areas of communication (for example, scientific style, business style, etc.). ), there is no developed scientific terminology.

The social functions of the Russian language in the Russian Federation are as follows:

I) it is the national language of the Russian people, which makes up approximately 83.7% of the inhabitants of Russia,

2) it is a means of linguistic unity of a multinational state, or the language of interethnic communication of the peoples of Russia,

3) it is the state language used in various areas of communication - business, science, education, mass communication, etc. That is why the role of the Russian language in Russia is so great and significant.

The fulfillment by the Russian language of its functions as the state language of the Russian Federation is hampered by the fact that the Russian language and other national languages ​​of the republics of the Russian Federation, which according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation are granted the “right to establish their state languages”, receive the same status of the “state language”, therefore the concept of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation, become gay, as it were, blurry. The designation by the same term of languages ​​​​different in their functionality cannot but lead to confusion and misunderstandings in language policy.

However, according to Anatole France, reasonable arguments have never convinced anyone. And I consider the zealots of “strengthening” the statehood of the subjects of the Federation to rationalize the paradoxical nature of the current situation!” as an infringement of the rights of peoples, as a manifestation of “Russian chauvinism.” Of course, the Russian language should develop and function along with and in close interaction with other languages ​​of Russia. the rights of the peoples of the Russian Federation to use and develop their languages ​​are infringed upon, but the role of the Russian language as the state language of all Russia must be clearly and definitely indicated.

How to find a way out of this situation? Back, of course, there is no way; those. it is hardly possible and reasonable to abandon the term "state" in relation to the languages ​​of the republics of the Russian Federation. It is worth, however, to take a closer look at the solution of language problems abroad, to analyze the existing legislation there that regulates the language situation and forms the principles of language policy. Is it possible to use something from foreign experience.

Different countries implement different models of language policy. Some countries (for example, the United States, with the exception of the legislation of some states) prefer not to define the official, state language of the country in the Constitution or in a separate legislative act. Other countries (for example, Canada, Belgium, Spain, France) legislate the rules of speech behavior in the areas of organized communication. Most countries of the world still solve language problems through legislation: out of 141 countries, 110 constitutions contain articles relating to language.

One-component models of language legislation with one state language (for example, France), two-component (for example, Canada), multi-component (for example, Singapore) are known. Each country that prefers to legislate the laws of language life in the areas of organized communication usually takes into account in legislative practice, firstly, the language situation in the country, and secondly, the basic principles of national policy, which largely determine the language policy of the country.

In multinational India, which is closest to us in terms of state structure, two official (state) languages ​​are recognized: English, as is known during the period of colonial dependence, which had all the functions of the only state language of the country, and Hindi; all the other languages ​​of the country have the status of state languages, which is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of India, adopted in 1950. Some of the state languages, both in their development and in literary traditions, are not inferior to the Hindi language. Preference is given to the latter because it exceeds other languages ​​in terms of the number of speakers of it (but not to the same extent as the Russian language compared to other languages ​​of the Russian Federation), and also, of course, because it, like Russian, belongs to to the population of that part of the country from where the process of consolidation of India as a single federal state began.

I think that not only in the field of language building, India can be an example for us. It never occurs to anyone in India to violate the functions of legislative and executive power enshrined in the Constitution, to challenge the primacy of federal laws over state laws. The head of state is the President of the Republic of India, to whom the governors of states (and not presidents) appointed by him are subordinate. One of the main tasks of the government is to contribute in every possible way to the country's integration processes. For more than 50 years, the Constitution has been in force in India, following which more than a billion people have achieved impressive success in building a new life, turning their country from a backward colony into a great Asian power. Once upon a time, we did a lot to help India get back on its feet. It would not hurt us now to turn in solving language problems to the experience of this country, which in terms of its state structure is closer to Russia than any other state in the world.

In the Soviet Union there were no legislative acts concerning the regulation of linguistic life in a multinational state. In accordance with many years of practice in the country, on the one hand, the Russian language widely functioned as the language of the majority of the population, and on the other hand, in the national and autonomous republics of the RSFSR, languages ​​of other peoples functioned to one degree or another. Thus, a two-pronged task was ensured - firstly, the interests of the peoples in the development of their languages ​​and cultures were observed, and secondly, the linguistic unity of the entire multinational country was ensured.

During the period of perestroika, a transition began from the spontaneous, practically established coexistence of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication and national languages, i.e. from legally unregulated national-Russian bilingualism to another way of organizing the linguistic life of a multinational country - to its legal regulation. Many peoples of the country, dissatisfied with the level of development of the social functions of their languages, believed that through legal regulation it was possible to raise the status of national languages. In 1989-1990 laws on languages ​​were adopted in all the republics of the Soviet Union, except for Armenia. Georgia, Azerbaijan, later they were adopted in most of the republics of the Russian Federation. Thus, the conditions for the development of the state languages ​​of the titular nations were legally fixed.

