From Pushkin to Twitter. On the contemporary Russian language

How and why is the contemporary Russian language changing? Would Pushkin understand today's language of social media? Why do some words go out of use and new words appear? Where does the language get its inspiration from? How do the meanings of words change?

Our guest, Prof. Maxim Krongauz – linguist, a holder of a PhD in philological sciences, professor – answered these questions. Head of the Russian language department of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. He specializes in semiotics and culture of language, the grammar of Russian language, semantics, a theory of political discourse, and humour. He is an outstanding specialist in the field of Russian language of the Internet. He has published over 200 scientific papers (monographs, textbooks). Author of many books on the subject, including Русский язык на грани нервного срыва [Russian language on the verge of a nervous breakdown], Самоучитель олбанскогого [Self-study olban textbook] about the language of the Russian Internet, Слово за слово. О языке и не только  [Word for word. About language and more].

The lecture was dedicated to the new words that have appeared in the Russian language in the last decade and change of meanings of the existing words. Why do words, that used to be important and frequently used, lose their popularity or disappear? What is the source of this process? How do social media, popular all over the world, influence the contemporary Russian language?

The lecture takes place as part of the Polish-Russian Dialogue cycle at the International Cultural Centre, organized jointly with the International Cultural Centre.