In everyday life, we all often have toto hear words and expressions, the use of which is completely unacceptable from the point of view of public morality and is intended both to insult the addressee and to express negative assessments of people and phenomena. This is the so-called non-normative Russian vocabulary, or, more simply, a mate, which is one of the unsightly, but unfortunately, hard-to-eliminate aspects of our “great and powerful” language.
A long tradition of banning obscene language
Familiar to all of us from childhood profanityin linguists is called obscene. This term is derived from the English obscene, which means "shameless", "obscene" or "dirty." The very same English word goes back to the Latin obscenus, which has the same meaning.
According to many researchers,the taboo ban on the use in the presence of women of various expressions related to the sexual sphere, has developed in the pagan era among the ancient Slavs - the ethnic ancestors of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Subsequently, with the advent of Christianity, the ban on the use of profanity was universally supported by the Orthodox Church, which suggests a long historical tradition of this taboo.
The attitude of society to the use of mat
In connection with this, the results are of interest.a sociological survey conducted in 2004, the purpose of which was to reveal the attitude of Russians towards the use of obscene expressions by show business stars. It is quite characteristic that the overwhelming majority of the respondents, almost 80%, expressed their negative attitude to such a phenomenon, saying that in their speeches profanity is a manifestation of lack of culture and licentiousness.
Despite the fact that in speaking these expressionsare widespread among all segments of the population, in Russia there has always been a taboo on their use in print. Unfortunately, it significantly weakened in the post-perestroika period due to the weakening of state control over the printing sphere, as well as due to a number of side effects that resulted from the democratization of society. In addition, the lifting of the ban on the coverage of many topics not previously covered by print media has led to an expansion of the vocabulary. As a result, mate and jargon have become not only fashionable, but also effective means of PR.
Abusive and humiliating scolding
We have to admit that among adolescentsthe ability to speak foul language is considered a sign of growing up, and for them profanity is a kind of demonstration of belonging to "one's" and disregard for generally accepted prohibitions. Of course, having replenished their vocabulary with such expressions, adolescents seek to use them, often using fences, toilet walls and school desks for this purpose, and in recent years the Internet.
Considering the problem of using non-standardvocabulary in society, it should be noted that, despite all the freedom of expression established in recent years, responsibility for the use of obscene expressions from writing or speaking cannot be removed.
Of course, you can hardly ban profanity.a person for whom, by virtue of his education and intellect, is the only accessible form of self-expression. However, it should be borne in mind that scolding in a public place offends those for whom tabooing on the mat - due to their moral or religious considerations - has not expired.
The main motives of the use of profanity
In modern language, mat is most often used.as an element of speech aggression, which aims to curse and insult a specific addressee. In addition, people of low culture use it in the following cases: to make their expressions more emotional, as a way of relieving psychological stress, as interjections and to fill speech pauses.
History of profanity
Вопреки бытующему в народе представлению о том, that obscene expressions fell into Russian from the Tatar during the Tatar-Mongol yoke, serious researchers are very skeptical of this hypothesis. According to most of them, the words in this category have Slavic and Indo-European roots.
In the pagan period of the history of ancient Russia, theywere used as one of the elements of sacred plots. For our ancestors, profanity is nothing but an appeal to magical power, which, in their view, consisted in the genitals. This is evidenced by some of the surviving centuries echoes of the oldest pagan spells.
But since the establishment of Christianity, the churchauthorities consistently struggle with this speech phenomenon. To this day, many circulars and decrees of Orthodox hierarchs aimed at eradicating the mat have survived. When in the 17th century a strict distinction was made between the spoken language and the literary language, the status of a collection of “obscene expressions” finally settled on the mat.
Obscene language in historical documents
About how rich was the Russian dictionaryprofanity at the turn of the XV-XVI century, according to studies of the famous linguist V. D. Nazarov. According to his calculations, even an incomplete collection of written monuments of that time contains sixty-seven words, derived from the most common obscene roots. Even in more ancient sources, the birch bark letters of Novgorod and Staraya Russa, there are often expressions of this kind in both ritual and joking forms.
Math in the perception of foreigners
By the way, the first profanity dictionary wascompiled at the beginning of the seventeenth century by the Englishman Richard James. In it, this inquisitive foreigner explained to his compatriots the specific meaning of some words and expressions that were hard to translate into English, which we today call obscene.
About their very wide use alsoThe German scientist, Master of Philosophy of the University of Leipzig, Adam Olearius, who visited Russia at the end of the same century, testifies in his travel notes. The German translators who accompanied him often found themselves in a difficult situation, trying to find the meaning of using well-known concepts in the most unusual context.
Official ban on obscene language
The ban on the use of profanity inRussia appeared relatively late. For example, it is often found in documents of the Peter epoch. However, by the end of the 17th century, its tabooing took the form of a law. It is characteristic that the poems of the famous poet Ivan Barkov in those years, who used obscene vocabulary extensively, were not printed, but were distributed solely on lists. In the next century, immodest expressions were included only in the unofficial part of the work of poets and writers who included them in their epigrams and comic poems.
Attempts to remove the taboo from the mat
First attempts to legalize obscene languageobserved in the twenties of the last century. They were not massive. Interest in the mat was not self-sufficient, just some writers believed that profanity is one of the ways to speak freely about issues of the sexual sphere. As for the Soviet period, the ban on the use of swearing was strictly observed throughout its length, although it was widely used in everyday colloquial speech.
In the nineties, with the onset of perestroika,censorship restrictions were lifted, which allowed profanity to easily penetrate into the literature. It is used mainly for the purpose of conveying the spoken language of the characters. Many authors believe that if these expressions are used in everyday life, then there is no reason to neglect them in your work.
Attempts to eradicate evil
Nowadays, the fight against profanitylimited to fines for using it in public places and explaining to Roskomnadzor about the inadmissibility of using four main words in the media and all expressions derived from them. According to the existing legislation, in case of violation of this resolution, a corresponding warning is sent to the guilty, and in case of a repeated violation, Roskomnadzor has the right to deprive them of their license.
However, many private publishers neglectbans. In recent years, the dictionary of profanity has even been repeatedly published and republished, which hardly gives hope for its possible eradication. The only way to fight the curse may be a general increase in the culture of Russians.