However, sometimes the language issue was used for political purposes - to limit the functions of the Russian language and its displacement from various spheres of communication, as well as to limit the social rights of foreign-speaking residents of a particular republic.

For the first time in 1991, the Law of the RSFSR "On the Languages ​​of the Peoples of the RSFSR" defined the social and legal status of the state language of Russia. The law fixed the following legal norm: "The Russian language, which is the main means of interethnic communication between the peoples of the RSFSR, in accordance with the established historical and cultural traditions, has the status of a state language throughout the territory of the RSFSR." Compare with Article 68 (paragraph 1) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which says: "The state language of the Russian Federation throughout the entire territory is the Russian language." In the mentioned law, all the social functions necessary for the national language in the areas of business communication, education, science, mass media, legal proceedings, etc. were assigned to the Russian language.

However, the adoption of laws on the languages ​​of the republics of the Russian Federation, as well as the process of implementing these laws, showed that there are opportunities for discrimination against citizens on the basis of the language principle, more precisely, due to ignorance of the republican state language. The Constitutional Court confirmed the right of the republics to seek the dissemination of the republican state languages ​​on the territory of the respective republics, but pointed out the need to teach the population this language before exercising this right.

Numerous hidden and obvious language conflicts testified to the need to strengthen the legal basis for the functioning of the Russian language, to determine its status in the spheres of organized communication throughout the entire language space of the Russian Federation. In this regard, work began on the Law on the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this law is to determine the national status of the Russian language throughout the Russian Federation, as well as to establish the rules for its use in various areas of communication in accordance with the language situation and the basic principles of the national language policy.

The adoption of the law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” showed that its main content was excluded from the original title of the bill, i.e. words "Russian language". In addition, the new name crosses out (does not prioritize) the main goal not only of the Law on the Russian Language, but also of all our activities to support and develop the Russian language as the national language of the Russian Federation.

The definition of the Russian language as a "national language" is in line with the strengthening of Russian statehood and the vertical of power. Moreover, in the future, in our opinion, one could think about the possibility of amending Article 68 of the Constitution of Russia, providing for giving the Russian language the official status of the “national language of the Russian Federation”.

The Law on the Russian Language as the State Language of the Russian Federation is intended to strengthen the legal basis for the use of the Russian language as the State language of the Russian Federation. It establishes state guarantees for the support and protection of the state language in various spheres of society - in the field of education, culture, the media and others. The law calls for promoting the preservation of the originality, richness and purity of the Russian language as a common cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia, as well as its dissemination as one of the leading languages ​​of the world.

Despite the need for such a law, it was approved and adopted far from immediately, since heated discussions broke out among deputies and senators on a number of points, ambiguous publications appeared in the press, while the public - that is, the people of Russia - took a minimal part in the discussion of the law, and few people bothered to thoroughly familiarize themselves with its text.

Meanwhile, the law contains a number of formulations, due to which its literal reading and, as a result, the interpretation of the norms of the law leads to contradictory, and sometimes completely unacceptable conclusions. Let us point out only some insufficiently elaborated elements of the law. One of them concerns the philological, linguistic sphere proper. This is a limitation of some lexical spheres and an equally strange expansion of others. Thus, paragraph 1.9 of Article 3 of the Law establishes the areas of “mandatory use” of the Russian language in the activities of the media, “except in cases where the use of vocabulary that does not comply with the norms of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation is an integral part of the artistic conception.” We have to state with sadness that profanity, or rather vulgar vocabulary, has been actively introduced into works of art for some time now and is passed off as a certain literary norm and value, and is even cited in the academic scientific press. Thus, under a vague, extremely vague definition of "artistic intent", one can sum up the publication and distribution of any obscene texts, and introduce into the mass consciousness the thesis of the legislative and legal basis for the use of a once unprintable word.

On the other hand, paragraph 6 of Article 1 explicitly states that “when using the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation, it is not allowed to use words and expressions that do not comply with the norms of the modern literary language, with the exception of foreign words that do not have commonly used analogues in the Russian language” . Already the wording of this article violates this article of the law itself: for the word "analogue" in Russian there is a lexical replacement - "correspondence". This article is essentially correct - any language should be protected from thoughtless flooding both with other people's words (it is worth driving around Moscow to see what blatant illiteracy rules street advertising and signs), and vernacular and jargon (from professional words of computer scientists and youth slang to reduced speech is not always a cultural inhabitant of the outback). But there is an unjustified narrowing of the lexical layer associated with words that have entered the Russian language along with new concepts and realities and continue to flow naturally and unstoppably into our today's speech, as well as with bright, figurative dialect speech, which sometimes strikes with freshness and novelty in newspapers. interviews or in conversations on a television screen - such a flaw was already noted by Russian senators when discussing the law and was immediately criticized by journalists.

