(lit., window) Modern Russian is sometimes said to begin with Pushkin, in the sense that the old "high style" Church Slavonic and vernacular Russian are so closely fused that it is difficult to identify whether any given word or phrase stems from the one or the other. Fyodor Dostoevsky From Crime and Punishment (), 1866. Modern spelling. In early July, during a spell of extraordinary heat, towards evening, a young man went out from his garret, which he sublet in S—— Lane, [entered] the street, and slowly, as though in [the grip of] indecision, began to make his way to K—— Bridge. 19th century prose. No archaisms. "European" syntax. Fundamental laws of the Russian Empire (Constitution of the Russian Empire), 1906. Modern spelling. "To the Emperor of all Russia belongs the Supreme Autocratic Power. To obey His power, not merely in fear but also in conscience, God Himself does ordain." Illustrates the categorical nature of thought and expression in the official circles of the Russian Empire. Exemplifies the syntactic distribution of emphasis. Mikhail Bulgakov From The Master and Margarita (), 1930–40 "You have always been a passionate proponent of the theory that upon decapitation human life comes to an end, the human being transforms into ashes, and passes into oblivion. I am pleased to inform you, in the presence of my guests, though they serve as a proof for another theory altogether, that your theory is both well-grounded and ingenious. Mind you, all theories are worth one another. Among them is one, according to which every one shall receive in line with his faith. May that come to be!" An example of highly educated modern speech (this excerpt is spoken by Woland). See Russian humor for the essential other end of the spectrum. Internal history The modern phonological system of Russian is inherited from Common Slavonic but underwent considerable innovation in the early historical period before it was largely settled by about 1400. Like other Slavic languages, Old East Slavic was a language of open syllables. All syllables ended in vowels; consonant clusters, with far less variety than today, existed only in the syllable onset. However, by the time of the earliest records, Old Russian already showed characteristic divergences from Common Slavonic. Despite the various sound changes, Russian is in many respects a relatively conservative language, and is important in reconstructing Proto-Slavic: Russian largely preserves the position of the Proto-Slavic