Why do you need a solid sign in Russian and is it possible to refuse it

What is the problem

Let's take the word that is widespread today: abuse or abuse - which is correct? If you focus on reference books, then you need "b" here. It is spelledRussian spelling and punctuation rules. Complete Academic Reference / Ed. V. V. Lopatina before the letters "e", "ё", "yu", "I" in words of a foreign language origin with initial parts, which are prefixes in the source language, but are included in the root in Russian. it ab-, dis-, con-, about-, sub- and some others. For example: abjuration Public denial of faith, convictions. , adjutant, disjunction, injection, conjunctivitis, objectT, subject.

The word "abuz" comes from the English abuse ("offend, abuse"), which goes back toCollins English Dictionary to the Latin ab ("from, from") and uti ("to use, to use"). That is, in Russian it would be natural to write with a "b". However, on the Web, the majority writes with "b".

At the beginning of 2021, Zemfira's album was released, where a hard sign was used in the title of one of the songs - "Abyuz". Linguist

Maxim Krongauz very interestingly commented on this fact on his Facebook page.

Revision of the rules in the language is not uncommon. It happens that massive non-compliance with the norm leads to its updating and gives rise to exceptions. This, for example, happened with the minimarket. Usually mini- is written with a hyphen. However, relatively recently, the spelling dictionary legalizedSpelling academic resource "ACADEMOS" of the Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences solid spelling "minimarket" and classified it as an exception.

We do not yet know in what form the word "abyuz" will appear in the dictionary - with a hard or soft sign, whether the rule or the will of the majority of writers will win. However, the most interesting question is not limited to this case: how clear and convenient are the rules for using "b" in general?

In new words, native speakers are not very much guided by reference books, but in old ones, many are mistaken - conjunctivitis, injection, conjuncture and others often write with "b". Apparently, the current rule cannot be called simple and convenient.

When the hard sign is still used

Most often, it separates the prefix and the root, or separates the first part of the word from the second so that subsequent vowel sounds are pronounced correctly.

A solid sign is written before "e", "e", "u", "i":

• After Russian prefixes - supernatural, lift, non-nuclear, pre-jubilee, interlingual.
• After prefixes of foreign language origin - counter tier, post-nuclear, post-jubilee, superyacht.
• After the initial parts two-, three-, four- in compound words - double anchor, tri-core, four-tiered.
• In words pan-European, courier.

Separately, we note that in compound-abbreviated words after the initial parts, the dividing solid sign is traditionally not writtenRussian spelling and punctuation rules. Complete Academic Reference / Ed. V. V. Lopatina. That is, when a word is formed from a phrase, "b" is not needed: state language, children, special, inyaz, Ministry of Justice. And, as we can see, in some cases the absence of "ъ" does not prevent us from pronouncing everything correctly.

In addition, the hard sign is used when transferring foreign language proper names and words derived from them: Kizilyurt (city in Dagestan), Toryal (village in the Republic of Mari El), Guo Hengyu (Chinese name), Juvyasjärvi (lake in Finland). In this case, the separating "ъ" is also possible before the letter "and", for example Junichiro (Japanese name).

Can we give up the hard sign

Throughout the twentieth century, linguists periodically proposed to abolish the dividing solid sign. In 1964, an active public discussion unfolded.E. V. Arutyunov. 1964 Spelling Improvement Proposals and their discussion in the press / Bulletin of the RSUH. Series “History. Philology. Culturology. Oriental studies " on the draft spelling reform, according to which, among other things, it was planned to abandon the dividing "b".

Of course, the more daring proposals caused the excitement: hare, jury and cucumbers impressed non-linguists much more than the abolition of the hard sign. Scientists tried to explain the consistency of the proposals, provided scientific justification. However, the public considered that the changes would entail "spoilage" of the language, and the project was rejected.

At the same time, spelling is just a tool for fixing words on paper or screen. Language is phonetics, morphology, syntax. Writing is secondary, initially the language existed only in oral form. Spelling and punctuation are important. They help to organize the writing and serve for ease of understanding, but are not essentially the language itself. We do not equate the blue line representing the river on the map with a real river somewhere in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. If we start using the green line instead of the blue, the water in the Yenisei will not change. However, for many, changing spelling rules is an encroachment on the language.

Naturally, the problem is not only that it is difficult for non-specialists to get to the heart of the matter, but also that the literature will have to be republished and retrained. It is very difficult and expensive. Someone thinks that the ultimate goal is worth the resources spent during the transition period, others - that it is not. So far, there have been more supporters of the second point of view. However, possible changes were periodically discussed after 1964.

Modern linguists also speak out about small changes in spelling rules, but the public still does not accept them. Although some adjustments are made constantly: they correct the spelling of some words (the same minimarket, half-faceSpelling academic resource "ACADEMOS" of the Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences instead of polly, playlistSpelling academic resource "ACADEMOS" of the Institute of the Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences instead of a playlist), clarify some rules (use of the letter "e", continuous and hyphenated spelling of words). It’s just that most people don’t even notice it.

Now is underway work on an updated set of rules, which will be adopted as an official document. At the moment, the norms of the Russian language as a state language are determined by the document of 1956 - of course, it would be time to update it, because a lot has changed.

However, no radical reforms are planned, we will not see significant changes. And today no one encroaches on a solid sign, everything will remain the same. But who knows, suddenly, in a few years, linguists will propose to revise the rules for using "b", and the public will support them.