No less puzzling is the fact that the law is declarative in nature, and responsibility for violating its provisions is not established by law. That is, paragraph 2 of Article 6 is not supported legally by any administrative or any other penalties. Of course, it is easy enough to introduce appropriate changes to the Criminal Code or the Code of Administrative Offenses, but the danger of censorship may immediately arise. The amendments can become not so much a tool for punishing swearers who poison the lives of fellow citizens everywhere, but also a means of combating objectionable media, so the issue of punishment for violating the Law on the State Language remains topical.

I believe that observance of the Law on the Russian Language as the State Language of the Russian Federation is in the interests of consolidating Russian society, will create conditions for a clearer and more organized implementation of the language policy in the Russian Federation, and will help to avoid various kinds of misunderstandings and conflicts on linguistic and national grounds.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize once again that we have a lot to do to ensure that the Russian language in Russia takes its rightful place and contributes to the strengthening of our multinational state.

Chelyshev E.P., Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences

You know that the current legislation of Russia, or the Russian Federation (these names are equal), is headed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and includes many Federal Laws, Codes and so-called by-laws: resolutions, decrees, orders and other normative acts adopted on the basis of the Constitution and Laws of the Russian Federation.

We know something about some Federal Laws and Codes: we know, for example, that the sphere of education is regulated by the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education” (1992), sometimes we hear about the Land Code, the Family Code, we often hear about the Criminal Code. But about the Federal Law "On the state language of the Russian Federation", unfortunately, few people have heard, and even fewer of our fellow citizens who have read this Federal Law at least once.

Why? Yes, because we are accustomed to the Russian language and do not imagine that the language can be not only a means of communication, not only a subject of study at school or in a higher educational institution, not only a subject of research by scientists, but also a subject of state legislation.

Meanwhile, on May 20, 2005, it was adopted by the State Duma, on May 25 of the same year it was approved by the Federation Council, and on June 1, 2005, the Federal Law “On the state language of the Russian Federation” was signed in Moscow, in the Kremlin, by President of Russia V.V. Putin. Like other Federal Laws, it also has its own number - No. 53-FZ. And this Law is an organic part of the current legislation of our Fatherland.

What does this Law say, and what does it prescribe and determine?

The first paragraph of the 1st article of this Law reads: "In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the state language of the Russian Federation throughout its territory is the Russian language."

This means that this Law was not adopted in order to proclaim the Russian language the state language of the Russian Federation. The corresponding clause was and is in the Constitution of the Russian Federation - the Basic Law of our country (Article 68). The adoption of the Law "On the State Language of the Russian Federation" was necessary in 2005 in order to protect and preserve the Russian language, as well as to enable the Russian language and national culture as a whole to develop normally.

“Protection and support of the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation contributes to the multiplication and mutual enrichment of the spiritual culture of the peoples of the Russian Federation” - this is what paragraph 5 says

Article 1 of the Law "On the state language of the Russian Federation".

More than a hundred peoples live on the territory of the Russian Federation, but the language of interethnic communication of all the peoples of Russia is the Russian language. The aforementioned Article 68 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees all the peoples of the Russian Federation "the right to preserve their native language, create conditions for its study and development." In 1991, the Law of the Russian Federation "On the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation" (No. 1807-1 of 10/25/1991) was adopted. And in 2005, finally, the Law on the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation was adopted.

A good knowledge of the current legislation is the duty of lawyers. But knowledge of the Law on the state language of the Russian Federation is no less important than knowledge of the Constitution. What does this law guarantee?

The fact that the procedure for approving the norms of the modern Russian literary language, as well as the rules of spelling and punctuation, is determined by the Government of Russia (P. 3, Art. 1). This means that changing norms and rules is a matter of state importance, and not of personal or corporate arbitrariness.

The state language of the Russian Federation is subject to mandatory use in the activities of authorities at various levels, in the preparation of elections and referendums, in legal proceedings, in the publication of regulatory legal acts, in writing the names of geographical objects in the preparation of documents proving the identity of a citizen of the Russian Federation, in the activities of all-Russian organizations, television and radio broadcasting , as well as in other areas defined by federal laws, including advertising! There is, after all, the Federal Law “On Advertising” (No. 38-FZ of March 13, 2006), which does not allow breaking and distorting the Russian language for the sake of scathing advertising.

Article 4 of the Federal Law "On the state language of the Russian Federation" is entirely devoted to "protection and support of the state language of the Russian Federation."

By protecting the Russian language, we are protecting our national history and culture, we are protecting not only the past, but also the future of Russia. After the adoption of the Federal Law "On the State Language of the Russian Federation" (2005), soon (29.12.2005) the Federal Target Program "Russian Language (2006-2010)" was adopted. And as part of the implementation of this program, the year 2007 has been declared the Year of the Russian Language. This means that numerous holidays, competitions, competitions and festivals will be held throughout Russia and even abroad, promoting the Russian language, literature and culture.

