Prostorečie ‘simple speech’ or gorodskoe prostorečie ‘urban simple speech’ in Russian linguistics refers to nonstandard speech varieties used mostly in oral communication by Russian native speakers who are not well educated and do not have mastery of the kodificirovannyj literaturnyj jazyk ‘codified standard language’ (KLJa). Unlike regional dialects, prostorečie is a superregional urban phenomenon, though it may have certain regional features in different cities (and can gradually replace dialects in rural areas).

Historically, the term prostorečie was used in oppositi…