Culinary Russianisms in Guides to Russia
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Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 1 (2015 8) 114-120 ~ ~ ~ УДК 801.313 Culinary Russianisms in Guides to Russia Ksenia A. Egorova* Pskov State University 2 Lenin square, Pskov, 180000, Russia Received 16.10.2014, received in revised form 30.11.2014, accepted 04.12.2014 The article is devoted to the xenonymic Russianisms, one of the major issues of interlinguoculturology, a comparatively new linguistic discipline, which studies language in its secondary cultural orientation. In this article the main means of xenonymic formation are being discussed as applied to the culinary examples from the up-to-date authentic travel guides about Russia. The paper dwells upon the culinary Russianisms which exist in English and the culinary occasional xenonyms which are frequent in the texts of travel guide literature. Keywords: interlinguoculturology, authentic text, secondary cultural orientation of the language, Russian- Culture –Oriented English, culinary xenonymic Russianisms, xenonymic loans, lexical and semantic calques, xenonymic analogues, hybrid xenonyms, xenonymic descriptive names. Research area: philology. Introduction with such orientation being primary for it. A Due to the processes of globalization and language’s orientation towards a foreign culture “globanglization”, each culture has a chance (external) is considered to be its secondary and opportunity to express itself in the world cultural orientation. As our world is multilingual, by means of specific kind of communication – it is inevitable that, although historically each Foreign Language Culture Description. The language is primarily oriented towards its own Russian scholar V.V.Kabakchi and his scientific (“internal”) culture, it is also used to speak of school have been working in a new branch of foreign (“external”) cultures as well. linguistics called interlinguoculturology which The names of elements of cultures may studies language in its secondary cultural be divided into culturonyms, polyonyms and orientation (Кабакчи, 1998, 17). Each language is idioculturonyms (idionyms and xenonyms). The characterized by its functional duality. Functional theory of ILCology studies the characteristic dualism of language is the cornerstone of the features and development of the specialized theory of interlinguoculturology (ILCology). The language – Foreign – Culture-Oriented main idea of functional duality is based upon Language (FCO-English). FCO-English, being the fact that it is presupposed historically that a a global phenomenon, is characteristic of any language is oriented to its own internal culture world culture and language. The scientific school © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected] – 114 – Ksenia A. Egorova. Culinary Russianisms in Guides to Russia by Prof. Kabakchi has been studying Russian- the Soviet linguistics xenonymic loans had been Culture-Oriented English (RCO-English) as a known as “barbarisms”, “exoticisms”, “culture- variety of Foreign-Culture-Oriented Language. bound lexis”, “xenisms”, “transliterations”, Due to some reasons, the fastest development of “transcriptions”, “retents” and “lacunas” or RCO-English is observed in English travel guides lexical gaps”. In the contemporary theory of literature about Russia. inter-cultural communication, this type of lexis is The national Russian cuisine is an integral considered to belong to the “lacunary concepts” part of the Russian culture and Russia’s everyday that haven’t got any equivalents in other cultures. life. The culinary subject is being mostly The more detailed approach can be found in the highlighted in the up-to-date travel guides. The book by O.A. Leontovich “The Russians and authors pay special attention to the names of the The Americans: the paradoxes of inter-cultural Russian food and its food ritual. communication”. Any English-written travel guide includes in Xenonymic borrowing is a basic means itself a section about the local food, and as a rule, of xenonymic formation in Foreign-Culture- is supplied by a phrase book or the Russian menu Oriented Language. It provides reliable guide, where the Russian culinary terms are xenonymic convertibility that enables to restore listed and explained. Therefore, the description of an idionymic prototype (an original word or Russian food is usually full of respective names of phrase) with a high level of accuracy while culinary dishes. As most readers are usually not naming a specific element of an external culture familiar with these culinary xenonyms, the texts (idionym): водка vodka; борщ borshch. about the Russian cuisine are usually supplied Borrowing is a universal and the most common with the appropriate explanations and