The fact that the Russian language is very important for the preservation of the native culture and for the preservation of Russia itself is evidenced by the Message of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin to the Federal Assembly, delivered on May 26, 2007.

In the introductory part of the Address, the President of the Russian Federation noted that “the spiritual unity of the people and the moral values ​​that unite us are as important a development factor as political and economic stability. I am convinced that a society is only capable of setting and solving large-scale national tasks when it has a system of moral guidelines. When the country keeps respect for the native language, for original cultural values, for the memory of their ancestors, for every page of our national history.

Concern about the loss of spiritual and moral Russian traditions was also heard in the middle of the Message. At the same time, the President quoted Academician D.S. Likhachev: “State sovereignty is determined, among other things, by cultural criteria.”

“This year, declared the Year of the Russian Language,” the President said, “there is reason to remember once again that Russian is the language of the historical brotherhood of peoples, the language of truly international communication. It is not just the guardian of a whole layer of truly world achievements, but also a living space of the multi-million “Russian world”, which, of course, is much wider than Russia itself. Therefore, as a common heritage of many peoples, the Russian language will never become the language of hatred or enmity, xenophobia or isolationism.”

Here the President supported the initiative of Russian linguists to create the National Fund of the Russian Language. The head of state called concern for language and culture the most important social and political issue.

Concluding his Address to the Federal Assembly, V.V. Putin again stressed how important it is to preserve the cultural and historical heritage and spiritual and moral traditions: “solving the tasks we face and using all the most modern, all the newest, generating this novelty At the same time, we must and will rely on the basic moral values ​​developed by the people of Russia over its more than a thousand-year history. Only in this case we will be able to correctly determine the guidelines for the development of the country. Only then will we be successful.”

There is no doubt that the great, beautiful and powerful Russian language is one of the basic spiritual and moral values ​​of Russia. Protecting the Russian language from vulgarity, from inertia, from profanity, as well as sacredly preserving the Russian literary heritage, we will be able to preserve and increase our cultural and historical heritage as a whole.

Every year on May 24, Russia celebrates a special holiday - the Day of Slavic Literature and Culture. This holiday acquired a state character in 1991, and as a day of Slavic Orthodox enlightenment, this holiday has a longer history. The Day of Slavic Literature and Culture is a great occasion to turn over the pages of our native history again and remember the beginning of writing among the Slavs. This holiday, consecrated by the names of the holy brothers Constantine-Cyril and Methodius, provides an excellent opportunity to pay attention to the purity of the Russian language, to the culture of our speech, so that not only the Constitution and the Federal Law "On the State Language of the Russian Federation", but also we ourselves defended the Russian language .

Boris Pivovarov

About the state language of the Russian Federation

What is the state Russian language - two aspects of one concept

The modern Russian literary language is one of the most universal languages ​​in the world. With its help, absolutely any thought and concept can be expressed in several ways and fixed in the mind of the listener with varying degrees of accuracy and detail. In grammars and reference books, the structure and lexical composition of the Russian language are described to the extent of completeness that corresponds to the current level of linguistic knowledge.

The Russian language has a developed conceptual and semantic structure, the presence of a comprehensive corpus of original texts in all functional varieties and social functions. This makes it possible for the Russian language to function as one of the world languages. Ideas about the Russian language as the state language of the Russian Federation require a special interpretation, since they can be interpreted in two equal and complementary aspects.

Firstly, the Russian language, understood as an integral sign-communicative system, in the status of the state language is legally distinguished from the languages ​​of other indigenous peoples of Russia. Understanding the special role of the Russian language in the life of our country corresponds to the first paragraph of Article 1 of the Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” (No. 53-FZ of June 1, 2005), which states that “in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the state language Russian Federation throughout its territory is the Russian language. The Russian language is recognized as a language common in all regions of Russia and uniting the entire territory of our multilingual country. This is the most universal language of Russia - all the most important knowledge about the world and society is expressed and recorded in a vast corpus of texts (original and translated) in it.

Secondly, the state status of the language, understood as a practical, social function, highlights that part of the Russian literary language that is used by state authorities and administration as not only the language of laws and regulations, but, no less important, as the language of official communication. . Such an understanding of the state status of the Russian language corresponds to the content of Article 3 of the Federal Law on Language, which describes its functional properties. So, in paragraph 1 of this article it is said that the state language of the Russian Federation is subject to mandatory use "in the activities of federal state authorities, state authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, other state bodies, local governments, organizations of all forms of ownership, including in the activities of on record keeping”, and paragraph 4 obliges the use of the Russian language “in constitutional, civil, criminal, administrative proceedings, proceedings in arbitration courts, proceedings in federal courts, proceedings and office work with justices of the peace and in other courts of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation”, etc. P.

