New and Traditional Values in Contemporary Russian: Natural Semantic Metalanguage in Cross-cultural Semantics

Abstract

Almost a century ago a prominent Russian philosopher Nikolaj Berdjaev reflecting on the future of Russia wrote about the need of transformation of the Russian character. Suggesting a way of doing it, he said the following: "We should adopt some Western virtues and remain Russian at the same time" (Berdjaev 2000, 270). These words of Berdjaev proved to be prophetic. In the contemporary Russian language the process of borrowing of new words and use of previously borrowed words has significantly intensified since the 1980-90s (Krysin 2002, Ryazanova-Clarke and Wade 1999). The majority of the recently acquired words denote new artifacts and realia which are becoming attributes of the changing life style influenced by Western standards (e.g. 'press-reliz' "press-release", 'butik' "boutique", 'brifing' "briefing", etc.). Among the new words there is also a small number of value terms which have entered the Russian lexicon. The adaptation of these words can be regarded as a sign of change in the value system and the ways of thinking.