Runglish Runglish

Runglish - Definition and Overview

Runglish is the variety of English spoken by native speakers of Russian in many countries (especially in Russia and the CIS). What makes it distinctive is its pronunciation, sometimes vocabulary, and grammar. The working language aboard the International Space Station has been described as Runglish.

Contents

Pronunciation

1. Runglish speakers make no distinction between closed and open vowels: /i/ (heat) and /ɪ/ (hit), /ɔ/ (port) and /ɒ/ (pot), /ɑ/ (heart) and /ʌ/ (hut), etc.

2. Runglish /æ/ (bad) sounds as /ɛ/ (bed).

3. Final voiced consonants are pronounced as voiceless ones, that is dog sounds as dock, hard as heart, etc.

Vocabulary

Runglish speakers often use English words of Russian origin, especially describing Russian cuisine (such as borsch, shchi, pelmeni, blini, vodka, kvass, etc.) or political system (such as stalinism, bolshevism, KGB, FSB, etc.). As well as this, the following changes are common:

underground → metro,

year (in university) → course,

handsome → beautiful,

unfair → dishonest,

to do sport → to go in for sport.

Grammar

1. There is no difference between a, an, the, and zero article.

Do you know man standing there?

Do you know a man standing there?

Do you know the man standing there?

(instead of Do you know the man who is standing there?)

2. Collective nouns take a singular verb.

Is militia well-paid?

(instead of Are the police well-paid?; note also the use of Russian милиция milicija instead of English police.)

3. Perfect tenses are rarely used.

I lost my key, did you see it?

(instead of I've lost my key, have you seen it?)

4. There is no difference in the use of English modal verbs.

I must go now.

I have to go now.

I gotta go now.

I will go now.

I would go now.

I shall go now.

I should go now.

I ought to go now.

(instead of I must go now)

5. Runglish speakers often use Yes, I don't or No, I do in response to negative questions.

Don't you like it? - Yes, I don't.

(instead of No, I don't)

External link


Copyright 2009 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy  :: Terms of Use  :: Contact Us  :: About Us
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the this Wikipedia article.