Functions of the state language

The range of theoretical issues discussed in connection with the problems of the functioning of the Russian language as a state language is usually exhausted by direct consequences from the statement that the grammatical and lexical repertoire of language tools used to solve state problems and realize state interests should be understandable to any competent native speaker of the Russian language. and, therefore, must comply with the norms of the general literary language. Such an interpretation of the state status does not require a special description of the norms, procedures and rules for using the language in this capacity, because. the normative-stylistic characteristics of language means are elaborated in detail in dictionaries and grammars of the Russian language. However, the idea of ​​the mandatory normative nature of the use of linguistic means used in the socio-political, national-cultural, official business, legal spheres of speech activity cannot be limited only to the general requirements for observing orthoepic, spelling, punctuation or stylistic norms of the language. Distinctive properties of linguistic means functioning in thematically, compositionally and stylistically stable types of text, united by the official business style of speech, are the features of the communicative tasks implemented with their help, and the specificity of the pragmatic orientation of rhetorical constructions.

To describe the functions of the state language in this sense means to give a functional description of the language means of the state language. This means the need to describe the rules and norms of the linguistic interpretation of the text as a structural and conceptual whole, connecting the authorities and the people, society and a separate social group, enterprise owners and employees, officials and civil society through communicative and pragmatic relations. Without a detailed description of the functions of linguistic means used in the state language, legally significant situations of informational or documentary disputes will continue to arise, when normative, regular interpretations of the text turn out to be officially indistinguishable from arbitrary interpretations that generate random semantic results.

Genre features of speech activity in the areas of use

state language of the Russian Federation

The functional properties of the state Russian language are fully manifested in texts designed in an official business style. This style of the literary language is formed in those areas of speech activity in which it is preferable to use a predetermined set of language tools, standard ways of deploying thoughts about a certain range of topics of discussion. In the official business style, a single speech etiquette is maintained and the obligatory adherence to such rhetorical patterns of speech construction that are best able to provide semantic clarity, intelligibility, and neutrality of the act of communication. For this reason, colloquially reduced, dialectal words and expressions are excluded from official texts, metaphorical meanings are not used.

The official business style is traditionally implemented in the texts of diplomatic, legal documents, instructions, orders and other official papers from the modern workflow. This style is gradually spreading to the sphere of business communication itself - trainings, negotiations, presentations, etc. The rapid growth in the volume of speech activity in this genre leads to the need to develop modern norms and rules that contribute to the development and improvement of this style of literary language.

The content of official business style documents is subject to such requirements that are designed to eliminate all kinds of ambiguities and discrepancies. Speech, built according to the patterns and rules of the official business style, is the result of a consistent assembly of the meanings of words and phrases into statements that are devoid of individuality, but have a predictable, uniformly extractable meaning. As a result, the distinguishing features of the texts of this genre are clarity, accuracy, specificity, clarity of wording, as well as laconic presentation and special forms of material arrangement. Sometimes the virtues of style turn into its disadvantages. For example, the rule that allows the sequential subordination of the same type of forms in the determinative meaning of the genitive case has no formal restrictions, therefore it allows you to create constructions like: "Department for working with citizens' appeals and organizing the reception of the population of the Department of Administration of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation". And the rules that allow the construction of abbreviations from the names of enterprises allow the formation of names like: the company "Volgovyatelektromashsnabsbyt". Given the rules that apply in other language styles, such names seem impossible. However, for a business style, this name, although it can be assessed as somewhat long, is quite understandable and has an important advantage - it is unique, and therefore easily recognizable. Moreover, it is quite convenient to use it in writing, because. it changes according to cases and numbers in a standard way (cf .: demand from Volgovyatelectromashsnabsbyt, transfer to Volgovyatelectromashsnabsbyt).

Tasks of examination of texts in the state language

Texts generated in the socio-political, legal, socio-economic spheres of human activity usually operate with information presented in the form of facts, therefore official business texts should be devoid of signs of an individual author's style and be understood unambiguously. To do this, they must be created according to a certain scheme, using words that have clear connections with the concepts that motivate them. All this inevitably gives rise to the need to develop practical language rules that ensure not only the unification of the data structure, but also allow you to significantly save time both when preparing texts and when reading them. The public need for rules intended for official business texts is realized through the development of special state standards.

The first such obligatory set of rules, adopted to eliminate inconsistency and inconsistency in the spelling of words, when they were transferred and the rules for highlighting syntactic units, were the “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation”, officially approved only in 1956. Since then, several standards have been adopted in the country that apply to official business texts (on information, librarianship and publishing). Today in the Russian Federation, many written, printed works and publications (laws and by-laws, administrative documents, educational, reference literature, abstracts, theses, essays, etc.) are prepared and executed according to certain well-established rules. Standards have been adopted or are being developed for the preparation of documents in the field of office work in various areas of professional activity (for example, GOST 7.32-2001, which determines the structure and rules for the preparation of reports on research work), many departments independently develop internal standards for conditional abbreviations, abbreviations, numerical designations of quantitative indicators, accounting documentation, etc.

