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Odesan Russian (Russian: Одесский язык, romanized: Odessky yazyk, lit. 'Odesan language') is a regional dialect of the Russian language spoken in and around the city of Odesa, Ukraine. Influenced heavily by Yiddish, Bulgarian, Turkic and Ukrainian, the Odesan dialect has been variously described by linguists as a Koiné language, a Jewish language, or a mixed language.[1] It is a staple of Odesan culture, appearing in the works of Isaac Babel and Mark Bernes, and is also a source of parts of the fenya criminal jargon.
| Odesan Russian | |
|---|---|
| Region | Odesa |
| Ethnicity | Various |
Early forms | |
| Cyrillic script (Russian alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| IETF | ru-u-sd-ua51 |
Odesan Russian emerged amidst the Russification of Odesa during the early 19th century, replacing the previously dominant influence of French and Italian languages.[2] Other important languages in the early development of Odesan Russian were Greek and the Turkic languages. Less distant languages, however, became the primary sources for the Odesan dialect; Ukrainian and Yiddish served as the primary non-Russian influences on the Odesan dialect, with Polish as a less important, but still notable influence.[3]
Since World War II
With the advent of World War II, Odesa's Jewish population was largely killed in the Holocaust. Further declines were brought on as a result of the 1970s Soviet Union aliyah and migration to Odesa from other parts of Ukraine, and today Odesan Russian as it was historically spoken remains most common in the Brighton Beach neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It may also be spoken in Israel.[4] Modern Odesan Russian, while retaining aspects from historical speech, has largely evolved in a different form. The differences have been vast enough for various Odesites and linguists to declare that the dialect is extinct in Ukraine.[5] Other Odesite authors, however, have disagreed with this claim.[6]
Odesan Russian is influenced partially by Southern Russian dialects, which use Akanye extensively. Another part of the Odesan dialect owing to the influence of Southern Russian is the usage of a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/, rather than the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ found in standard Russian.[7]
An important part of the Odesan dialect is the importance of intonation in determining the meaning of a word.[1] For example, the phrase таки да (taki da) can either be used to mean yes or no depending on the intonation used.[6] Gestures are also uniquely significant in the Odesan dialect, being used to emphasise a point or show direction.[1][8][9]
The vocabulary of Odesan Russian includes significant differences from other forms of Russian, owing to the influence of Ukrainian and Yiddish, among other languages. Some notable vocabulary changes in Odesan Russian include:
- Як (yak, from Ukrainian), rather than standard Russian как (kak, transl. like, as).
- Бо (bo, from Ukrainian), rather than standard Russian потому что (potomu chto, transl. because).[10]
- Каюк (kayuk, from Turkish), rather than standard Russian конец (konets, transl. finish).[11]
Other terms or phrases are completely unique to Odesan Russian:
- Азохен вей (azokhen vey, from Yiddish), most often used as an expression of discontent.
- Шлемазль (shlemazl, from Hebrew via Yiddish), a clumsy individual.[12]
- Босявка (bosyavka), a derogatory way of referring to a person; translated as "deadbeat" by Michael Katz.[13]
- Мадам (madam) and месье (monsieur), terms of address borrowed from French.[14]
- Таки да (taki da), meaning yes or no depending on intonation.[6]
Another aspect of Odesan Russian is its differing and relatively liberal grammar rules compared to standard Russian. For example, the term за (za) is used as a preposition similar to "about" (as in "tell me about yourself") in the dialect, rather than the standard Russian о (o). This, along with the usage of с (s) in lieu of над (nad) in the meaning of "at", as in "I am laughing at you", is credited to Ukrainian influence by linguist Robert A. Rothstein. The dialect is notable for the frequent misuse of grammatical cases, owing in part to the relative simplicity of grammatical cases in Yiddish compared to Russian.[15]
The Odesan dialect has come to be seen as a symbol of Odesa in popular culture, reaching its literary peak in the early 20th century. Authors such as Isaac Babel popularised the dialect, as well as Odesa as a whole, throughout the Russian-speaking world with works like Odessa Stories (1931),[16][17] and the dialect later became known for its position in Soviet music, with singers including Mark Bernes.[18]
The Odesan dialect has also established its presence in Russian criminal jargon, or fenya. Certain terms, such as Поймать халтуру (Poymat khalturu, meaning to rob the house of a deceased individual or to find additional income in non-criminal slang) have entered public lexicon,[19] while others, like ксива (ksiva, or "documents"), have entered into non-Odesan fenya.[12]
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