Why Russians get mad when the word ‘ZVONIT’ (‘call’) is pronounced wrong
It's been more than a month since the entire Russian society has been worked up. In the media, in kitchens and even on public transportation, heated discussions about the pronunciation of this solitary word continue unabated.
Language is a vibrant organism that is constantly changing. And, what used to be the norm yesterday, may become outdated today. In contrast, colloquial variants officially enrich explanatory and orthoepic dictionaries (i.e. dictionaries of accents).
In April, reflecting on this feature of the Russian language, Maria Kalenchuk, the head of the phonetics department of the V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that “a movement toward changing the norm” of pronunciation of the word ‘звонит’ (‘zvonit’, ‘calls’) had begun. The PhD in philological sciences believes that the accent in this word may change.
The word ‘звонит’ (‘zvonit’) is the present tense form of the verb ‘звонить’ (‘to call’) for the third male person. He calls – он звонит. The norm is to say “zvonIt” with the accent on the second vowel. However, some people say “zvOnit” with the accent on the first vowel, which is incorrect.
It hasn't happened yet, but the mere idea that it would be correct to say “zvOnit”, instead of “zvonIt”, has shocked Russians.
In general, the fluctuation of the accent with verbs that end in ‘ить’ is not a new thing. And accents often migrate from the second vowel to the first one. In Pushkin's poems, one could meet “варИт” (“varIt”; “he cooks”) – which we understand by rhyme. However, now, Russians say “он вАрит” (“on vArit”). Over time, the norm has also shifted with the verbs “солить” (“to salt”) and “дружить” (“be friends with”), for example.
But, for some reason, it is the pronunciation of ‘zvonit’ that annoys people terribly.
Olga Antonova, one of the authors of the new academic ‘Big Orthoepic Dictionary’, an expert at Gramota.ru (Грамота.ру) and a senior researcher of the phonetics department at the Vinogradov Institute of the Russian Language, believes that the verb is simply unlucky and has become a litmus test of intellectualism.
“Despite the fact that a huge number of people, including those with higher education, can say ‘звОнит’ (‘zvOnit’), it was strictly forbidden by all dictionaries. It was claimed that a person suddenly saying ‘звОнит’ is not intelligent. And these discussions affected the individual fate of the verb ‘звонить’, which stuck in its older norm,” Antonova says, recalling that, so far, the pronunciation has not changed. ‘ZvonIt’ is still the only correct form, but the trend of the language still suggests that it could change one day.