At the same time, many official documents that are similar structurally and thematically are prepared without relying on exemplary texts, without taking into account the opinions of language experts. The time has come to move from formal unification to the development of language standards that would take into account the specifics of word order, the features of rhetorical constructions related to the communicative tasks of the text and its target orientation. However, this work cannot be carried out without the participation of specialists in the field of official business Russian. As studies show, the applied patterns and rules for the linear construction of speech, intended, it would seem, to ensure the most reliable communication, sometimes contradict each other. Convincing examples of this can be found even in the texts of federal laws. Usually, if there is a need for their additional interpretation, it is customary to rely on the results of grammatical and syntactic analysis of the text. The importance of the language formulation of the norm for its understanding and application has been repeatedly confirmed by practice. Verbal inaccuracy, the absence of a comma, the wrong case, the wrong kind of verb can significantly distort the meaning of a normative act, lead to the fact that the act will be understood and applied in a completely different way than the law-making body intended.

Of course, if the rules of spelling or punctuation are violated in the text, then the text must be understood as if this error did not exist. However, in some cases it can be difficult to decide whether this is an error or whether the text contains the meaning that follows when read literally. In this case, a study of a broader context is required, which can be carried out only after an examination of the text.

In turn, linguistic examination of the text can be carried out only if, firstly, there are authoritative reference books containing a detailed normative description of the entire arsenal of language tools used in all areas of speech activity of the modern Russian literary language, and, secondly, based on proven methods linguistic characteristics of the text, the use of which would give reasonable and evidence-based data about its content.

Such techniques should contribute to the fulfillment of the main task of the linguist, which is to select the available textual information according to the rules of linguistic analysis and characterize it. To do this, the source text must undergo expert processing - its content must be interpreted according to clear rules, reduced and converted into analytical and reference information containing linguistic knowledge about the text and knowledge about the real world reflected in the text.

State tasks of language building in Russia

The Russian language in the function of the state language needs to be purposefully strengthened and developed. After all, they acquired state status in legislative form only with the adoption of the Law of the Russian Federation of October 25, 1991 No. 1807-I “On the Languages ​​of the Peoples of the Russian Federation”. It was then that the official recognition of the Russian language as the state language took place. Later, the legislative norms approving the state status of the Russian language in the Russian Federation were enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 and in the Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” dated June 1, 2005 No. 53-FZ.

The adopted legislative norms make it possible to determine the procedure for the formation, development and regulation of the language means of the modern Russian literary language used in the state function. To do this, it is necessary to carry out research work to clarify the declarative norms and procedural rules for the use of that part of the language means that is used in the function of the state language, as well as to explore and describe the cognitive properties of the language apparatus, conduct a complete inventory and create a reliable description of the language tools used in this function.

A separate problem that requires special regulation is the problem of legal control, maintaining and strengthening the status of that part of the Russian literary language that is used as the state language of the Russian Federation. The Russian state, whose citizens speak one of the world's languages, should be interested in the development and improvement of those language tools that are used in speech activities that promote national humanitarian values. From this point of view, it can be argued that the state function of the Russian language is to consolidate and develop knowledge about the moral principles of public life in Russia, traditional moral values ​​and social norms. Any state should cultivate the speech reflection of society on issues related to the freedom of the individual, with the possibilities of the moral choice of the individual, with the development of the country's socio-cultural heritage; with the encouragement of a respectful attitude to the faith, language, traditions and customs of the ancestors; with a discussion of the problems of social justice, good, kindness, humanity, tolerance for a different point of view, respect for the rights of religious denominations, etc. Any language or speech restrictions in this area are fraught with stagnation of the national language, delays and lags in its development relative to other world languages.

In order to maintain national sovereignty in the field of international information exchange, the state must actively develop the practice of public speech activity in Russian. Until recently, the Russian language acted as a convenient and full-fledged channel of communication with foreign-language partners. However, now that information technology uses the Latin alphabet and English vocabulary, English is used as the working language of scientific conferences, international negotiations are often conducted on both sides without an English interpreter, and the prestige of other officially recognized world languages ​​is declining. Accordingly, the linguistic and cultural sovereignty of countries speaking other languages ​​is subject to significant restrictions.

The new "regional" status of the former world languages ​​has to be interpreted as a clear sign of the reduction of their cultural and scientific significance. In order to prevent further decline in the status and role of the Russian language in the world, it is necessary to actively develop and improve national language building. To do this, it is necessary to ensure that not only texts containing world achievements of scientific thought in humanitarian, socio-political, economic research, the best works of art, etc., are presented in Russian, but also that authors and readers texts had a clear idea of ​​the semantic-grammatical rules and norms of speech use of language means.

The state language of the Russian Federation is Russian. The Russian Federation is a multinational state, therefore the Constitution of the Russian Federation enshrines the right of the peoples of Russia on their territory to use and study in educational institutions, in addition to Russian, the national language, to draw up documents, in addition to the Russian language, and in the language of the corresponding people of Russia.