comments way of xenonymic formation. Most of the (the so-called “parallel attachment” – Kabakchi existing culinary xenonyms in Russian-Culture- 1998: 52-54) so that a reader could grasp the idea Oriented English are loan-words. In his book, what kind of food is mentioned in the text. The Dictionary of Russia, Prof. Kabakchi V.V. Although basic ways of forming xenonyms has collected, written down and analyzed more are more or less universal, each sphere of than 2500 cultural terms and the traditional communication has its specific features. It xenonymic variants which are widely used applies to food too. Texts devoted to Russian food in the authentic texts of RCO-English. “The demonstrate the following types of xenonyms: terminology of The Russian cuisine is fairly a) xenonymic loans; b) lexical and semantic well known in the English-speaking world, calques c) hybrid xenonyms; d) descriptive because the culinary theme inevitably arises xenonymic names; e) inter-cultural xenonymic in direct inter-cultural contacts. One should be analogues; f) hyperonyms. particularly careful about referring to culinary dishes in intercultural communication because Examples each name will be used to identify to respective Xenonymic loans drew the linguists’ dish” (Кабакчи, 2002, с.544). The last 3rd еdition attention to themselves in the 20th century within of The Oxford English Dictionary, which has the theory of literary translation. The Soviet been widely regarded as an accepted authority in lexicologists wrote a lot about the Russian loans English, states 32 basic xenonyms of the Russian in different world languages and there had been origin which have become a part of the Global a special term for such words as “Sovietisms”. In English vocabulary within the sphere “Food”. – 115 – Ksenia A. Egorova. Culinary Russianisms in Guides to Russia According to the OED, the first Russianisms specialties from many of the regions that made that entered English were the following: kvass up the Soviet Union. Russia was just one of (1556), beluga (1591), stеrlet (1591), sevruga fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, each of (1591), pirog (1662). They were first cited in which maintained its own culinary traditions. Giles Fletcher’s book Of Russe Commonwealth. Thus contemporary Russian cuisine includes Fletcher was the first English diplomat who wrote elements from the Baltic region (where food is about Muscovy. In the 19th century the following rich in butter, cream and eggs) to the mountains new culinary Russian words supplemented border China (where standard fare is fermented the English language’s lexicon: vodka (1802), mare’s milk and exotic lamb stews) to the Sea kasha (1808), shchi (1824), pivo (1873), bliny of Okhotsk (where local delicacies include balyk (1889), borsch (1884), zakuska (1885), paskha and vesiga – the dried and salted fillet and back- (1885) (meaning «a rich Russian cheesecake or bone of the sturgeon) to the far north beyond dessert traditionally eaten at Easter»), pirozhok the arctic circle (where the inhabitants feast on (1887), coulibiac (1889), rassolnik (1899). It is stroganina – frozen raw fish) (Goldstein, 1999, interesting to know that the xenonym «pirog» xvii). had been first cited in 1662, but the diminutive In many cases the non-Russian culinary word «pirozhok» meaning “little pirog” became xenonyms get into the English by means of the the part of the English vocabulary only two Russian language which therefore serves as a centuries after. bridge between Europe and Asia. Hence, such The third, most productive period in xenonyms as shashlik, Mukuzani, Saperavi, xenonymic loaning of the culinary terms, being of the Caucasian origin in fact, were first happened in the 20th century (in the Tsarist Russia cited in the English texts as the Slavic loan-words and after the Revolution of 1917 in the Soviet according to the OED’s data. time). Most of the culinary Russianisms appeared Therefore, we must admit the fact that under in the English language at this time: smetana the term “Russian xenonyms” (or: xenonymic (1909), ukha (1911), tvorog (1918), kissel (1924), Russianisms)“Russism” in a broad scope of pelmeni (1926), samogon (1928), zubrovka (1944), its meaning the following senses are implied kielbasa (1953), solyanka (1958), malossol (1959), by linguistics: а) words of the Russian origin, Stolichnaya (1966), a meat kebab of Caucasian pertaining the strong formal semantic relations cuisine shashlik (1925) and two sorts of Georgian with corresponding Russian words; b) words of wine – Mukuzani (1948) and Saperavi (1926). the Russian origin that have lost completely or One of the characteristic features of partially their formal semantic relations with The Russian cuisine is its multiculturalism. corresponding Russian