French and Russian in Imperial Russia: Language Use Among the Russian Elite

ISBN-13: 9780748695515 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 288 str.

Derek Ryazano Offord; Lara Ryazanova-Clarke; Vladislav Rjeoutski

Opis

This is the first of two companion volumes which examine language use and language attitudes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia, focusing on the transitional period from the Enlightenment to the age of Pushkin. Set against the background of the rapid transformation of Russia into a major European power, the two volumes of French and Russian in Imperial Russia consider the functions of multilingualism and the use of French as a prestige language among the elite, as well as the benefits of Franco-Russian bilingualism and the anxieties to which it gave rise.
This first volume provides insight into the development of the practice of speaking and writing French at the Russian court and among the Russian nobility from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. It examines linguistic practice, the use of French in Russia in various spheres, domains and genres, as well as the interplay between the two languages. Including examples of French lexical influence on Russian, this volume takes a sociolinguistic interest in language choice, code-switching and the degree to which the language community being observed was bilingual or diglossic.
A comprehensive and original contribution to the multidisciplinary study of language, the two volumes address, from a historical viewpoint, subjects of relevance to sociolinguists (especially bilingualism and multilingualism), social and cultural historians (social and national identity, linguistic and cultural borrowing), Slavists (the relationship of Russian and western culture) and students of the European Enlightenment, Neo-Classicism, Romanticism and cultural nationalism.

Spis treści

Contents; Foreword; Note on dates, transliteration and other editorial practices; Abbreviations; Dates of reigns; INTRODUCTION, Derek Offord, Gesine Argent, Vladislav Rjéoutski and Lara Ryazanova-Clarke; 1: FRENCH AND RUSSIAN IN CATHERINE’S RUSSIA, Derek Offord, Vladislav Rjéoutski and Gesine Argent; 2: THE USE OF FRENCH BY CATHERINE II IN HER LETTERS TO FRIEDRICH MELCHIOR GRIMM (1774–96),Georges Dulac; 3: LANGUAGE USE AMONG THE RUSSIAN ARISTOCRACY: THE CASE OF THE COUNTS STROGANOV, Vladislav Rjéoutski and Vladimir Somov; 4: THE FRANCOPHONE PRESS IN RUSSIA: A CULTURAL BRIDGE AND AN INSTRUMENT OF PROPAGANDA, Vladislav Rjéoutski and Natalia Speranskaya; 5: RUSSIAN NOBLEWOMEN’S FRANCOPHONE TRAVEL NARRATIVES (1777–1848): THE LIMITS OF THE USE OF FRENCH, Emilie Murphy; 6: RUSSIAN OR FRENCH? BILINGUALISM IN ALEKSANDR RADISHCHEV’S LETTERS FROM EXILE (1790–1800), Rodolphe Baudin; 7: CODE-SWITCHING IN THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE VORONTSOV FAMILY, Jessica Tipton; 8: FRENCH AND RUSSIAN IN THE PERSONAL DOCUMENTS OF NIKOLAI KARAMZIN, Liubov Sapchenko; 9: PUSHKIN’S LETTERS IN FRENCH, Nina Dmitrieva; 10: INSTRUCTION IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COQUETRY: LEARNING ABOUT FASHION AND SPEAKING ITS LANGUAGE, Xénia Borderioux; 11: THE ROLE OF FRENCH IN THE FORMATION OF ARCHITECTURAL TERMINOLOGY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY RUSSIA, Iuliia and Sergei Klimenko; 12: THE COEXISTENCE OF FRENCH AND RUSSIAN IN RUSSIA IN THE FIRST THIRD OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: BILINGUALISM WITH OR WITHOUT DIGLOSSIA?, Nina Dmitrieva and Gesine Argent; CONCLUSION, Gesine Argent and Vladislav Rjéoutski; Notes on contributors; Index