Such a right is fixed in the Law of the Russian Federation of October 25, 1991 No. 1807-I “On the Languages ​​of the Peoples of the Russian Federation”. The legal status of the state language in Russia, the scope of its use, protection and support are established by the Federal Law of June 1, 2005 No. 53-FZ “On the State Language of the Russian Federation”, but the adoption of this Law did not sufficiently relieve the gaps in the constitutional legislation of Russia.

Republics within the Russian Federation may establish their own official languages ​​in order to preserve their historical traditions. The Russian Federation protects the right of the peoples of the Russian Federation to use and preserve their languages, therefore the following are unacceptable in the Russian Federation:

  1. propaganda of hostility and disdain for any language;
  2. creation of obstacles, restrictions and privileges in the use of languages;
  3. other violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation concerning the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia.

There are a number of principles for preserving the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia in the Russian Federation:

  1. the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation are the national treasure of the Russian Federation;
  2. the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation are under the protection of the state;
  3. the state throughout the territory of the Russian Federation promotes the development of national languages, bilingualism and multilingualism.

The main constitutional principle of preserving the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia is their equality, i.e., all the peoples of the Russian Federation have the right to equally ensure the preservation and use of their native language. This principle ensures the equal rights of all peoples and their individual representatives to the preservation and comprehensive development of their native language, freedom of choice and use of the language of communication. The right to preserve the national language and its comprehensive development, the freedom to choose and use the language of communication belongs to all the peoples of the Russian Federation, regardless of the number and their individual representatives, regardless of origin, social and property status, race and nationality, gender, education, attitude to religion, place residence. The subjects of the Russian Federation have the right to adopt laws and other regulatory legal acts on the protection of the rights of citizens to freely choose the language of communication, education, training and creativity.

Guarantees for the protection of the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation:

1. The languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation enjoy the protection of the state, i.e. the legislative, executive and judicial authorities of the Russian Federation are called upon to guarantee and ensure the social, economic and legal protection of all languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation.

2. Social protection of languages ​​is ensured by the implementation of a scientifically based language policy aimed at preserving, developing and studying all the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation throughout Russia.

3. The economic protection of languages ​​includes targeted budgetary and other financial support for state and scientific programs for the preservation and development of the languages ​​of the peoples of the Russian Federation, as well as the implementation of a preferential tax policy for these purposes.

4. Legal protection of languages ​​is ensuring the responsibility of legal entities and individuals for violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia.

The Russian Federation guarantees citizens of the Russian Federation, regardless of knowledge of the national language, the exercise of basic political, economic, social and cultural rights, i.e., restrictions cannot be established on the territory of individual subjects depending on knowledge or ignorance of the language, and violation of the linguistic rights of peoples and individuals entails a liability under the law.

The only national state language of the Russian Federation is Russian. In total, according to the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, Russians speak more than 150 languages ​​belonging to approximately 14 language families.

Official languages ​​of Russia

Russia is a multinational country, therefore some subjects of the federation that are part of it, along with Russian, also approve their own languages ​​as official ones.

Adygea - Adyghe language
Republic of Altai - Altaic language
Bashkortostan - Bashkir language
Buryatia - Buryat language
Ingushetia - Ingush language
Karachay-Cherkessia - Abaza, Circassian, Karachay languages
Kabardino-Balkaria - in the Kabardian language
Kalmykia - Kalmyk language
Komi Republic - Komi language
Mari El - Mari language
Mordovia - Moksha, Erzya languages
North Ossetia - Ossetian language
Tatarstan - Tatar language
Tuva - Tuvan language
Udmurtia - Udmurt language
Khakassia - Khakass language
Chechnya - Chechen language
Chuvashia - Chuvash language
Yakutia - Yakut language

In the republics of Sakha, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, in addition to Russian, Yakut, Tatar, and Bashkir languages ​​are required to be studied in schools.

The mass media can work, and the documentation is kept in languages ​​other than Russian in places where peoples live compactly. So, in different regions of Yakutia, along with Russian and Yakut, Dolgan, Chukchi, Evenk, Even and Yukagir are officially used, in the Altai Republic - Kazakh, in Karelia - Veps, Karelian, Finnish, in the Perm Territory - Komi-Permyat, in Khanty-Mansky autonomous district - Khanty, Mansi and Nenets, in the Yamalo-Nenets autonomous districts - Khanty, Nenets and Selkup.

Unofficial languages ​​of Russia

There are in Russia, however, unofficially, and very rare languages: for example, less than 200 people speak Enets, about 100 people speak Ket and Kerek, and only a few dozen people speak Votic. Some of these languages ​​have never had their own written language, so most often they use Russian graphics, while Karelian and Veps use Latin. In the Soviet years, the languages ​​of small peoples disappeared because a purposeful policy of Russification was carried out. After the collapse of the USSR, they are trying to revive these languages, but in Russia today, according to UNESCO, there are 136 endangered languages, and 20 of them have already been declared dead.

