language query

[Edward M Dumanis]

On Thu, 3 Oct 1996, Emily Tall wrote:

> A Russian from Kirov, educated at the Univ. of Lviv with a degree in
> Russian, tried to tell me that saying "ia govoriu na russkom iazyke" is
> just as good as "ia govoriu po-russki" (and the same with "chitat'").
> My 2 MGU native informants told me she is wrong. Could she have been
> contaminated by Ukrainian, or perhaps the provinces? I am trying to
> figure out how she could be using incorrect Russian. Is it some
> kind of substandard variant? Thanks! Emily Tall
>
I think that "ia govoriu na russkom yazyke" is less common by a very
good reason. Its meaning  corresponds more to the Present Continuous Tense
rather than to the Present Indefinite. Meanwhile, "ia govoriu po-russki"
can be used in both situations. So, "ya govoriu po-russki" is used. As to
the dynamics of the language development, I don't remember that "ia
govoriu na russkom iazyke" was ever used twenty years ago in Moscow.
Maybe, it is in use there now but I don't know.
However, I am not trying to persuade anybody to teach Russian following
Moscow usage. If someone prefers to teach Russian as they use it in
Brooklyn, or LA, why not? It depends on what one tries to accomplish.


Edward Dumanis <dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu>