수르직(Surzhyk) 연구 서설: 수르직의 정의, 성격, 유형론에 대한 비판적 접근

Abstract

Surzhyk is defined as a mixed language of Ukrainian and Russian. Although surzhyk is widely spoken and casually observed in many places of Ukraine, it has not been treated as a serious topic for linguistic research and consequently has remained a poorly understood linguistic phenomenon by scholars. Although surzhyk has not attracted the attention of linguists for several reasons, it is an important research topic which can shed light on many aspects of language contact such as diglossia, code switching, code mixing, substratum interference and so on. Several definitions of surzhyk proposed by scholars show the complex nature of surzhyk. Surzhyk can be treated as fused lects with a certain set of linguistic norms, but at the same time it can be perceived as the aggregate of idiolects of individual surzhyk speakers. In Ukrainian language community surzhyk has generally played the role of low language while Russian and Ukrainian have play the role of high language during Soviet period and the era after the independence respectively. Bilaniuk proposed several types of surzhyk from the historical and sociological perspective. The sixth type of surzhyk called 'surzhyk of the younger generation after the independence' should be added, taking into consideration of the growing number of younger generation who learns the linguistic norms of Ukrainian at school, but acquires the speaking ability of Russian without seriously learning its grammatical structure. Flier's linguistic analysis of various aspects of language mixing and interference of both languages should be evaluated as the breakthrough study of surzhyk regardless of limited language data for analysis. Myers-Scotton's Matrix Language Model analysis, Auer's continiuum model and Muysken's typology of code mixing are also useful tool for sociolinuistic analysis of surzhyk. For the study of surzhyk in the future, it is important to collect various types of language data of surzhyk and create a surzhyk corpus. Since surzhyk has been formed in the context of historical, social and political changes which Ukraine has experienced, it is desirable to conduct interdisciplinary researches by scholars in several fields than by individual scholar with a monolithic approach. It is also important to have a balanced perspective that Russian and Ukrainian both could be matrix language and embedded language and the direction of linguistic influence and interference could be bi-directional. So far nobody has paid attention on surzhyk which can be used in the process of learning Ukrainian after learning Russian as foreign language and vice versa. The research on this topic also can shed light on the nature of surzhyk and language mixing which can take place when learning two foreign languages which are genetically closely related. Since Ukraine is a bilingual state and Ukrainian is in the process of establishing norms as the literary language, the phenomenon of surzhyk would not disappear in the near future. Surzhyk will remain an important research subject because it can influence the direction of linguistic change of Ukrainian and the spread of literary Ukrainian language and, at the same time, it is a valuable source for research data for sociolinguistic study and language education.