Also, quite a lot of people live on the territory of the modern Russian Federation, for whom the languages ​​of foreign states that were part of the Soviet Union a couple of decades ago are native. The most common of these languages ​​are Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Armenian and Azerbaijani.

Dialects in Russia

Among Russian speakers living in different regions of central Russia, several groups of dialects can be distinguished. Usually scientists talk about the northern and southern dialects and Central Russian dialects. Despite the fact that the differences between dialects concern all levels of the language from phonetics to syntax, they do not prevent speakers of different dialects from understanding each other.

Knowledge of foreign languages ​​in Russia

Unfortunately, most Russians do not speak foreign languages ​​well. According to various opinion polls, only about 14-18 percent of the country's population can speak freely with foreign guests. The most common foreign language is English (approximately 4/5 speak it), followed by German. Languages ​​are best known by young people up to about 35 years old, living in the central regions of Russia. In distant provincial cities, foreigners have a hard time - there you can’t find a single person who understands foreign dialects at all.

Dictionaries give roughly the following definition: language is a system of signs that serves as a means of communication between people, the result of thinking and expression. With the help of it, we carry out knowledge of the world, form a personality. Language transmits information, controls human behavior, and in the state it serves to ensure that people - officials and ordinary citizens - understand each other as much as possible.

State language of Russia

Now about the state language. This concept is more profound, since each country, each state has its own national characteristics. But the fundamental principles are the same. So, let's consider directly the state language of Russia, what it is. According to the Constitution of the country, this is the language that is used in legislation, office work, legal proceedings and other areas of social and public life. It is the language in which the government communicates with its citizens. It publishes laws, publishes official documents, and conducts official government correspondence. The state language of Russia is used by the media (mainly, but not to the detriment of the national ones), it is the language of instruction in schools, universities and other educational institutions. The Constitution of the country (Article 68) establishes that the state language of the Russian Federation throughout its vast territory is Russian.

National languages

But this does not mean at all that others, such as Ukrainian, Tatar, Kalmyk, are somehow worse. This does not mean that all Russian citizens, without exception, should only speak Russian among themselves. But nevertheless, in any corner of Russia, all government officials - judges, policemen, mayors, governors - must know the Russian language. So, to the question of how many official languages ​​there are in Russia, there is only one answer: Russian!

Other features

Along with this, the republics, autonomies (districts and regions) that are part of the Russian Federation also have the right to introduce for widespread use on their territory those languages ​​with which the local population communicates. So, according to the latest data, along with Russian, 49 languages ​​have official status! In other countries (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Abkhazia, the Transnistrian Republic), Russian is also used as an official language.

Simple example

The state language of Russia is Russian. And if, for example, a Yakut reindeer herder arrives at a resort in Ossetia, then he has no problems with registration in a hotel or, if necessary, with the purchase of medicines in a pharmacy. A pretty young Ossetian pharmacist smiles understandingly and fulfills the order. And the reindeer herder hero has nothing to worry about. He knows that on the packaging of tablets or powder, instructions for use are written, including in Russian, a language he understands. Since the state language in his great power is Russian, then there are no problems with reading such texts.

Who owns the language?

Thus, we can conclude: the state, declaring that the state language of Russia is Russian, defining it as its official language, undertakes to always understand the one who refers to it. The president, as the head of the Russian Federation, makes sure that his obligation is strictly fulfilled. The question naturally arises: “Who owns this very Russian language - the Yakuts, Karelians, in our time, when Russia has united many peoples into one state with their historical language, the language of their ancestors, this particular one has become the property of all peoples who now live under its flag. It would be grandiloquent to say that the Russian Federation as a state is proud of each of the languages ​​\u200b\u200bavailable in its multinational list, but there is no doubt that preserving them is a task of particular importance. It is natural and natural that all peoples living in Russia have such opportunity - to communicate in one (Russian) language and at the same time freely, without restrictions of the existing authorities, speak the language of their ancestors in everyday life.

According to the results of the last census of the population of Russia, it turned out that representatives of 160 nationalities live in the Russian Federation today. Of course, each of them has its own, special and different language. It is difficult to imagine how representatives of different nationalities would understand each other if a Russian did not come to their aid.

Conscious need

It goes without saying that any citizen who wants to become a public figure will not do without knowledge of the Russian language. And the state, in turn, provides its subjects with such an opportunity. If a citizen is not going to enter the service of the state, this does not mean that the Russian language will not be useful to him in everyday life. After all, this is not only an opportunity to convey your voice, your opinion from any corner of a vast country. It is also rich cultural traditions: songs, poems, books. And it would be reckless not to hear and not to know all this.