The Development and Structure of Writing in the Slavic Languages

Abstract

The popular view o~ language assumes that the origins of alphabets and of writing systems are connected. The development of the writing systems is subsequent to the time when the alphabet was devised and adapted to the needs of an existing dialect. There are some similarities between the manner in which the alphabets reflect and relate to speech and the manner in which the writing system of a language relates to the spoken original. The alphabets, as the exist today, can be phonetic, phonemic, or morphophonemic; and some are none of these. Some Slavic alphabets approach the desired goal of being phonemic or almost so. Russian and Czech are good examples. The attempt is to have one letter corresponding to one phoneme. The English spelling system and its alphabet are not phonemic by that principle but reflect in many cases the etymology of the word, and in a very faithful manner preserve the spelling system of Old and Middle English. One of the most significant factors influencing the development of a literary language and the structure of its writing is the presence or absence of diglossia at one point in history and, if present, the degree of diglossia. By diglossia linguists mean the spoken use of two different languages for different functions (Ferguson 1958). Thus one language can be used for everyday functions such as communicating with one's family. while another language may be used for communi­ cating with groups in the process of administrative, official or religious transactions. The alternate use of two different codes for different functions could be, and has been, extended to involve a variety of codes. It may involve the use of different dialects. or it may involve the use of different languages from the same linguistic family or from different families. The latter often obtains when one code is used for writing purposes only. Diglossia differs from bilingualism in that a bilingual speaker or language user has at his disposal two languages for all functions while in diglossia each language is used for specific functions only. In the history of the development of languages, the bilingualism of speakers played a role in being instrumental in various borrowings of lexical or grammatical constructions; while, in my opinion, diglossia influenced the formations of various styles such as written styles. This understanding comes from the extended meaning of diglossia which may be inferred from the original definition. Therefore, it seems that if there is one single factor that is the most significant in the formation of a literary language and thus of its writing system, it is the presence or absence of diglossia as understood above. Some languages such as English have gone through short periods of time when another language was used in diglossia with the native language. Originally, Anglo-Saxon was the nationality of those who spoke Old English prior to the twelfth century. In 1066 when the Normans conquered England, there was a surge of French influence on Old English which is still evident in the lexicon. However, the original influence of French on Old English was never long lived and it was the interaction between varieties of English that played an important role in formation of literary English. The extent of diglossia has differed from language to language in the Slavic area. It is postulated here that the diglossia between the native Slavic vernacular and another Slavic language had the most profound effect on the formation of Slavic literary languages, while bilingualism or diglossia with a non-Slavic language resulted in long-term borrowings. The